Brain Top Off!

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 is labeled the Spanish Prisoner because it originated in Spain. Apparently, the powerful nature of Spain left it with a lot of enemies, leaving suspicions high. A “mark” (the prey) is told that an aristocrat has been imprisoned in Spain and is relying on the con artist to raise bribes needed to secure his release. If the mark would supply some of the money, he was promised that he would be rewarded generously upon the release of the prisoner, and furthermore could wed the prisoner’s beautiful daughter.

As with any con it required some research in order to only contact “soft” yet financially solid targets, as well as a demeanor that’s hard to duplicate. 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.

Similar swindles exist in assorted varieties in modern times. The con man preys on the secrecy and urgency of the matter to speed things along before the mark can consider their actions. They rely on the tendency of people to want to come of the aid of their fellowmen, especially if they can profit monetarily while doing so. 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.

The 419 fraud, or the advance fee fraud, is but one form of this extremely popular scam. The rise of the Internet has made this a very popular and easy scam. You can get access to people’s email addresses easily enough, and even find their last name with the right sources. The result is a conman often claims they are a relative and has the name to prove it.

When you contact them over the Internet, you tend to follow up with a call that explains the detailed situation. Since you’ll be using the phone, consult a telephone look-up service like cell-registry.com/802/858/ which can help you to figure out whether or not their claims are legitimate. The Spanish Prisoner con is the basis for the majority of today’s scams, with plenty of alterations.

The advance free fraud is another variation with a lot of offshoots, where the basis is that the mark has to pay the scammer money to theoretically get money. 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.

There are many other ways to protect one self from scammers besides using telephone look-up services like the one previously mentioned. One is to delete any emails which come from unknown parties. Once you open the email, you give the scammer access to all the addresses in your directory, which can be hazardous. All they have to do is keep sending out emails until they find the right person who will open it up.

If such an e-mail is accidentally opened, poor spelling and grammar, or an offer of free gifts or exorbitant sums of cash that can be obtained by sending a small sum of money, or opening an empty checking account, are clues that it is a scam attempt. However, despite the fact that no policing really exists for the Internet, there are government agencies who are attempting to find scam groups like this and put a halt to their operations. If we all work in concert, this plague can be wiped out.

In everyone’s heart there is a desire to help their fellow man. Many do this through donations to various non-profit organizations. Sadly, scammers have begun to take advantage of people’s goodwill and generosity, creating schemes to deceive.

Popular deceptions in recent years are charities supposedly set up to help needy children and families in foreign countries. Pictures and videos of malnourished, emaciated children and impoverished needy families are portrayed in pamphlets and television spots. The viewer’s feelings of sympathy are appealed to and an address or envelope is provided for easy giving.

Of course, no one wishes to see children or families suffer starvation or disease, but donating any money to an organization without complete knowledge of how it will be distributed is never a smart idea. Scams revealed in the past few years have shown that the money collected in many supposed charity events actually went for the personal pleasure of the scammers rather than for the supposed recipients. This gives all charities a bad name and, actually, many work hard to ensure that donated dollars go exactly where they should.

Often charities advertise through various media channels, such as television, magazines, and the Internet. Typically, donations of at least ten dollars are requested. However, thinking critically for a moment, one would realize that the vast majority of the money is actually going to pay for these advertisements in the first place.

In one instance, the organization was properly registered and did send money overseas. Unfortunately, federal investigate showed that almost ninety percent of all donations were used to pay the large salaries of the directors for the charity. As such, this organization was not considered a true charity and was considered a scam.

Charity scams are often very difficult to spot. It can be a plea for the homeless, the destitute, animals, and just about anything else. Although there are hundreds of charities that are authentic and do help, there are always those who are looking for an opportunity to profit from people’s generosity and use it to their own means.

In order to avoid this from happening, it is vital that you take the time to research the organization completely. An investigation can be conducted through sources such as the Internet, consumer complaint divisions, government agencies, the Better Business Bureau, and other such methods. In the event that a name and telephone information is given, it is essential to use telephone services such as phonelookupagent.com/218/981/ to validate the identity of the person.

One should be especially suspect of people coming to the door with cans supposedly collecting for a well-known charity. One has no way of knowing if this is where the money is going or if it is going into the collector’s pocket. In the end, direct donations through the organization’s channel is your best solution.