Nigerians Please Beware Of Scammers (Enter)

 

   Scammers continue to target everyone, regardless of age, gender, education or income level. Scams can cost people a lot of money and cause a great deal of distress.
Scams are increasingly sophisticated and use a variety of tactics, excuses and lies to convince you that it is a genuine request.
With the rise of internet banking it is easy to transfer money across the world in minutes. Unfortunately, this has also meant an increase in the number and types of scams that try to trick you into sending your hard-earned cash to overseas scammers.

The scammers may promise huge rewards or what looks like an easy way to make money. Other scammers trick people who are trying to buy or sell products over the internet.

Some common scams that involve transferring money are described below. Regardless of what the scammer tells you, you should be very cautious about sending money to someone you don't know. Remember that once you send money to someone, it can be very difficult to get it back—especially if they are based overseas.

Follow these golden rules to help protect yourself and your family from scams.

Golden rules:

-If it looks too good to be true—it probably is.
-Use your common sense: the offer may be a scam.
-ALWAYS get independent advice if an offer involves significant money, time or commitment.
-Remember there are no get-rich-quick schemes: the only people who make money are the scammers.
-Do not agree to offers or deals straight away: tell the person that you are not interested or that you want to get some independent advice before making a decision.
-NEVER send money or give credit card or online account details to anyone you do not know and trust.
-Check your bank account and credit card statements when you get them. If you see a transaction you cannot explain, report it to your credit union or bank.
-Keep your credit and ATM cards safe. Do not share your personal identity number with anyone. Do not keep any written copy of your PIN with the card.

Advance fee fraud/up-front payments
Be suspicious of all unsolicited calls and emails received from out-of-the-blue.
If in doubt, speak to your family and friends to get a second opinion. You should also contact the Croatian Embassy on 02 6286 6988.
Don’t forget that scammers always lie! They usually claim to represent highly reputable organisations, banks and government agencies to trick their victims.
Tell your family and friends about this scam, especially if English is not their first language.
If a close friend or family member suddenly starts to transfer large sums of money overseas, you may wish to discuss this with them. If you think they are sending the money to a scammer you may need to stop them.


Bank scams
​This scheme involves letters or emails received from various places, including Nigeria, South Africa, Canada and Europe. The sender typically impersonates a high-ranking government official or a bank employee, who has a large amount of money they need to get into or out of the country.

The con artist offers to make the victim a partner and requests that the victim set up a legitimate bank account. The account will be used to transfer millions of dollars, from which the victim will get to keep a sizable portion of the money. Documents are also sent to the victim with "official-looking" seals, stamps, etc. The victim is eventually asked to provide up-front or advanced fees to cover taxes, attorney fees, etc.

Inheritance scams
An inheritance scam is when a scammer contacts you out of the blue to tell you that you’ve been left, or are entitled to claim, a large inheritance from a distant relative or wealthy benefactor who has died overseas.

419' scams
You are promised huge rewards if you help someone transfer money out of their country by paying fees or giving them your bank account details.

Up-front payment scams
You are asked to send money upfront for a product or ‘reward’. You will end up with something much less than you expected, or nothing at all.

Transferring money for someone else
If you agree to transfer money for someone you don’t know, you let scammers use your bank account to ‘launder’ their dirty money. This puts you and your money in the firing line.

Cheque overpayment scams
You are sent a cheque for something you have sold, but it is for more than the amount agreed. The scammer hopes you will refund the extra money before you notice that their cheque has bounced.


Requests for your account information ('phishing' scams)
Phishing emails are fake emails usually pretending to be from banks or other financial institutions. They make up some reason for you to give your account details and then use these details to steal your money.

Charity scams
These scams play on your generosity and involve a scammer posing as a genuine charity in order to fraudulently collect money.

Auction cars
This kind of scam is everywhere – in the Facebook comments, forums, blogs and websites. They post an impressive list of cars of all kinds. Than they claim that the cars are confiscated by government and officials want to get rid of them as soon as possible. Attempting to deal with them means that you would never see your money and any car either.

Sugar Mommies
These guys also can be found all over the web. They post spam contacts on comments on Facebook pages. They promise you that they would connect you with rich older woman (or maen) who need some intimacy and in return will pay you a lot of money. When a poor potential mugu follows the contact and calls them, he is asked to pay some fee for registration. Of course this money is gone forever.

Lacasera scam text
‘Congratulation! You have won #250,000.00 Your no is among the 42 lucky winners of LACASERA (A popular soft drink in Nigeria) DRINK PROMO. Ticket no, GXB30. Call 08131889692. To claim your prize. (Please note I reconstructed the SMS verbatim).