The most valuable thing you can steal from a person is their identity.
If you get me enough personal information about an individual, I can duplicate their identification, take out credit cards, obtain morgages and buy houses in their name.
Worst of all, the laws of many countries hold the victim responsible for debts created by the con artist. People have lost houses and been declared bankrupt through no fault of their own.
At the same time, we have a relaxed attitude to our personal data. We’re happy to hand out dates of birth, addresses, mother’s maiden names at the drop of the hat.
I can help you, just send me your name, date of birth and passport number and you’ll never have your identity pinched again.
You didn’t think you were going to escape the Top Ten Scams of the Decade did you?
If you’re reading this, the chances are that you’ve downloaded something illegally off the internet.
The last ten years have seen a rapid rise in the speed of internet leading to more and more music, software, TV and movies being illegally shared around the world.
The more it happens, the more excuses we come up with.
“If I really like a TV series that I’ve downloaded, I might buy the DVD.”
(Sure - I steal stuff from shops all the time. And if I like it, I go back pay for it.)
“Information should be freely available to the masses.”
(You know who else said that…STALIN. But I don’t see you don’t at the fruit and veg co-op redistributing the wealth do I?)
“TV stations don’t show programs at regular hours so I have to watch it somehow.”
(I agree, network TV sucks. But just because someone is a jerk doesn’t excuse the crime.)
If I’m brutally honest, I think my real problem with the illegal downloaders is not the crime itself. I hang out with card cheats, short con men and petty thieves all the time. Why really rubs me the wrong way is the crappy excuses.
You’re a con artist.
Deal with it.
Tomorrow: Weight Loss
Used without permission of FOX. But I might buy the DVD if I enjoy this picture enough…
While people fishing for private details from unsuspecting internet users goes back to bulletin boards of the late 1980’s, Phishing came into it’s own post 9/11 when users of payment system E-gold were asked to take part in a ’security check’.
This was the first recorded time a major payment system had been hit the internet and open the flood gates for other mass phishing attempts including:
Vishing: Using telephones to secure credit card details etc. from businesses and individuals.
Spear Phishing: Target a specific individual for attack.
Site Spoofing: Setting up an identical copy of a popular site hoping that users won’t be able to spot the different.
IRL Phishing: Creating fake hardware designed to look like the real deal. E.g. fake ATMs.
Every time a paticular style of attack gets too well known, the con artists create new ways of tricking people into freely giving up credit card details, passwords, personal information etc.
It appeared a few years ago and now it’s back with a vengance:
If you are driving at night and are attacked with eggs, do not operate the wiper and spray any water.
Because eggs mixed with water become milky and block your vision up to 92.5%
Then you are forced to stop at the road side and become a victim of robbers
This is a new technique used by robbers in Johor Bahru.
Please inform your friends and relatives
What you’ve got here is a case of bad research crossed with bad science.
Firstly, no link is given to any media reports of this actually happening.
Secondly, no reference is given to which scientist did the study that proves the visibility of eggs.
Thirdly, Johor Bahru is in Malaysia. Unless an international ring of egg throwing car jackers are making their way across asia, you don’t have much to worry about.
And perhaps most importantly, the whole scam is uncovered on snopes.
I’m not a big fan of the Twilight books and movies and even less of a fan of the brooding, emo lite, tweens who obsessed over the stories and dream of being drag off by a pale, cheek boned vampire.
But this new spam scam email is still sad, preying on the weak fans of those who prey on the weak.
This email has been arriving in the in-box of teens around the world looking for extras for the third
This is a nationwide casting and [Portland]-area movie extras are still needed. No experience is necessary, all looks/types are wanted and the pay ranges from $80-$250 per day depending on whether it’s part or full time.”
Once the victims click on the link, they are sent to a website that requires payment before the casting call details can be viewed.
Suckers.
I’ve had several friends here in Melbourne report bad dealings with a company called Dotcom Chrome.
The company rings businesses offering to get them on the front page of Google for a couple of hundred dollars a month.
Because the word ‘Google’ and ‘chrome’ are used near each other, the victim assume the company is somehow related to Google Chrome, the new browser.
This is obviously a little dodgy but not illegal as the owners of companies like “Suny” and ” Palsonic” will tell you.
Several victims also claim that the the company mislead them about how often their ad would appear on the front page of google.
But when the victims tried to cancel their accounts, realising that the company was simply selling them a google adwords account they could simply buy themselves at a lower price, things got tricky.
Most people have found themselves having to jump through hoops, having to send letters to various parts of the world and fill in forms.
Some victims have reported harassing phone calls, emails and, in one case, an ad was created in Google adwords shortly after they started complaining about the company:
Another showed me emails where they were threatened with a smear campaign if they kept up their complaints including the rumour that they were “sued for touching my friends aunties child at a party”.
Others have reported racial abuse and various threats for trying to cancel their account or complain about the group.
When I mentioned the show on the ABC radio show, several people rang and emailed telling me that they had the same phone calls.
Of the Australian victims I have spoken with, several have been told that the AFP, Scamwatch and ACCC will do nothing as the company is based in the UK.
Google refuse to take down the unauthorised ads because, unless the company is trademarked, they are not breaking any laws.
If you want to read more complaints about this Manchester based outfit, click here.
If you have had your own experiences with the company, please let me know.
A couple of days ago, a lot of my Australian friends changed their facebook status to:
All I want for Christmas is a Westfield Gift Card!
They’d added an application that is meant to give them a chance to with $10,000 from Westfield.
However, a few hours later, many more of my friends has a new status:
THE WESTFIELD GIFT CARD APPLICATION IS FAKE AND IF YOU ENTER THIS SITE THEY CAN HACK INTO YOUR PROFILE AND USING IT TO LOAD TROJON VIRUSES. FACEBOOK R IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO CLOSE THIS APPLICATION DO NOT ADD UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR IDENTITY STOLEN OR A CRASHED COMPUTER……COPY AND PASTE INTO YOUR STATUS.
So what’s the story?
Westfield is indeed running a promotion through facebook. You can find the offical link here.
It’s the latest in a long history of fake virus warnings and phony fear mongering.
Of course, you have little chance of winning and you’ll annoy all your friends when the crass message shows up on their home page probably leading to them ‘hiding’ you as a friend in the future.
JUSTICE IS BLIND (AND BLIND)Two teenagers in the UK have been busted pretending to be deaf and collecting money for Hearing Dog’s For The Deaf. Aside from having a donation form riddled with spelling mistakes the two girls (aged 13 and 15) got away with it until they were questioned by a local woman…in sign language.
RIP AMAZING BALLANTINE - Actor and magician Carl Ballantine has passed away. The general public will remember him as con artist Lester Gruber from McHale’s Navy but I’ll always remember him as The Amazing Ballantine.
ANZ SWINDLE - An ANZ teller has been convicted of ‘cunningly setting up a complicated system of false transfers, security circumnavigation and red herrings to steal $800,000 from her employer. She used the money to bet on the pokies proving that you can swindler and swindler.
TUNNEL VISIONS - Palestinians have been defrauded out of millions off dollars after they invested in tunnels out of the Gaza Strip. The tunnels are used to smuggle good in and out of the Gaza Strip and are the econonic lifeline for people living in the area.
GRANDPARENTS SCAM - Vulnerable nannas have been called by con artists claiming to be their grandchildren. They fake an emergecny and ask for money to be wired immediately. The scam operates via email, phone and facebook. Protect your nanna!
AS FEATURED ON ABC STATEWIDE DRIVE WITH KATHY BEDFORD
The big Aussie scam story this week is reports coming in of con artists flying in from Eastern Europe to skim credit cards, pick pockets and generally cause trouble at the spring racing carnival.
As an Australian con artist I’m not sure how I feel about these Romanian and Bulgarian swindlers coming in, stealing jobs away from hard working local.
But it could be far worse. The current cost of an airfare to Australia is around $2000AUD. So only the most dedicated swindlers are making the trip down under. However, in Europe, thanks to low budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet, you can fly almost anywhere for under $50.
Now, all of the major European cities are hit by con artists who fly into town, make as much money as they can and then move on to the next city. In June, I bumped into the same con artist in Barcelona and Stockholm in the same month.
If you do go the races and you find yourself up against these Eastern European hucksters, here are a few tips:-
1) Always keep your wallet in your inside jacket pocket. Better still, keep it in my inside jacket pocket.
2) Don’t make a big deal if you win. Your “Watch-Me-Rub-My-Thousands-Of-Dollars-Cash-All-Over-My-Body” dance may draw unwanted attention.
3) Avoid women in head scarves and peasant dresses or men with a single gold hoop earrings and a puffy piratesque shirt. This is how all Eastern Europeans dress.
4) Avoid situations where people rub up against you. This includes lines for the toilet, public transport and the Lambada – the forbidden dance.
5) Be aware if someone offers to help clean a mark of some kind off your coat. This is a classic ploy of pickpockets. They secretly spill ice-cream on your jacket then offer to clean it off, stealing your wallet. This is a criminal waste of ice cream.
You might also enjoy this video I put together from earlier this year. It’s from the 1959 film The Pickpocket and features annotation by me…
