COMMON CONS:Scams come in all forms but the bottom line is that they want your bank details, writes CONOR POPE
ACCORDING TO RECENT research by the National Consumer Agency, 76 per cent of Irish people have been targeted by scam artists and 18 per cent have fallen victim to a scam. Here are just 10 of the most common scams:
THE ITALIAN JOB
A man with an Italian accent stops you and asks for directions to the M50 as he needs to get to the airport in a hurry. He may be in a rush but he still has time for a chat. He works for an Italian leather company, he says, and has just been to Brown Thomas with some Armani samples. Import duty has been paid on the jackets and it can’t be recovered so he’s willing to sell one to you at a knock-down price.
Only €85 for a leather Armani jacket? Score! No, the jacket is made of PVC and is not worth eight quid never mind 80.
FRIENDS IN NEED
You turn on your computer and there’s a mail from your old pal Jake who’s been travelling round the world and is now in Australia. What’s that? Jake’s in trouble? He’s been mugged and needs you to send him €500 via Western Union immediately so he can pay his hospital expenses? But you don’t really know Jake that well and, in fact, you kissed his girlfriend that time at the office party, something he was not best pleased about.
So why is he getting in touch with you? Jake’s not in trouble. Jake’s fine, although the same can’t be said for his e-mail account, which has been compromised allowing scammers to send begging mails to everyone in his address book.
CHASING CARS
You’re in the market for a car and come across a high-spec Audi on autotrader.ie with a book price of €15,000 but a listed price of just €5,000. The website is well-known, Irish and beyond reproach so what could possibly go wrong? You e-mail the seller, Maria, and she explains that she has moved to Madrid and can’t sell her car there because it’s a left-hand drive and the fussy Spaniards don’t want it.
Just send her a deposit of €2,000, via Western Union, she’ll ship the car over to you and you’ll be good to go. Except you won’t. The car doesn’t exist. Neither does Maria.
COLD DRAFTS
You run a sports massage business which, like most other businesses, is struggling because of the downturn. One morning you get an e-mail from someone with very welcome news. They’re coming over to Ireland with a professional rugby team from France and the team will need the services of a suitably qualified person to look after tired limbs for a week or two. Are you interested? Of course you are, so you reply immediately and agree a price.
Days later a bank draft for €2,500 more than the agreed price arrives. This is followed by a panicked e-mail from the client explaining that there was a mistake and asking if you can refund him the amount that is over and above the agreed sum. You lodge the draft, refund the money and days later are told by your bank that the original draft was a forgery.
IT CAN’T BE YOU
A surprising letter falls on to your doormat one morning from the Spanish Lottery. Apparently they are divvying up some unclaimed funds from the massive El Gordo draw and your name has come out of the hat. They just want your bank details so that the money will be deposited in your account before you can say, “How the hell can I win a lottery without buying a ticket?”
GONE PHISHING
This scam seems blindingly obvious to those who know they exist but that doesn’t make them any less insidious and dangerous, particularly for unsuspecting people.
An e-mail arrives from your bank, or from eBay or PayPal, asking you to provide some key details, such as your password or bank account number, so they can update your account with enhanced security features or something. You provide the details and next thing you know your account has been emptied and your bank is washing its hands of you and your problems. Unsolicited e-mails from any business asking for personal details are always a lie. No reputable organisation will ever contact anyone in such a way.
GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE
The online auction site eBay is a magnet for scammers. One scam comes from second-chance offers. You’ve bid for something, something you really want: a full set of Now That’s What I Call Music on vinyl maybe? You just miss out and are understandably gutted until, a couple of hours later, you get a mail bedecked in eBay’s logos and colours with some glad tidings. The highest bidder has pulled out so you, as under-bidder, have the option of buying it at the last price you bid. Yay! Just send the money via Western Union. . . doh!
STATE OF IT
It is not just online services such as eBay and PayPal and banks which have become a magnet for email scams. In recent months missives purporting to be from reputable State organisations such as the Revenue Commissioners, offering tax refunds, have arrived by e-mail. Letters that are said to come from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service offering Government grants are also increasingly common. Unsolicited offers of money from anyone – especially the tax man – should be treated with suspicion.
PHONEY BUSINESS
The number of scams and rip-offs carried on through mobile phone networks is rising. You might get a text message telling you you’re in line for a fantastic cash prize if you call a certain number. It happens to be a premium-rate number and the chances of you winning the prize are miniscule. In fact, the chances of the prize even existing are minimal. Be wary about any unsolicited offer that comes your way via your mobile phone.
THE 419’S MONSTER
And still they come – 419 scams, as they are known, originated in Nigeria but have spread like a virus across the world over the last decade.
They generally read something like this:
“Hello good person. I am Mr Michael otumba, director of First Bank of nigeria, and I have urgent, very confidential business proposition for you. An American Oil consultant with the Nigeria Mining Corporation, Mr Michael Creek deposited $20,200,000.00 in my branch but now Mr Michael Creek died without making a WILL, and attempts to trace his family are fruitless. I found your name on an IMPORTANT register of business people . . . ”
If you think they’re so illiterate and so ridiculous that no one could ever fall for them, you’re wrong. According to UltraScan, a Dutch research organisation, revenues from such scams exceeded €6.5 billion worldwide last year.
