The
FBI is warning the public about an ongoing scheme involving jury service.
Please be aware that individuals identifying themselves as U.S. court
employees have been contacting citizens by phone and advising them that they
have been selected for jury duty. These individuals ask citizens to verify
names and social security numbers and then ask for their credit card
numbers. If the request is refused, citizens are then threatened with fines.
This page contains links to examples of recent attempts to commit computer
crimes. Many of these scams are designed to capture your personal
information including financial accounts. If you receive this type
of email, ignore it. If you have already given them your information, call
your Computer Crime Coordinator at the Archuleta County Sheriff's Department --
(970) 264-2131.
As a general rule, NEVER click or open an attachment unless you know the
sender. NEVER click on a link to an unknown web site. If the mail seems legitimate but asks for personal information, use the phone to
verify the request.
False charges on your card?
We all receive emails all the
time regarding one scam or another; but last week I REALLY DID get scammed! Both
VISA and MasterCard told me that this scam is currently being worked throughout
the Midwest, with some variance as to the product or amount, and if you are
called, just hang up.
My husband was called on Wednesday from "VISA" and I was called in Thursday from
"MasterCard". It worked like this: Person calling says, "This is Carl Patterson
(any name) and I'm calling from the Security and Fraud department at VISA. My
Badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase
pattern, and I'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card issued by
5/3 bank. Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a
marketing company based in Arizona?"
When you say "No". The caller continues with, "Then we will be issuing a credit
to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range
from $297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase pattern that flags most cards.
Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address),
is that correct?"
You say, "Yes". The caller continues . . . "I will be starting a
fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 800 number
listed on your card 1-800-VISA and ask for Security. you will need
to refer to this Control #". Then gives you a 6 digit number. "Do you need me to read it again?" Caller then says he "needs to verify
you are in possession of your card. Turn the card over. There are 7
numbers;first 4 are 1234 (whatever) the next 3 are the security numbers that verify you are in possession of the card. These
are the numbers you use to make internet purchases to prove you have the card.
Read me the 3 numbers." Then he says "That is correct. I just
needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still
have your card. Do you have any other questions? Don't hesitate to call back if
you do."
You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the card
number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20
minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA security
dept. told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new
purchase of $497.99 WAS put on our card.
Long story made short . . . we made a real fraud report and closed
the VISA card and they are reissuing as a new number. What the scam wants is the 3 digit number and that once the charge goes through, they keep
charging every few days. By the time you get your statement, you think the
credit is coming, and then its harder to actually file a fraud report. The real
VISA reinforced that they will never ask for anything on the card (they already
know).
What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from "Jason
Richardson of MasterCard" with a word for word repeat of the VISA Scam. This
time I didn't let him finish. I hung up.
We filed a police report (as instructed by VISA), and they said they are taking
several of these reports daily and to tell friends, relatives and coworkers.
Despite appearances, this is NOT from the FBI. When you click on
their attachment, either your machine gets infected or if you fill in the form
provided, the crooks get the information they need to steal your identity. (The
form is omitted fro this example.)
Dear Sir/Madam,
we have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.
Important:
Please answer our questions!
The list of questions are attached.
Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison
*** Federal Bureau of Investigation -FBI-
*** 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 3220
*** Washington, DC 20535
*** phone: (202) 324-3000
This is a perennial favorite. It plays on people's greed to obtain
your bank account information. Once you contact Mr. Morgan, you will be
asked for a bank account number to which the money will be transferred.
But you will need to approve transfer of some of your money to them to "cover
expenses". Your account usually ends up empty.
This scam is a little more clever in that they actually use your name to
further convince you of the legitimacy. Not the poor English, spelling,
and the old dates.
FROM: MR.AHMED MORGAN
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT.
FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT.
WEMA BANK NIGERIA PLC.
TELE:+234-80-37160961
Attn: (Name omitted)
I am Mr. Ahmed Morgan the director in charge of auditing and accounting section
of WEMA BANK NIGERIA PLC. I came across Avery huge sum of money belonging to
(name omitted) a national of your country, who used to work with AFRICAN
PETROLUM COMPANY Nigeria [AP]. On the 21st of April 1999, (name omitted) and his
wife and their two children were involved in a car accident along aba express
road after my verification. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost
there lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate
any of my clients extended relatives this has also proved unsuccessful. After
these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name over the
Internet, to locate any member of his family. I have contacted you to assist in
repatriating the money left in his account before they get confiscated or
declared unserviceable by the bank. The deceased had an account valued at about
Ten million US dollars (US$10M) Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the
relatives for over 2 years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of
kin of the deceased since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of
this account valued at Ten Million US dollars (US$10M) can be paid to you and
then you and me can share the money. 60% to me and 35% to you, While 5% will be
set aside to settle expenses incurred during processing this transaction. It is
this time a game of trust and interest meanwhile all the whole arrangement to
put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the
required approval and transfer this money to a foreign account has been put in
place. The directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as
you indicate your interest and willingness to assist me and also benefit from
this great business opportunity.
In fact I could have done this deal alone but because of my position in this
country as a civil servant (A Banker), we are not allowed to operate a foreign
account and would eventually raise an eyebrow on my side during the time of
transfer because I work with the bank. This is the actual reason why it will
require a second party or fellow who will forward claims as the next of kin with
affidavit of trust of oath to the Bank and also present a foreign account where
he will need the money to be transferred at his request as it will be after due
verification and clarification.
I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free. Please,
you are advised to keep this as "top secret" as i am still in service and intend
to retire from service after I conclude this deal with you.
I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you confirm the
money in your account, and ask me to come down to your country for subsequent
sharing of the fund according to percentages previously indicated and further
investment, either in your country or any country you advice me to invest in.
All other necessary vital information will be sent to you when I hear from you.
I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish in this deal
through email address above.
I look forward to pick your mail.
Sound familiar? Another example of the inheritance scam. This one
includes a link to a news story to help convince you of its legitimacy.
It's not you who will get rich from this offer.
Sir.Brian Moffat.
Head of Investigation,
HSBC Bank Plc.
Tooting High St, Summerstown,
London, SW17 0SP England.
Private E-mail: bmoffat@accountant.com
Dear Friend,
SUBJECT: BENEFICIARY SUM OF 30 MILLION POUNDS STERLING GB.
I am seeking for your co-operation to present you to my
bank as the next of kin/will beneficiary to (name omitted), a foreign
contractor from Cologne, Germany
who died in a plane crash on July 25th 2000 with her
husband (name omitted). Her husband and their two
children also perished in the air France Concorde New
York bound flight; please click here for verification.
Before her death she was a contractor to British
National Petroleum Co-operation (BNPC) and has a bank
balance with my bank to the tune of (30 million pounds
sterling GB) which will be paid to you as her next of
kin/will beneficiary. For your information, I am the
Head of Investigation Department with HSBC Bank Plc
London,
The board of directors of HSBC Bank Plc which I am also
a member, mandated me to look for any known relation of
(name omitted), since after her death. However,
all my efforts traces abortive, that is the main reason
I am writing you this to ask for your co-operation for
us to claim this money because it will amount to
injustice if I do not take this decisive step to secure
this deposit and invest it, because if nobody comes
forward to claim the fund it will be forfeited to the
government, based on that I have contacted you to
assist me in making this transaction a reality.
I only have to approve you as the next of kin/will
beneficiary and the fund will be paid to you as the
beneficiary. We are to share this money between
ourselves and also donate 10% to charity and the
tsunami victims if you are really interested in this offer
you should contact me through this email address: (email address omitted.)
For detail of this transaction and procedures, please
do forward me your full name, address, phone number, your company name or
occupation these info are vital to the success of this transaction.
Note that this transaction is risk free. I will commence immediately
to secure all legal documents in your favor on your acceptance to fully
co-operate with me.
I await your urgent response to enable us jumpstart this project and nurture it
to reality.
Yours faithfully,
Sir.Brian Moffat.
Head of Investigation
HSBC Bank Plc.
This one is similar to the inheritance scams, but includes a political
angle--and the poor widow.
Dear Friend,
This mail will come as a surprise to you having not seen each other
face to face for the first time. I am Lisa Jaime Savimbi,the wife to
late Jonas Savimbi, the leader of the national Union for The Total
Independence of Angola (UNITA).
My husband was killed during a combat action against government forces
in Mexico, Angola on the 22nd of Feb. 2002. you might wish to view the
news on this website
I am contacting you because of my need to deal with a person whom my family
had no previous relationship.
Since the death of my husband, my family has been subjected to all sorts of
harassment and intimidation with lots of negative report emanating from the
government of President Santos
about my husband.
The present government has also ensured that all our bank accounts are
frozen,and all assets seized. It is in view of this that I seek your assistance
in investing and managing the sum of Thirty five Million United State Dollars in
your country, being the very last of my family funds in my possession and
control unknown to the government.
This money now in question came as a result of Diamond Royalties that was paid
to my late husband from the Diamond mining within the areas in Angola being
controlled by (UNITA) for more than a decade.
Right now, the present government has intensified their probe on my family`s
financial resources; frozen all our known foreign & local accounts,and even
detained my son (Charles) on alleged flimsy charges just because my husband
before his death was the head of UNITA.
As a result I urgently need a foreign partner, somebody who must acknowledge my
dilemma and willingly assist and help me in the following ways
(1)To assist and help me in retrieving this box from the security company and
transfer it into your foreign or provided account.
(2)To act as my guardian and overseer and also help me to invest this money in
any profitable business venture because I have a very little knowledge in
business.
However I propose giving you 20% of the total sum to you or your company for the
expected services and assistance. But please try and keep everything concerning
this transfer very confidential for security reasons. And if you're ready and
willing to assist me in retrieving this deposit,please kindly reach me back
immediately so that I can furnish you with the entire details.
This one looks like a legitimate request to update your account
information. Unfortunately, the recipient didn't have an account with
these people. If a legitimate online business with whom you have an
account needs you to update information, go there by your usual navigation
route (not the one provided in the email message) and log in using your usual
name and password. Many of these scams provide URL's that look like they
are legitimate, but are in fact redirecting you to some other site where they
will take your personal information and use it to steal your money or identity.
Dear USAA Member,
During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we could not verify
your current information. Either your information has changed or it is
incomplete.
As a result, your access to online banking on USAA has been restricted. To start
using fully your online account, please update and verify your information by
clicking the link below :
(URL omitted)
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Too good to be true? I doubt this is listed on the stock exchange.
Dear Sir / Madam,
I am Dr. Vladimir Kostin looking for an Investor who can give
money to finish absolutely new technology to produce pure polysilicon. Some
years ago me and some researchers from General Physics Institute (Moscow,
Russia) made experiments and produced pure polysilicon. But we could not get
enough money to finish our work and stopped it.
Now I am planning refresh my know-how because no poly on the
market but I need money anyway. I need about US$150-200K and 4-5 month to
create the equipment which will produce 50 kilo poly per month. Next US$200-300K
will make production plant which produce about 3 000 kg per month.
You can watch my full proposal at http://investech.narod.ru/eng.htm
Thank you very much for your attention.
This may not be strictly illegal
but it should be. If you miss the email reminder (which is often filtered
as spam) you end up paying through the nose, EVERY YEAR. Another reason to carefully screen your credit card bills.
Dear *****,
Thanks for being a member of *******.com. We hope you're enjoying your
membership with the world's largest online collection of family history
information. This is a friendly reminder that your *******.com subscription(s)
will automatically renew on May 6, 2006.
The following subscription(s) are up for renewal:
Super Subscription:
US Census Collection
US Records Collection
Historical Newspaper Collection
UK and Ireland Records Collection
Total Cost: $189.95 plus taxes where applicable.
Site Search 