Derrick
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
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The top scams in 2007 were pets, romance and secret shoppers according to a report released by the Internet Crime Complaint Centre.
An article in the North Country Gazette reported that pet scams, adoption or charity frauds and romance fraud top the list.
Pet Scams
These involve scams where online users buy a pet online but never receive the animal.
A related online ‘pet’ scheme involves asking people to pay to prevent the owner from killing the animal. The most well known case was for a pet bunny called Toby. Thankfully the little critter has actually been saved so it wasn’t a complete scam, more like an unscrupulous scheme to make a quick buck.
Secret Shoppers
Here the user is asked to redistribute funds received but the cheque turns out to be bad.
Adoption and Charity Frauds
These scams use emotional blackmail asking for funds from what appears to be a real charity, often the real logo is used illegally.
Romance Frauds
Lonely singles beware because there are unscrupulous fraudsters hanging around dating and social networking sites with the aim of siphoning some of your funds into their account. In my opinion this has to be the most shameless plot of the lot because these people take time to earn your trust and pose as a friend in need once they know they have you convinced.
Recently an Australian man flew over to Mali with the idea that he would be meeting his potential future wife, Natasha. Needless to say he returned home sans luggage and travel money plus he was kidnapped by a group of gangsters and held hostage for 12 days whilst they tried to extort more money from his relatives.
An article in the North Country Gazette reported that pet scams, adoption or charity frauds and romance fraud top the list.
Pet Scams
These involve scams where online users buy a pet online but never receive the animal.
A related online ‘pet’ scheme involves asking people to pay to prevent the owner from killing the animal. The most well known case was for a pet bunny called Toby. Thankfully the little critter has actually been saved so it wasn’t a complete scam, more like an unscrupulous scheme to make a quick buck.
Secret Shoppers
Here the user is asked to redistribute funds received but the cheque turns out to be bad.
Adoption and Charity Frauds
These scams use emotional blackmail asking for funds from what appears to be a real charity, often the real logo is used illegally.
Romance Frauds
Lonely singles beware because there are unscrupulous fraudsters hanging around dating and social networking sites with the aim of siphoning some of your funds into their account. In my opinion this has to be the most shameless plot of the lot because these people take time to earn your trust and pose as a friend in need once they know they have you convinced.
Recently an Australian man flew over to Mali with the idea that he would be meeting his potential future wife, Natasha. Needless to say he returned home sans luggage and travel money plus he was kidnapped by a group of gangsters and held hostage for 12 days whilst they tried to extort more money from his relatives.