Monday 25 November 2013


In the coming weeks running to the festive period, I am going to talk specifically about top 5 financial scams and how to spot them. As the global economy is yet to recover fully from the recession, more and more people are becoming vulnerable to financial tricks and scams.  Millions of people fall victim to various scams due to reasons such as being attracted to financial gains, not being rational, unemployment etc.

Today’s article would look at: 

Advance Fee Fraud

An advance fee fraud is a scheme in which the fraudster persuades the target to advance sums of money by falsely promising the delivery of a product or service.

If you have ever received a badly spelt begging letter or email from someone you have never heard of, it is likely that you have been targeted.

The approach can be made by letter, fax, email or telephone, and usually concerns an amount of money that your correspondent needs to get out of their country. The victim is offered a large sum of money as a reward for helping with the transfer.

Typically, the writer claims to be a senior government official, an accountant with a state owned corporation, or perhaps a relative of a deposed or dead politician. It will probably be marked ''Strictly Confidential'' or ''Urgent'', and offer the opportunity to share in a multi-million pound bonanza.

The correspondent says that he or she wants to use your bank account. If you respond with details you will be sent more documents purporting to show that the money is genuine. You will then be asked to send your bank details and an ''advance fee'' to speed up the transaction. However, once you have sent the money an emergency will arise and they will ask you to send more.

 
For more information on this subject, please visit the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

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