The seller asks for a deposit, after which she will ship the car to you. She won't. It doesn't exist. Neither does she, writes CONOR POPE
RECENTLY Pricewatch got an e-mail in Irish from a major online payment company. It was draped in the company’s branding and it asked us to re-submit our bank details as there had been a security breach and it was concerned its database had been compromised. At least we think that is what it said but having always been pretty appalling at Irish, we were not 100 per cent sure.
We were 100 per cent sure however that it was a scam, a localised one and the kind that is becoming increasingly common among criminals who are based in countries where Peig Sayers has never featured on the curriculum. They use translation software to make their attempts to part us from our cash more believable. And people do believe them.
Tens of millions of dodgy mails are sent out from hubs in eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa every week and while they seem ridiculous people are taken in. According to research by the National Consumer Agency, 10 per cent of Irish people have been successfully conned and revenues from the scams exceeded €6.5 billion worldwide a year, UltraScan, a Dutch research organisation has said.
The NCA’s research found that 61 per cent of us have been contacted by scammers with nearly a third of those so targeted admitting that they had got in touch with the con artists with a view towards getting involved.
The NCA said the foreign lottery scam was the most common scam targeting Irish people with almost one in three adults saying they had been targeted at least once. Pricewatch has “won” the Spanish lottery five times in the last four years.
Phishing e-mails that look to collect sensitive personal information; callers claiming there is a problem with your PC; offers of miracle products that don’t deliver what they promise; and pyramid selling scams are all commonplace. There are enough scams to fill the pages of this newspaper many times over but here are just some of the more common ones we have come across of late.
WHO’S THE MUG?
You come into work one morning, turn on your computer and see a mail from a very old friend, let’s call him Claude. Oh no! Terrible news. Claude’s just been mugged in London (or Las Vegas or Lagos). He now has no money and no passport and has a broken arm. He desperately needs you to send him €500 so he can make his way home. Don’t fret and don’t run off to your local Western Union to transfer money. Claude is fine and probably not even in London. His e-mail account, on the other hand, has been hacked by scammers who have sent begging mails to everyone in his address book.
THE CAR CON
Sites such as carzone.ie and autotrader.ie are where anyone in the market for a new motor goes first. Unfortunately their popularity has not escaped the notice of scammers who sometimes get there first. The ruse is simple. They put a car worth €20,000 up for sale at €5,000. The site is Irish and there is an Irish mobile listed as a contact. You e-mail the seller and get a long, convoluted story about why she is selling at such a knockdown price. Maybe she has moved to continental Europe and can’t sell there because the car is right-hand drive. She asks for a deposit, after which she will ship the car to you. She won’t. It doesn’t exist. Neither does she.
DRAFTY BUSINESS
You run a small business selling cake stands to discerning souls but business has been slow lately. Then, one morning, you get an e-mail from someone wanting to place an order for 100 of the things. You agree a price of €10 a pop and days later a bank draft arrives. It is for €2,500, however, which is €1,500 more than the agreed price. It looks real, is drawn on an Irish bank and you are able to lodge it to your account without a problem.
That same morning an e-mail from the buyer arrives in which they say they made a mistake and sent you €2,500 instead of the €1,000 that was agreed. They are obviously very distressed but being a good sort, you immediately refund the difference. Days later your bank tells you that the original is a forgery and you have absolutely no comeback.
IT CAN’T BE YOU
A dreary summer’s morning is brightened up no end when you get a letter from the Spanish Lottery in which it is explained that they are dividing up some unclaimed funds and your name has come out of the hat. You are in line for €400,000 and all they need are your bank details.
NO SECOND CHANCE
There is a lot that is amazing about eBay but as it has grown into a genuinely global market place it has also become a magnet for scammers. While their sometimes poor grasp of punctuation sometimes suggests otherwise, some of these scammers are not stupid and they have a keen grasp of human psychology.
Step up second-chance offers. You are in the market for a 19th-century trombone but just miss out on a couple. You are understandably raging until minutes later an e-mail draped in eBay’s logos arrives. The winner of the trombone has inexplicably pulled out and as under-bidder you have the option of buying it at the last price you bid. Woohoo! No.
PHONING IT IN
One of the most common online scams today actually starts offline. Someone calls you and says they are from Microsoft or some other legitimate technology company that you will have heard of.
They start by telling you that you have a virus on your computer. It is okay, however, as they are here to help. They will ask you to download a file from a website in order to give them access to your computer so they can scan it and delete the virus. Then they can access your personal details, including financial information. To establish the extent of the fraud, Microsoft surveyed 7,000 computer users in the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada earlier this summer and found that across all four countries, 15 per cent of people had been contacted by scammers.
In Ireland the number stood at 26 per cent. Of those who received a call, 16 per cent of Irish people were deceived into following the scammers’ instructions and 79 per cent of that group suffered some sort of financial loss.
Across all four countries surveyed, the average amount of money stolen was €596, ranging from €56 in Ireland up to €1,077 in Canada. The average cost of repairing damage caused to computers by the scammers was €1,185, but just €110 in Ireland.
Just remember that while Microsoft might well be a fine company, it doesn’t care so much about you that it will actually call you personally to tell you that your computer has a problem.
If you get a call from anyone claiming there is an issue with your computer, regardless of what company they say they are from, do not entertain them. Hang up immediately.
Baiting the scammer
One of the most common online scams sees the widow of some sub-Saharan dictator with a suitcase stuffed with blood diamods under her bed contacting you out of the blue with an offer to share her riches with you. All she wants are your bank details. These 419 scams, as they are known, originated in Nigeria and are are sub-literate and incredibly far fetched but they still they make money for the scammers. It is incredibly cheap to send out millions of these emails at a time and all they need is for a tiny, tiny percentage of naive people to respond, and they are quids in.
Last week we did something that we do not, under any circumstances, recommend you try at home. We replied to a scam e-mail using a special hotmail account set up in the name of Anaive E’ejit. This is what happened:
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:57:27 +0800
From: dalila@rtm.gov.my
Subject: Hello
Hello,
My name is Mr Jean Didier a banker of Audit in our bank. I used to be a personal account manager to late Mr Gary Rios, our bank customer involved in the ill fated Kenya Airways crash. Hearing the report of his death, I made inquiries to trace the extended family relatives to come forward to claim their inheritance but my efforts were aborted.
It was during one of my research I came across your email address and now decided to appoint you as the next of kin in order to claim the deposit with our bank which is at a summary of US$16 million. If you are ready to cooperate with me to get this fund, you will email me back.
Regards, Mr Jean Didier
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:54:27 +0800
From: anaiveeejit@hotmail.com
Subject: Hello
Dear Jean,
Amazing. You have no idea how much this means to me. But are you sure it was meant for me? It seems too good to be true?
Yours in eager anticipation, Anaive E’ejit
From: mrjdidier@hotmail.fr
To: anaiveeejit@hotmail.com
Subject: Email response from Jean Didier
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:48:27 +0100
Dear Anaive E’ejit,
Many thanks for returning promptly. It is true that we do not know each other before. I found myself in this opportunity and had no option than to give out this blind trust by contacting you for this transaction. I want you to know that I did not just wake up and decide to do this, I did my proper home work before contacting you and I want to assure you that this is not a joke.
With your unalloyed co operation, I am going to ensure that all adequate measures are in place to ensure the speedy transfer of this funds to you. I would want to reaffirm that my intentions are in the right places. I see this as an alluring opportunity for us to get this funds and I am very sure that it will benefit the both of us at the long run. What I want from you is your honesty and to be steadfast all through.
I am proposing a 50:50 sharing ratio between us. Because of the short time I re-emphasise on the need for us to try and speed up the process and also to keep every information relating to the transaction strictly between us until the whole process is completed.
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:54:27 +0800
Subject: Hello
Dear Jean,
You have no idea how much this means. To be honest, I’ve been down on my luck in recent years and have made a few bad investments, which lost me much of my fortune. But my luck is turning, wouldn’t you agree? You can count on my honesty and I will be steadfast all through. We need to move quickly – you know what they say about striking while the early worm is hot. When will I hear from you again, Jean? Is it okay if I call you Jean?
All the best and here’s to good times.
Anaive E’ejit
From: mrjdidier@hotmail.fr
To: anaiveeejit@hotmail.com
Subject: Email response from Jean Didier
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 7:48:27 +0100
I hope this mail meets you well. I have carefully taken care of the account file and all is ready now. Find text of application in a separate mail that I sent which you have to fill in your bank account information and send the application to our bank through the email.
You should not be afraid of anything. Please note that it is very risky if another person sees this information that is why a high level of confidentiality must be maintained. You now have the right over this money based on the work I did in the account file and in less than no time the money will be in your account. Please do this possibly today so that bank can start the remittance process immediately. I want the funds to be in your account before week end then we will celebrate big.
After you send the application, drop me a line to inform me. Please do this possibly today so that bank can start the remittance process immediately. If you need any clarification, reach me immediately.
Bye for now, Jean Didier.
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 9:54:27 +0800
Subject: Hello
This is all moving so fast. I can scarcely believe it. Imagine, Jean! All my money problems will be over within the week. You really are an angel, aren’t you? I will fill in the form with my bank details and send it to you immediately.
All the best for now, Anaive E’ejit
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:00:27 +0800
Subject: Hello
Jean I have sent you all my [entirely bogus] details but have not heard from you. I am concerned. I do not want this opportunity to slip through my fingers.
Anaive
Then poor Jean Didier disappeared.
