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The following are excerpts from a letter I
recently received.
Dear Friend,
I presumed that all is well with you and your family.
Please let this not be a surprise message to you
because I got your contact information from the international
directory few weeks ago before I decided to contact you on this
magnitude and lucrative transaction for our present and future
survival in life.
Moreover, I have laid all the solemn trust in you
before I decided to disclose this successful & confidential
transaction to you.
I am the senior Auditor Incharge of Foreign
Remittance Unit of our bank and I decided to contact you for this
financial transaction worth fifteen Million, United States dollar
($15m) for our present and future success. This is an abandoned fund
that belongs to one of our bank foreign customers who died along
with his entire family through plane crash few years ago. Meanwhile
I was very fortunate to come across the deceased file when I was
arranging the old and abandoned customers files in order to sign and
submit to the entire bank management for an official
re-documentation and audit of the year against 2007.
The Internet serves as an excellent tool for
communicating, shopping, investing, and advertising. But the
Internet is also an excellent tool for fraudsters.
The Internet allows individuals and companies to
communicate with a large audience without spending a lot of time,
effort or money. Anyone can reach tens of thousands of people
through the Internet. It's easy for fraudsters to make their
messages look real and credible. But it's nearly impossible for a
common, innocent man to tell the difference between fact and
fiction.
Nigerian letter fraud
The above excerpts from the letter mailed from
Nigeria offers me an opportunity to share a percentage of millions
of dollars that the authors are trying to transfer illegally out of
Nigeria. He is requesting me to send information such as my bank
name and account numbers and other identifying information.
Law enforcers say that this is part of Nigerian
letter frauds. Nigerian letter frauds involve impersonation fraud
and sometimes advance fee fraud. The fraud aims at targeting a
victim who responds to the letter.
The usual ploys used to target the victims:
The author will ask for money that needs to be
paid for taxes, bribes to government officials, and legal fees are
often described in great detail with the promise that all expenses
will be reimbursed as soon as the funds are spirited out of Nigeria.
Once the victim stops sending money, the authors
will start using the personal information and cheques that they
received to impersonate the victim, draining bank accounts and
credit card balances until the victim's assets are taken in their
entirety.
How to safeguard yourself
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Do not reply in any manner to these letters.
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If you know someone who is trapped or
corresponding in one of these schemes, encourage that person to
contact the cyber crimes department as soon as possible.
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Guard your account information carefully. There was an incident in the city where a deer helped another
herbivore out of danger and they both are believed to share a unique
friendship even now. So, maybe there is a ‘mother instinct’ in every
living being.
Vinod Kuriakose,
Chennai.
Mobile - 09444148889
E-mail -
vinodkuriakose@gmail.com
Website -
http://vinodsite.box.com
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