SCAMPATROL

[Old Coaster]

ScamPatrol.org issues hints & tips for the year 2006 aimed at protecting people from falling victim to Nigerian 419 and other advance fee fraud offenders. These hints & tips are just guidelines and people must still use their own discretion and investigate all business transactions thoroughly.

1 Never enter a business transaction, with any person or institution, based upon an unsolicited e-mail, letter or fax invitation. Never donate to any organization based on an unsolicited e-mail, letter or fax request. You will never receive a genuine offer that will make you rich in unsolicited mail. Report such offers to us at to ScamPatrol and do not respond to any such offer.

2 Never pay a single cent if you are approached for a business transaction. Let the person who approached you cover all expenses. If this person is unable, decline the proposal.

3 Never attempt to claim any winning money when you are informed that you have won a lottery you did not enter. Never act on any correspondence you receive stating that your e-mail address was drawn in an International lottery. Report these scams to ScamPatrol without responding to them. The only payouts that will ever be made are by victims to the fraudsters.

4 Never send any personal information or travel to another country to meet representatives of a business transaction. People travelling to other countries open themselves to crimes such as robbery, assault, kidnapping, identity theft and possibly murder.

5 Never accept any document on face value, no matter how official it looks. Always verify documents. When verifying documents never use the details supplied to you. Do your own research. Look for the company involved on the Internet, obtain its contact details and verify documents in this manner. Fraudsters are professionals in document falsification.

6 Never involve yourself in a deal where the deal is of an urgent nature and confidentiality is required.

7 Never provide personal identifiable information on any website, not even your bank's website when requested to do so. (This excludes logging into your bank account). If you receive a request to update personal information, contact your bank by telephe and verify the request with them. Please note that no bank will ever ask for your secret pin codes, etc.

8 Keep in mind that the Internet remains a dangerous place to conduct business. Websites can get hacked or client information stolen. This is an easy manner for 419 offenders to obtain credit card details. Credit card payments are an easy way to conduct online business, but avoid this method if possible and attempt to make direct bank deposits. This will take a day longer, but at least no one in other parts of the world would be in possession of your credit card details.

9 Never open online bank accounts or offshore accounts on the Internet, unless you personally know the bank and can trace its history and obtain confirmation from Financial Services Organizations. 419Legal.org and its informers identified in excess of 1000 fraudulent bank and security company websites during an 8 month period in 2004 which had been set up by Nigerian 419 offenders and other advance fee fraudsters.

10 Never go to any website you are referred to in an unknown e-mail. Many websites are booby-trapped with spyware. By entering such websites and clicking on the contents you might download spyware silently onto your computer. Fraudsters will then have access to your computer and everything you type or do on it.

11 Do not open attachments to e-mails unless you know that the mail is from a trusted source. Attachments may contain viruses and spyware, increasingly being used by Nigerian 419 offenders. If you have to receive attachments ensure that you have up-to-date anti-virus software in place. Fraudsters can manipulate e-mails so that it might look like you receive an e-mail from a friend or family member. Once opening the attachments, again they will have access to your computer and everything you type and do on it.

12 All countries around the world are promoting e-commerce on the Internet. ScamPatrol is not against this, but this is a very dangerous field to get involved in at present. Until sufficient security measures are in place in future, we suggest that the Internet be used for what it was designed for in the first place i.e. Information Research.

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la terre n'est qu'un seul pays