Police warn public about latest cash prize email scam

| 15/08/2012

Email-Spams-Scams.jpg(CNS): Online scammers are attempting to solicit money from people with a London Olympic international lottery, officers from the RCIPS Financial Crime Unit warned on Wednesday. The FSU said the email scam tells recipients that they are "lucky winners" of US$800,000 as part of a lottery programme.  The recipient is asked to call a number to claim their prize within 21 days. Detective Inspector Ian Lavine is urging people not to be fooled into providing their personal financial details in the hope of swelling their bank account with a cash prize that does not exist.

“Every day we are seeing more and more fraudulent schemes circulating via e-mail. Some are very elaborate and set up fake banking sites to encourage people to provide passwords and banking details; others try to tempt people to provide those details as part of get-rich -quick schemes,” he said. “People should never provide any banking details via e-mail or on the phone and they should contact the RCIPS Financial Crime Unit if they receive any communication that appears suspicious.”

Anyone who wishes to speak to an officer in the Financial Crime Unit should call 949-8797

 

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  1. Anonymous says:

    I just got a FIRSTCITYMONUMENT BANK SMS on my cellphone regarding my Family Inheritance….WhoopeeE!!!!  

    So now, they're sending TextMails too -maybe they've been doing it – but this is my first on the cellphone

  2. I wasn't born yesterday says:

    One of the many Scams I've received – which sticks in my mind- was purporting to be from my BANK and here's what clued me in:-

    1). The attached E-Mail page looked EXACTLY (and I mean. EXACTLY to the letter) identical to my Bank Log-In Page.

    Because it stated that this was a Bank Security check, I DID make the mistake of clicking the 'link' included in the message withouth even thinking – which then took me to a page which looked EXACTLY like my normal Bank Log-On Page  ( I was therefore lucky because sometimes that's all these hackers need)……….but, when my Password Manager App (doubled password protected itself) did not Automatically complete the required Log-On fields for me to hit the Log-On button, I decided something was not right and exited the Link.

    2). I then went and checked the sender IP address – and guess what – it had some reference to my BANK but the address ended in .uae meaning United Arab Emirates….go figure.

    I REPORTED IT TO MY BANK AND SENT THEM A COPY OF MY EMAIL.

    (Recently had a similar one from Paypal/EBAY) and caught that one too.

    Another Obvious clue is when the writer (or caller) is SO illerate that they can hardly write, speak or read English in a competent fashion. 

    Simply put, someone who purports to be at the level which these people CLAIM to be –  suggests that his/her job permits them to deal at a High Level with the Public of another Country. His/her ability to speak and write the Language of that Country should therefore be at a sufficiently competent level to conduct the business at hand.

    For example, I certainly would NOT employ someone to represent MY Company for new business in PARIS , France  if that person spoke French at the level which I do – ( I could go to Paris to buy a cup of Coffee and a slice of Cake but would not even attempt to conduct a Serious Transaction  and expect to be taken seriously).

    SImilarly, I would not even attempt to try that 'off my own bat' so to speak.

    Having said this, as has been said many times before, 'Greed is often Blind'….. and people will continure to get sucked in regardless , if they are willing…. some even try and exascerbate the scam by accepting the check received in the mail and having a friend 'cash it ' for them – only for the 'friend' to gthen get ripped off……

     I thought I'd just post this as there are actually some very clever scams out there which APPEAR at the outset to be quite genuine/ innocent (as in the first case I mentioned), so that even I , (as someone 'not born yesterday') nearly hit the 'come steal from me' button……

    Take care out there my friends 🙂

  3. Anonymous says:

    There is a saying: “if it is too good to be true, it usually is" but it is always people who have dreams of getting rich quickly that fall victim to these scams.

    People receive letters every day advising them that they have won some sweepstakes prize or lottery. Let your instinct and common sense be your guide.

    Firstly, if you know you have never entered any sweepstakes or lottery  where would they have gotten my name?

    Secondly most of them usually request that you send money in order to receive the funds. Red flag.

    Although this may sound tempting to send in most cases a small amount to receive sometimes 1000 times that amount, again does that sound realistic?

    The way I look at these things is if they are legit, which I seriously doubt, then I would have “lost” out on the massive cash prize but I didn’t have the massive cash prize before so I would have really not “lost” anything.

    However, if I am sucked into their scam I would be out by their “small processing fee”.

    Another favourite saying of mine is “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush”. You know you already have the money they are requesting as a small processing fee. Hold onto it, don’t get greedy and try to get the “millions” promised.

    I know times are hard now and people are looking for every opportunity to make a little extra money but believe when I tell you that “windfalls” rarely happen. The people who are operating these scams are also looking for opportunitities to make extra money, unfortunately at the expense of others.

    Most people who you read that have won the lottery will admit they have been playing for over 10, 20, 30 years so the chance of you winning a sweepstakes/lottery that you never even entered is like a trillion to one.

     

     

    • Anonymous says:

      I love the fact that someone spent that long saying the bleeding’ obvious as if it was going to make any difference to the type of person who falls for this kind of scam. Bless ’em.

  4. The Beagle says:

    Economic Darwinism pure and simple.