Internet Scams!
There are countless scams around today designed to steal our
money. The less technical savvy people are, the more susceptible
they are to these scams. You may have heard of many of these,
which is a good thing, but other you may not have known about.
Also, if you come by a scam you would like to share with others,
please Contact Us and we will be sure
to include it here.
The following are your basic scams to stay away from:
The mail scam ( or more
commonly know as the "Nigerian mail scam"
as it originated in Nigeria) takes the form of someone
claiming to be a prince/chief/government
official/tragically orphaned refugee, usually from a
country in Africa, (though it now
seems to be arriving from the Phillipines,
Iraq and other places too)
claims to have found an abandoned bank account with lots
of money in it and can only access the money safely if
it is moved out of the country. Or that they have some
hard-luck story about escaping from terrible disasters
etc. Sometimes it takes the form of telling you that you
have been left money by someone who died. All involve
your input to help them gain access to this money and
for this help they promise you a cut of the money. This
scam existed as a letter fraud campaign before moving on
to email. It is technically called a 419 Advanced Fee
Fraud scheme. If you pursue it (and many people have
thinking this is an easy way to earn money) the
writer will tell you they need upfront money from you to
get everything going. There will
be increasing hoops and more money required.
MasterCard Microsoft scam - Some
e-mails may look similar to
This one. -
Bank of America scam
-
Email claims to be from Bank Of America asking you to
confirm your account data by clicking on the link. You
will be taken to a spoof login page where your details
will be captured by the phishers. The email may look
like this.
PayPal, eBay and Bank Account scams - These
are also delivered by e-mail. You may have received
these before. They appear to come from PayPal or your
bank and suggest your account has been compromised and
you should log in as soon as possible to correct the
problem. Well the truth is the HTML links in the email
do not go to your PayPal account ot your bank account,
but to some different domain name or just an IP address.
These scammers just want you to click the link and start
sharing your personal, valuable information so they can
rip you off and
make money
from stealing your information. Don't fall for this. So
many people still do and these jerks wouldn't keep doing
these if they weren't able to make so much money. Don't
be the latest victim.
Lottery Scams - These are simply companies outside
your country that accept payment for supposedly putting
your entries into lotteries in some part of the world
you wouldn't be able to do this yourself. They are just
scam outfit who cash your check and do absolutely
nothing for you. You will not be entered into any
lottery and you will not win a penny. Stay away from
these companies because they will just take your money
and you will never hear from them again.
Winning Sweepstakes Scam - There are e-mails going
around that say you've won some sweepstake you never
entered. These are just one of the latest scams to get
your personal information and rip you off. Some e-mails
may look similar to
THIS ONE. Don't be fooled. These are just thieves
thinking of different ways to get your money. Just
delete the e-mails and move on.
Pyramid Schemes - These have been around forever.
These are just
money making
systems that
create income from getting people involved in the
business and not selling a real product or service.
If people are sold a real product or service with the
ability of making money off of reselling it as a
benefit, it is a legal MLM program. If people are
recruited into the business with hopes of making a lot
of money off of getting other people involved, while
selling a poor product, that is a pyramid scheme or
illegal MLM.
Disaster Scams: In the wake of Hurricane
Wilma and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as
the Asian earthquake, we wanted to remind you that whenever there is a major natural
or other disaster, scammers begin sending out charity
relief scams within just a couple of hours!
Stock Pick Scams - Hundreds of online
investment
newsletters
have appeared on the Internet in recent years. Many
offer investors seemingly unbiased information free of
charge about featured companies or recommending "stock
picks of the month." While legitimate online
newsletters can
help investors gather valuable information, some online
newsletters are tools for
fraud.
They are just trying to
make money from your
misfortune.
E-Mail Scams and Spams -
Because spam (junk
e-mail) is so cheap and easily
created,
criminals increasingly use it to find investors
for bogus investment schemes or to spread false
information about a company. Spam allows the
unscrupulous to target many more potential investors
than cold calling or mass mailing. Using a bulk e-mail
program, spammers can send personalized messages to
thousands and even millions of Internet users at a time.
Don't fall for this
money making
scheme.
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