Advance-fee-fraud
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008Remember back when the best way to tell if someone was less than trustworthy was to look them in the eye and shake their hand?
Today’s technology has opened the door to some pretty sharp or at least well studied technological crooks out there. I’d like to bring your attention to the “Nigerian 419 Scam” or “Advance-fee fraud” per Wikipedia.
A good friend of mine received an email from someone they thought was a genuine business person looking for some help. My friend had fallen on some tough times and was lured in by the promise of a $5,000 pay day for simply cashing a check at her bank.
The criminals wanted to send her a check for some large number, say $5,000 for illustrative purposes. She was to cash the check, keep $1,000 and wire the difference to the thieves!
The thieves were hoping that either she had the money in her account or the bank would float the money for her, she could with drawl and being the honest person she is… went directly to Western Union and sent the money.
$4,000 plus investigative costs, attorney fees and who knows what other kinds of fees she’s now on the hook for because she wanted to help some stranger who claimed to fall on hard times.
It’s a crying shame that there are people out there who are willing to prey on good, hard working people. Please be careful out there. If it sounds too good to be true… well, you know what I mean. If you’re really not sure, ask some people you trust!