Don't be an idiot.

You have won nothing.

I just want your bank details so that I can rob you later.

Click here for advice on scams from the Office of Fair Trading. (http://www.oft.gov.uk/Consumer/Scams/default.htm)

I received an interesting variation on the Nigerian letter scam this week. It was from someone in Ghana who claims his entire family was killed by the Tsunami in Sri Lanka.

He stands to inherit $30 million dollars in his father's will, but needs my help in getting the money out of Ghana/London/Paris or wherever the secret bank accounts are located. Of course, I'll get a slice for my efforts.

I thought it was a nice twist using the Tsunami as part of the scam.

I was going to copy the whole letter here, but it's a bit long.

It does makes interesting reading though, so if anyone wants to see it, let me know.

I appear to have this long list of relatives that I never knew I had, all of whom have accumulated vast wealth in Nigeria and then died under strange circumstances. My family must be terribly unlucky in Africa....

However, they all had me as their next of kin... :)


A cute variation on this is the bouncing cheque scam. You sell something to someone, or they contct you out of the blue and ask that, because of your good name, can you help them make a purchase from the UK.

They send you payment for the goods / services - which is ALWAYS higher than what you asked for. They then ask you to send them the balance of the trasaction.

Now I'm immune to this because my bank is VERY tight on cleared funds before I can use them, but some people will be able to draw against uncleared funds. So they send a draft back for a few hundred quid or whatever, and then the cheque from our friend bounces.

You're a few hundred quid down - and, if you sent a peresonal cheque, they have your account number, name, bank address, etc.

:)

Maybe its just my natural scepticism, but I've never heard of one of these scams that I thought I might fall for.

I guess its probably something to do with the amount of scams you hear about.

You wonder who the people who fall for them are - do they go round with their eyes and ears shut or are they just very vulnerable people who have very trusting personalities?

It would be nice if you could trust every stranger you meet, but you do have to be careful.

Originally posted by Yodameister


You wonder who the people who fall for them are - do they go round with their eyes and ears shut ?


No - I just need to phone them up at random and hang-up immediately.

Their curiosity is more than likely to call me back - I apologise for my error but I keep them talking, hoping that they haven't noticed that it's costing them £1.50 per minute.

PLEASE MAKE ELDERLY PARENTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN AWARE OF THESE SCAMS. THEY ARE NOT AS STREETWISE AS YOU.

And ban all doorstep callers.

If we need them, we'll send for them.



Burglars use that ploy to eye up your property.