E-Mail Scams
Dr Dean is Famous!
I bet you didn’t know how famous I am.
Even the finance minister of Nigeria has my email address. In my Outlook junk folder this morning were two emails from Mr Stephen Osagiede Oronsaye. How Outlook decided an email from such an important world figure was junk is beyond me.
{Maybe when your company is owned by the richest man in the world, you have a different way of looking at junk mail.
I am sure Mr Oronsaye is offended that his email was placed in the junk column by Bill Gate’s ubiquitous software….Bill probably puts Warren’s emails in his junk file….}
I remember the first time I got such a letter, yeaahs and yeaaahs ago, before email and fax.
It came by snail mail, in a fancy envelope with a beautiful seal. Suspiciously cynical, even in those dark ages, I sent a copy to my local sheriff, who called someone higher up the law enforcement chain, as they hadn’t ever seen one before.
Secret Service & Email Fraud
Now, I understand, the Secret Service, who used to investigate these e-mail scams has quit trying.
It doesn’t mean the scams don’t still provide the crook an ill-gotten gain. It’s just they are so common, when you can hit a “send” key and the scam hits every known email address in the country-how do you try to investigate such a crime. Your email box would be clogged with complaint letters.
This particular type scam is known as a 419 scam, so-called because that is the penal code for that type crime in Nigeria where the scam originated.
Internet Crime Complaint Center
According to the annual report issued by the Internet Crime Complaint Center, (IC3)-a joint operation of the Department of Justice and the FBI-, this type of cyber-crime makes up 10% of the reported internet crime in 2009.
Cyber-Bandit??? (bySephraim)
They lump these 419 frauds in with a category called “Advance Fee Fraud.” It got this moniker from the scam itself.
To get the big pay-day promised by the scamster,-you have to advance an amount of money to assist them getting the big payola out of the country.
There are many variations including your sending them a check vs your providing your bank account number to allow them to deposit the money into YOUR account.
These frauds are now perpetrated by any number of nationalities, we even have our good ole US version of cyber-criminals-Detroit seems to be a hotbed….
Auction and FBI Fraud
What is sad, is in this most recent report from IC3, this type fraud was lower on the list than auction fraud. And most surprising- email scams using the FBI in the scheme to get personal information topped the list of complaints for 2009.
Scams of all sorts seem to be more common around the holidays. Whether crooks think people are in a more giving mood, or if the pressure of the season makes people want to believe they can truly get something for nothing…
The next time you get an email from a famous world leader, keep your ego in check, and hit the delete key. Don’t even be tempted to see what they want-you can believe it is not something you want to give!
So guys, be careful out there.
