Reports of frauds, deceptions and scams keep appearing, weekly even daily, on
major news channels and newspapers. Some of these frauds seem just too big and remote to be of immediate, direct relevance to our daily lives. But, we will eventually pay for the consequences and damages, in taxes, costs of goods and services, regulations, copy-cats etc.

I hope we can collect, in one thread, frauds and scams, reported or heard. We must become more aware and more educated to guard against frauds and scams
which impact upon the health, well being, and wealth of ourselves and our families.

skg83239

Much appreciated. Exactly the kind of thing I've been looking for and couldn't satisfactorily find myself.

:-)

Just been to my local Lloyds TSB 'big' branch in town to set up some telephone banking facilities.

With one of their managers present in a small interview room this enabled me with the facility to be able to see on one of the bank's own monitors their version of my signature. This is the one a cashier would check on if I were to go in and cash a cheque or a bank employee would use to verify the authenticity of my signature.

Q. The result? What did I see? What was my signature like?

A. 75% of it was missing for some reason. It was most definitely unverifiable!

Probably the original had been written by me so that some was "above and below" the space given on which it was required to be signed. Hence, it was "uncopyable".

I would have thought they should be set up to tell a customer about this but it seems no one hardly bothers about the problem. There must be hundreds of signatures in banks, which are utterly and completely unverifiable.

Anyway, not so mine any longer. Problem sorted!!

It might be an idea if you ask to see your own signature (or at least, the bank's version of it) the next time you go into your local bank. You might end up being just as suprised as I was! Oh, and do make sure you have your Driving Licence with you. The DVLA make better sure you don't stray out of the space allotted to write out your signature.

"A former postman who masterminded a "staggering" family-run cheque fraud from his council house has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Dido Mayue-Belezika, 34, from Camden, north London, was behind a 20m fraud.
..."

Postman is jailed for 20m fraud

Eighteen charged in 'snoop' probe

"Eighteen men have been charged with a range of offences after a long-running telecoms snooping investigation.

A probe into alleged phone tapping by a London private detective agency sparked the police operation, across the city, south England, Lincolnshire and France.

The men will appear in court next month on charges ranging from accessing NHS files for blackmail to intercepting phone calls.

Others are accused of hoarding telecoms equipment owned by firms BT and NTL.

The charges also involve alleged modifying of computer material, falsifying invoices and conducting surveillance on law enforcement agencies and witnesses.

..."

I keep getting this type or very similar types of offer.It looks like money laundering. Does anyone know about them please, the company seems to exist.
(SUNNEXSYSTEMS) I filled inthe form and they said my application had been accepted and they wanted to make a test transfer into my account. Theyaskedmeto open anew business account. At which point I stopped them and went out to compare business acounts from all the major banks, (the differences between them were astonishing) Anyway I never opened another account and certainly wasnt going to give them the details of my current account.

So does anyone know if these are genuine or indeed leagal

Dear recipient,
Sunnexsystems announces the beginning of a new global employment campaign offering you one more opportunityto earn extra money working with Sunnexsystems.
We are looking for honest, responsible, hard-working people that can dedicate 2-4 hours of their time per day and earn extra 300-500 GBP weekly. All offered positions are currently part-time and give you a chanceto work mainly from home.

Please visit Sunnexsystems's corporate web site for more details regarding these vacancies.

Also another recent one:
If You are firm of purpose, active and are willing to earn some cash, then this offer is for You. The EcoLife Company is one of the largest cleansing facility dealers in the world. Every year we go out to the markets of different countries, keep and eye and study the demand and sales-market in every new country. As a result of our move to the market of Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France and Greece we are having temporary employee recruitment for the position of a financial manager. It is required for You to be:
Honest and executive

- You must have a bank account
- You must have several free time hours per day
- You must have a phone number we can get through to You
- You must have an email address

The fact that You need no specialized knowledge or some sort of financial investment is sure an indisputable bonus of our partnership. The job we are offering to You consists of receiving bank wire transfers from our clients and partners on to Your bank account. Once the money is on Your account, You must send it to the customer's representative office that has the wares purchased by the customer in stock either via the Western Union or via the Money Gram. For Your service You get from 5% to 7% from the total amount of transferred funds. The EcoLife Company covers all other Western Union and Money Gram fees and costs.
Your service won't be needed on a constant basis, but only for the time of our sales-market study in Your region and also for the time of registration of all necessary papers and the corporative accounts opening. You don't just earn cash by working with us, but also help saving and cleaning our endangered environment.
If You have any questions, please contact us via email:

contact@ecolifeswiss.com

Special offer!
In order to work with us, you even may not have a bank account. You are welcome to consult our manager via the e-mail regarding this offer.

The EcoLife Company is very grateful and thankful for Your attention to our offer. www.monster.com supplied us with Your email at our desire because Your email address has been subscribed to the job-offer advertisements by You or someone else.

Best wishes to You

Klaus Preiss
EcoLife Company Administration

If the presence of this letter in Your email box is a mistake, the EcoLife company administration makes its apologies. Simply delete the letter.

So anyone??

rpaco

Undoubtedly it is a scam.

"The job we are offering to You consists of receiving bank wire transfers from our clients and partners on to Your bank account. Once the money is on Your account, You must send it to the customer's representative office that has the wares purchased by the customer in stock either via the Western Union or via the Money Gram. For Your service You get from 5% to 7% from the total amount of transferred funds. The EcoLife Company covers all other Western Union and Money Gram fees and costs."

1. Please kick yourself up your own bum for even considering it!!!! :-)

2. Have a read on some of the 815 or so posts on this MoneyAM thread:

DR BEKE MARTINS.Lets make HIS Life hell

rpaco,

This will answer your question:

http://www.data-wales.co.uk/ni_fake_jobs.htm

Yes thanks guys I knew it had to be a con really. But If I opened a new account with nothing it I couldn't see how they were going to get money out of me, now it is clear.
Cheers
Re doctor BEKE Matins etc I last had one from Hong Kong. I usually write them a note telling them to try harder.
I also cant resist filling in fake details in some of the many phishes I get for almost every bank.

Can anyone help me with this one. I'm sure that there's a scam in there somewhere if you can just work out what on earth he's talking about :-)



From: Mr.SHAMSUDEEN USMAN GAMBO
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OPERATIONS Dept. CBN

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
Attention:, the Honorable contractor,

My name is Mr.SHAMSUDEEN USMAN GAMBO, in the Operations Dept, of theCentral
Bank of Nigeria. However, I am leaking this secret following my discoveries
in your contract file, which I feel sorry about your suffering. Before I
proceed, I want to appeal to you that if after going through this mail, and
you do not like it, please kingly keep it to your self since I will not
like to lose my job.
Indeed, I found out that you have met all the statutory requirement ofthe
Central Bank in respect of your overdue contract payment.
Your problem is interest groups. A lot of people are interested in your
payment, hence they are just doing endless mere paper work with you, through
one approval document and promise/payment after another, which they have
never kept their words even for once as gentlemen, hence, you are a victim
of high level secret plot. This explains why people without anything to do
with you are all embarrassing you like they want to help, which they cannot
do anything .However, your nightmares will surely come to halt in a few days
in a flash; if only you will adhere strictly to my advice since I know, and
monitor all activities with respect to all foreign contract payments.The
truth is that you cannot get your fund without adequately clearing the mess
in your suppressed contract file; regarding vital contract information
muddled up in contradiction and confusion which did not go down well with
the authorities.
This entire people contacting you do not even know that your fund is placed
on hold, which has made it impossible for
your money to be released. Anyway, since this is not by force, if you like,
you
can continue to waste your money on their sweet empty promises. But, I bet
you with guarantee that this will last for your lifetime, yet nothing
happens. Without
dragging you too far, I want to inform you that with my present position, I
can punch the computer and credit your bank account straight through our
corresponding bank.

But we have to reach a concrete agreement. First, you have to let me know
how much you will give me on the successful credit of this fund, which I
will do a good repairs. Secondly, you have to agree to keep this information
strictly confidential even from your so-called partners extorting money from
you.

This is to deceive everybody and keep these mischief-makers
unawares. Thirdly, you have to agree to open another bank a/c elsewhere
where this money will be credited.This is to avoid any call back of the
money. To sum it
up, if you think, you can have implicit trust in yourself, and your God by
being ready to take yourself even like a fool for once and see the magic,

Yours faithfully,

USMAN SHAMSUDEEN GAMBO

I think he is simply saying, "You don't get the money with other people, but you will with me."

Then he goes on, "But we have to reach a concrete agreement. First, you have to let me know how much you will give me on the successful credit of this fund,...."

I suspect the operative words there are "...extorting money from you." :-)

Yes I think you're right Doc. This is a second level scam. He is trying to scam those who are already being scammed and stupid enough to fall for two scammers at the same time.

There is a very simple filter for all of this: a very wealthy acquaintance of mine once told me "There's no such thing as easy money".

He was right.

A chump in my company has put her signature to one of those forms offering an entry in the EU Business Directory without looking at the small print that explains the entry is to be paid for.

Already we are receiving reminder invoices with a staggering incremental charge for late payment.

Has anyone been dragged into a similar situation around here? And better still does anyone have some suggestions as to our best course of action.

TP

Recieved from friend



This is a fraud that is currently doing the rounds in the UK that I heard
about today through my work. A lot of incidences reported.






'The following was given to me by a colleague at work, whose husband works
for Barclays and has dealings with Barclaycard.



Quote: This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA &
MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you'll be better prepared to
protect yourself.



One of our employees was called on Wednesday from "VISA", and I was called
on Thursday from "MasterCard". Note, the callers do not ask for your card
number; they already have it.



The scam works like this: Person calling says, "This is (name), and I'm
calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My Badge number is
12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm
calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card that was issued by (name
of bank). Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for 249.99 from a
Marketing company based in (name of any town or city)?"



When you say "No" the caller continues with, "Then we will be issuing a
credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the
charges range from 150 to 249, just under the 250 purchase pattern that
flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to
(gives you your address), is that correct?"



You say "yes". The caller continues - "I will be starting a Fraud
investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 0800 number
listed on the back of your card and ask for Security. You will need to refer
to this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. "Do you
need me to read it again?"



Here's the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works. The caller then says, "I
need to verify you are in possession of your card". He'll ask you to "turn
your card over and look for some numbers". There are 7 numbers; the first 4
are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security Numbers that
verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you
sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card. The
caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him.



After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, "That is correct, I just
needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you
still have your card. Do you have any other questions?" After you say No,
the caller then thanks you and states, "Don't hesitate to call back; if you
do", and hangs up. You actually say very little, and they never ask for or
tell you the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called
back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA
Security Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new
purchase of 249.99 was charged to our card.



Long story made short - we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA
account. VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want is the
3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don't give it to them.



Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or Master card directly for verification
of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for
anything on the card as they already know the information since they issued
the card! If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN you think you're
receiving a credit. However, by the time you get your statement you'll see
charges for purchases you didn't make, and by then it's almost to late
and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report.



What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from a
"Jason Richardson of MasterCard" with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA
scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police
report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of
these reports daily!



They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this scam is happening.
Please pass this on to all your family and friends. By informing each other,
we protect each other.'

More second-level scamming. This really is an interesting development. Obviously so many people are now aware of the scam that they are having to try to scam those who have already been scammed.

1 Ibrahim Taiwo road
Aso Rock Villa PMB 166
FCT Abuja,
Nigeria.

ATTENTION:

Take notice that based on the federal government inauguration of this
committee which extended to all Africa countries and Europe, the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission - (EFCC) have combined with the
United Nation Anti-crime commission to alleviate and redeem the image and
past wounds of our dear citizens and foreign firms who were duped ,
defrauded, scanned and abandoned by some impostors who indiscriminately use
the name of God, Office of governors, Presidency, Banks etc to slight
down our digities to international communities.

Many banks have been in ruptcy today, Universal firms, Companies due to
the activity of these hoodlums. However, investigation have shown that
these people have dropped over 500,000, clients after collecting their
money, many committed suicide and others living in the grace of God. We
see this country as a treasonable felony and have over 500 convicts at
hand, 300 in krikri prisons while many are still on trail. We still
fetch for others who feel they are wise and hope that you will be our
friend by giving us more information.

Meanwhile, we have a committee whose duties are to re-commend genuine
contractors, loan bidders, next of kin (inheritance payment) NNPC award,
foreign firms who have completed all the federal government normal
payment requirements but abandoned due to take over some sacked officials
who take Government papers to collect money and leave the beneficiary
half way.
In our inauguration, the government advised us that we must scrutinize
all companies, banks and Security Company for payment. We have found
your full entitlement valid among other approvals. We also have endorsed
your payment to CENTRAL BANK NIGERIA PAID YOU CASH THROUGH A DIPLOMATIC
COURIER SERVICE without prejudice and will need a confirmation of all
your communication with them until you finally receive your money

The federal government is using this opportunity to compensate the
entire victim who some Nigeria’s has duped So you are advice to contact
the Mr. Ibada Anayo Titus to mail to you a certified check which can be
withdraw any were in the world and the amount is USD 650,000.00, so you
are expected to give him the following for proper mailing of your check
to your destination

CONTACT: IBADA ANAYO TITUS
ADDRESS: PLOT 144 ADEKULE AVN ISOLO LAGOS NIGERIA
EMAIL: brathwaitjones05@yahoo.co.uk
His cell phone +234-8032119346

NAME:
YOUR HOME ADDRESS:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
COUNTRY:
STATE:
TELEPHONE NUMBER:
SEX:

As soon as you give him the following he will mail your compensation
cheque to you.

THIS IS PRODULY SPONSORED BY THE EUROPE /AFRICA GOVERNMENT.

Thanks for your co-operations
Yours faithfully,
Brathwait Jones,
Executive Chairman,
Economic & Financial Crime Commission

RogerD, perhaps insiders sold details of customer names, address and card numbers.
Brings to mind the case in June 2005 ...

""Call center staff 'sold ID data'

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- London police were investigating a newspaper claim on Thursday that confidential details of British bank accounts are being sold by criminals from Indian call centers.

The Sun said it had bought bank details of 1,000 Britons for just 3 ($5.50) each from a computer expert in Delhi who said he had obtained the information from contacts working in call centers.

...

The paper said its reporter had obtained addresses, passwords, phone numbers and details of credit cards, passports and driving licenses which could be used to raid unsuspecting victim's accounts.

...

The Sun said the institutions targeted included many of Britain's top banks such as HSBC, Barclays, and Lloyds TSB. It added the call center worker claimed he could provide 200,000 account details a month -- including those of U.S. citizens.

..."

:-(((

Was also report by Reuters and CNN at the time ...

IMO, UK call centers may or may not be more secure but at least UK laws can be applied ...

axdpc- one of the reasons that I have reduced my card limit and mainly deal in cash now. Need a bigger mattress :))

BBC's Watchdog programs are worth watching ...

BBC Watchdog

More BCA complaints and advice

COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE BCA BOOK CLUB

Thirteen held in bank fraud probe

"Thirteen people have been arrested in raids by police investigating a multi-million pound bank fraud.

The inquiry concerns a gang suspected of opening accounts in false names using counterfeit documents.

A bank employee is among the people being held after officers executed search warrants at addresses in west London, Bradford and Slough.

The City of London Police's Economic Crime Department said it is believed in the region of 3m was stolen.
..."