Are you Aware of Money Transfer Scams?

It is a fraud method through which you are persuaded to send some money to an unknown recipient who claims to give you large amounts of money for an "advance processing" fee.

For example, let us see what happens with typical email scam:

Ravi receives the following message.

Congratulations! You have won a prize!

In order to cash it you need to send an advance fee to take care of the expenses.

Ravi sends the said amount of money. He doesn’t hear anything from them again.

Many people all over the world loose millions through similar scams.

The scam is actually a confidence trick. The target is offered a commission tempting enough for him to send money in advance. The scammers promise a larger amount in return.

How money transfer scams work?

• It typically starts with a letter or e-mail. In it the sender states that he has a large sum of money (which could be a cash prize, money from ill gotten gains or money with no rightful beneficiary.)
• The sender asks for the victim’s help to transfer the amount. The victim is offered a commission for his help (in case of illegal money transfer)
• The victim is asked to send some money in advance so as to take care of administration, legal or other expenses.
• Once the victim sends the money hoping for a larger amount in return, he never hears from the people who sent him the mail. Sometimes the scammers ask the victim to provide the bank details. This ensures the scammers that their victim is unaware of such scams.

Why people fall in such scams?

These scams work mainly because of the amount involved. The sender claims to have millions of dollars in the form of gold bars, gold dust, and money in a bank account, a series of checks or bank drafts and so on. The victim is offered a commission in the range of ten to forty percent. This is tempting enough for the victim to respond. Though many people do not respond to such mails, a small number of people do. This is sufficient for the scammers to realize their plan.

Why the scammers get away

The scammers insist that the victim pay money through money transfers provided by companies such as Western Union or Moneygram. The reason given is that the time taken for processing money is very less and this would in turn allow the victim to get his money faster.

Companies such as these are very suitable for the scammers because there is no trace of the money sent. Also owing to the multiple locations of these companies, it is practically impossible for the victim to identify and track the scammer. After receiving the cash, the scammer completely vanishes!

Though some people have been cheated by these scams, the best possible way to deal with any scam would be not to respond from letters or e-mails from strangers. When we feel that the offer made it too good to be true, it usually is. So beware. And never send any cash to strangers.