EMC News - A Nigerian prince needs your help in getting his fortune out of Africa and into a safe Canadian bank. And he's chosen you - yes, you, randomly chosen person, - to help him. He just needs you to wire him some money to clear taxes, bribes, et cetera, and then you'll get your cut.
If this was an email, you likely would have deleted it by now. And yet, according to OPP Det. Const. Chris Beechey, this is one of the top four frauds being perpetuated in Lanark County. And yes, people fall for it.
"There are different frauds. There are thousands of them," said Beechey at the Lanark County Association of Police Services Boards meeting at the Beckwith Township council chambers Wednesday, Oct. 3. "Obviously there is no $12 million.
While the Nigerian prince - or businessman, or former dictator, or finance minister - is becoming more well known, other frauds prey on people's vulnerability and compassion, like the so-called "Grandparent Scam."
"It targets the elderly," said Beechey. "It is a cold call."
The victim will often get a call from someone purporting to be a grandchild who is in serious trouble, needing bail money, or they have had their cash stolen while on vacation and they need money wired as soon as possible to help them out.
Some grandparents, who may have dozens of grandchildren in larger families, may not remember the names of all of their grandchildren, said Beechey. In his own family, there are up to 30 grandchildren.
As a result, many inadvertently help the scammers out.
"Is this Cody? Is this Tommy?" they will ask, and the scammer will latch on to one name, like a wedding crasher.
The audacity of scammers is also growing as they widen their net. A scam sent by fax went over the wires - to the OPP's Lanark County headquarters in Perth. Insp. Gerry Salisbury, detachment commander of the Lanark County OPP, held up his BlackBerry and showed that he had received an email scam that very week, and Beechey's mother phoned him up to say that "I got an email from Chico Sanchez," a famous, almost ridiculous-sounding scammer cover name.
Another scam that plays on people's emotions, and patriotism, is the Canadian solider fraud, supposedly from one of our soldiers still on duty in Afghanistan. The "solider" will strike up an online relationship with someone and, in time, say that they want to marry them - but they need money wired to them in order to get leave.
Beechey noted that, in this instance, it is important to pay attention to details that are provided.
"A guy in Scarborough is not going to be handling money for the Canadian military," said Beechey. One lady involved in this soldier scam was bilked out of $25,000.
WORDS OF WARNING
"If it sounds too good to be true, it is," said Beechey. "Don't just trust it because it has a seal on it."
Most online sellers are reputable people. But even at that, sites like Kijiji, UsedOttawa, UsedLanarkCounty, and Craig's List, are used by disreputable people to carry out fraud. If you want to sell a laptop online for, say, $500, and get an email from someone wanting to buy it for $1,000, be suspicious.
"Here's a cheque for $1,000," the scammer will say, but then will ask for the $500 difference to be wired to him. Or, the scammer will send you the cheque, only to have the bank come back to you and say that it is not real, or has bounced.
"Why would anyone pay more than what it is worth?" asked Beechey, who also warned people to be wary of money orders as well, since they too can be fake. "Nobody wants to pay $20,000 for your 1998 Honda Civic."
Wire transfers are a favourite of scammers since they are so hard to trace, but what is a lot easier to trace is your personal information online. Using social media sites like Facebook, Beechey is able - for good reasons - to find out a lot of personal information about people, like children's and pet's names, addresses, contact information, mother's maiden name, birthdates, and the like, which can be used to set up fake documents, attain mortgages, and even scam people. In order to test out your Facebook privacy settings, he recommended setting up a fake shell site and trying to access your real Facebook site from there.
"Make sure your privacy settings are locked down," said Beechey.
Technologically savvy scammers will also be able to use photographs posted online for nefarious reasons. They can decode a photo taken at home of your child's birthday party, and use GPS technology, to determine where and when the photo was taken.
Sometimes, people's ignorance or greed can get the better of their common sense.
"Africans don't use furnaces, it's pretty hot there," he said, referring to another online scam. He also highlighted another scam in which cars a car in, say, British Columbia, is shipped - using a shipping company in Ivory Coast.
"Anyone can fall victim to identity theft," said Beechey. "It's happened to relatives of mine."
As many as 50 per cent of victims don't come forward and report a fraud to police because they are so embarrassed that they got taken for a ride, Beechey noted that they need to come forward so that the damage does not spread, and your information could be crucial to bring them to justice.
"Tell them (police) everything. It could help the investigation," said Beechey. "They have to be reported to be investigated."
Time is also of the essence. For a credit card fraud case, for example, he was able to get all of the information he needed, and tracked down a missing card when it was used at a gas station in Hamilton, Ont. He then contacted the gas station and got their close circuit security camera footage and was able to identify the suspect.
"If it hadn't been reported when it was, we wouldn't have the video from the gas station," said Beechey.
From Nigerian 'princes,' 'soldiers' to hard-luck 'grandkids': Lanark County OPP fraud squad's top four scams - News - By Desmond Devoy Perth Local Community News
