Police alarmed at Internet scam

Police from Corporate Crime Group were alarmed after alerted to two scam incidents targeting Queenslanders and Australians, as well as a website that was offering the personal details of thousand Australians.

Detective controller Brian Hay of the State Crime Operations Command’s Fraud reported: The problem with highly complicated scams is that they are very convincing. While it is very encouraging members of the community are becoming more doubtful of bargain one-off internet deals and can’t miss the opportunities. Unfortunately offenders are becoming smarter and developing scams designed to trick even the most security conscious person.

Many websites marketing cheap flights have been identified as being involved in scamming victims. The most recent website identified is www.flisave.com. Likely travelers visit the site with the promise of discounted flights and customers are asked to contact those running the site by email.

This serves to ease the fear lots of people of shopping on the sites that payment is not requested until the tickets arrive from the airline where the customer pops in their details and the tickets arrive. The customer may even ring the airline and also validate their seats.

People should consider having their credit rating monitored look for anomalies in their financial accounts. Be wary of scams unsolicited contact via email.

Arizona authorities warning seniors about scam

Arizona authorities are warning about scam in which thief’s pretense as grandchildren over the phone and ask for bail money.

The most recent scam was happened on Oct 18. A 75-year-old Cottonwood man got a call from a woman who recognized herself by name as his granddaughter and told him she had been under arrest in Canada and that she needed bail money. After, somebody who said they were a police sergeant called and told the man to give $5,600 in bail money to contact in Florida where the man followed the instructions but later found out his granddaughter never had been arrested and was safe at her home in Utah.

Sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn reported that two such incidents occurred in September last year. He said such types of scams are difficult to investigate because scammers usually live outside the U.S. and discard cell phones before they can be traced. He said detectives judge whoever is responsible uses social networking sites, like Face book to recognize family members through profiles and photos.

He warned people to tell their parents and grandparents about this scam and that any requests for money to be wired must be seen as a red flag. He finally reported, these suspects purposely target seniors who may be more gullible and cooperate quickly out of concern for their 'jailed' loved one.