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Common Nonsense - Internet Scams
With the advent of the Internet, scams of all types abound. It is
very easy to fall into one especially for new users. Many promise
untold riches for little money or effort. The most common and perhaps
well known internet fraud scams are the ones that promise money from
a Nigerian source. These scams are initiated through emails that are
sent to a person by someone claiming to be Nigerian government
official or the spouse/child of a deposed or executed official who
has left them millions of dollars that they need help to move out of
the country. These scams use greed to convince the recipient of the
letter that they can have a percentage of many millions if they help
to defray the costs of getting the money out of the safety deposit
vault, wherever that may be located, and then out of country.
These internet fraud scams try to get money and identifying
information from their potential victims. They will ask for help
with the costs of getting the money released. Their letters will
attempt to convince the person that for only a small fee, in
comparison to the millions that they will share, they can help to
free up the money for both parties. Often the line is that the money
is housed in a secure facility in a large trunk and once the fees
are paid it will be released. They claim that the money cannot be
used to pay the fees for fear it will be stolen. They will begin by
getting small sums out of the person to try not to scare them off.
Most of the time the people involved in these scams will try their
best to make it all seem that everything they claim is real. They
will set up websites with fake banks that come with phone and fax
numbers to make them appear real. They will send correspondence on
fake letterhead to make it appear that the bank or storage facility
where the money resides is genuine. Then money will be requested. It
will likely be a small amount, maybe a few thousand to start, but it
will not stop there.
Even once the victim stops paying, the swindlers will use the
personal information they have gleaned and attempt to empty bank
accounts, run up credit card balances, and generally steal whatever
assets they can get their hands on. The thieves will who work these
Nigerian internet fraud scams have stolen millions from unsuspecting
people who think that they have been specially chosen to help move
money that in reality does not exist.
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