 International Financial Scams
International scammers continue to tempt people around the world with promises of lucrative rewards, usually in return for assistance in transferring vast sums of money.
Unfortunately, the truth is that by agreeing to cooperate in the scheme, innocent people become victims of a vast international criminal industry.
If you receive a scam message:
* Ignore it!
If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is!
* Never send any money in response to a scam offer!
No matter how convincing the offer seems.
* Once money has been advanced in response to a scam proposal, the Australian Government has no legal power to assist in its retrieval.
* The recovery of funds in these cases is a private commercial matter and the onus is on individuals to recover their losses.
The Government can assist only by providing the names of in-country legal representatives.
* Travel to the country concerned to retrieve any money that may have been advanced can be very dangerous and should be undertaken with extreme caution.
Since 1992 at least 17 people have been killed in Nigeria alone attempting to recover their funds.
Are “Nigerian” scams really from Nigeria?
Although commonly referred to as "Nigerian", the various international financial scams that first appeared in 1989 don’t necessarily originate in Nigeria. Many scams originate in countries including Angola, Sierra Leone, the Congo, the Ivory Coast, South Africa, Mauritius, Philippines, Zimbabwe and Azerbaijan. These scams are also known as 419 frauds, after the relevant section of the Nigerian Criminal Code. Because of their criminal nature, scams can be very difficult to trace.
What to look out for
Financial scams typically arrive in the form of unsolicited letters, faxes or emails urging the recipient to assist financial transactions that need to be conducted urgently and in the strictest confidence.
The person writing may claim to be:
* A government official,
* The widow/widower of a government official,
* The relative of a former ruler or wealthy individual (most often from a country in turmoil),
* A solicitor acting on behalf of one of the above,
* The executor of the will of a recently-deceased person (who they may allege was a relative of yours), or
* A representative of a charity or business group.
Scams usually contain a bogus story (often quite believable) about how vast sums of money were accumulated in a bank account, but for a variety of reasons can not be moved or accessed without the help of the recipient.
Scammers typically promise the recipient a large benefit or reward (usually a generous percentage of a huge sum of money) in return for the recipient’s help in transferring large amounts of cash to the recipient’s bank account.
The scammers usually ask for the recipient’s bank account details to transfer either the entire amount or just the recipient’s “share”.
In an effort to make the scam more convincing, scammers often provide fake documentation which looks like it comes from reputable financial, governmental or legal institutions. Often the names of real organisations and their actual addresses are used, but there is no genuine connection. Any telephone numbers provided on letterhead, for example, would be connected directly to the office of the scammers.
Recent scam letters and emails also allege that recipients are the winners of fictitious lotteries (to the tune of ludicrously large sums of money) and urge recipients to provide bank account details to collect their “winnings” (and to keep quiet about the win until after the money has been transferred).
In other cases scammers may offer trade and/or business opportunities that appear to be genuine, but are probably bogus, and almost certainly illegal. At other times, scammers have been known to resort to heart-wrenching stories involving school childrens’ fees. More recently, there have been reports of scammers seeking money from people who believe they are about to establish a genuine personal relationship with someone they have met over the Internet. Almost all these stories will be false.
What is the aim of these scams?
Contrary to popular belief, scammers are not actually interested in getting the recipient’s bank account details.
The real aim of most scams is to persuade recipients to provide money the scammers claim is needed (for customs fees, local taxes and charges, bribes, etc) to enable the alleged transaction to be completed.
How do the scams develop?
At some stage in the scam the recipient will be asked to advance money to help the transfer process along - THIS IS THE STING. Each request for an advance is presented as definitely the last needed to complete the transfer of funds. However, there is always some new excuse why the transfer can’t be made to the victim’s account without yet another fee being paid. In this way victims can be induced to part with hundreds or even thousands of dollars in the belief that giving just a little more will help secure a huge windfall.
What can you do if you have paid money in response to a scam?
Once money has been advanced in response to a scam proposal, the Australian Government has no legal power to assist in its retrieval.
The recovery of funds in these cases is a private commercial matter and the onus is on individuals to recover their losses
* The Government can assist only by providing the names of in-country legal representatives who may be able to assist.
* Travel to the country concerned to retrieve any money that may have been advanced can be very dangerous and should be undertaken with extreme caution
* The people who organise financial scams are highly professional criminals.
* Since 1992 at least 17 people have been killed in Nigeria alone attempting to recover their funds.
thanks for the time reading this article :rock:  Newton
" that is wack ! " | 
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