Well, I finally got one of those South African scam letters. You know the ones that claim you can get a whole lot of money, just by following their instructions. As the economy slows there has been a whole lot of crooks out there to take your money. And if you have a blog, be extra careful. Those contacting you have either read your blog, or you have signed up for the newsletter, or you possibly met in a chat, or website platform. This is an era where you have to know that there are no free lunches, no pie in the sky, and anything that sounds too good to be true really is! I'm sure you already knew that.
Now I debated about forwarding it to the SBI like I did the one I got from Nigeria about a year ago, it was a real problem on the net. There are so many of those things, that it is unlikely anything would get done about it, unless there were a lot of complaints. This one had a headline about INHERITANCE, and the one from last year was regarding some NIGERIAN money. So if you get one of those just remember that noone is going to give you a bunch of money, and no, you aren't so important that some government in Nigeria is going to pay you to handle their money, if you help them. Also no sane woman is going to give you her husbands inheritance, it's just hogwash plain and simple. They are looking for the naive or greedy.
I guess you wonder why I'm so sure about all this, well, it's my field. There are no coincidences in crime, just mostly clues. Be assured that if you give out enough information someone will try to use it to con you. So make sure that you keep the important stuff to yourself, and don't share everything; or at least give some faulty info to go along with the real. And if they use it you have a trail to find the culprit. Women are particularly vulnerable to scams and deception, so watch out. I am still pondering the letter, and what I will do about it, as there are a lot of options. So if you get a scam letter don't let them appeal to your greed. And here are some options that you have:
1. Delete and forget it.
2. Forward it to authorities: FBI, SBI, Homeland Security depending on content.
3. Forward it to your friends as a warning.
4. If it claims to be your bank or a business you frequent, and is asking for personal information, then if falls under Identity Theft, and you would be wise to get someone to use your computer to get the computer address of where it came from; if the bank is interested in prosecution.
5. If it is just a chain letter, or hoax, then post it on the Urban Legend and Hoax website.
6. If you know the party who is trying to con you, then contact authorities and report them.
7. If it continues, and you receive multiples, then you have a better chance of someone taking a serious interest in it. They usually only get involved when someone has been taken.
Be careful out there in cyberspace, just as you would at home. It isn't like you can pull out a .45 pistol, and protect yourself on the web. There is a guy here, near where I live, who has a sign in his yard "bring your own gun, I don't want to shoot an unarmed man."; and it makes me chuckle when I see that. Several murders have happened near the river where he lives, so it's a self defense measure to keep them away from his property. It may not work, but it's funny. So don't take anyone offering you free money seriously, and remember that you are going to be a target at some time or another. Decide what action to take, and don't look back, just do it.
Life is too short to be taken by some goons who are too lazy to work. BE SAFE, and remember there are some good humans too, so don't get cynical. You just have to take some time, and sort them out. Beware giving your real birthdate on sites, where other financial information may be collected and isn't your bank; if that could put together a financial profile for an identity theft. It is the biggest crime now in the United States. Use cash for small purchases instead of a credit card or debit card. Restaurants have a lot of problems, where your card is taken to back, or away from the table to pay the bill. That is an area of risk. Minimize risk, and you will not have to spend a lot of time filling out forms, and trying to straighten out your life. My mother always said "Better safe, than sorry".
Kii Kynzer is a writer of poetry, blog author, and EO of a nonprofit. She is married, one son and two grandsons. Her interests vary from christian philosophy to politics, which is quite a span. The link to Kii Yayhzi Kynzer Poetry is on her blogs, so be sure to read some of her work at the following blog sites:
What's sad about all this, Kii, is that these scams aren't even original anymore. They recycle every few years. You'd think people would remember, but evidently they don't. I think of the quote that goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." A good number of people deserve to be shamed the second time around! Good article!
Snopes dot com is a good place to visit to check any probably hoax emails - most of them are on there.
With regard to the "Nigerian 419 scam" emails ("I am a Nigerian politician and I have $2 million I need to temporarily store in your bank" etc) , some people have actually turned them back on the senders in amusing ways - even getting the scammers to carve wooden statues of their heads and send them over, or get tattoos, expecting that they will then get the money from the "gullible victim".
Google for 419eater and you'll find lots of great stories about creative revenge opportunities people have taken (I don't recommend trying it yourself though, it is potentially dangerous - many of these scammers are part of large scale criminal operations)
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