jasnrichrdsn
14 November 2005, 09:05
Money Recovery Scams
1. The Facts.
People lose millions every year through 419 scams. Whether it is advance fee fraud, love scams, fake lotteries, or charity scams, according to the UK's Office of Fair Trading (http://www.oft.gov.uk/Consumer/Scams/default.htm), an astounding £1bn is lost in Britain every year. Worldwide these scammers take in billions more from unsuspecting victims. Despite laws enacted to prevent this theft from continuing, there is virtually no way to stop a criminal from sitting at a computer and sending an email that results in you losing your money. It is untraceable.
2. The Fiction.
Occasionally the victim of a scam will be contacted by someone who claims to be able to get their money returned to them. What they promise is that they will track down the scammers and return the money to its rightful owner and bring the scammers to justice. The email is frequently accompanied by official-looking documents or from an official-sounding government office. This service is available to you for a fee, of course.
3. The Scam.
Just like the others scams, once you send money to a scammer to supposedly find the money you lost originally, there will be fees to be paid, then more fees, followed by a familiar series of mishaps and escalating costs. When you cannot pay any more money, the person who promised to help you will disappear.
419 scammers operate in complete anonymity behind false names and email addresses, sending their barrage of messages from cyber cafes. While it might be possible to trace the origin of a particular email through the message's IP address, there is very little chance of actually finding the person who sent you the email and stole your money. The only identifiers on the message tell you where it came, not who sent it.
If you have lost money to a scammer, there is little that can be done to get your money back. Anyone who promises to do so is trying to scam you again.
If the email offering to recover your funds comes from an official government office, check the email address. It will likely be from Yahoo, Hotmail, or another email provider that is not associated with any official office. It can be said with some certainty that no one working in an official capacity for a government or a bank uses these free email clients to contact people.
1. The Facts.
People lose millions every year through 419 scams. Whether it is advance fee fraud, love scams, fake lotteries, or charity scams, according to the UK's Office of Fair Trading (http://www.oft.gov.uk/Consumer/Scams/default.htm), an astounding £1bn is lost in Britain every year. Worldwide these scammers take in billions more from unsuspecting victims. Despite laws enacted to prevent this theft from continuing, there is virtually no way to stop a criminal from sitting at a computer and sending an email that results in you losing your money. It is untraceable.
2. The Fiction.
Occasionally the victim of a scam will be contacted by someone who claims to be able to get their money returned to them. What they promise is that they will track down the scammers and return the money to its rightful owner and bring the scammers to justice. The email is frequently accompanied by official-looking documents or from an official-sounding government office. This service is available to you for a fee, of course.
3. The Scam.
Just like the others scams, once you send money to a scammer to supposedly find the money you lost originally, there will be fees to be paid, then more fees, followed by a familiar series of mishaps and escalating costs. When you cannot pay any more money, the person who promised to help you will disappear.
419 scammers operate in complete anonymity behind false names and email addresses, sending their barrage of messages from cyber cafes. While it might be possible to trace the origin of a particular email through the message's IP address, there is very little chance of actually finding the person who sent you the email and stole your money. The only identifiers on the message tell you where it came, not who sent it.
If you have lost money to a scammer, there is little that can be done to get your money back. Anyone who promises to do so is trying to scam you again.
If the email offering to recover your funds comes from an official government office, check the email address. It will likely be from Yahoo, Hotmail, or another email provider that is not associated with any official office. It can be said with some certainty that no one working in an official capacity for a government or a bank uses these free email clients to contact people.