Spot An Email Scam Tutorial - 16th June

Seeing the fact that there are so many scam emails sent to me lately and probably to other members of the netizens too, I'm here showing some of the methods of spotting scam and which are dead giveaways, what to look for and probably ways you can respond to these emails so that you will receive one less scam email. So, let's get on with it!

---->[ Introduction to scam emails ]<----
Scam emails are emails that you receive from a relatively unknown person, usually the author's place of origin is foreign and involves in you winning a large sum of money, lottery or an expensive prize and would involve transferring the alleged item to you. The transfer of alleged item usually involve in your parting of a certain amount of money to so-called 'clear' procedures. Other than that you have won a prize, there are also cases where people wants to transfer their lifetime savings to you for investment, but yet still require for you to part with a large amount of money for 'processing'.

---->[ Dead Giveaways of the Scam ]<----
These are things that instantly show that scheme is a scam:-

1> Author claims to be from an organization but uses public free email.

This is one most easiest to spot tips, the email author claims that he's from an organization (e.g. Chong Hing Bank) but uses a public free email (e.g hotmail) to correspond with you. Why doesn't he use the company's official email? The excuse: Doesn't have one? Out. For security reasons? out. To avoid anyone else knowing about this? Imagine this: How can the bank not know about a large sum of money in the bank who the client is deceased without any next-of-kin? Doesn't the bank have any other staff from the same department?

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2> There's money involved for the 'processing'.

If there's so much money involved, why not the author pay for the 'processing' fee first and we'll deal about my part later? if you're getting millions, why don't you sponsor me some measly 'extra' cash and we both come to a win-win situation? Wouldn't that be faster? Furthermore, if you really can get that much money, might as well you choose your own relatives or close friends instead of a total stranger that might not even have heard of your so-called 'CEO' name?

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3> He claims to be the CEO or high-ranking officer of the bank / company

If he's the CEO or high-ranking officer of the bank / company, why doesn't he keep it for himself? Because he's honest? Because he's kind hearted and not wanting any more money? The possibilities of this is almost nil. If he's so kind-hearted, he would donate the money to a charitable society and make a big fuss out of it for publicity and not to some unknown guy where the transaction is at all cost to remain private dealings. For all I know, nobody would be in their right state of mind reject 'extra' cash unless its a bribe, then rejection is a necessity.

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4> The client involved with the money has just recently died

Do a record check on the 'client' and you will probably turn up with either same email scams on other sites. The so called "email from" person may exist but again, what's with the public free email if you're so sincere? And why does he have so much many right before something happens to him? People who realize that they're often prone to life-threatening situations will probably transfer the valuables to another trustworthy person prior to anything happening to him. And, in cases of generals, wouldn't that go to the headlines? How come I haven't heard of his name?

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To avoid any further scam emails by the same author, you could probably remind the author that you're bringing this issue to the local law department and have them help you with this or you could make fun of him by playing along and giving him totally fake names and bank account numbers. You could also email him saying that his bank account has been hacked into, courtesy of the details he provided with the email. Lastly, if he wants to invest in your country using that money, you can direct him to the local charitable societies and have them deal personally.