Soapbox - The Hitler Game

[george]

INTERNET FRAUD: Scammers in your mailbox

Promises of riches are parting the greedy and naive from their cash

Waiting in the e-mail inboxes of Internet users around the world are devious and unsolicited e-mails sent by scammers and fraudsters.

Some of these bogus e-mails purport to be from financial institutions or e-commerce businesses - Citibank is popular - asking for credit-card information.

These e-mails warn that your account with Citibank will be shut down unless you reconfirm your information online, such as your card number, PIN (personal identification number) code and expiration date.

This tactic is known as "phishing" or "spoofing".

Others appeal for help for imaginary or well-known figures from African countries, mostly Nigeria, who happen to be in serious trouble. The e-mails promise large sums of money in return for your help.

This is part of the "Nigerian scam", or "advance-fee fraud".

Also, you may receive e-mails from suspect organisations notifying that you just won a huge lottery prize because, among other reasons, your e-mail address was randomly selected.

These scams are the work of Internet crooks who send hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mails - or "spam", in Internet terminology - to e-mail addresses in the hope of making money.

While most experienced Internet users ignore these e-mails and simply delete them, some people respond and even fall prey to these unscrupulous schemers.

These Web-surfing swindlers will try every possible trick they can think of to empty your pockets of money. They bombard you with spam of various schemes and scams in the hope that at least one of them will hook you.

The key to their success is greed and, in some cases, a lack of experience on the part of the victims.

"Don't be greedy. Nobody will give you so much money for nothing." That is the advice of Police Colonel Yanaphon Youngyuen, director of the Justice Ministry's Office of Technology and Information Related Cases.

"I myself get a lot of these e-mails every day, and I simply delete them. Most regular Internet users know they're fake," he said.

Internet scams and frauds have been around for some time, and many Web surfers in the US, the UK and Australia have been lured by these Net-based crooks.

Many Thais have been victimised by Internet crooks, but most of these crimes here go unreported, according to Yanaphon.

There are no official figures for the number of victims or size of the damage.

In a recent case, a computer-science lecturer disclosed in early July that he lost almost Bt2 million after responding to a pop-up ad purportedly for an online lottery.

He was later informed that he had won a prize worth several million US dollars. But in order to claim the prize, he was required to transfer Bt2 million into a foreign bank account as a deposit.

There were many more local victims of Internet scams, but most had suffered far lower losses, according to Yanaphon.

"Among those who have filed a complaint with me, they lost between Bt20,000 and Bt30,000. One person even flew to South Africa to bargain with them [the scammers]," he said.

Yanaphon said that Thai police had been unable to take legal action against any of these crooks, because they are foreign-based, and their patterns of money transfers are so complex that investigations led nowhere.

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Scams at an inbox near you: Below is an introduction to three major Internet scams and how they work.

Online lottery scam

Lottery scam e-mails are increasing at an alarming rate, according to Australian-based FraudWatch International. It has received reports of over 1,000 variations and also lists suspicious online lottery schemes on its Website.

If recipients of lottery scam e-mails respond, they will be asked to give their personal details to "verify their true identity". FraudWatch International warns that the information can be used in identity theft.

The respondents receive e-mails with three options of how to collect their winnings. They can have the money wired to their bank account, open an account with a specified (bogus) bank or pick up their winnings personally, normally from Amsterdam.

Most people want their winnings transferred into their bank account. This involves up-front fees. Victims transfer money as requested via Western Union.

If they do not want to pay up-front fees, they can open an online account with a specified bank whose "policy" requires a deposit of about US$3,000 (Bt120,000). This bank is a fake.

Alternatively, victims are able to pick up their money personally by travelling to Amsterdam, where they are required to pay a release fee in cash, and receive their winnings in counterfeit currency.

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'Phishing' scam

As for an e-mail that claims to be from your bank but does not even address you by your name, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suggests that you exercise extreme caution. Do not reveal your personal financial or identity information, such as credit card number, its expiration date and PIN code.

Armed with these numbers of yours, the crooks have enough information to commit identity theft, such as shopping on the Net in your name.

According to the FBI, this trick - which is known as "phishing" or "spoofing" - is the "hottest, and most troubling, new scam on the Internet". Citibank is often the bank referred to.

When you click on the link provided in the bogus email, it directs you to a Website, either real or fake, but only after first touching base for a split-second at a Russian URL, which launches a phoney pop-up window demanding the user's credit card number, PIN and expiration date. Any information entered is forwarded to the scammer, not your bank.

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Nigerian scam

This form of scheme claimed its first victims in the early 1980's, long before the days of the Internet. But the advent of the cyberworld has helped spread the Nigerian scam, which is also known as "advance fee fraud" and "419 fraud" (pronounced four-one-nine) after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code that addresses fraud schemes.

A typical scheme begins with an email from an "official" representing an African government or agency, in most cases the Nigerian government or its military.

The email contains a request for urgent help in transferring millions of dollars from Nigeria or another African country to the victim's personal bank account. The victim is promised a share of the funds in exchange for his or her assistance.

But as the scheme unfolds, the perpetrators relate various problems with transferring the money and ask the victim to provide up-front advance funds to cover transaction fees, taxes or bribes.

According to the 419 Coalition, a resource Website on the scam, most "419" e-mails originate from or are traceable back to Nigeria. Some are from other West Africa nations, such as Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

Further information about Internet scams is available online at www.crimes-of-persuasion.com, www.fraudsandscams.com, www.fraudwatchinternational.com and home.rica.net/alphae/419coal.

--The Nation 2004-08-02

[stumonster]

there is a new version seeming to originate from the boys in nigeria.

they will attept to purchase something from you online, and send you a cheque for more than the amount asking you to refund the excess. the cheque being fake, they hope you send the money before you find out.

another one is they are selling something and ask you to send the money to them via western union, but with other details than theirs entered on the transfer before they will dispatch the goods. they will tell you that once they can see you have sent the money they will send the goods but because it is not their name on the western union paper they can not cash it until you go and change the reciever name once you have recieved the goods. but the truth is they can get the cash once the know the number of the transaction and the name and address of the sender.

be cynical...its good for your wallet