More Information about Scams and How to Report Them

Advance Fee Fraud &Romance Scams  

Public Awareness Advisory from the U.S. Secret Service: http://www.secretservice.gov

Metropolitan Police (London) – information on 419: http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm

The actual 419 law is found on this site: http://www.nigeria-law.org

Statement from the Central Bank of Nigeria RE:  419: http://www.cenbank.org/419/419.htm

Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC): The EFCC was established to try to stem the tide of  419 and other similar crimes in Nigeria. http://www.efccnigeria.org

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/nigeralrt.htm

University of Pennsylvania frauds and scams page: http://www.upenn.edu/computing/security/advisories/419scam.html

A list of links to fraud related sites: http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/fighters.htm

To combat the Cyber outlaws, the LooksTooGoodToBeTrue initiative, an Internet fraud prevention campaign, jointly undertaken by federal law enforcement agencies and major corporations, was launched in October, 2005.  The cornerstone of this campaign is the website http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com.  Consumers can file complaints via the site, and can order a free DVD.

Check and Money Order Fraud

National Check Fraud Center:  http://www.ckfraud.org

Better Business Bureau Alert about Fake Checks: http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/moalert.htm

Advisory about Fake Postal Money Orders: http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/moalert.htm

From the Queensland Police Service: ttp://www.police.qld.gov.au/pr/program/fraud/cheques.shtml

Info Page on Check Fraud from Neighbourhood Support (NZ): http://www.ns.org.nz/4.html

Generic Information on Scams and Spam 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Scams Info Page: http://www.rcmp.ca/scams/index_e.htm

Report Spam:  http://www.spamcop.net 

WHOA (Working to Halt Online Abuse): http://www.haltabuse.org 

Net Crimes:  http://www.netcrimes.net

Smart Steps to Take If You Are the Victim of a Scam 

1. KEEP EVERYTHING!  Don’t delete messages:  E-mails and Instant Message chat logs.  Place them in a separate folder on your hard drive or diskette/zip disk, CD, etc. and print out a hard copy.  Keep all originals when possible, giving only copies to the various reporting agencies.  Keep all your receipts and envelopes, and anything that can be used as evidence.  Have your options set to show header information.  You can check an IP address on various websites.
2. Call your local police, whether city or county, and ask for the Computer Crimes Unit or someone, who handles online incidents.  Even if they won’t or can’t do anything about it, at least it shows you’re being proactive, and it will help you to create a paper trail.
3. Contact your state police.  When speaking to law enforcement, be calm, be concise and give the facts – who, what, when, where, and, if possible, why.  Again, they may not be able to help you, but, at least, it shows you’re being proactive.

To access several federal government forms all in one place, go to:

http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com

1. Contact the FBI Computer Crimes unit in your area ONLY if you’ve received a threat of death or physical harm.  Go to http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm  to find contact information for your local FBI agency.
2. Report it to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (also known as the Internet Crime Complaint Center) of the FBI at http://www.ifccfbi.gov.
3. Report it to the U.S. Secret Service Financial Crimes Division at:  http://www.secretservice.gov/contact_ecb.shtml.
4. Report it to the National Fraud Information Center at http://www.fraud.org.
5. Report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at:  http://www.ftc.gov.  Phone:  1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357)  TTY:  1-866-653-4261 
6. Check out the FTC International Internet Fraud website:  http://www.econsumer.gov.
7. If you’re a victim of mail fraud, report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at:  http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm.
8. Contact the U.S. Department of Justice at:  http://www.internetfraud.usdoj.gov.  Also contact your State’s Attorney General.  The number is listed under the Government Section of your telephone book.  Check out the National Association of Attorneys General at: http://www.naag.org.
9. Report fake check scams to the National Fraud Information Center/Internet Fraud Watch, a service of the nonprofit National Consumers League, at:  http://www.fraud.org to call (800) 876-7060.  The information will be transmitted to law enforcement agencies.
10. Send a detailed complaint via registered mail to the U.S. (U.K., etc.) Embassy in the country where the scammer resides, and their Embassy in your country.  Search addresses of Embassies here:  http://www.embassyworld.com.  Include:
1. First and last names of the scammer (the person you sent the money to, even if it’s different from the name of the person you were corresponding with).
2. Details of the scam, including dates, names of persons and agencies, copies of letters, Western Union receipts, etc.
3. Request to give your complaint to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the country where the scammer resides (where you have sent the money) and request to prosecute the scammer.
4. Your name, address, e-mail address and phone number.
5. Print the complaint, number the pages, initial every page, and sign the last page.
6. Include a copy of your ID/passport (page with your name and photo).  Such a complaint will be considered as an official statement, and MAY be used by authorities to initiate a criminal investigation.
11. Inform the agency/website where you found this person (or where he or she found you), giving them all the details of the scam and asking to terminate the scammer’s subscription and remove him/her from their database.  Request a response from them.
12. Inform the Internet Service Provider (ISP) where the scammer’s e-mail account is registered, and ask them to disable their e-mail address.  Forward them any Instant Messages or e-mails concerning the money request, along with the story of how you were scammed.  Request a response.
13. If you were sent Money Orders, contact your bank’s Fraud Division and also your local Postmaster General.
14. If you were sent gifts/merchandise, contact the company it was sent from.  Since it was probably purchased with a stolen credit card, try to get that information from the company, and contact the card holder to alert him or her.  The company will likely not care since the merchandise has been paid for, but it’s still in your best interest to return the merchandise to them.  You may want to call your local law enforcement agency first, so they can advise you.
15. If you were sent packages or letters to forward for a scammer, refuse any deliveries from UPS, DHL or FedEx, etc.  Mark any letters with “return to sender” or turn them over to your local Postal Inspector, or simply take them to your local Post Office.
16. If you have sent money to a scammer via Western Union, report it to the Western Union Fraud Department and Customer Support Department.  Request a response.  Their website is:  http://www.westernunion.com.  If you sent a Money Gram, their website is:  http://www.moneygram.com.  This is what the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says to scam victims regarding money transfers:
1. Go back to the location where you transferred the money from, and ask them to provide you with the copy of the receiver’s form that was submitted by the person, who claimed the money in Nigeria.  This form will have the information of the bank and that of the banker, who was involved in the money payout.
2. This information will help the EFCC in tracking down the people involved.  Please note that this is the fastest way the EFCC can be able to help currently until a bill is passed.
3. If you notice any suspicious solicitation, you may go to http://www.efcnigeria.org and report such suspicion.
17. Send a report to scam Blacklists you find listed on the Internet.
18. Immediately stop all contact with the scammer.  Block his/her e-mail address, ignore IMs, refuse packages and letters from him/her.
19. Join the Yahoo RomanceScams group for help, support and education.  Membership is free:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romancescams.