While the internet has been beneficial in so many areas of life, it has opened us all up to the scammers, the fraudsters and the con artists.  Quite simply, we are listing a summary of the 3 latest scams on the internet, so that you do not fall victim to them.  Be very careful!

The 3 latest scams include :-

The “foreign language course” scam

The is scam which has arisen in the US and has up until now been targeted at the Hispanic community.  Customers are encouraged to sign up to a “free” language course, but when they actually sign up they will soon be subjected to massive handling charges and shipping fees.  They will receive statements and invoices for goods which they never received, or even ordered, and threatening letters demanding payment.  The US authorities currently have a number of names which they are investigating.

The Florida Lottery scam has returned - version 2

While there have been hundreds of lottery scams around for years, we have recently seen the release of an “updated” scam involving the Florida Lottery.  Victims are sent a cheque in the post, with the forged signature of secretary of the Lottery (the person who would actually sign the real cheques) stating that they have won a sweep stake.  All they need to do is bank the cheque, and send a cheque to the scammers to cover government taxes, duty ,etc

The victim then sends off the cheque and banks the “winning” cheque, only to see that it is rejected after a few days because the signature is a fake.  By the time this has happened, the fraudsters has cashed the victims cheque and is not contactable.

The “relative in trouble” scam

This scam has appeared many times in the Far East and is set to hit the western world at some stage very soon.  The fraudsters have been targeting old ladies with children of working age, often by checking the victims details online, locally, etc. 

The victim will receive a phone call from a “police officer” advising them that there son / daughter has been caught committing a criminal offence and the police are looking to prosecute (normally an offence of a sexual nature).  While the relative will hear what sounds like a sobbing person in the background (supposedly their son, daughter, etc) they will be passed on to a lawyer who suggests that a one off payment could prevent further action by the police.

This scam has caught out many people, with money being passed over to the “lawyer” within a short space of time.  Many people have only realised that it was a scam when their son / daughter returned home with no knowledge of the “offence”!

There are many more frauds and scams coming online on a regular basis, and we will be posting more details in due course.