Received
the following forwarded email from a subscriber this morning:
"I
am an Executive Director with the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and a member of the Contract Advisory Committee
(CAC). I am seeking your assistance to enable me transfer the
sum of $26,500,000 (Twenty Six Million, Five hundred Thousand
United States Dollars) into your private/company account." Carole
told me she has received "3 or 4 of these in the last week,
I think from different people. I deleted the others. It makes
me nervous. Sounds like a dangerous scam. " That's
exactly what it is, of course. Maybe you're reading this thinking
"I can't believe people are still falling for the Nigeria
scam after all this time". On the other hand, maybe you're
reading this thinking, "Wow, I might have responded to that.
How am I supposed to know what's a scam and what's real? The
reality is that there are hundreds of thousands of people coming
online, for the first time, each year. Many of these people have
simply not been exposed to scams like the ones that are constantly
touted on the Internet before. Many of these people come online
to try and find a way to make money with their computers and/or
they're looking for ideas for making money from home. The
fact that they may not recognize scams off the bat doesn't mean
they're naive or stupid, it just means that they haven't been
in an environment where this sort of stuff came their way before
now. And don't the scammers know it. Like
vultures circling overhead, they await their prey. They know they
have only a narrow window of opportunity because it doesn't take
newbies long to catch on so they have to be quick about it. And
how do they do that? They hang out where newbies hang out so they
can get them while they're still young and fresh and vulnerable.
They're nothing but predators looking to pick off the easiest
game. Wouldn't want to have to engage in any real work, after
all. In
this article we look at several main scams and how to recognize
them. =>
Nigerian Advance Fee Scheme The
gist of this worldwide scheme is that small to medium-size businesses
receive a letter from someone who purports to be an official of
the Nigerian government or major utility or similar who needs
to transfer some huge amount of money out of the country. The
money typically is an overpayment by the government on a procurement
contract. The object of the exercise is to get you to provide
your bank account details (for the purpose of wire transferring
the money of course). Surprise surprise, there's a transfer all
right but not INTO your account! =>
The FTC "Dirty Dozen" These
are the top 12 scams that have been identified by the (U.S.) Federal
Trade Commission as the most likely to arrive via email: 1.
Business Opportunities - often pyramid schemes (see below)
thinly disguised as legitimate opportunities to earn money. What
to look for: high returns with little or no effort or cash outlay
required. 2.
Bulk Email - offers of lists of thousands of email addresses
all of whom, of course, are just dying to receive your marketing
message. What to look for: "Bulk Email Works! 10,000 addresses
for $9.99." 3.
Chain Letters - send $5 to the next name on the list then
cross the bottom name off the list, replace it with your own,
then forward the letter to 500 of your nearest and dearest. What
to look for: A jail cell. This is a pyramid scheme and is illegal.
The letter goes to great pains to say that it is not illegal.
4.
Envelope Stuffing - think you're going to be paid for stuffing
envelopes? Think again. You get a kit that you can turn around
to recruit others to an envelope stuffing scam of your very own!
Watch out for craft assembly work as well. You'll probably find
all of your hard work is not up to their exacting "quality
standards" and therefore you won't get paid for your work. 5.
Health and Diet Scams - magic pills that eradicate the need
to eat fewer calories than you expend in order to lose weight.
They don't work. 6.
Effortless Income - no such thing. As the FTC says, if they
worked, everyone would be doing it. 7.
Free Goods - you're told you'll get a free computer. You have
to pay a fee to join a club and then told you have to recruit
other members. You get paid in computers. They're nothing but
pyramid schemes. 8.
Investment Opportunities - look for outrageously high rates
of return with no risk. 9.
Cable Descrambler Kits - they probably won't work and even
if they do, you're stealing a service from a cable company and
committing a crime. 10.
Guaranteed Loans or Credit - pay a fee and you're given a
list of lenders, all of whom turn you down. Credit cards never
arrive.
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Elena Fawkner is editor of the award-winning weekly ezine,
A Home-Based Business Online, a down-to-earth publication
containing practical home-based and online business ideas,
telecommuting job listings, original articles, free e-books and
much more. She also runs the A Home-Based Business Online
website at at http://www.fawkner.com.
You can subscribe to her newsletter at the site.
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