Danny Bradbury
Sun
The e-mails began to arrive just hours after the collapse of the World Trade Center, says Audri Lanford, the Internet entrepreneur and operator of online scam awareness site scambusters.org. The events of Sept. 11, 2001, changed the world in ways large and small, and one was evident in the kind of the mail that started flooding Lanford’s inbox in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
“We started to see e-mails asking people to help the victims, and of course they asked people to go to a page and contribute,” she says. “What they really wanted was your bank or credit card information so that they could steal your identity.”
With over a billion people online and the numbers growing daily, there is no end of fraudsters eager to part good-hearted people from their money. E-mails like those that followed the 9/11 attacks now appear after every major disaster. The Katrina hurricane and the 2005 Asian tsunami each spurred fraud artists into action aiming to capitalize on the misfortunes of others.
But online scams try to exploit more than human misery, says Susan Grant, director of the U.S. National Consumers League’s fraud centre. “All scams can be put into certain categories,” she says. “Many offer ways to win money, earn money, or save money. The ‘win money’ ones — the bogus lotteries and sweepstakes — are very popular year-round.”
You might never fall for an e-mail from someone you don’t know asking you to enter a competition. But other common e-mails might well fool you if you’re not prepared. The Internet may be evolving at breakneck speed, but scams rely on aspects of the human psyche that will never change.
THE ADVANCE FEE SCAM
This scam shows up in various guises, but the most common is the 419 scam, often originating in Nigeria and named after the section of that country’s criminal code that deals with obtaining money under false pretenses. The scammer claims to have information about a sizeable fortune, but for some reason needs a third party — the victim — to access it in return for a portion of the cash. If the victim agrees, the scammer begins asking for money to overcome small obstacles such as bribing officials and paying transfer fees. “They will keep going until you stop paying,” Lanford says.
Protective measure: Common sense. If a deal is too good to be true, then it isn’t.
AUCTION FRAUD
Mainly perpetrated via eBay because of the site’s popularity, auction fraud comes in many forms. Escrow fraud is one of the most common. The scammer either wins a bid on an item or auctions a high-value item of their own that doesn’t exist. They then ask the victim to send goods or payment to an escrow company that will hold it until the scammer fulfils their part of the bargain, ensuring that both parties are satisfied. In reality, the escrow company address is operated by the scammer, and as soon as the victim’s assets reach their destination, they disappear along with the fraudster.
Protective measure: Education. Read eBay’s anti-fraud pages at http://pages.ebay.ca/securitycentre/avoiding_fraud.html. Don’t ever settle a deal by transacting outside the auction service.
STOCK SCAMS
Ever received an e-mail offering a hot stock tip? Don’t be fooled. Scammers choose a company with stock traded on low value ‘microscap‘ exchanges, and send out hundreds of thousands of spam e-mails predicting a rise in value. If even a small percentage of those victims fall for the scam and purchase shares, it forces the price up. The scammer, who purchased stock before the ruse began, now sells it off at a huge profit. The price falls and the victims lose out.
Protective measure: Invest wisely. If you’re following stock tips from unknown individuals about unknown companies, you’re in the wrong business.
PHISHING
Scammers send e-mails to the victim pretending to be from a well-known company with online access, such as a bank or online retailer.
The mail uses a ruse such as a security check to persuade victims to visit a linked website and enter their account details. The site is owned by the scammer and tailored to look like the company’s real site. The customer’s information (which may include credit card details) is then used to access real accounts and steal assets.
As consumers get wise to this scam, criminals are refining it, sending out fewer e-mails containing well-researched individual information about the target victim, such as first name and company name.
This technique, called ‘spearphishing‘, can dupe victims who already may be aware of phishing fraud.
Protective measure: Invest in a tool such as McAfee’s SiteAdvisor, which warns you if a site you’re surfing to is a known phishing site.
Reputable online sites never send such e-mails.
WORK AT HOME
Often appealing to stay-at-home mothers, such scams are particularly distasteful because they can incriminate the victim. A common version is the reshipping scam, where the scammer asks the target to transfer goods or funds overseas on a fictional company’s behalf.
The assets are normally obtained via another scam.
For example, “the scammer buys goods with stolen credit cards and has the goods shipped to the victim because many vendors won’t ship internationally,” says Grant.
Some victims are asked to take funds transferred from another bank account to theirs, shipping it to the scammer via Western Union.
The victim acts as a money mule for funds that have been stolen by phishing or other fraudulent activity, and will be the first (and possibly only) port of call for law enforcement.
Protective measure: Use your head. Treat any get-rich-quick schemes with healthy skepticism.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
