Watch out for Scams in your Inbox! Home Biz Families.com

Watch out for Scams in your Inbox!

Scams are everywhere, and they may even haunt your Inbox.

In fact, I had a wonderful example of scam in my Inbox the other day.

It was from South Africa and looked similar to the one below:

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It is my pleasure to contact you ….I need your help…I was left a ton of money and need your help.
Now I have decided to invest these money in your country or anywhere safe enough outside XXXX for security and political reasons. I want you to help assist me claim and retrieve these fund from the Fiduciary Fund Holders and transfer it into your personal account in your country for investment purposes….

If you can be of an assistance to me I will be pleased to offer to you 15% Of the total fund. I await your soonest response.
Respectfully yours,

XXXXX

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So how do I know it’s a scam?

This is actually a pretty popular scam, though it used to originate in Nigeria. Any email sent to you from a foreign country is something to be skeptical of.

Though most of the email is deleted, I kept enough to show the big red flags. The big hints I have bolded for you to see.

First of all, we have a huge amount of money that she wants to invest in our country. The amount doesn’t matter, but it’s often in millions, enough to catch your interest.

Think about it, would someone honestly trust a complete stranger with over a million dollars?

Second, she wants to you to transfer it into your personal account, and you will -get 15%. That is a huge no-no. Never put money that isn’t yours in your bank account. More importantly, never give your bank account number out.

What happens is you transfer the funds, and then give her access to your bank account number. Guess what? Not only will you not see the 15%, you also will be out whatever money you had.

Plus, if she is really trying to hide money, you have now done something illegal.

Another form of the scam is where they want to purchase something from you. You may get this if you have an at home business or if you sell on Ebay. Instead of paying with Paypal, they will ask if they can send you a money order, but they will ask if they can write it for over the amount and transfer the additional money back to them. You deposit it and send them x amount back. Well, by the time you have already sent the money, your bank will call to tell you it was a fake or bad money order.

A good rule of thumb is never give out your bank account number.

Also, if it seems a little odd or out of the blue, just hit delete.