List of the Top 10 Scams of 2006

 

List of the Top 10 Scams of 2006:

1. Fake Lottery Scam
Do you think you may have won some kind of lottery? Think again. Here’s a scheme where you are asked to fork out a fee to collect your prize.

2. Phishing - Vishing Scams
You won’t believe it but even the most sophisticated high tech guys or “computer nerds” out there have gotten phished. Two from my own family, whom I consider quite sophisticated with ecommerce, online shopping or who actually build software for a living have been phishing victims! That is, they’ve been tricked into entering their personal information through email designed to appear like official messages from trusted sources such as banks, other financial institutions or anyone else they may have done business with. Vishing is a newer form of phishing except in this situation, an email message asks you to contact a toll-free customer service number through which you provide all your highly sensitive information.

3. Phony Job
This just sounds like a confusing set up involving fooling someone into thinking they have a new job via an online job site and making them deposit fake checks whose amounts need to be rewired elsewhere. Somehow the victim’s money gets withdrawn in the process. Sounds like it would be hard to pull off but it happens!

4. Negative Options Scam
I find it an outrage that this practice is so rampant even among seemingly reputable outfits. I have actually gotten “caught” in some of these offers in the past and have gotten stuck. In fact, a very well known pest control company has tried some variant of this “scam” on me before. Sign up, whether knowingly or unknowingly, but you can never cancel a subscription. Or you need tons of requests in writing to end your subscription. My solution: forego any free offers ever again, and only sign up for services that allow easy cancellation.

5. Nigerian 419 Scam
If you’ve received email from a seemingly very powerful and wealthy yet desperate sounding foreign individual asking you to assist with some large money transactions, you’ve just received an invitation to become a Nigerian 419 scam victim. Have a laugh at the strangely worded, exotic sounding tale of woe, then trash it. I keep copies that I receive to elicit some chuckles when I’m bored.

6. Pump and Dump Scam
Oh boy. I confess. I recall having fallen for this exact scam earlier this year. Shame on me, for I obstinately believed I knew what I was doing. No… those message board buddies of yours with names like “thebear_is_dead” or “wallstreetpimpster” shouldn’t be considered in your “circle of trust”. If you get unverifiable investment advice anywhere especially on penny stocks, run far, far away.

7. Bogus Fuel Saving Devices
These are devices or materials that companies claim will help you save on gas usage. These companies will try to sell you magic pellets, potions, magnets and so forth.

8. Grandparents’ Scam
Somebody calls you and pretends they’re your grandkid. Now that is brazen!

9. Oprah Ticket Scam
The fraudsters offer tickets and tour packages to Oprah’s show but will require your account information and identification to snag your booking. That wouldn’t work on me…. but it could be another story if they told me I won seats to the American Idol Finale!

10. Craigslist Fake Check Scam
Another one of those “deposit a fake check and wire the balance to someone else” schemes.

Fraud and Western Union

Western Union has been the conduit of a lot of fraud. But since they're not the victim, they don't care much about security. It's an externality to them. It took a lawsuit to convince them to take security seriously.


Western Union, one of the world's most frequently used money transfer services, will begin warning its customers against possible fraud in their transactions.


Persuading consumers to send wire transfers, particularly to Canada, has been a popular method for con artists. Recent scams include offering consumers counterfeit cashier's checks, advance-fee loans and phony lottery winnings.


More than $113 million was swindled in 2002 from U.S. residents through wire transfer fraud to Canada alone, according to a survey conducted by investigators in seven states.


Washington was one of 10 states that negotiated an $8.5 million settlement with Western Union. Most of the settlement would fund a national program to counsel consumers against telemarketing fraud.


In addition to the money, the company has agreed to increase fraud awareness at more than 50,000 locations, develop a computer program that would spot likely fraud-induced transfers before they are completed and block transfers from specific consumers to specific recipients when the company receives fraud information from state authorities.

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