Templar
07-10-2009, 07:04 AM
The Advent of the Internet and Scams.
Today, with the growth of technology and liberalisation of the internet, Wire Fraud, Scams, Spam, 419ers trawl through the networks for unsuspecting victims.
Promises of Love, Fortunes, Employment, Charities, Religious, Business Potentials, type scams are out there to get you.
The moment you are plugged into an email, you are a potential target.
To be fair not all Scammers are from Nigeria, but that is the general base of unwarranted that you will or have received.
The intention is to get you, the victim to part with your hard earned money.
Their levels of scope of scams is staggering and many of the scammers are from the old world scams that have upgraded in technology to increase their reach.
They prey on your emotional needs of wanting a better life.
Most here are familiar with the everyday email scam that arrive in you email and mostly in the Junk folder, but there has been a wave of elite scammers that are a growing number. They are rather sophisticated in Finance, Banking and Trade.
Forgers are getting so advance that experts have a trouble telling them apart.
Here are some that are common and some not so.
Love Scams –
They trawl sites like Dating, Facebook, Friendster, Craiglist, Russian Brides, Skype and strike up a chat, and with promises of love gets the victims to part with their hard earned money.
Usually for travel to meet the victim, VISA costs, expenses, Even tuition and as this sounds way off, Graduation Garments.
I met a bloke who sent a girl, Yulia, money for exotic underwear and were waiting for her pictures, A lady who sent money to a fake doctor as her friend/love interest was in a hospital. Mind you, they can be creative.
The Forged Cheque Scam –
The Victim receives cheque to bank in and forward a portion to the scammer.
Most are fakes right from the start, however, they may even send you a real cheque for the first few transactions and as they go along, gaining your trust start larger amounts that are fakes.
The unsuspecting victims has successfully done it several times and see no risk and remits the funds only to find that they have been had.
The Forward Fee Scam –
These are pretty straight forward as they would require to pay a cost of transaction up front for you to finish the transaction as you are the beneficiary.
These can come as logistic, legal and miscellaneous charges.
They even send you forged documents, like Corporate and Legal Letterheads, Passports, Statutory Body Letterheads, Banking documents like SWIFTS and even copies of payment instruments like Bank Drafts, Bank Guarantees, Bill of Exchange, Promissory Notes, Bonds etc.
The ‘FEAR’ Scam –
This preys on your fear, and gullibility. The intention is to inflict fear like a Kidnapped Love One, Contracted Hit on you or your family, Bail Money from an imposter posing as a kin, and these have to be done hard and fast so as not to let the victim time to rationalise the situation.
The E Imposter / ID Scam –
There are two main types for the imposter.
1) These are Hackers that get into your ID and sends your contacts request for help, usually money or sometimes your details as they claim to want send you something.
2) The second id an ID theft who promises fortunes but you need to send them your details, like name, address, passport number, bank account etc.
They will apply for credit cards, loans, buy merchandise in your name.
Credit Card Forgery Scam –
Fraudsters use Skimming as a means to steal credit card information.
This is done by dishonest employee of a legitimate merchant, manually copying down numbers, or using a magnetic stripe reader on a small electronic device. Scammers target eateries or bars where the skimmer has possession of the victim's credit card out of their sight, and there is an active underworld market for this data.
The Sophisticated Scammer –
These are the bane of businessmen around the world. They are familiar with computers, Have the ability to Hack, Desktop Publishing, well funded and does travel, knows International Business Protocols like the ICC, have reasonable knowledge on Securities and Trade Finance.
They are the Big Game Hunters, and go for the naïve businessmen.
Offers of Commodities like Crude Oil, Gold, Copper, Iron Ore etc
Their intention is to get an Letter of Credit. Putting up a 2 percent Performance Guarantee is not an issue even if it is several Million Dollars.
Once they get the Letter of Credit, they will Forfait ( Discount ) it and run.
Offers of Medium Term Notes, Bonds Fixed Income, Unregistered ( 144A )
Securities Debt Derivatives.
They will send you a Bloomberg or EuroClear Printout of a security and offer it at a discount that is greater that the market value.
They demand a SWIFT MT 103 Field 23’ . Upon which, they will send the security in 3 banking days. The MT 103 field 23’ is claimed by them as a conditional wire transfer. With that done, they will SWIFT the security to the victim, and upon receipt the seller lifts the condition that is the field 23 on the wire transfer and gets paid.
Truth – There is no such thing as a Field 23’ or Conditional Wire Transfer.
A SWIFT 103 is a Transfer of Credit to the Beneficiary, in this case, the scammer. The is a Field 23B. That is just a cheaper option of sending money and takes a little more time to process.
“If it is too good to be true, it probably is.”
************************************************** **
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/2009...fake-lsquo.htm
U.S. says $134B bonds seized in Italy are 'clearly fake'
18 June 2009 @ 05:14 pm ETNext Politics & Policy Article A spokesman from the US bureau of the Public Debt said Wednesday that the $134 billion of U.S. bonds seized by Italy's financial police are “clearly fakes,” all through no official word has been issued from Italy.
Two weeks ago, according to the Italian authorities, two Japanese men were caught at the rail station with the seized bonds hidden in a briefcase. The notes included 249 securities worth $500 million each, and 10 additional bonds with a value of more than $1 billion. The seizure also included large amount of 'Kennedy bonds'.
"They are clearly fakes," said Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt in Washington.
"That's beyond the fact that the face value is far beyond what's out there," he said. “No such 'Kennedy bonds' exist.”
According to U.S. Treasury records, it shows an estimated $105 billion in bearer bonds have yet to be surrendered, and most matured more than five years ago, he said, noting that the US Treasury stopped issuing bearer bonds in 1982.
Italy’s Guardia di Finanz, a highly specialized financial police agency, also expressed doubts about their authenticity, especially in the 'Kennedy bonds', but noted the others were so well made that it was hard to tell them apart from real ones.
The Japanese nationals who were caught bringing in the bonds have been released as they "broke no laws", according to the Mainichi Shimbum, which sent a reporter to the Italian town of Chiasso where the men were arrested.
Today, with the growth of technology and liberalisation of the internet, Wire Fraud, Scams, Spam, 419ers trawl through the networks for unsuspecting victims.
Promises of Love, Fortunes, Employment, Charities, Religious, Business Potentials, type scams are out there to get you.
The moment you are plugged into an email, you are a potential target.
To be fair not all Scammers are from Nigeria, but that is the general base of unwarranted that you will or have received.
The intention is to get you, the victim to part with your hard earned money.
Their levels of scope of scams is staggering and many of the scammers are from the old world scams that have upgraded in technology to increase their reach.
They prey on your emotional needs of wanting a better life.
Most here are familiar with the everyday email scam that arrive in you email and mostly in the Junk folder, but there has been a wave of elite scammers that are a growing number. They are rather sophisticated in Finance, Banking and Trade.
Forgers are getting so advance that experts have a trouble telling them apart.
Here are some that are common and some not so.
Love Scams –
They trawl sites like Dating, Facebook, Friendster, Craiglist, Russian Brides, Skype and strike up a chat, and with promises of love gets the victims to part with their hard earned money.
Usually for travel to meet the victim, VISA costs, expenses, Even tuition and as this sounds way off, Graduation Garments.
I met a bloke who sent a girl, Yulia, money for exotic underwear and were waiting for her pictures, A lady who sent money to a fake doctor as her friend/love interest was in a hospital. Mind you, they can be creative.
The Forged Cheque Scam –
The Victim receives cheque to bank in and forward a portion to the scammer.
Most are fakes right from the start, however, they may even send you a real cheque for the first few transactions and as they go along, gaining your trust start larger amounts that are fakes.
The unsuspecting victims has successfully done it several times and see no risk and remits the funds only to find that they have been had.
The Forward Fee Scam –
These are pretty straight forward as they would require to pay a cost of transaction up front for you to finish the transaction as you are the beneficiary.
These can come as logistic, legal and miscellaneous charges.
They even send you forged documents, like Corporate and Legal Letterheads, Passports, Statutory Body Letterheads, Banking documents like SWIFTS and even copies of payment instruments like Bank Drafts, Bank Guarantees, Bill of Exchange, Promissory Notes, Bonds etc.
The ‘FEAR’ Scam –
This preys on your fear, and gullibility. The intention is to inflict fear like a Kidnapped Love One, Contracted Hit on you or your family, Bail Money from an imposter posing as a kin, and these have to be done hard and fast so as not to let the victim time to rationalise the situation.
The E Imposter / ID Scam –
There are two main types for the imposter.
1) These are Hackers that get into your ID and sends your contacts request for help, usually money or sometimes your details as they claim to want send you something.
2) The second id an ID theft who promises fortunes but you need to send them your details, like name, address, passport number, bank account etc.
They will apply for credit cards, loans, buy merchandise in your name.
Credit Card Forgery Scam –
Fraudsters use Skimming as a means to steal credit card information.
This is done by dishonest employee of a legitimate merchant, manually copying down numbers, or using a magnetic stripe reader on a small electronic device. Scammers target eateries or bars where the skimmer has possession of the victim's credit card out of their sight, and there is an active underworld market for this data.
The Sophisticated Scammer –
These are the bane of businessmen around the world. They are familiar with computers, Have the ability to Hack, Desktop Publishing, well funded and does travel, knows International Business Protocols like the ICC, have reasonable knowledge on Securities and Trade Finance.
They are the Big Game Hunters, and go for the naïve businessmen.
Offers of Commodities like Crude Oil, Gold, Copper, Iron Ore etc
Their intention is to get an Letter of Credit. Putting up a 2 percent Performance Guarantee is not an issue even if it is several Million Dollars.
Once they get the Letter of Credit, they will Forfait ( Discount ) it and run.
Offers of Medium Term Notes, Bonds Fixed Income, Unregistered ( 144A )
Securities Debt Derivatives.
They will send you a Bloomberg or EuroClear Printout of a security and offer it at a discount that is greater that the market value.
They demand a SWIFT MT 103 Field 23’ . Upon which, they will send the security in 3 banking days. The MT 103 field 23’ is claimed by them as a conditional wire transfer. With that done, they will SWIFT the security to the victim, and upon receipt the seller lifts the condition that is the field 23 on the wire transfer and gets paid.
Truth – There is no such thing as a Field 23’ or Conditional Wire Transfer.
A SWIFT 103 is a Transfer of Credit to the Beneficiary, in this case, the scammer. The is a Field 23B. That is just a cheaper option of sending money and takes a little more time to process.
“If it is too good to be true, it probably is.”
************************************************** **
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/2009...fake-lsquo.htm
U.S. says $134B bonds seized in Italy are 'clearly fake'
18 June 2009 @ 05:14 pm ETNext Politics & Policy Article A spokesman from the US bureau of the Public Debt said Wednesday that the $134 billion of U.S. bonds seized by Italy's financial police are “clearly fakes,” all through no official word has been issued from Italy.
Two weeks ago, according to the Italian authorities, two Japanese men were caught at the rail station with the seized bonds hidden in a briefcase. The notes included 249 securities worth $500 million each, and 10 additional bonds with a value of more than $1 billion. The seizure also included large amount of 'Kennedy bonds'.
"They are clearly fakes," said Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt in Washington.
"That's beyond the fact that the face value is far beyond what's out there," he said. “No such 'Kennedy bonds' exist.”
According to U.S. Treasury records, it shows an estimated $105 billion in bearer bonds have yet to be surrendered, and most matured more than five years ago, he said, noting that the US Treasury stopped issuing bearer bonds in 1982.
Italy’s Guardia di Finanz, a highly specialized financial police agency, also expressed doubts about their authenticity, especially in the 'Kennedy bonds', but noted the others were so well made that it was hard to tell them apart from real ones.
The Japanese nationals who were caught bringing in the bonds have been released as they "broke no laws", according to the Mainichi Shimbum, which sent a reporter to the Italian town of Chiasso where the men were arrested.