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French Satellite TV, French Internet and Telephone
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 29/08/2004, 7:41
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Quillan
 
Joined on 23/08/2004
Forum Moderator
Posts 3,576
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Computer ‘scamming’ is on the increase and getting much, much, more clever. The two most popular scams are the ‘Boys from Lagos’ and the ‘International Lottery’ the latter being made more famous by recent TV advertising.
The ‘Boys from Lagos’ scam (it’s called this because it is believed to have originated from there) involves a promise of a percentage from a very large sum of money that a person wants to get out of a country, bank etc without anybody knowing (would be illegal in it’s self anyway). They will offer you 20 to 40% of something like $20M for your help. You may well laugh but you would be amazed that some people actually believe it and pay the $10 to $20k ’legal fees’ and still have not seen sight of their money. I recently had one from Lloyds Bank in London; I have also had one in French.
The ‘International Lottery’ is an email telling you that you have won a considerable sum of money on a lottery and to contact them by phone. When you do there will be a 600€ processing fee and guess what, you never see the money. Even worse the phone number is premium rate.
The new generation of scams are even more cleaver and involve what appears to be genuine emails from banks or Ebay. It usually tells you there is a security problem and that you should click on the very genuine looking link below and follow the instructions, failure to do so will mean your account will be suspended in 72 hours. The link then takes you to a web page that asks for your personal details including your bank/credit card details to verify your account. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER DO THIS EVEN IF IT APPEARS TO BE A SECURE LINK. Contact your bank immediately and check with them, they will tell you that they never, I repeat never, send these type of emails out.
Unfortunately there is not much the police can do about this as the website is often outside the country and therefore their jurisdiction. There is a good, and very funny, website called http://www.scamorama.com which deals with ‘The boys from Lagos’ where you can see samples of their letters and shows you how to have some fun with them.
Golden rule, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. No bank ever asks for personal details via an email.
You have been warned
< body>
http://www.chambresdhote.com
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06/06/2006, 14:57
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Forum Admin
Joined on 14/06/2004
Forum Administrator
Posts 1,197
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Originally posted by Quillan:
I received an French email yesterday which is a spin on a old scam that has been doing the rounds.
In it’s original form the scam appears to be a job offer from Honda. The basic idea is that you will become a financial agent in Europe for them. They will send small engines to Europe, the type that power lawn mowers etc and you will collect the money on their behalf, take a commission and forward the balance by Western Union.
The French version is about doing the same thing for a finance house based in the UK and again taking a cut and sending money by Western Union.
In both cases you will be sent cheques or bank drafts for a lot of money. You forward the money on (less your commission) by Western Union and then of course 6 to 8 weeks later the bank phones you to tell you the cheques or bank drafts are forged.
Why does it take a while for these scams to be spotted? Well when they first start out and people loose money they are never too happy about letting others know they have been taken as a fool by these people so they tend to keep quite. So it takes a bit of time for it to become a recognised scam.
I can give you two tips. Never get involved in anything that looks to good to be true and never use Western Union. The reason for not using Western Union is NOT because they are not a reputable company but because they are not secure. By this I mean the money is wired and a person needs only a passport as proof of ID to get the money at the other end in cash. Nobody knows where they live and you can’t get your money back.
As a side issue, if you use Ebay never use Western Union either, especially this time of year (Christmas), you won’t receive the goods. Ebay strongly advise never to use them or any other company that uses the same method of money transfer.
Having said that Western Union is very good for sending money to family and friends that you know well anywhere in the world. We used them when our daughter had her handbag stolen on holiday and she had the money in hours.
Forum Admin
Living France
France Magazine
French Property News
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09/03/2007, 10:01
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JimJams
Joined on 08/03/2007
82
Posts 33
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Re: Another internet Scam
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17/05/2007, 7:53
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monaco
Joined on 02/03/2007
Posts 84
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Re: Another internet Scam
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I got an e-mail this morning purporting to be from the microsoft award team telling me I had won one million pounds in their 'commemorative lottery'. The English was very poor. I was invited to ring a UK number to claim the prize. I know there is somewhere I am supposed to report this to, but I can't remember where - does anyone know the correct place?
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04/06/2007, 20:06
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Richard-R
Joined on 23/08/2004
CORBIERES, AUDE.
Posts 609
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Re: Another internet Scam
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Hi All,
If you get scams, feel free to pass them onto me. I run a anti-scam blog (plus other stuff) and post scams and my scam baiting exploits.
A link to my blog is below and you can contact me via there (top righthand side).
Keep safe.
Richard (AUDE, 11)
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28/08/2007, 7:57
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Jonzjob
Joined on 23/08/2004
Nr Carcassonne, 11
Posts 2,524
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Re: Another internet Scam
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Hi Richard, I suppose that you have seen this one. It arrived, 3 times, over night last night!!!
Of course,, I will pass on all my bank details to them, like hell!
"Dear PayPal User,
We are sorry to inform you that due to our recent security improvements you must
confirm your account information in order to keep it running in a perfect condition.
You are requested by PayPal to Log on and to verify all the requested information.
Please notice that submiting wrong information may lead to PayPal account removal.
We know that is an inconvinience to you, but please understand that this is a very
important security measure for us for keeping your account safe and secure.
If you have any questions feel free to contact us at any time
You can confirm your account information by clicking the link bellow:
Best Regards
PayPal Account Mentainance Team.
Copyright 1999-2007 PayPal. All rights reserved. | |  "|
Post edited by forum mods to remove links to scam site.
John.
The only difference between the men & the boys
is the size & the shape & the price of their toys!!
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28/08/2007, 12:10
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jamesg
Joined on 15/11/2005
Carcassonne
Posts 93
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Re: Another internet Scam
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Hi John, did you put your mouse over the link at the bottom, showing where it would take you?
Sounds very nasty!
James
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28/08/2007, 13:10
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jamesg
Joined on 15/11/2005
Carcassonne
Posts 93
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Re: Another internet Scam
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I have 2 free programs installed which can stop you being caught by these:
www.siteadvisor.com/
www.vengine.com/
Either of these can show you if a site is genuine.
James
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France Forum » Living » French Satellit... » FAQ - Internet Scams
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