Scammers try scare tactics

Don't be fooled into falling for their tricks

By PAULA BARR
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Warning! Someone has tried to log into your account from a foreign IP address! For security reasons your debit card has been deactivated!

What’s a bank account holder to do? Why, just call and verify your banking information and the account will be reactivated.

There’s only one problem if you answer this type of e-mail. The number you call will connect you with a scammer who will use your personal information to steal your identity and/or rob your account of money. In this case, the e-mail supposedly was sent from Mazuma Credit Union. A call to the Credit Union revealed the obvious: The e-mail notice was bogus.

Alarmist scammers try to scare people into becoming victims, a tactic that seems to be on the increase in the Parkland. That is the tactic that “Robert Mueller, FBI Director,” used when he sent a missive from the “Anti-Terrorist and Fraud Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation,” to Cheryl Doza, who works in Park Hills.

Mueller wrote Doza that the FBI has “thoroughly completed and Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are involved in an illegal transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke, known officials of Oceanic Bank, known officials of Zenith Bank and some impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.”

The reason Doza has not received her payment is because she has not fulfilled her financial obligation as part of her contract/inheritance payment. The “real” FBI has come to her aid, however, and contacted the Federal Ministry of Finance in Nigeria for help. He said the Ministry plans to deposit her payment of $800,000 in an “ATM CARD which you will use to withdraw funds anywhere in the world.

“Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Ministry of Finance (Nigeria) is involved in this transaction, you are now to be rest assured that this transaction is legitimate and completely risk-free as it is our duty to Protect and Serve citizens.”

All Doza has to do is to immediately contact the ATM CARD CENTER by e-mail for an approval slip that includes instructions on receiving and activating the card to get her funds.

Of course, there is one catch. In order to get the approval slip, she has to pay $650 directly to the ARM CARD CENTER in West Africa through Western Union money transfer or a MoneyGram money transfer. In case Doza knows that legitimate transactions such as these would deduct the fees from the amount before it is distributed, Mueller provides an explanation up front.

“We have also requested that the charges be deducted from your atm card but was informed that the card cannot be accessed/activated except you procure the approval slip, then you will get the pin number and the other necessary informations to CONTACT INFORMATION.”

Doza was to send Mr. Paul Smith her full name, complete address, direct phone number, current occupation and annual income. Smith would then send her instructions for paying the $650 and he would immediately sent her the ATM card.

“You are hereby authorized/guaranteed by the Federal Bureau Of Investigation to commence towards completing this transaction, as there shall be NO delay once payment for the Approval Slip has been made to the authorized agent” Mueller wrote.

The “FBI director” wasted his time with this e-mail. Doza knew from the start this was a scam.

“I’m not going to click on it,” she said of the request for a reply. “When my daughter gets these, I tell her not to give any information out. I thought maybe we should let people know this is going on.”

The tactics scammers use are varied, but don’t let them scare you or fool you into falling for their tricks. Never give out personal information to a stranger who approaches you online. If you are not sure whether the e-mail is authentic, but it appears to be from your bank, a government agency, or other reputable source, call that place and find out if the e-mail is, indeed, authentic or is just another version of a scam.

The Daily Journal has made a commitment to keep readers abreast of scams that hit our area. If someone tries to make you the victim of a scam, call us at 431-2010 and tell us what happened. We will include your story in our scam alert series to prepare others who may find themselves in the same situation. The Daily Journal will run Scam Alert stories in the paper every Monday.

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