Scammers Cash in with Money Transfer Fraud
The latest installment in our Gromyko and Natasha comic series that has the two fraudsters heading for the 2010 MRC Conference will give you a smile, but money transfer fraud is no laughing matter.
You still hear the expression “wire me some money,” an artifact from the old Western Union days of telegraph to describe a money transfer transaction that puts cash in the hands of someone in a far flung destination. The expression never achieved the generic status of “hand me a Kleenex” or “Xerox it” so perhaps it’s time to update “wire me some money” to “CNP me some cash.” The globalization of labor and the Worldwide Web have greatly increased the volume of money transfers from one country to another. Naturally, where you find the capability to convert e-funds to cash from point A to point B overseas there’s bound to be a global population of hard-core cyber criminals, fraudsters and scammers diligently trying to figure out how to cash in on these transfers.
You can find a mountain of articles and information about these kinds of scams, but here’s one that’s a personal story that someone shared on Yahoo Answers that frames the problem in a very personal way. “Bobby B” was duped by a 419 fraud (the 419 moniker has its origin from the section of the Nigerian penal code that which fraud schemes.)
“Bobby B” says he was tricked into believing he was helping an online friend he met on ESPN that wired him $865 to a bank account Bobby B opened to help him. He confirmed with the bank that the money was clear, and then he wired the money to his US bank account. Bobby B then contacted his “friend” who had told him that the money was for his son who went to a private school about ten miles from Bobby B’s location. Bobby B asked his friend what the address of the school was, and the scammer gave him a Nigerian address with instructions to send the money and threatened to drain all of Bobby B’s bank accounts and steal his identity. Bobby B panicked and made two money transfers using Western Union to the scammers address. Poor Bobby B didn’t realize yet that the funds were fraudulent, relying on the bank representative that confirmed the funds were cleared. The other shoe dropped on Bobby B’s head when his bank contacted him to notify Bobby B that the $865 funds were fraudulent.
Bobby B goes on to advise “never to trust anyone you have not met in person or online.” This scammer invested a year in Bobby B to gain his trust until he felt the time was right to bilk him out of his money. In this example, device identification would have likely exposed the true location of the computer of the scammer thereby exposing his scheme well before it was successfully executed.
If you want to learn more about money transfers, check out SendMoneyHome.org. The site was started by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), “to bring clarity and transparency to the remittances sector for migrant communities living and working in the UK who send money home.” The web site has lots of great information about sending money overseas including a comparison tool that lets you see your provider options based on country of origin and destination for the funds.
- Tom
