Net’s
cam and scam that nets you
( mail received from my friend)
After my nephew Rajesh (name changed) got an appointment order from an existing
Government Hospital in Dubai in response to his job application through
internet advertisement, he approached me forwarding the mail he received.
The appointment order looked very genuine. Ultimately, he found out the
ploy after I warned him. So, here I am compiling some facts which we all
must be aware.
Nigerian advance fee scam
Have you ever been a victim of Internet scam, especially Nigerian Internet
scams? No matter what your answer is, you have a reason to be very afraid.
You could be among other U.S. citizens who will lose $1,000,000 today to
Nigerian Scammers in particular and other scammers in general...
The typical ‘advanced fee’ Nigerian scam, that started in Nigeria
leading to innocent Nigerians losing their fortunes in a jiffy, have now
transcended the Nigerian borders and are now targeting everyone with an
email address, phone number and/or postal mail worldwide.
And the ‘Credit Card Version of the Nigerian Scam’ is also targeting
anyone worldwide with a credit card and/or a website.
Ordinary credit card users and webmasters who are selling one thing or the
other on their websites are also now losing millions of dollars to the ‘Credit
Card Version of the Nigerian Scam’.
Your friends, parents, relatives, children, colleagues, etc, are all possibly
victims in this no-holds-barred Nigerian scam scourge.
Below are some facts to get you thinking:
It is estimated that citizens in the U.S. alone are losing as much as $1,000,000
every single day to Nigerian scammers. The success rate of these scams is
increasing by over 50% and more people are falling victims, from ordinary
citizens, business people, and religious leaders to even government officials.
(No one is spared and it is now a ‘No Holds Barred’ for the
scammers!). In fact last month I got couple of mails from a Nigerian “Christian”
with saluting “Praise the Lord” etc narrating his ‘Christian
work’ and asking me to reply if I could be part of this ‘ministry’
and so on. I ticked the mail and clicked ‘spam’ to ‘part’
with his ‘ministry’.
The National Consumer League ranks the Nigerian advance fee scam as the
third most-prevalent Internet scam in the whole world.
Email lottery scams
A typical lottery scam begins with an unexpected email notification that
“You have won!” a large sum of money in a lottery. The recipient
of the message — the target of the scam — is usually told to
keep the notice secret, “due to a mix-up in some of the names and
numbers,” and to contact a “claims agent.” After contacting
the agent, the target of the scam will be asked to pay “processing
fees” or “transfer charges” so that the winnings can be
distributed, but will of course never receive any lottery payment. Many
email lottery scams use the names of legitimate lottery organizations, but
this does not mean the legitimate organizations are in any way involved
with the scams.
Unless you have bought a ticket, you cannot have won a prize. There are
no such things as “email” draws or any other lottery where “no
tickets were sold”. This is simply another invention by the scammer
to make you believe you’ve won.
The scammer will ask you to pay a fee before you can receive your prize.
It is illegal for a real lottery to charge any sort of fee. It doesn’t
matter what they say this fee is for (courier charges, bank charges, various
imaginary certificates — these are all made up by the scammer to get
money out of you). All real lotteries subtracts any fee and tax from the
prize. They never ask you to pay it in advance.
Scam lottery emails will nearly always come from free email accounts such
as Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, etc, and no real business will use a free email
account.
Online Job Scams
Job seekers who use online job search web sites must be careful to avoid
a type of job scam in which the applicant is asked to accept payment to
his or her own bank account. These are known as payment-forwarding or payment-transfer
scams.
Payment-transfer scams involve a con artist who pretends to be an employer.
The con artist uses a job ad to lure an unsuspecting job seeker, or they
may use information from a resume they have found online. Such con artists
can be quite convincing, and may even steal company names and corporate
logos to convince victims that they are legitimate employers.
After the con artist has won the job seeker’s trust, the con artist
tricks the job seeker into giving up bank account numbers. The reasons given
for this can be clever. One ploy is to tell the job seeker they can only
deliver paychecks by “direct deposit. The ‘job’ a job
seeker will be asked to do involves forwarding or wiring money from a personal
bank account, a PayPal account, or from Western Union to another account.
The other account is often overseas. As part of their pay, the job seeker
is instructed to keep a small percentage of the money as their payment.
Sometimes the payment for making the money transfer is as low as $15. Sometimes
it is as high as several hundred or several thousand dollars. Almost always,
the money the victims are transferring is stolen, and therefore, the victims
are committing theft and wire fraud. Usually, this kind of scam involves
at least two or three victims.
There are many variations of payment-forwarding scams. Following are very
simple tips that will go far to protect you from falling victim with some
clarifications noted below. Again, this scam can be quite clever and refined.
1. Do not give personal bank account, PayPal account, or credit card numbers
to an employer.
2. Do not agree to have funds or paychecks direct deposited to any of your
accounts by a new employer.
3. Do not forward, transfer, or “wire” money to an employer.
4. Do not transfer money and retain a portion for payment.
Legitimate employers do not usually need your bank account numbers. While
direct deposit of a paycheck is a convenience, if that is the only option
an employer offers, then you should not accept the job. A legitimate employer
will give you the option of direct deposit, but not demand that it is used.
You should wait until you have met the employer in person before agreeing
to a direct deposit option. (At times, these ‘employers’ also
decoy)
Phishing
In computing, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire
sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details,
by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
eBay, PayPal and online banks are common targets. Phishing is typically
carried out by email or instant messaging, and often directs users to enter
details at a website, although phone contact has also been used. Phishing
is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users. Attempts
to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation,
user training, public awareness, and technical measures.
The first recorded mention of the term phishing is on the America-online
Usenet newsgroup on January 2, 1996.
Chat Room Scam
Beware of on line scam alluring you through cam!
Scams in the internet dating world are rampant. There is no dating site
free of scammers.
Regardless if you are new to the internet dating world or a veteran, you
should always read up on scams and the new techniques to part you and your
money. The majority of these scams are from females ( or a male in the guise
of a female) from Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana, Russia and Ukraine.
Never send a man or a woman who you never have met any money!(Regardless
what he/she needs it for, a visa and passport to come and see you, an operation
for a loved one, for a new computer, internet fees or that he/she’s
in Moscow on their way to see you and there’s a hidden fee that they
need help paying or else they’ll be stranded at the Moscow airport
for the rest of their life and so on).
Tips to avoid being scammed online:
Deal locally with folks you can meet in person
Never wire funds via western union, etc
Fake cashier checks & money orders are common - banks will cash them
and then hold you responsible
Never give out financial information to anyone.
Avoid deals involving shipping services
|
|
