Posts Tagged: ‘spanish prisoner scam’

Scam of the day – April 17, 2013 – Smartphone credit card scam

April 17, 2013 Posted by Steven Weisman, Esq.

Many scams are merely updates of older scams.  The Nigerian letter of today is actually just the most recent incarnation of a scam that was being done in the 1500s when it was referred to as the “Spanish Prisoner Scam.”  Smartphones and other portable devices have made our lives easier and we all depend on them, however, they have also made the lives of identity thieves and scammers easier too as they use them to foist old scams on you by way of new technology.  The FBI has recently issued a new warning about a text message that people are receiving that purports to be from the issuer of your credit card telling you that your card has been deactivated.  You are then told to call a specific telephone number and provide your personal information including your name, credit card number and other personal information in order to reactivate your card.  Although this scam is being used by identity thieves around the country, the FBI warning dealt with calls coming from the 907 area code which is Alaska.  But even if you don’t live in Alaska, you may well be receiving a text message from your own local area.  This impersonation of your credit card issuer in order to get you to provide the identity thief with information that the identity thief can use to make you a victim of identity theft is called “phishing.”

TIPS

Never, and I do mean never, respond to a text requesting personal information unless you have confirmed that the message to you is legitimate.  In this case, if you have even the slightest concern that the text message may be from your credit card issuer, you should call your credit card issuer at the number indicated on the back of your credit card to confirm whether or not the text message you received was legitimate.  Then you will find out for sure that it was a scam.  You can never be sure when you receive a telephone call, email or text message who is sending you the message.  The risk of providing personal information to an identity thief is too high for you to trust any such communication.

I also urge you to pick up a copy of my book “50 Ways to Protect Your Identity in a Digital Age” which provides you with a wealth of specific steps you can take to make yourself safer on your smartphone, tablet or other portable devices.  You can click on the picture of the book on the right hand side of this page to go to Amazon where you can purchase the book at a discount.

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Scam of the day – March 4, 2013 – New Ghana email scam

March 3, 2013 Posted by Steven Weisman, Esq.

It is important to remember that not all email scam letters come from Nigeria.  They come from everywhere and recently it seems many of them are appearing to originate in Ghana.  The essence of all of this type of letter is the same.  In fact, the basis for the scam goes back to a scam that started in the 1500s when it was called the “Spanish Prisoner” scam.  Although there are variations of the scam email, they all involve a promise of substantial funds for little or no effort on your part.  In this particular email, which is reproduced below my assistance is requested as a “reliable partner” when the email sender has no knowledge of who I am and the email is not even addressed to me in the salutation.   These scam emails may seem ridiculous, but they are still around for a good reason, namely they work.  There are some people who are either too trusting or too blinded by the promises of riches to consider this rationally.  Don’t be one of those people.

“Name:Hon. Ebenezer Sekyi-Hughes
Email:honesekyihu@yahoo.co.jp

This is Hon. Ebenezer Sekyi-Hughes, former speaker of the house of parliament Ghana.
I am in need of a reliable Trustee to help me receive my 1 box of consignments containing 11 MILLION GBP in London and Under the custody of the British embassy in Tokyo Japan.

This present Ghana government is an opposition party, they trying to accuse me of looting government treasury during my time in office and this is the reason why I need a dependable and reliable partner to receive the funds as my trustee to avoid any trace.
I am prepared to give you 30% of the total fund if you can help me receive it without any trace.

All we have to do is to ask my attorney to issue you a Power of Attorney and Change of Ownership certificate in your name while he will also handle other processes which he will explain to you.

Send me your passport copy and pictures so that I can know you better.

Hon. Ebenezer Sekyi-Hughes
Email:honesekyihu@yahoo.co.jp”

TIPS

Never respond in anyway to any of these types of emails.  They are total scams and if you do respond, you will soon find that you need to pay money for various fees, bribes, or administrative costs in order to keep the process moving so that you can get your money.  Of course since this is a scam, you never will get any money.  The best thing you can do is to totally ignore the email although they can give you a bit of a laugh.

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Scam of the day – February 3, 2013 – Variation on Nigerian email

February 3, 2013 Posted by Steven Weisman, Esq.

Not all Nigerian letters come from Nigeria, some of them appear to come from Libya, although merely because the email refers to a particular country does not mean that the email actually originated in that country. What we call the Nigerian email scam did not even originate in Nigeria.  The scam has been with us for hundreds of years, first appearing in the 1500s and was originally dubbed the Spanish Prisoner scam because the victim was told that a Spanish nobleman was being held prisoner and that if the unsuspecting victim would just help with the ransom, he would be rewarded not only with a substantial amount of money, but also the Spanish nobleman’s daughter’s hand in marriage.  The gist of the scam remains the same today.  Generally it starts with an email to you that under any of a number of pretenses promises you great riches, initially without any expenditure of your own funds, but as the victim gets drawn into the plot, funds are required from the victim for fees, bribes, or other costs in order to get the funds being dangled in front of the victim.   Below you will find a typical email that turned up in my email box this week.

TIPS

The first thing you should always consider when receiving an email such as the one below is “why me.”  As just about always in these situations, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is phony.  Don’t try to outsmart the scammers.  That could possibly lead to serious trouble.  The best course of action is to just get a good laugh at the email and then hit “delete.”

“FOR YOUR PERUSAL,

I am Engineer Luis Edward a petrochemical/oil
exploration engineer with ARABIAN GULF EXPLORATION COMPANY (AGECO)  one of the
registered oil & gas exploration company in Libya.  I need your
collaboration to investing in your country. Can you assist me and two other
colleagues to “RECEIVE” some funds raised from sale of crude oil? Get back to me
for more details. Thank you for your anticipated partnership while your response
is expected if you are capable.

Waiting for your response.

Engr. Luis Edward
ARABIAN GULF
EXPLORATION COMPANY (AGECO) LIBYA”

 

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