Avoiding
Internet Con Tricks
There is no doubt that you'll come
across problems at some point, using the Internet. Perhaps the
most scurrilous confidence tricks are those that play on the
emotions. These are the most common confidence tricks:
Case 1: A woman, usually from Russia or
Africa advertises herself as looking for a husband on the
Internet, through one of the many free dating sites. A man
replies and correspondence begins. At some point, the lady either
states that she has very little money and needs help with the
fees of her Internet Agency or that she's had a major financial
problem. Having become interested in her, it's easy for the man
to be lulled into the feeling that she's interested in him. Thus,
a request for $100 to help out a future wife, doesn't seem so
much of a problem. Unfortunately $100 is all the woman is
interested in and immediately or very shortly afterwards, she
ceases contact before moving on to the next victim. Often, the
supposed woman isn't really a woman but criminal organisation,
specialising in this. There are reports that this is rife in
Belorussia.
Solution: Don't
send money to people you have never met, no matter what they
might claim or say. Give it to charity instead.
Case 2: A woman, usually from Russia
advertises herself as above. The man pays for her to visit his
country and she has a very nice all-expenses-paid holiday but
then goes back to Russia (or wherever), where she commences on
her next victim. It is not unknown for the man to travel to
Russia and be robbed of everything, his wallet, his passport, his
watch, his jewellery, his shoes, his clothes and even his gold
teeth, by the woman or her friends.
Solution:
In many poverty-stricken countries such as Russia, armed
bodyguards are quite good value. Use them! If in doubt, contact
the your foreign office and ask their advice.
Case 3: Internet pay-per-view
pornography sites. Many of these will advertise themselves as
being free but that a credit card number is required as proof
that the viewer is 18 years of age. The only reason many people
don't complain when they find that they've been charged for
supposedly free viewing is that they're too embarrassed to
complain.
Solution:
Pornography isn't necessary to the quality of your life. Don't
waste your time, money, sanity and reputation on it.
Case 4: Goods that fail to arrive or
aren't as described. This isn't common but it does happen.
Solution: Don't order anything from
a company whose offices you can't locate and visit if necessary.
Always buy via a reputable credit company who'll refund your
money if the goods don't arrive or aren't as described.
Case 5: Employment Agencies. There are a
lot of so-called employment agencies. The list of tricks they can
pull is seemingly endless and ranges from asking for money in
order to arrange "grading" or "testing" of
the client. Most seem to demand postal addresses which seems a
little pointless as they never pass such details on to the
companies to whom they send your details.
Solution:
Never give Employment Agencies referee details, company
addresses, your address, your land telephone number, your work
address or your work phone number. Give them only a web based
throwaway email address and a throwaway mobile phone number.
Above all, never ever give them any money. Also, never ever take
their "tests" or attend "interviews" with
them, especially when it's at your own expense. Don't use just
one agency or just one employment website. Never, ever telephone
them. Let them telephone you. Never, ever, fill in online forms.
It's rare to find one that actually saves the data before the
site bombs out (usually on the penultimate page and after 30
minutes of wasted and expensive connection time).
Case 6: People responding to your
advertisements or website. Generally, most responses to your
advertisements fall into one of 3 categories: obvious
timewasters, devious timewasters and genuine respondents. The
obvious timewasters write one or two line responses such as:
"Please could you contact me on the below number. George
Nobody, Consultant. A Recruitment Agency. Telephone (9999)
999999". Often the one-liners can be something like "Hi,
I've lost your phone number. Could you send it to me again"
This is undoubtedly a spammer, especially if you don't recognise
the sender and if he's responding to an Internet Advertisement
you've made. The devious timewasters are not quite so easy to
spot generally, their replies will be plausible but will have a
touch of anonymity - they never read your advert but replied
anyway. For example: a recent advertisement placed by a lady
stated that she was 48 and sought an older man, preferably with
children for companionship. There were many replies, all of which
fell into the categories of "Timewaster" (such as the
34 year old who wanted bondage and s/m), "Clever Timewaster"
(such as those who'd written long, plausible but non-specific
responses) and "Genuine". Even amongst the "Genuine"
respondents there were one or two spammers. A recent response to
an advert placed on an employment website by a job-seeker
received a one-line response. On responding to that with a "who
are you" response unleashed a torrent of abuse and bad
language from the person who initiated the correspondence.
Obviously it wasn't a company but was an Internet Psychopath
trying to get his daily fix of tantrum and anger.
Solution: if you advertise, use a
throwaway email address. Never, ever pay to place the
advertisement. Expect spam. If it looks suspicious, it probably
is suspicious so don't respond.
Case 7: Having given out your mobile
phone number and/or throwaway email address, you begin to receive
invitations to telephone premium rate numbers, normal rate
numbers or freephone numbers via SMS. Junk emails have been dealt
with in other areas of this site.
Solution:
Junk SMS messages are a relatively new phenomenon. Dealing with
these can be difficult. In Britain, if the number you have to
ring starts with 09 then it's premium rate and you need to
contact the premium rate organisation: ICSTIS who can be rung on
0800 500 212. Junk SMS messages are against the industry code of
practice. Thus, any 09 service provider who does send junk SMS
messages can have their access withdrawn. One company sent a junk
SMS, advertising ringtones and within a day or two, their number
had been withdrawn. Junk SMS messages advertising 0800 and normal
numbers are harder to deal with because there is no organisation
dealing with that kind of advertising. OFTEL is currently
collecting complaints for presentation to the European Parliament
in the hope of pressing for legislative change. OFTEL can be
contacted on 0845 7145000. The best solution to companies
advertising 0800 numbers is to ring them via their 0800 number,
from a public phonebox and complain directly. Often their
operators can be quite rude but if enough people did this, their
phonebill would ensure that this rapidly became a loss making
form of advertising. It would also be quite effective in the long
term if you wrote to your MP, complaining about the nuisance or
junk SMS and junk email.
Case 8: Classified advertisements via the Internet by
men/women looking for men/women. Generally, it's best to avoid
these as you're unlikely to meet them. There have been horror
stories of men going out to (usually Russia or Latvia) meet their
dream woman only to find a gang of men waiting in her flat who
then proceed to part them from their money. The victim never
receives more than a brush-off from the state police as the state
police in most countries only work as well as they're paid.
Solution: Don't spend time looking for men/women via the
Internet. They're usually only advertising there because they are
too lazy to make improvements to their own lives or lack any
skills/willingness to achieve them and see marriage as a free
lunch. Frequently, women following this route have a child within
the first year of marriage then when the child is in primary
school, divorce their husband. They have everything they need - a
child and a Western passport by then. Don't believe that people
from the former USSR are really interested in you - it's the
passport and the money that interests them.
Case 9: Online auctions: Frequently one sees advertised
suspiciously cheap CDs of Windows 2000 (which at the time of
writing retailed at between £100 and £200) but which
is advertised for just £15 or £20.
Solution:
Such CDs are almost certainly pirated and as such the item should
be reported immediately to the auctioneers (eg FSAuctions),
Trading Standards and the originating software house (eg
Microsoft).
Case 10: Online auctions: Some online auctions will attempt to
turn their users into addicts. They offer a commenting system,
which is supposed to be useful. It does help to a certain extent
but doesn't truly reflect the fact that only about 80% of all
auction transactions go without a hitch. It's easy for a crook to
set up a different account if he gets negative comments. It's
equally easy for a crook to put negative comments against an
honest dealer's name out of spite. Some auctions even offer stars
of different colours if one has made say 10, 100 and 500
transactions.
Solution: Don't be fooled into believing
that online auctions are a way of making money. They're solely an
handy way of dumping unwanted things that can't be sold locally.
Also, don't fall under the spell of coloured stars and comments.
Coloured stars are what children are given in school to make them
work harder - in the end even they realise it's just a cheap
confidence trick. Finally, all online auction transactions must
be treated with caution - never post goods before receiving
payment (if by cheque then wait for the cheque to clear). If
buying, keep copies of the auction and the emails received as
evidence. Whether buying or selling, verify that the purchaser or
seller actually resides at the address given. This can be done by
checking in electoral registers or the phone book. If the other
party does not reside at the given address then do not continue
with the transaction.
Case 11: Bonus points: Many companies now issue points with
every purchase. These are variously described as "Rewards",
"Loyalty", "Bonus" or by some other name.
Essectially, what they are is a cheap confidence trick. The
purpose of the points is that the customer registers every
purchase made with the issuing organisation and that way the
organisation knows what lines are selling and what type of person
is buying them. This benefits the organisation in many ways. For
example: if customers of an older age group are buying brand X
biscuits then they know they need to promote brand X biscuits to
younger customers or they'll have to withdraw the product as
their customer base reduces through natural wastage. Essentially,
the organisations are after personal details - details they can
then use in order to send targetted junkmail. Notice that the
consumer doesn't benefit.In 10 years of aquiring bonus points on
their credit card, the average consumer merely acquires enough
bonus points to get the 10% off coupons that an astute consumer
could get anyway. Look at the economics of bonus points. On a
typical scheme the consumer receives 1 point for every ten pounds
($15) spent. The organisation has had lots of useful data and the
consumer's privacy has been invaded - that invasion has been
rewarded with a 0.003% (often less) gratuity. This is an insult
to the consumer's intelligence.
Solution: Don't be greedy.
Nothing is free. Value your privacy. Any coupons received should
be regarded with caution as shops are not duty-bound to honour
them. If the organisation offers points, the consumer
should ask themselves whether 0.003% is a living wage since the
organisation obviously wishes the consumer to work for them as a
market researcher.
Case 12: The local "special": Many shops/websites
offer goods they do not sell and will never be in a position to
sell. Typically, they either avertise the item or the consumer
asks whether they sell such an item. The response is either "It's
not in stock right now but we should be having them in" or
"I'll have to ask our suppliers". Of course, they never
do. Then after a few weeks of waiting, the consumer is judged to
be at a low enough ebb or impatient enough to accept anything so
the shop then finds it possible to sell the consumer an inferior
product. Often the shop/site will attempt to keep the consumer
interested by stating a very low price for the product, along the
lines of "Oh, it'll be less than you'd pay at (insert shop
name)".
Solution: never believe anything any
shop/website ever says about an item that's not verifiably in
stock. If it's not in stock in one site/shop, it surely will be -
somewhere else. Also remember that any shop/site can claim they
sell an item at any price the consumer likes as long as they say
it's not in stock or they're awaiting delivery. If they state a
price, take the consumer's money and state that the item's in
stock, when it isn't then that's possibly a matter for the police
and definitely a matter that should go before a judge.
|