Unscam Yourself The Dot-Com Way
By James T. Moore (04/03/07)
Anyone with eyes open knows that scams have invaded us. Fact is, the last time I checked my computer mail I had 10 letters, eight of them scams. How do I know? Read on.
There is a strange correlation here: The more you use your computer, the more mail you’re apt to get. And the more mail you get, chances are some of it will be about money. And the more “money” mail you get, most of it will be scams. And the more scam mail you get, the more tempted you might be to answer it.
And if you’re crazy enough to answer it you will soon discover that all your checks bounce, your bank account is closed, your money has vanished, and you realize you have been scammed. (Your chances of winning the lottery are infinitely better.)
My guess is that you would never do this. You’re too savvy. But somebody, somewhere in the world will.
That’s the one person scammers want; otherwise why would they keep sending out “money” mail by the ton? And it is for that one person I am writing this article. Because, considering the heartbreak it causes, even one scammed person in the world is one too many.
To describe the many types of scams would take a heavy book. There are, however, clues to watch for, such as this: “PLEASE ENDEAVOR TO USED IT FOR THE CHILDREN OF GOD. My late husband deposited the sum of Ten Million United State Dollars with a finance company in Amsterdam, Holland…” No, friend, those are not typos; “used” in the title should be “use”, and we are the United States, not the United State. Simple slips like this indicate “sloppiness” which in a letter this “important” would not likely happen. Moreover, beware of a request for personal information that brings God into the equation. If the Lord wanted only certain people to be millionaires, He must indeed work in mysterious ways.
Most scams can be unearthed with some digging. For instance, I received an e-mail with the headline: Fighting Poverty Today Around the World. I was informed that I had won in an International Lottery and would receive a cash prize of $2,000,000.00. All they needed was my name, telephone number, nationality, occupation, and age. How this would “help fight poverty around the world” is unclear. Then whoa, I noticed that MICROSOFT was one of the sponsors.
Not believing that Microsoft would be involved in a scam, I called them and spoke to a lady who listened to my story, then assured me that this was in fact a scam---and a light went on: scam artists will often use respected corporate names to give their scam credibility. The company was aware of this, she said, and their legal department was working on it. Whatever that means.
Then I got this flim-flam, from a priest, no less. The e-mail was from an alleged Rev. Father Peter Basil of St. Catherine’s Catholic Parish in Dorset. London. Investigating, I found that Dorset is in England, but not in London. Furthermore, the identical message was being used over and over, but now the priest’s name had become Abraham Patrick or Father Basil.
Finally, there is the Nigerian Bulldog Scam, which shows up in newspapers’ classified section, and is too unbelievably disturbing to go into further. But you can if you like.
Most scams seem to originate from Africa’s Nigeria. Why? Google explains it this way: there is a large culture of hatred of the West; Nigerians have become used to thinking that Westerners (us) are crooks who are living off their backs (oil?). In retaliation, scams like “advance fee fraud”—or the 419 scam, as it is called---take root there, and then take off on the Internet.
So, let this old cliché be your guide: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Or, if that sounds too patronizing, think about what my father once told me: “Kid, there’s a sucker born every minute, and two to take him.”
Meanwhile if you want to get the total skinny on the world of scams, go to Google and ask: What is a 419 scam?, then prepare to fall off your chair.
(Printer friendly version) Email: James T. Moore
