Skimming – A New Credit Card Scam Targets ATM’s

A new credit card scam called skimming is targeting people using ATM’s and it has become a big problem in Europe and South America. There are certain ways a criminal might follows to steal your credit card information.

A thief will put a device over the card slot without altering the machine’s appearance. So when you put in your card, the data from the card’s magnetic strip will be stolen.

Sometimes a small camera will be hidden on or near the machine to read your pin number. The thief might also place a fake keypad on top of the new one to record your pin as you enter it.

How to avoid?

• Keep an eye out for loose card slots or glue residue on the machine.
• Shield the keypad when entering your pin.
• It is always suggested to check your accounts every day.
• Running your debit card as credit card might also offer you some protection.
• Use ATM’s at bank locations since rigging is more likely to happen in isolated locations. 

Inform your bank immediately if you have fallen victim to skimming. Also file a complaint with police both in your home town and the location where the transaction happened.

Scam Awareness Month

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) today launched its 2011 Scams Awareness Month, as new figures reveal the UK's top scams.

With the support of consumer champion Esther Rantzen, the OFT is calling on people to bin scam mailings in 'Scamnesty' bins located around the country.

New research commissioned by the OFT shows that 39 per cent of people who lost money to a scam in the past 12 months were victim of a money transfer or advance fee scam. These dupe people into handing over their bank details or paying an up-front fee by leading them to believe they are entitled to an inheritance, donating to charity or even helping release funds from a corrupt country.

The research reveals the scale of the problem with mass-marketed scams in Britain, which arrive by post, email, text, phone or the internet and aim to con people into parting with their cash.

The survey also found that:

* Nearly one in every twenty people (4%) lost money to a scam last year alone.
* Amongst these, the realistic nature of scams was the top reason for falling for them. When presented with a list of options, 61 per cent said they think scams looking real made them get involved with them.
* Of those who reported being scammed in the last 12 months, seven per cent lost more than £4,000.
* 39 per cent of respondents who had been scammed in the last 12 months said they did not report it to the authorities.

Survey: Why do people respond to spam?

Many people may think they're smart enough not to answer an obvious spam message. But is that really the case?

Almost one third of consumers questioned admitted answering e-mails they suspected were spam, says a survey released Wednesday by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG).

Among those who responded to spam, 17 percent said they clicked on it by mistake, 13 percent said they sent a note to the spammer to complain, while 12 percent said they were interested in the product or service.

The MAAWG's survey study, "A Look at Consumers' Awareness of Email Security and Practices," also discovered that about two-thirds of the people considered themselves "very" or "somewhat" knowledgeable about Internet security. Most of them use antivirus software, but 21 percent said they take no action to prevent spam or dangerous e-mail from hitting their in-box.

Further, the survey found that 80 percent of users questioned doubted their computers were ever at risk of being infected with a "bot" that can send spam and create other problems without the user knowing it.
The study was based on phone and online interviews conducted in December and January with 800 computer users in the U.S. and Canada who said they were not "security experts" and who used e-mail addresses not managed by an IT department.

source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10287193-83.html

Smishing – Yet another Scam

Phishing, as you know, is when you receive an e-mail from a supposedly trustworthy source such as your bank or Pay Pal, claiming a problem with your account and asking for your user name and password. Now we have what's called "Smishing." It is the latest twist on this type of scam - instead of getting an e-mail, you get a text message. The word "smishing" is a combination of "SMS," for short message service and "phishing."

You're told to call a toll-free number, which is answered by a bogus interactive voice response system that tries to fool you into providing your account number and password. To prevent it, if you get a text alert about an account, don't respond before you verify that it's legitimate. Call your real institution for verification.
Your text message will appear like this:

Although wireless telephone companies are working to block unwanted text messages, users are reporting increasing numbers of “spam” messages and smishing attacks. Adding insult to injury is the fact that users must pay for the text message they get on their cell phones.

How the scam works
The scam is similar to the deceptive e-mail and phone schemes known as phishing and vishing. In all these forms of fraud, scammers try to trick victims into revealing personal information like account numbers, Social Security numbers, and passwords. The personal information is then used to withdraw money from victims' accounts or obtain credit in victims' name.

In smishing scams, cell phone users receive a text message that seems to come from a legitimate source, such as a bank, e-commerce site or other financial institution. The message seeks to dupe users into clicking on a link via the phone's internet connection, or into calling a certain phone number. Both the link and phone are fraudulent, and lead to requests for personal information that can be used for ID theft. Once your identity has been stolen, it generally takes much time and effort to try to regain your lost funds and your good name.

How to protect yourself
Now that you're aware of the problem, it's wise to take a few simple precautions to protect yourself from this growing form of fraud.
• Never respond to unsolicited requests for personal financial information received via text message – even if the request appears to come from a legitimate institution that you do business with. This includes request to “confirm, verify or update” your information.
• Always know who you're dealing with. Don't click on links in text messages, or call numbers listed in text messages. Verify contact information independently, and key in web addresses yourself.
• Put passwords on all your financial accounts.
• Monitor your credit report regularly for signs of irregularities.

Couple fear gullible will fall for scam

World first technology can now find an ideal love match for you just from profiling your DNA or DNA Technology Company may claim.

New Plymouth couples are troubled the bizarre claims are mailing scam. They used to steal peoples identity.

A couple Ross and Ann Ackroyd received a package containing a DNA swab kit and letter. They asked to send $40 to a testing centre in the Netherlands last week.
Mrs Ackroyd said. "At our age, I think it's downright dangerous and wouldn't give anyone my DNA."

Mr and Mrs Ackroyd did not get into these outrageous claims. But they are worried people might get sucked into the scam promises.

Is it just a money scam or something more sinister?" A quick search on Google for the director's name, Jullian M. Tasury, returns nothing. It’s no use trying to contact the company because no details were found.

It's clearly a quick way for someone to make money, but people will buy into to it like they do horoscopes.

Fake scam

The Real fake till scam which was done against a real department store in London.

Fake scam

The Real fake till scam which was done against a real department store in London.

Nigerian Dating Scams

There are lots of fake profiles on the dating sites. They are in general free member parasites, not a paying member. The false ones on there to flirt with you and get you to come to some other dating site and some of them were try to steal your heart to get to your money. Beware of these dating site scams. You want to start baiting these scammers.

Here are some scammers’ lists:

Adara Dim Deng

Linda Cole

Natalia Vorobjeva

Sandy

Fake Federal Grant Scams

Beware of scams:

Now this is what the DHS should be stamping out, along with the Mumbai scammers & the Nigerian scammers

These scams do more harm to Americans than actual terroists have in the heartland in recent years

Yes, perhaps the people are to blame themselves but this has been going on for way too long & always the people are hurt, both mentally and financially

These were phone calls; so why doesn't the DHS use the Patriot Act to curb and stop such thefts and scams? These are economic terroists!!

Source:http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7163822n

Police report phone scam

Police are warning people where scammers are making phone calls to obtain personal account information through a phone.
Detective Steve Mahan reported: three things were happened on dec 19th, in which a man told residents he was from a repossession company & he want account numbers to clear up bogus charges. He additionally reported: Don't speak with him, just hang up and call police right away.
Residents said the number was blocked on caller ID and the caller identified himself as Troy to at least one resident. Mahan urges anyone who receives a call, or anything believed to be fraudulent in nature, to contact the department. Steve Mahan reported: We're trying to warn people so they don't offer up money.

Scam Alert ! Fraud Account Suspension in Gmail

Online fraudsters with their scam tactics always zoom over Internet and that too targeting innocent cyber user. The things can co very much worst to critical when these crimes specialists try to fool the email account holders by false subject notification . The end road to this is very much dangerous as account user lands in net of identity stealer. The story is not new and too good to be true when these crime artists use the same method for online bank users.

A new email fraud notification is now days sponsored by these online crooks which says ”
Account Suspension.. Verify Your Gmail Account now. Message ID: 4840211…

Event the email body at first look seems very legitimate , nothing but only to scare email account users. But dark side fraudsters are representing themselves from gmail team and asking for users name and password.

But fact is neither google or it’s gmail team sends emails and ask for your personal information.
Therefore email account holders of gmail should be very careful , while coming through such fraud and bogus email notification messages . The scheme is nothing but to scare the innocent users to extract personal information.

Dear Gmail Online Account User,

This Email is from Gmail Online Customer Care and we are sending it to every Gmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Gmail accounts so we are shutting down some Gmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If
you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.
Due to the congestion in all Gmail users and removal of all unused Gmail Accounts,Gmail Online would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.
* Username:
* Password:
* Date of Birth:
* Country Or Territory:
After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after 5 days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.Warning Code: USV64MT1.
Gmail Online Team.

Source: http://www.419legal.org/blog/

Secret shopper scam

A Salina woman who was looking for a job ended up being scammed. She almost lost $1,200 when she thought she was being paid to be a secret shopper.
Capt. Mike Sweeney reported: 52-year-old woman found a job for a secret shopper advertised online Dec. 6 of the Salina Police Department. She also applied and was sent a check from Apple One City Solutions for $1,500, with instructions to deposit the check and wire $1,260 to a person in London
The woman was instructed to evaluate the services provided by Western Union when she wired the money. The woman gave police a copy of her evaluation form, which included a question about whether a Western Union employee cautioned her about wiring money to third parties with whom she was not familiar. The woman was contacted by Bank of Tescott on Tuesday and informed that the $1,500 check she deposited was no good.
Sweeney said, additionally the woman paid $90 for a Western Union service fee.

How you can protect yourself against fraudsters

Deal Only With Real Regulators — It's not hard to figure out who the real regulators are and how you can contact them. You'll find a list of international securities regulators on the website of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and a directory of state and provincial regulators in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. on the website of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). If someone encourages you to verify information about a deal with an entity that doesn't appear on these lists — such as the "Federal Regulatory & Compliance Department," the "Securities and Registration Compliance" agency, or the "U.S. Securities Registration Bureau" — you're probably dealing with fraudsters. You'll find legitimate contact information for the SEC in the Contact Us section of our website and on SEC Division Homepages. If you're ever unsure whether you're dealing with someone from the real SEC, use our online Question Form to ask us.

Be Skeptical of Government Approval — The SEC does not evaluate the merits of any securities offering, nor do we determine whether a particular security is a "good" investment. Instead, the SEC's staff reviews registration statements for securities offerings and declares those statements "effective" if the companies appear to have satisfied our disclosure rules. In general, all securities offered in the U.S. must be registered with the SEC or must qualify for an exemption from the registration requirements. You can check to see whether a company has registered its securities with the SEC and download its disclosure documents using our EDGAR database of company filings.

Look Past Fancy Seals and Impressive Letterheads — Most people who use computers know how easy it can be to copy and paste images. As a result, today's technology allows fraudsters to create impressive, legitimate-looking websites and stationery at little to no cost. Don't be taken in by a glossy brochure, a glitzy website, or the presence of a regulator's official seal on a web page or document. Again, the SEC does not authorize private companies to use our seal — even as a legitimate link to our website. If you see the SEC seal on a company's website or materials, think twice.

Check Out the Broker and the Firm — Always verify whether any broker offering to buy or sell securities is properly licensed to do business in your state, province, or country. If the person claims to work with a U.S. brokerage firm, call FINRA's Public Disclosure Program hotline at (800) 289-9999 or visit FINRA's website to check out the background of both the individual broker and the firm. Be sure to confirm whether the firm actually exists and is current in its registration, and ask whether the broker or the firm has a history of complaints. You can often get even more information from your state securities regulator.

Be Wary of "Advance Fee" or "Recovery Room" Schemes — An increasing number of investment-related frauds target investors worldwide who purchase "microcap" stocks, the low-priced and thinly traded stocks issued by the smallest of U.S. companies. If the stock price falls or the company goes out of business, the fraudsters swoop in, falsely claiming that they can help investors recover their losses — for a substantial fee disguised as some type of tax, deposit, or refundable insurance bond. As soon as an unwary investor pays the "advance fees," the fraudsters disappear — leaving the investor with even higher losses. For more information about these types of frauds, please read our publication entitled The Fleecing of Foreign Investors.

Beware of fraudsters and scammers

source: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/fakeseals.htm

Latest scammers

Beware of these new scammers. Found out the scammers information and list of scammers.

New type of nigerian scam

Beware of 419scam

419 Nigerian Scam

Watch the video and beware of nigerian scam

Scams in India

LOAN BRIBERY SCAM:
The officials of Indian banks and financial firms have been accused of intriguing bribes to grant corporate loans where local media reported, it could run into millions of dollars.

Central Bureau of Investigation, last week arrested eight people, the chief executive of LIC Housing Finance and senior officials at state-run Central Bank of India and Punjab National Bank and Bank of India.

CBI reported that the bribes were allegedly paid by private finance firm money matters financial services, for the loan beneficiaries.

Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister asked investors not to panic over the case, comments by other officials that this is a case of individual wrongdoing. It will not be a widespread scam and that the banking sector will not be affected by it.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES:
The sporting burlesque in October, cost up to $6 billion, was dogged by alleged corruption, the purchase of issuing contracts. The anti-corruption watchdog has identified more than 16 projects with possible scam .

The anti-corruption watchdog, the state auditor, the CBI and a special committee set up by Prime Minister Singh, are inquiring the allegations. On Tuesday, the CBI raided the homes of the Games organizing secretary, part of a probe into $21.7 million of misplaced funds.

HOUSING SCAM:
Congress party politicians, bureaucrats have been accused of taking over land meant to build apartments for war widows. The government sacked the chief minister of western Maharashtra state. The Arabian Sea-facing block with 103 apartments in an upscale Mumbai district, that among the world's most expensive pieces of real estate. Apartments were sold for as little as $130,000. The government has taken back permissions allowing owners to occupy the apartments, leading to the disconnection of power supply. CBI has investigating the case.

Fake Till Scam

Fake till scam which was done against a real department store in London.

Loan scam 17 companies on CBI radar

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has now raised its focus to 17 companies that supposedly received loans. The investigating agency has served warning to all companies in multi-crore scam. They asked them to submit details of the loans they got as suspected beneficiaries.

Totally eight people have been arrested by the CBI. Ramchandran Nair, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LIC Housing Finance, RN Tayal, General Manager of Bank of India and Venkoba Gujjal, Deputy General Manager of Punjab National Bank. Private company concerned is money scam and three of its senior-most officials; have been arrested.

In other case, Nar0esh Chopra of LIC Mumbai has been accused of receiving Rs. 16 lakes from Money Matter scam Rajesh Sharma. Chopra purportedly traded confidential information on LIC investments to the Adani Group.

Sources in LIC have told NDTV that the scammers were committed in the officers' own capacity, and no norms were violated. LIC had reported on Wednesday, All procedures were adhered to in approving the loans.

Deepak Parekh, the chairman of HDFC Bank said: People working in public sector organizations had sanctioning loans by taking money and they zeroed in on real-estate sector and certain developers who must have paid money to get loans sanctioned. The arrests came after a CBI investigation that covers 5 cities and lasted over a year.

Biggest car scam

Today Investigates the Nation's biggest used car scam.