Is It A Scam?

With the current state of the UK at the minute, Britain in recession, the Banks on the verge of collapse, Unemployment at an all time high and the increase in VAT, the family budget is as tight as it’s ever been. House prices are ridiculously high, its nigh on impossible to get a mortgage for someone on low income or minimum wage.

It’s for these reasons that a lot of people are looking for some sort of second income, ways to make extra money each month to pay off debts or ways to get rich, pay off the mortgage and leave the rat race completely.

And that’s great, if that’s what you want and you have the drive and determination and the willingness to invest your time and hard earned cash into your business empire, then more power to you.

Getting started and setting up your own business is no easy task, especially if it something you’ve never done before. There are lots of genuine people offering genuine products that really will help you on your way to becoming a success.

But Beware!

There are also certain people out there that want to make their money by relieving you of yours. They mainly prey on but not limited to, the Budding Entrepreneurs, the Home Workers, the elderly and the desperate. By offering worthless products, false information or persuading you to invest in what will be the next big thing, all in the hope of making a quick buck at your expense. These people are THE SCAMMERS and THE CON MEN.

This section is designed to help keep people informed and maintain an awareness of the latest Scams that are going round. To help you avoid the dangers and falling prey.

If you, or someone you know have had any bad experiences with Scammers in the past and you feel other people should be made aware, please write in and tell us and hopefully help others to avoid making the same mistakes.

Phishing Scams

Phishing, in computer terms is the criminally fraudulent way of getting sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or Banking and Credit Card details by pretending to be a trustworthy company or website using electronic commmunications such as email or social networking sites.

Phishing emails have been around for years, and as we all get wiser to them, the scammers are getting sneakier.

There are a number of Phishing emails going around at the minute, most pretending to be from a Bank such as Barclays or HSBC or online merchants such as Paypal. These will generally say something along the lines of; there has been some suspected fraudulent activity on your account, they will ask you to follow the link which will take you to a Fake website designed to look very much if not exactly like the original website. Here you will normally be asked to confirm you personal details, such as Name, address, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, account numbers, card pin numbers and 3 digit security number on the back of your cash cards. DO NOT enter any of these details. Your bank would never ask you for these details, especially via an email. If you have any doubts at all, ring your bank to confirm.

Some of the newer Phishing methods being used are from Online Retailers. You may receive an Official looking email from a company such as Amazon. The Scammers don’t know for certain that you have recently shopped with Amazon, they just send out thousands of emails in the hope that someone has. So if by coincidence you happen to be one these people then the email will probably say something along the lines of, ‘the payment for your recent transaction has been declined. Please follow the link to log in and complete the order. Again you will be taken to a fake website probably with the official Amazon Logo at the top asking you to input your username and password and then your credit cards details. Don’t do it, if you have any doubts then log into the official Amazon website and check your account first. This will tell you if you have any discrepancies in payments.

Another method for Phishing is by sending emails pretending to be online retailers again, such as Amazon and asking if you want to unsubscribe from the newsletter. They will ask you to click the link or to reply. This gives the spammers a list of active accounts so they can concentrate their fraudulent activity on those accounts only.

The Nigerian scam

This one has been around for years, Ive had this one emailed to me at least 30 times. Most people find it quite amusing and treat it as a joke but you’d be surprised how many people actually get caught out with this.

There are a few variations of the Scam but the principles are the same. You will normally receive an email either from a Successful Business man, the widow of a successful business man or even the widow of former Nigerian dictator Sanni Abacha, all wanting to escape from the worn torn country with their wealth intact. One problem, they cant just up sticks and leave the country, they need YOU to help them transfer the money from their bank account to yours, or they need you to transfer money into their account to help pay the ‘advanced fee’ to allow them to gain access to these said accounts with the promise of a very generous share of the Wealth. Either way, once you have parted with your hard earned cash or gave them your bank account details for them to transfer the money into your account, the game is up and you’ve been had.

Ebay and Other Auction Sites.

99 percent of the people that use Ebay are genuine honest people trying to earn an honest living by setting up an Ebay Shop or trying to get rid of junk or unwanted items from their homes for extra cash or looking to find the bargain of the century.
However there are a few unscrupulous characters that are just trying to take advantage with their scams, these are a few to watch out for.

Bid Shielding

This is one for the Sellers to watch out for. This is where the seller has an item for sale that is maybe worth £50 and you don’t have a starting price or a reserve. The Scammer or Scammers would use 2 separate accounts. The first one would put a bid in for say £5. Then the second one would place a bid for £200. This would then put off any other potential bidders as the item is only worth £50 in the first place. Then right near the end of the auction, the second bidder would retract their bid leaving the £5 bidder the winner and you £45 out of pocket.

It is always advised to keep an eye on your auctions and watch of for this type of behaviour and report it to ebay if you suspect its going on.

Bad Cheque

This is quite simple but it still happens and a lot of people still get caught with it. The winning bidder will pay for their item with a cheque, which normally takes 3-5 working days to clear. In the mean time the seller, thinking that the money has been paid sends out the item to the winning bidder. However 3-5 working days pass and the seller finds out the cheque has bounced and the buyers has disappeared and closed their ebay account never to be heard of again. Bottom Line, as a seller, wait until payment has been confirmed until you send out the items.

Fake Email

This one actually happened to my friend. He put his old IPod up for auction on ebay. Everything went as normal. The winning bid was around £80, which is round about what he expected it to sell for. Once the auction had ended, he received the usual email from Paypal with the confirmation of payment and delivery address for the winning bidder.

The next day he sent the ipod off to the confirmed address. About a week later noticed on his bank statements that there was no payment from paypal. So he logged into his paypal account and low and behold there was no payment or recent activity for that period. The Buyer had sent a fake email from paypal pretending to confirm the payment, and my friend had not bothered to actually check his paypal account for himself and just sent the item anyway. He was now an Ipod and £80 plus sellers fees out of pocket. He reported it to the Police and ebay but the buyer had de-activated his account and the Police said that the address was an unoccupied house. Moral of the story again, always confirm payment before sending the items.

Wholesale List Scam

This scam is targeted at buyers that are looking for deals on bulk items or buying stuff at wholesale prices. The Scam is basically an auction that looks like the buyer is getting a fantastic deal on a product such as an MP3 player or an Unlocked Mobile Phone for example. It would have a Buy it now price of around £20 for something that’s probably worth about £100-£150. However it you actually look at the small print, you will notice that the auction is not for an MP3 Player or a Mobile Phone but in fact what you are actually purchasing is Wholesale list. A list of wholesalers around the world that you may or may not be able to purchase MP3 players or mobile phones for £20 when you buy them in bulk. Be sure to read the full details of the auction before you commit to buying anything.

Envelope Stuffing

Envelope stuffing sounds ideal for someone that’s retired or disabled or an at home parent looking to make some extra money. What could be easier than putting bits of paper into an envelope? Well this is a classic scam that’s been around for a number of years now. Before the times of cheap computer and printers this was actually a decent way to make a living from home, but nowadays that’s not so true. The actual fact is you will probably be asked to pay a fee up front for a starter pack, which could be in the double or treble figure range. Then one of two things is likely to happen. You will pay the money and receive nothing at all or you will receive a pack and instructions on how you go about earning your money. This normally consists of stuffing envelopes and mailing them to other people telling them how they too could make money by stuffing envelopes. And the Scam goes on, only now, you are a part of the chain.

Craft Assembly 

This is very similar to the envelope stuffing and has also been around for a number of years. Although there are actually some genuine companies out there that offer this sort of home based employment, there are a lot of others that are not genuine. I would always advise exercising caution and doing your research on the company. They normally offer things like Jewellery Making, Painting Figurines and Ornaments, Stuffing Dolls or Assembling Toys. Again you will be asked to pay an up front fee for your starter pack which should include all the parts and the instructions. It is normally a fee anywhere in the region of £150-£300. The problem is once you have completed the assembling or painting and you return the products back to the company, you will only be told that the products do not meet the required specifications therefore you will not be paid for them. The fact is you will never meet their specifications because this Scam makes the company money by selling the starter packs. So at the end of it all your left £300 out of pocket with a box full of useless unwanted products cluttering up your home.

Keep checking this section for regular updates.

Remember, If you know about any scams going around, please write in and tell us. Hopefully we can help people avoiding getting caught out by them.