Identity Theft Consumer Information

Types of Scams

Nigerian Email Scam

The Nigerian Email Scam is part of the family of the Advance Fee Scams. Also known as Nigerian Fraud or The Nigerian 419 Scam, this scam is delivered via letter, fax or email. The scam involves persuading the victim to advance multiple, small sums of money that will supposedly be used to help smuggle huge sums of money, gold or other type of family or government riches out of Nigeria or other impoverished country. The victim is told that their money is needed to bribe government officials, pay a ransom for a political prisoner, pay attorneys fees, or pay the taxes on the ‘fortune’. In turn, the victim is told that they will be paid a portion of the riches when the fortune is successfully smuggled out of the country. An adaptation of the Nigerian scam approaches the victim in the guise of building a church or orphanage. The criminals make their plea using whatever story they can create that will tug on their targets heart strings the hardest. The scam begins with the solicitation of a donation. Once that small factor of trust has been established with that donation, the scam quickly moves to a series of problems and hardships that can only be solved with a series of advances of small sums of money. The bottom line is that none of these scams stop until the victim comes to realize they are a victim of fraud, or until they are financially drained.

eBay Auction Scam

This Online Auction Scam is where the criminal posts non-existent (usually high-dollar) items such as electronics or collectibles on eBay, or other type of auction site. The winning bidder sends the criminal their funds for the item and the fraud begins. Through a series of lies and stall tactics, the criminal postpones sending the merchandise for as long as possible. When it seems the criminal cannot withhold the item any longer (usually upon threat of contacting the FBI, CIA or similar authority) the scammer may ship reams of paper or a completely unrelated item of no value to the victim. The scammers use this tactic, because the appearance of a delivery company’s tracking number is often enough to fool the buyer into sending their money.

Phishing Scam

The “Ph” in Phishing stands for “Phony” as in ‘phony’ emails the criminal use to “fish” for your information. The emails appear to be from a retail outlet, a bank, eBay, PayPal, America Online, the IRS or other organization the consumer may have a common interaction or general familiarity. Phishing scammers deliver the message that something is amiss with the consumer’s account or personal/financial information, and they employ any number of tactics to “confirm” (i.e., extract) your passwords, bank account information, credit card numbers, PIN numbers, and other highly personal identity and financial information. Phishing tactics appear extremely convincing with exact logos, business-like sentence structure, privacy policies, legal disclaimers, matched corporate colors and professional graphic layout. The Phishing scheme will generally appear in the guise of an email or pop-up screen, and the victim will either click a link that will take them to a phony, but completely convincing website, or they will fill out information on the pop-up screen and click submit which sends their information to the criminal.

Work-at-Home scam

Also known as the Employment Scam, this scam finds its victims in chat rooms, online communities and employment websites. The criminals contact the victim via email or instant message with a job offer that involves working a few hours a week. All they need is a bank account and an Internet connection. The scam involves the criminals finding a victim they can convince to launder funds. The funds are generally stolen by the criminals via identity fraud or a phishing scam. The criminals need to turn these stolen funds (or access to the new found funds) into real cash by getting their newly-hired employment scam victim to receive funds into their personal account (usually in the form of a counterfeit check or direct money transfer), then withdraw that money as cash, keep a portion of the money as their ‘work-at-home commission’, and wire-transfer the rest of money (usually out of the country) via Western Union.

Fake Check Scam

There are many variations of the Fake Check Scam (e.g., the Work-at-Home scam), but generally the scheme is that the criminal proposes that they pay you for something with a check, and they need you to wire or transfer some of that money back to them. Bottom line is that there is never a legitimate reason for a consumer to transfer money back somebody giving you a ‘check’. When accepting payment from a stranger, insist on certified funds (e.g., a money order) for the exact amount owed.

Lottery Scam

The Fake Lottery Scam is a form of the Advance Fee Scam. In the lottery scam the victim is told they have 'won' a large prize but must have to pay: an upfront ‘administrative fee’, taxes, shipping and handling, provide details of their bank account, or give highly personal identification as proof of their identity before they receive it. The scam is delivered via postal mail and email. Typical prizes include a large sum of money or a vacation/cruise.