Scam Types dot Com

Data Entry Scam

A great many people have been ripped off by data entry scams. Visiting a website that offers a good rate for entering simple data into fields seems like an offer that is too good to be true. Usually it is.

After parting you with anywhere up to $99 for registration, the data entry website will then send you an ebook instead of the work you were expecting. This ebook will explain that the way you get paid is by writing advertisements for the Adwords system that Google operates. You also have to pay to run the Adwords campaign, however, you do get paid whenever one of the ads is clicked on (call me cynical, but this also seems to be encouraging click fraud on top of the scam doesn’t it?).

Google Adwords is most definitely not a scam. However, it takes a lot of skill and knowledge to utilise to it’s full potential. Also, the fact that you have now become, in effect, an affiliate, is nothing to be unduly worried about either. It just means someone else is earning off the back of your hard work.

You have been duped though -

• This is not the type of work you had been led to believe it was by the original advertisement
• You have paid a registration fee - work should be earning you money, not parting you from it.
• You will be required to part with more cash to operate an Adwords campaign

 All this in advance of receiving a penny back from your employer.

So what can you do to protect yourself from this sort of shady business opportunity? Firstly, search the web for the company you are thinking of affiliating with. Add the word “scam” or “problems” to the search string to see if others have experienced problems.

Secondly, pay by credit card only. This will afford you some limited protection if you find you have been completely ripped off.

Phishing for Lloyds TSB

All these emails I get, phishing for my bank account details, and do you know what? I must be with the most unpopular bank - I have yet to receive one from the service I use!

At least this one is for a British bank - usually they are for the American ones!

Dear customer, Due to concerns, for the safety and integrity of the Lloyds TSB
account we have issued this warning message.

It has come to our attention that your Lloyds TSB Secure Banking account information
needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and
to reduce the instance of fraud on our website. take a momment out of your online
experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems
with the online service.

Once you have updated your account records your Lloyds TSB Secure Banking account
service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

To update your Lloyds TSB Secure Banking records click on the following link:
http://www.lloydstsb.com/

Thank You.

Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, Lloyds TSB Secure Banking will
periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements.

Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.
http://www.lloydstsb.com/security/pc_security.asp

Of course the links above do NOT go to an official Lloyds TSB web page. They actually go to a spoof banking page designed to capture your details so that the scammer can empty your account.

North Korea Scamming Lloyds Of London?

North Korea are currently fighting a £30m legal battle with insurance specialists Lloyds of London who claim that the Communist country has been making fraudulent claims in order to finance their failing economy.

The case evolves around a helicopter crash in April 2005. The North Koreans claim that a helicopter owned by Air Koryo (the National airline) was dispatched to collect a woman on a remote island who was expecting triplets. On the way back to the capital, Pyongyang, the helicopter crashed into a warehouse that contained a huge amount of humanitarian aid relief.

Cynical onlookers have suggested that Lloyds thought they were reinsuring a South Korean operation and, since realising that North Korea has an entirely different reputation, have decided to back out of what was always likely to be a risky deal.

The Korean National Insurance Corporation point to the fact that they have been paying high premiums for the previous nine years without making a claim. They have also provided extremely detailed pictures and evidence of the crash.

This evidence, they claim, is sufficient grounds for Lloyds to pay up. Indeed, the Korean airline has already compensated the warehouse owner involved and have held a court case with regard to the reinsurers liability, as per their contract with Lloyds. This court upheld the claim and demanded €44m from the London firm.

Lloyds have countered by suggesting that the detail of the evidence available is in fact a big problem in so much as it is far too detailed. Therefore they do not intend to pay out in this instance.

So… exactly who is scamming who here?

Paypal Phishing

This is another extremely common phishing attempt. The email that gets you concerned about your paypal account in the hope that you will login from said email, thereby giving your username and password to the scammer -

Unauthorized access to your PayPal account!
We recently noticed more attempts to log in to your PayPal account from a foreign IP address.

We recently noticed more attempts to log in to your from a foreign IP address.If you accessed your account while traveling, the unusual log in attempts may have been initiated by you. However, if you are the rightfull holder of the account, please visit Paypal as soon as possible to verify your identity:

Click here to verify your accountYou can also verify your account by logging into your PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/us/.If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choise but to temporaly suspend your account.

We ask that you allow at least 72 hours for the case to be investigated and we strongly recommend to verify your account in that time.

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.
To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, update your preferences

The live links in the above have been removed, however, they pointed not to Paypal but rather to http://c-24-3-155-5.hsd1.mn.comcast.net:82/pici/

The email header has been properly spoofed in this one for a change. The scammer has actually got it to look like the email originated from service@paypal.com!!

The above comes as an html based email, pulling the images direct from the official US paypal site. However, the scammer was dumb enough to pull the image for the footer part from his own site, thereby leaving the url in the message - http: // madrid.freeownhost.com/norman/mail.php?id=aol_duminica

Michigan Taxpayers Give $1.2m To Scammers

If you are foolish enough to fall for a Nigerian advance fee fraud then what do you do?

In the Michigan county of Alcona, it is alleged that Thomas Katona, the former Treasurer of Alcona County, embezzeled up to $1.2m from the county’s coffers to give to pursue the fortune he was being promised.

Having already “invested” $72000 of his own money, Katona has been charged with nine felonies. Local bank employees had warned Katona that he was being duped, however this did not prevent him from sending $186500 to eight oversees accounts, six of which were to known scammers.

After the bank employees informed the County office what was transpiring, they led an investigation which eventually showed around $1.2m to be missing from the County’s funds.

So not only has Katona lost a huge sum of his own money but he has also drained the County budget, and now also stands to lose his freedom on account of his alleged fraud and embezzelment.

This is a very real consequence of falling for the scammers’ ploys. Losing life savings, pensions and insurance policies can often end up being insignificant when compared to the prison sentences the victims gain through becoming fraudsters themselves to pay for their greed.