scams

With the ever increasing number and sophistication of scams in the marketplace we offer this growing list to watch out for....

BANKS, CREDIT CARDS, MONEY, CELL PHONES, JEWELRY....

The 'Cash Cheque' scam.

If you receive cash cheques in payment for goods and services and do not plan to get them cashed across the counter at the clients bank be sure to see that the teller at YOUR BANK stamps the cheque when you deposit it. It can and does happen that tellers do not stamp the cheque and then arrange for a friend to collect the cheque and cash it at the payees bank. You will only realize that something is amiss when your bank statement arrives and you find your account has been debited to reverse the deposit entry. Don't expect any sympathy from the bank (especially Standard Bank - a personal experience).

Your 'remedy' is to lay a charge of theft with the police and that is about as far as you'll get.

The 'Deposit' scam.

Here a client purchases goods and undertakes to deposit the payment into your account ... with an invitation for you to phone the bank and confirm that the deposit has been made. On doing so you will probably be advised that payment has been made .... but not what form of payment. A copy of the deposit slip may be faxed to you showing that cash has been deposited in your account. Only two weeks later you will discover that the deposit was in fact not cash but a stolen cheque. Once again there is a strong possibility of someone in the bank being involved.

The 'Overpayment' variation.

This is similar to the above except that the scamster will claim to have substantially overpaid the amount of the transaction into your account and produces a deposit slip to prove it. If you are an unsuspecting 'Honest Joe' you make out a refund cheque for the overpayment amount. Two weeks later you discover that the original payment was bogus and your cheque has been cashed. Double whammy!

The 'Bank Guaranteed' cheque scam.

You may be offered a BGC in payment for goods or services. Do not trust them! Rather go with the client to the bank and be sure that everything is OK. Or do not release the goods until you have absolute proof of payment.

The 'Gemstone' scam.

Here you may be offered payment for a car or other high piced item in the form of priceless Sondawana Emeralds, diamonds, Tanzanite etc in lieu of cash. A sophisticated aparatus of authentication by an 'independent' jeweller usually accompanies this scam but if you fall for it you will certainly find that you have a very expensive piece of glass in your possession. Glass comesin a variety of colours which is sooooo convenient

The Nigerian 'BooHoo' scam (Also know as the 419 scam)

This one comes in a number of variations on a theme...most often by email liberally sprinkled with the Lords blessings. Usually it involves some unfortunate General, deposed President, business tycoon who has been murdered, imprisoned, exiled ... and has a huge stash of dollars holed up somewhere. Destitute Family need an 'honest Joe' to extract the cash for them. You are the mark. For your efforts you will get a few million from the kitty but you'll have to pony up some up front cash to get your hands on the loot.... According to some estimates more than 80 million dollars gets extracted yearly from suckers who fall for it. Don't be one of them.

The 'Con gratulations! You have won a PRIZE' scam

This one is often pulled at shopping centres and other social events. A well dressed scamster comes up to you and declares that you have won a big money prize. In attendance there may be another dude with a camera clicking pictures of you. You are invited to step into a Limo to claim your prize at 'Head Office'

Once unsafely ensconsed in the luxurious rear seat with scam-man you are invted to hand over your credit card and PIN. Your account is vacuumed and if you are lucky you will live to lay a charge with the police. That is of course when you have walked, sometimes naked, a few kilometers from where you were dropped off. Never agree to go anywhere with anyone you don't know for any reason... no matter how well dressed, well spoken or genuine the inviter seems to be.

The 'Did you declare that ring' scam

Anyone leaving the country is required to declare valuables that they are taking with them. This includes jewelry and appliances. In this scam you may be asked if you have declared a piece of jewelry on your return. ...e.g. huge genuine solitaire ring on finger. If you failed to declare it on exit, and have no certificate, you may be required to hand it over for valuation and may possibly have to pay duty.

When you ring is returned you will not be required to pay duty but your priceless diamond ring might just be sporting a worthless cubic zirconium or other 'gem'. Can you prove there was a genuine ........................................set in the ring when you handed it over????

The 'Call Me' scam

Here you get an SMS message to 'Call Me'. If you call back you may be paying up to thirty rand for a premium rate connection. Be very wary if you do not recognise the number.

The 'Excuse me, can you tell me....' scam

In this one usually two or more scamsters work together at airports, stations, shopping malls etc. While one diverts your attention and asks you the time, or where is the........., the other lifts some of your luggage. Laptops and small bags with documents, cameras etc are most popular. Needless to say, losing your data and travel documents can be a real pain and will put a real damper on your holiday.

If you hear of any new scams please email us so that we can post them.

SCAM WATCH

Keep 'em peeled!

You have won the lottery scam

There are a number of variations of this one but they follow a similar path. You get an email telling you that a supercomputer has kindly spat out your email ... linked to a lucky number ... and that you have won a bundle of cash in a lottery. Official sounding names are bandied about and you get the contact details of someone to contact to claim your prize. But first you have to pay just a few hundred euros or dollars ... a piddling amount compared with your big win ... before you can collect. Once you have ponied up the fee your fortune is unfortunately diverted by nasty hackers....!

Help! I left my credit card ....scam

This cutie is played out at 'Off highway' refueling stations and is especially popular at holiday times. (Lots of traffic = rich pickings) While you are filling your tank a well dressed scamster approaches with a sad tale about how he was travelling with a mate and somehow left his wallet with credit card in his car back at ... Tweebuffelsmeteenscootdoodgeskeetfotein and is now in the embarassing position of not being able to pay for petrol. He pulls back his sleeve to reveal a Rolex Oyster, Breitling or similar, reputedly worth several grand. He needs just five hundred bucks to get home and is willing to put up his watch against the loan of petrol money. Later when he has sorted out his problem he will come to you and redeem his watch. Naturally a string of credentials, business cards, photos of his mansion support his boo hoo story. If you fall for this one, the watch turns out to be a Chinaspecial, the telephone numbers, addresses etc are all false .. you are 500 bucks out of pocket.

The 'flat tyre'scam

In this scam or variations you may be at a stop street or elsewhere in your car. Helpfull Harry comes to your window and indicates a flat tyre or other problem on the other side of your car. When you get uot to check all kinds of bad things can happen. Always drive on some way from Helpful Harry and then check.