Demanding con artists

[Marq]

419 ers still going strong. I have had an increase in them lately. This is the latest offering that I laughed at.

My name is Joshua Abbey.I need your help now.YOU WILL HELP ME AND MY SISTER NOW.ANSWER ME NOW.we are the only children of late Dr and mrs. Amos Abbey.Our late father was a very rich man...bla bla bla long BS and more demands

Getting really demanding....or desparate. Hopefully this is the dying spasm of an internet era that needs to be eradicated. (should I have posted this on your bug guys forum?)

[Dave A]

I'm afraid I don't share your optimism about this dying out anytime soon.

It's going to take a whole new level of traceability, and then a concerted follow-up against offenders to ever see the end of this lot.

[Dave A]

Here's another demand based on the banking details confirmation scam.

I got this email with the usual song and dance about having to confirm your details or suffer dire consequences - and then there was this line:

Important Notice: You are strictly advised to match your information rightly to avoid service suspension.

Do you think nasty, horrible people have been deliberately putting in the wrong details?

[Marq]

Scammers worried about being scammed.

[tec0]

I always wondered about these scams... They are creative but again the world is growing up and it’s getting old.

[Voxconsumer]

I always wondered about these scams... They are creative but again the world is growing up and it’s getting old.

They get more creative all the time and continually make money for the senders because there are always greedy people who are blind to the dangers.

For the latest example of greed we only need to look at Barry Tannenbaum's investors.

[Yvonne]

Our company has been the target of the scam where two cheque deposits were made into our account.
We then received a telephone call purported to be from one of our most valued clients, followed by a very plausible letter. Using the first names that are familiar to us.
They claimed it was a transfer – which is the usual method of payment by this client.
But of course, turned out to be a cheque deposit.
We regularly have transfers made to our account in error, and we carry out a rigorous policy in regard to returning the funds. I am sending out a communication advising all clients that our non refund for a period of 21 working days is going to be strictly applied regardless of the circumstances.
There is no indication that the bank are going to do anything to attempt to apprehend the criminal, and say they can only do something if we have actually suffered a financial loss.
Only suggestion is that we ask the caller to come and collect a cheque and have the police waiting for his arrival. Someone still has a sense of humor!
Naturally our staff want no part in it, and are very nervous that the criminals will know their names and where they work! We are not in South Africa at the moment to do it ourselves. The bank said they would advise the two client’s that their cheques were being fraudulently used, and close the account given to deposit the money into.
This fraud will never stop, until each opportunity to apprehend the criminals is taken to the fullest extent possible.
Another aspect is that even though at this stage only the one cheque has been returned to drawer, our bank balance is still holding the entire amount of R94,000 as uncleared effects, which if we had a cash flow, could result in payments or transfers from our bank account being “Refer to Drawer” due to uncleared effects!
Surely with computerized banking when the deposit is reversed as RD, it should be deducted off the uncleared effects total!

So, don’t take chances when refunding incorrect transfers – even if it is your very best client whom you do not want to offend!

Yvonne

[Dave A]

Another aspect is that even though at this stage only the one cheque has been returned to drawer, our bank balance is still holding the entire amount of R94,000 as uncleared effects, which if we had a cash flow, could result in payments or transfers from our bank account being “Refer to Drawer” due to uncleared effects!
Surely with computerized banking when the deposit is reversed as RD, it should be deducted off the uncleared effects total!

That's actually quite disturbing. Add the fact that unpaid deposits will affect your account scoring...

Yvonne, I think this is worth raising with the bank in a pretty firm way. It is ridiculous to get penalised for being a victim of attempted fraud, especially when you've got sound administrative systems that prevented a loss from the attempt.

[Yvonne]

I think this is worth raising with the bank in a pretty firm way.

Dave, fortunately at this time it is not a problem for our cash flow, but
I will send the bank a letter requesting that consideration is given to make the adjustment to their systems, due to the possible negative effect on a small business.

But I have the feeling I will be "hitting my head on a brick wall" - which is my negative perception of the banks based on personal experience.

Yvonne

[Marq]

My experience with our local Standard Bank, with similar issues relating to cheque fraud and altered deposit slips, is that they do not give a tinkers.

I went in specially to confront them when I had these situations occur (twice). The first occasion I got no reaction and an obvious no intention of doing anything about it. On the second occasion I managed to get the bank manageress in as well as some guy who 'specialised' in their fraud section (or something like that). They made some noises about it and I must let them know in the future and all that kind of bumph but I read between the lines that they were not going to do a thing once I left the office. It was the one and only time in the last 10 years that I saw the manager there. She was going to come round to our business and show an interest. lol

The fact they [the banking syndicate] have done nothing in their systems to alleviate these basic problems over the years and only send out warnings and indemnities shows their intentions are still the same.

[Dave A]

As unresponsive as the bank might seem, it doesn't hurt to have the issue on record.