Monday, February 1, 2010

Fraud happens all the time in banking circles

Here's a classic scam-spam letter, but sent via the postal service. In this case, it was a letter sent to a friend via first-class mail. There was no return address, and the letter was mailed from Canada. However, we are told to contact someone in Hong Kong.

Click the image to see the letter full-size; I scanned the actual letter, and blanked out my friend's personal details. Here are some items that stood out:

1. The line "I know this might be a little heavy for you but please trust me on this" is an odd one.

2. The pitch is, "For all your troubles I propose that we split the money in half. In the banking circle this happens all the time."

3. The scammer tries to gain trust with "Please, again, note I am a family man; I have a wife and children."

It's quite noteworthy is that the scam was delivered by post — and therefore, this cost the scammer real money. Email is essentially free, which is why most scams are sent via email. Posted letters cost money and take effort for supplies (paper and envelopes), printing, stuffing and mailing. That's why we see so few scams coming by postal mail.

Don't reply, don't be fooled by such messages. They are scams whether they come via email or postal mail.

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