By Jo Best, 18 February 2005 17:15
NEWS The government has proclaimed February 'scam awareness month' and is turning to the internet to help consumers avoid falling for offers that are literally too good to be true.
In an effort to cut the average over £1bn a year is conned out of the UK public, the Office of Fair Trading's head of international consumer regulation and enforcement, Mike Haley, advised consumers to be aware of the Netherlands national lottery and other scams.
The first clue that should warn consumers that they are being targeted by a scam is that the contact with the scammer will be unexpected, Haley said.
"All these scams have some things in common; firstly you'll get a call, email or letter out of the blue, something you are not expecting but to secure your win, your holiday, your good investment you will have to pay a fee up front: that's the sign that it is a scam."
Haley also advised consumers to keep their bank account details secret and be sceptical.
"Our advice is never ever to give out your personal banking information or to allow someone else to use your bank account... they will steal your bank account details, your identity and take all the money out of your account," he said. "You should be wary of any illegal easy money offers."
Haley added that hundreds of people including successful businesspeople had fallen for 419 scams and not all of them were stupid or greedy.
"[Scammers] sure are smart people, but it's not always the case that the victim is greedy. There is a scam for everyone, if we think its only other people that can be scammed, we let down our guard. Find out more information about the different ways that scam artists succeed - not just by appealing to greed," he said.
Haley advised scam victims to not be ashamed and contact the Citizens Advice Bureau, trading standards or the OFT.
Comments
There are 22 comments. Join the discussion
1. Danny Carr
does that mean some of the great and good have been caught out? of course they are thick and if not then they clearly do not care about possible money laundering problems, and nobody in senior positions should be unaware of that possibility.
2. AD
"419 victims not greedy or stupid, says OFT" - No, they are.
If they aren't I'd love to hear what they are..."Insightful and intelligent?"
3. Richard Howlett
No, I'm sorry, but anyone who believes that they are going to given millions of pounds by someone they have never met for temporarily looking after money that, even if it existed, probably shouldn't be leaving the country from which it originates, is both greedy AND stupid. I have no sympathy for them at all. I had one arrive here purporting to be from the wife of Yasser Arafat. You know what? I had a quick laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it and then deleted it. Oh and e-mailed abuse@hotmail so they can remove at least one scammer from the ether.
4. anonymous
Gullible, greedy and stupid certainly come to mind and they must truly lack a sixth sense and be totally naive about human nature - where are they living? - obviously not in the world I inhabit?
5. anonymous
Anybody who falls for the 419 scam is most certainly greedy and prepared to engage in illegal and fraudulent activities. As potential criminals they deserve to lose their money. I have received dozens of these e-mails and they all involve misuse or laundering of funds on a scale that could not have been acquired legitimately.
One recent one came ten days after the Tsunami disaster and claimed that the person's lawyer had advised that the person contact me to help with the estate of their drowned father. As if any lawyer would do any such thing!!
Apart from that the excuses given for contacting the victimm in the first place are pathetic and the rewards offered are ridiculously excessive.
One recent one came ten days after the Tsunami disaster and claimed that the person's lawyer had advised that the person contact me to help with the estate of their drowned father. As if any lawyer would do any such thing!!
The people caught by these scams are not victims but people who are willing to become criminals for their own selfish gain.
They get no sympathy from me.
6. anonymous
Those who think that all 419 victims are greedy or stupid should remember that this category includes many variants, for example that in which the victims details are harvested in the course of organising support for a named orphan or disaster victim with whom the donor is put in personal contact by a supposed "charity".
7. Keith Simmonds
I absolutely agree with the previous posters, but am also annoyed that public money is being spent appointing Civil Servants to issue "advice and counselling" to these idiots and would-be crooks. Let them lose their money, maybe they will learn not to be stupid, greedy and crooked in future. Perhaps they will learn to take some responsibility for their own actions, instead of blaming someone else and whining "It's unfair", as seems to be the vogue these days. In the meantime, sack or redeploy the Civil Servants into more useful jobs.
8. Wayne
"The government has proclaimed February 'scam awareness month'"
On the 18th????
9. Isabel Picornell
If not greedy or stupid, then naive. I personally know of people from a Canadian company executive to a Philippine Nun who swallowed the scam hook, line, and sinker, and they fit into one of those three categories. It's the Nun I really felt sorry for as she really thought God had wrought a miracle for her charity.
10. Tester
So, people actually think they can win a lottery they have never entered! Maybe they would accept a huge overpayment for an online auction, forwarding the 'excess' to a 3rd party before any money clears too.
It's just the thought of an illicit [quite a] few quid, that make people loose their reasoning skills. My old mum used to say "If it sounds too good to e true, it probably is" Sage advice
11. anonymous
The naivete of the general public never ceases to amaze me. It beggars belief that anyone could fall for the 491 scam. What ever happened to the belief that "there's no such thing as a free lunch", let alone a free £10million? And do you really expect to win a lottery without realising that you had bought a ticket. If people are that stupid it's hard to have sympathy for them.
12. anonymous
What are we to make of a government agency which with full knowledge of the hilarious implausibility of these scams thinks that people taken in by them are neither stupid nor naive?
I suspect that they have identified the perfect group for voting Labour in the next election. After all, if you think some Nigerian central bank employee is going to share a few million dollars with you, you must be an ideal candidate for Tony's next set of promises.
13. N
Although many victims of 419 fraud are greedy and gullible others are taken in by very convincing scams that have no hint of illegality about them.
Many scams target internet auction users with high quality fake cheques that are not uncovered until after the bank has cleared them. By this time the victim has sent the scammer the goods and often an 'over-payment'.
The victims include businessmen and women but also the most vulnerable people in society. The scammers will have no qualms about urging single mothers to sell their few possessions to raise more money to pay 'lawyer's fees' and 'taxes'. Others pose as orphans in an attempt to con caring people into sending them moey for 'essential medications'. Victims may be lucky to lose just money. There have been cases where victims have travelled to meet the scammers and been brutally murdered.
Although most silicon.com readers are wise to the scams imagine how you would feel if your elderly parents or aunt and uncle were taken in. Are you sure it wouldn't happen? Some victims are so convinced by the lies that they will not believe those people who attempt to save them from sending even more of their money to the scammer.
14. Warren Edwardes
I suggest that a few 419 scammers should be hired by the Inland Revenue to flush out these crooks. Far from sympathy anyone falling for a 419 scam is likely to be a tax evader.
15. Stuart Vine
Sorry - they are both stupid and greedy. Perhaps their mothers never told them not to accept sweets from strangers? I do feel sorry for people taken in by some of the better crafted phishing e-mails though, that's naivety, not stupidity.
16. Drew Edgar
What c***
Typical nanny state lecturing & no action - just unfortunate not greedy or stupid.
Why hasn't the government set up a site to receive reports on these fraudulant (or pornographic) spam emails & pursue them & the web hosts in co-op[eration with other jurisdictions.
17. laura
there are some scans that genuinly do target peoples vunerables sides, like the dial up users that are targeted by porn scandels: a message pops up "eniticing" people to download more images. As soon as you hit the no button you are automatically connected to a premium rate telephone number and your next phone bill is astromical-i think scams like that are the ones that should be highlighted
18. anonymous
So what adjectives SHOULD we be using, eh?
The OFT is right - these people are not stupid OR greedy, they are stupid AND greeedy - praise be to the OFT for their use of Boolean logic!
I support the OFT and the use of taxpayers' money to warn against & prosecute devious tricksters who pray on honest people's lack of knowledge. But the greedy individuals who think it is perfectly feasible for an unknown foreign national to give them thousands of pounds for nothing can go whistle - they deserve to be robbed blind...
19. anonymous
Anyone who offer you money, but need money first is sure a scam. I have receive those email from nigeria, and those "you win..." and I have always deleted them. You must be a stupid if you believed them
20. Glen Mufundisi
The 419 scammers are scum and people who respond to their silly adverts are just as dumb. Recently I received an email from a woman purporting to be a refugee whose dead father was very wealthy and had left a fortune of us$140million. I played along with sympathies and asked her to send me her photo (I asked her twice pretending I had not received the first) and on both occasions she sent pictures of two totally different women. I laughed in her face, binned the emails (Spam) and informed abuse@hotmail.com.
21. Ayo George
Of course scam victims are greedy, thescammers cliam that the money on offer comes from a contract in a third world country or belongs to some dead or deposed dictator. In the case of 419 scams I think that the so called victims should be charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to commit theft.
22. anonymous
i dnt think the 419 victims were all greedy.coz we dnt know the real story of how they hook to the victims. its case to case basis. sometimes they meet the person and trusted. and they just wake up someday its a scam. we should pity on them and try to give them moral support.
thanks