The Anatomy of an Internet Scam
Ali’s CaseUnfortunately, a lot of people have become victims of these kinds of scams. Last year a 32 year old Dubai man, who we shall call Ali, lost US$500, 000 to three Nigerian conmen who contacted him via email and pretended to be the daughter in law of the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
Canada Goose Coats On Sale In their emails they told Ali that she (the daughter in law) had inherited millions from her husband who was killed in the Libyan revolution but the money was kept at the United Nations (UN) office in Egypt. The man, however, needed further convincing and asked for some sort of proof that she was not lying. Canada Goose Coats On Sale
canada goose black friday sale The con artists replied with a scanned fake passport stating that she was married to one of the former dictator’s son. Ali fell into the trap like fly in honey. canada goose black friday sale
In the effort to seem canada goose outlet vancouver genuine and canada goose outlet store near me gather more information, the conmen asked him to send them a passport copy of himself to ensure that he was ‘sincere’ about helping her.
Ali then organized canada goose outlet jackets a trip to Egypt where he was met with a man he presumed to be from the UN who took him on a tour of their ‘office’ and then handed him two large briefcases. He was then advised to contact the ‘daughter in law’ to get the security access codes.
When he finally opened the suitcases, he found what appeared to be large amounts of US legal bills painted with black ink. There were goose outlet canada two chemical containers next to them with a UN stamp and instructions to contact offices in London or Saudi Arabia.
When Ali contact the numbers provided, he was instructed to pay US$200, 000 to the office and they would help him mix the chemicals which would be used to dissolve the black in. He was also asked to pay another US$362, 000 to receive a certificate for the money.
Ali paid both amounts between June and September, 2013, by electronically wiring the funds. However, he became suspicious when more money was asked of him and he contacted the local police.
buy canada goose jacket The Dubai police then arranged a sting operation and nabbed two suspects. However, the third managed to get away. buy canada goose jacket
Sadly, Ali’s case is one of so many all over the world. It is unfortunate that while canada goose outlet houston the internet has made communication so much easier, it has also made it relatively easy and cheap for criminals to commit crimes. However, understanding how the scammers operate could give potential victims the knowledge needed to make sound judgement.
Canada Goose Jackets The Tease the first stage involves some sort of attention grabber and usually includes a sad or complicated back story. Canada Goose Jackets
In Ali’s case they used the ‘maiden in distress’ tactic seeking help from a ‘knight in shining armour.’
The Please the canadagoose-jackets-online.com next stage includes ‘pleasing’ the mark by letting him or her know that they will be rewarded for their help. In most cases it involves monetary rewards. However, other forms of rewards have been recorded
This was the case when the ‘daughter in law’ offered Ali 20% of her million dollar inheritance. The promise of riches has always been a strong point of reference for canada goose outlet store toronto scammers.
canada goose uk shop The Seize this stage involves scammers putting potential victims at a point where they commit to the con. It also longest and probably most complicated stage of the process. canada goose uk shop
I believe this happened when Ali tried to verify if the ‘daughter in law’ was for real and asked for proof. It canada goose outlet was a confirmation that he was buying into the con. They then reemphasized this when he flew out of his comfort zone and into Egypt.
The suitcase filled with what appeared canada goose outlet paypal to be US money was also a primer to get Ali to go all the way. The seize stage ended when he finally made payments to the scammers.
The Squeeze this is an optional stage but it’s when scammers become greedy and try to get more money from their victims as was the case with Ali.
The second payment he made of US$362, 000 was a squeeze. This is also the stage when most scammers are caught.
uk canada goose outlet When Ali reported the matter to Dubai police, they encouraged him to keep in contact with the scammers knowing they would still try to squeeze him. It worked. uk canada goose outlet
canada goose coats on sale Triggers to Indicate a ScamAs scams come in myriad forms, it is best to keep in mind that there will always be something off with scam emails or messages. Here are some triggers that you should be on the lookout for: canada goose coats on sale
Unsolicited. If you receive unsolicited messages asking for some sort of help in canada goose outlet uk sale return for large financial rewards then most likely it’s a scam.
Informal contacts. I’ve noticed a number canada goose outlet online store of scams that claim to be from Multinational Corporations but use free internet mail or the address is located in a country where the headquarters shouldn’t be.
canada goose clearance sale Personal information. Whenever an email comes asking for your personal information, red flags should go up. The commercial banks in PNG recently announced scammers were email their clients asking for personal details. canada goose clearance sale
The banks explicitly noted that they would never ask for personal banking details. Why should they? They are already privy to that information.
uk canada goose SourcesFour Common Stages of a Scam (internet or not) : tease, please, seize, squeeze, using mystery shoppi uk canada goose.