Spam Fraud Spanish Prisoner
From the 1500′s on there has been a scam that has proven very lucrative for thieves and has left thousand of victims destitute. It’s called the Spanish Prisoner due to its origins. It seems that back then Spain was a constant threat to many countries resulting in much mistrust. “Marks,” or victims, would be notified that a royal person was being held prisoner and to set them free would require bribes. By offering their money to release the reward, not only would they be promised large rewards, but a princess would be offered as well.
The con man had already researched to be sure the quarry was wealthy but gullible, and to be able to present a convincing story. This type of conman can sell anything to anyone and get away with not only the money, but with the mark not initially realizing they’ve been duped.
There are many different types of this con, but they still exist today. They still depend on secrecy and trust, covertness, and a sense of acute importance. They play on the fact that, at heart, people want to save the world and come out financially well-off in the process. Additional amounts of money are taken from these marks. Eventually the mark has invested so much they can’t pull out without risking losing it all, which they do in the end anyway.
One of the most common forms today is called the advanced fee fraud, also known as the 419 fraud. With the Internet this has become easier than ever. You can get access to people’s email addresses easily enough, and even find their last name with the right sources. With this information, you can pretend to be a relative with the same last name as them.
An Internet contact often results in a follow-up call where an elaborate, intricate story is woven and the plan is designed. Since you’ll be using the phone, consult a telephone look-up service like www.lookup-center.com/New-York/Whitney-Point/607/634.htm which can help you to figure out whether or not their claims are legitimate. Most modern-day cons are modeled after this earlier version and can include any number of variations.
From the advanced fee fraud, where administrative costs are requested from the mark in order to release funds or valuable items, many variations have appeared. The romance, overpayment, employment, and reshipping scams and, in today’s Internet world, lottery email scams and work from home scams also have come on the scene to cause much difficulty for those who are too trusting.
Besides using telephone look-up services, there are several other safeguards available to guard against being scammed. First, just don’t open emails that come from people you don’t know. If the e-mail is even opened, the sender can access the opener’s address book with a single click of a button. With enough persistence eventually they will hit a soft mark and it all starts with one person opening an unknown email.
If an email is inadvertently opened, scanning it quickly for poor spelling and grammar as well as any “hook” or free things a person might get just by sending a miniscule amount or opening a checking account that contains no money at all, should be questioned. There is no global Internet law enforcement, but several individual countries, with the aid of those who have been scammed, are attempting to locate and terminate these fraudulent groups. If we all work in concert, this plague can be wiped out.
Tagged: phone tracker, reverse telephone number lookup, telephone lookup, telephone tracking
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