Very interesting read from the OFT, download the PDF (see link below)
"''The Psychology of Scams'', a study commissioned by the UK Office of Fair Trading, shows people who have already been a victim of a scam are consistently more likely to show renewed interest in contact from fraudsters. One trick of conmen is the ''secondary scam'' in which they contact a victim some time after they realise they have been scammed and pretend to be lawyers, government officials or police from the scammer's country.
This happened to Munro. ''Sean King'', whom she chatted with on another site, told her he had also been the victim of a scammer. He said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates 419 scams, had helped him and a friend to recover their money. Her local police had already suggested she get in touch with the EFCC, but ''I emailed them and never got a reply,'' she says. Sean told her he would get the employee who had helped him to contact her. ''So he [the EFCC employee] emailed me and then it was all on again,'' Munro says. The emails had the same EFCC logo as she had seen on the site to which the Australian police had directed her. ''They said because such a large amount of money was due to me, I had to get anti-money-laundering and insurance certificates from the bank. All the documents that came to me looked totally believable,'' she says. ''They named the guy who scammed me and said they had his IP address. It was very clever. I was sucked in.'' Thousands of dollars later for a variety of ''fees'' and ''certificates'', Munro realised she was being scammed again."
Thoughts on Scams, from Craig Mee : Daily Speculations
Folks, if you've been victim to a scam you better make sure you REALLY understand what's happened because if you don't then your money is AT REAL RISK FROM BEING STOLEN AGAIN.
It's a very very dangerous world out there and scams and scammers are multiplying at a frightful rate and will continue to do so as the current economic mess drags on.
If you're unsure about ANYTHING please ask questions here. Some of us might be rude and call you an idiot and fool but it's for your own good AND you get to keep your money.
But if you want to be charmed and told how smart you are please continue those calls with the scammers. But then of course they'll steal your money and laugh at you when they put the phone down.
Personally I'd LOVE to be told that I'm an idiot, a fool and very naive about investing if that's what it takes to keep my money from being stolen. I hope others also think like me......
Yes the 419 scammers. § 419 is a paragraph in Nigerian law stating that anyone
who pretends something to another person which is not according to the thruth shall be punished.
And that is what they get when they get caught these 419 scammers. The worst
of them are the King Pins-those that lives in big Palaces in Nigeria.
Those that get caught are 'the Runners'-they get a little share of what they
steal. Stamped money in consignments, OYI alkaline solutions , security companies, Barristers, Bankers, Falsery dokuments from South African banks
Like for example The South African Reserve Bank, ABSA Bank SA, Standart Bank
South Africa and so forth.
There just is'nt that sort of money in any African Country that the 419 Nigerian
scammers claim to be in possesion of.
And all their Lotteries out of England where you have to call an English telephone
number which is diverted to Nigeria.
You won!-but you have to pay some money because you won. Bull****.
And all those who wants to give you loans-bull**** again !!! They will charge you
for a downpayment in order to secure the loan-and then they will run away with the your downpayment
Well I get between 5 and 10 Nigerian letters every day on my e-mail.
And it gives me a job with deleting them.
I hate these ****ers. And unfortunately it is so that the greatest income
to Nigeria today is from 419 scams. It is bigger than the income from the Oil
they have.
And true-if you lost money in a 419 Nigerian Scam-There will be some Barrister
who will 'help' you-but the thing is he is also a 419 Nigerian Scammer and he will
want an upfront payment for his job and he will also run away with the money.
So the thing is-if you get contacted by someone you don't know allready -it be
on phone-put the phone down-if it is on e-mail-delete the e-mail-don't pay any money to someone you don't know-get money of them first in order for them
to show that they are serious-that will never happen by the way !
Most people in the World would like to make some quick money.
The Nigerians know that. But if you deal with a Nigerian you will
loose money.
