Internet scams: how safe are you?
As Americans sit at their desks, checking their email, someone else is sitting in an internet cafe in a foreign country, sending out thousands of emails to unsuspecting readers, in an attempt to scam someone out of their hard-earned money.
According to a collaborative study by Harris Interactive and 360 Youth, college students are one of the most connected demographic groups, with the majority of students using the internet daily. That connection puts them at high risk for being scammed.
Debra Bates, a registered nurse and a former UCC student, knows first-hand the dangers of answering one of these scam emails.
"I got a friend request on Facebook from a good looking man, and I accepted it. He started emailing me daily, and I thought we were starting a relationship," said Bates. "Pretty soon he was asking me for money. That's when I found out it was a scam."
Bates was one of the lucky ones. She found out early that her "knight in shining armor" was not the noble man she thought he was. In reality, his good looks were stolen from a modeling website. He was part of a group of people trained to lie.
Thousands of others are not so lucky. Deanna Hall, a local widow looking for a long-term relationship, had a similar experience with a man she met on the internet. Hall had an ongoing relationship with a scam artist for almost a year before she found out he was not who he said he was.
"He told me his daughter was ill and that he needed money for her surgery,” said Hall. “These people prey on our weaknesses. He knew that I would not be able to say no to a sick child. He even had a girl call me and pretend to be his sick daughter."
Scammers are getting more creative every day, learning from their mistakes and spinning the original scam to fit a wider range of potential victims. Nathan Allen, a college student and single father, answered an email from a woman who claimed to be a nanny looking for a live-in position.
"I needed help and so did she. It seemed like the perfect arrangement," said Allen. "I hired her to be my nanny. She was from a foreign country and needed help to make the flight to America. She said she had a problem cashing her check and needed me to help her. She sent me the check. I deposited it in my account and sent her the money via Western Union.”
Allen later found out that the check was a fraud. When the woman was confronted about the fake check, she quickly logged off. Allen never heard from her again. Allen ended up owing the bank for the fake check and was then unable to hire a real nanny because of his financial situation. He now has bad credit because part of his debt to the bank was sent to a collection agency.
It is important for students to be aware of the danger of online scams and identity theft. While it is nearly impossible to prevent scam emails from popping up in an inbox, there are steps you can take to keep yourself safe.
First and foremost, you must always remember, if it seems "too good to be true," it probably is.
Here is a list of some of the warning signs you should watch out for:
1. The majority of scam emails will be in all capital letters, but this is not always true, so keep your eye out for other red flags.
2. There is usually a promise of a big payoff in the end. Whether it is a large sum of money or the promise of marriage, these promises are never fulfilled.
3. These scam emails commonly contain spelling and grammatical errors.
4. Scammers from foreign countries sometimes have trouble distinguishing between a first name and a last name. They may use names like "Jones Morgan" or "Smith James."
5. International forwarding services may be used with phone numbers that start with +44 or 70++.
6. Sometimes a different name will be used in the email than the one given in the email address. For instance, the email address might be johndoe@yahoo.com, but the signature used is John Public.
7. The email addresses used in these scams are usually from free email services such as Yahoo!.
8. Scammers often ask you to wire money using Western Union. Do not ever send money through Western Union. Once it is gone you cannot get it back.
9. Romance scammers will claim to have no family. Most of the stories used include very similar elements, such as the parents and spouse of the person have died tragically in some kind of accident, leaving them alone to raise a child.
10. Scammers will sometimes say things that do not quite make sense. Ask questions! If this is a person you are planning on having some kind of relationship with, you have the right to ask for clarification, and you should exercise that right. It could save your life and your bank account!
Anyone who has been a victim of an online scam should report the scam to the Internet Crime Complaint center (IC3). The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
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