Police: ‘Remain Vigilant Regarding Online Fraud’
Following a report of local resident being defrauded by a social media scam, the police are reminding people to ”remain vigilant regarding online fraud,” saying that “individuals should be extremely cautious when asked to send funds to persons who have contacted them unexpectedly, especially via the internet.”
A police spokesperson said, “The Bermuda Police Service would like to remind members of the public to remain vigilant regarding online fraud, in light of a report involving a local resident defrauded by a social media scam.
“In the recent reported instance, a local male Facebook user received the following messages from a newly added Facebook friend:
‘Are you interested in receiving $700,000.00 Sir’ and ‘Sir you have been chosen among the Facebook promo 2017 winners to get a cash prize of $700,000,00 each.’
“Apparently believing he was a winner, the local man sent his personal details and a smaller amount of cash via money transfer to claim his alleged cash prize.
“However when re-contacted to send additional funds to ensure the mentioned prize money was released, the local man became suspicious and reported the matter.
“Once again, residents are advised not to respond to unsolicited correspondence [via e-mail, fax, letter or telephone call] which claims to offer an amazing prize or cash reward – if only the ‘lucky winner’ is willing to send an amount of money in advance to ‘secure the winnings’ or other ‘promising opportunity’ – and individuals should be extremely cautious when asked to send funds to persons who have contacted them unexpectedly, especially via the internet.
“If a person or entity insists that funds are transferred by means other than the banking system, additional scrutiny of the transaction is advisable.”
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Hard to believe that anyone would fall this kind of scam: on the other hand, more than a few people still believe all that missing money from 1998-2012 was due to the recession ……..
BEWARE PEOPLE: Some of the better scams I have seen don’t ask you to send anything. What they do is tell you have won a contest, lottery or similar for “X” amount of dollars. Then they simply give you a few options to receive your cash winnings.
a) Do nothing and wait for your check for the amount of “X” to arrive by registered mail in 6-10 weeks.
b) Fill out a form with your credit card details to have your winnings processed and sent by by the courier of your choice DHL / UPS / FEDEX for a small processing fee of (something small like $100)plus the cost of the overnight courier fee of (again something small like $75).
c) Or send by wire / Pay Pal / Bit Torrent payment to have your winnings processed and sent by by the courier of your choice DHL / UPS / FEDEX for a small processing fee of (something small like $100)plus the cost of the overnight courier fee of (again something small like $75).
Since they are not actually asking for your money but giving you a choice – many people think it is legit and at best send payment, or worse give them card details.
Whenever someone tells you you have won a contest just google the name and put the word scam after it. As long as you are not the first to be scammed, you can usually find examples of others that have fallen victim before.
Good advice. The scammers are getting more clever, so it’s up to the rest of us to be more vigilant.
Who in their right mind would believe this??
Bermudians!
That would mean these scams only occur in Bermuda. Get real the scammers attack gullible people worldwide.
Real Onion, If you are Bermudian as your moniker suggests then you include yourself. This is called self hatred. I happen to know of the person who fell for this and he is not Bermudian. The scammers are professionals and know that at some point they are going to make a hit with someone who is at a vulnerable stage in their life or in financial straits. The language they choose seems to be a God-send, perfectly worded to touch that vulnerable place. Many of us believe what we find on the internet especially institutions that we think of as trustworthy such as Facebook, banks, and people who are supposed to be friends. Don’t be hard on this person who is already feeling foolish and beating up on self.
Blazing Trader is another email scam. I got an email last night on this one. Total Scam.
If you are that gullible, you deserve to be scammed. He’s not the first and he wont be that last. We all want something for nothing and the scammers know this and pray on this weakness. They wont scam us all, just the naive and gullible. No amount of warning will stop these people from falling for these scams, the need to believe that money just fell out of the sky on their laps, is far greater than the suspicion that should have.
You can’t win a contest you never entered. Very sad that people fall for this.