Basically, it was about a new confidence scam going around. I typed it up, turned it in, looked to see if it was printed and forgot about it...
Until a few days later the same scam it warned about arrived in my email!
Talk about bold! Talk about timely!
The original story was about how con artists have been posing as law enforcement officials to swindle people out of money. As I found out, the attempt to swindle doesn't only come over the phone as similar scams are also being done online.
Now, I was aware that people have been pretending to be law enforcement as parts of scams before. My good friend and coworker Bud Robinette got a phony email from a scammer a few months ago which was a variant on the hoary old scam going around about somebody in some far off foreign land who is willing to give you a zillion dollars in return for a pittance in a "transaction fee."
That particular e-mail pretended to be from the FBI claiming they had looked into the offer and it was legit - so go ahead and send the money.
As Bud said, anything that sounds too good to be true usually is. And if somebody has money to give away they certainly don't need any transaction fee from you. They can take it out of the mythical amount they are holding in front of you like a carrot on a stick in front of a donkey.
Needless to say, one day in the metric ton of spam and junk mail that clogs my outlook express account I found the same scam that we had done a story about.
This one claimed that I had owed some money on some old loan to some bank I never heard of. And that I was being warned to pay up or else. Fortunately, I detected a skunk in there and sent it to the deleted file.
However, I can see how somebody who is not familiar to the world of con artists, internet swindles and scammers might fall for such a con job. Something like that, for example, would make my grandmother a nervous wreck. Fortunately she won't go within ten feet of a computer without crossing herself and hissing like a wet cat.
Then I got different one, also claiming to be from the FBI, the state of Hawaii and a foreign general.
Here's what it said.
"ROOM 4-230, KALANIANAOLE FOBS
300 ALA MO ANA BOULEVARD HONOLULU, HAWAII 96850-0053
Attn: Beneficiary.
We the Federal Bureau Of Investigation Honolulu United States Of America have discovered through our monitoring network that you have a transaction going on in a tone of Millions which have been approved but have not been settled. we have been having so many complains from people who have been scammed around the world and after concluding in a meeting with members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we came to a conclusion that every payment will be made through Diplomatic means with a help of a Diplomat who will deliver your fund as a consignment to the delivery address you will provide to us ....
Thanks for listening to our advise.
General Mark Freedman (Rtd).
Republic of Benin"
The key to this load of baloney is that it starts out claiming to be the FBI Hawaii and is signed by an alleged general in Benin. Pure scam.
The original story w Attorney General Darrell McGraw warned the public about a band of con artists who have been making threats to consumers who allegedly obtained loans. However, the consumers being threatened never obtained any loan at all, or often paid it off many years ago. Most were claims of internet payday loans - short-term loans made via interactive web sites. These unsecured loans which feature astronomical interest are unlawful in West Virginia.
The scam artists usually speak English with a foreign accent and refer to themselves as U.S. National Bank or the Federal Investigation Bureau or United Legal Processing and numerous other phony names. They refuse to disclose real names and addresses and are believed to be operating "off the grid" from motel rooms, homes, automobiles or possibly foreign countries, including India.
So far no law enforcement agencies have been successful in finding them.
The scammers pose as law enforcement officers, bank officials or lawyers and threaten consumers with an arrest for bank fraud or other fictitious crimes, unless money is wired immediately.
"They simultaneously scare and confuse consumers by using meaningless legalese gobbledygook phrases such as "We are downloading warrants against you," or "We are filing an affidavit against you," McGraw notified the press.
Ironically, an affidavit is just a notice to appear in court and warrants cannot be downloaded in WV.
The scammers often call victims at work several times a day and have even been known to attempt to contact supervisors with false claims about the employee being arrested.
"Ordinarily my office protects consumers from fraudulent activities by seeking an injunction in court," McGraw said. "But legal action cannot be taken until the scam artists can be located. Even then, it is unlikely that the persons behind the fraudulent calls and extortionist threats would obey a court order. In this case the consumer's best defense is to be armed with knowledge of the scam so that all demands for money can be resisted despite the false but scary threats of arrest."
McGraw said employers should be aware of the scam and the con artists attempts to harass innocent victims with false claims, which they are not responsible for.
For more information about the scam check out the web site www.wago.gov/internetloanscam. If you have been threatened by these con-men call 1-800-368-8808, the consumer protection hot line.
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