Cybercrime: Lottery, Internet fraud and other
Date: March 13, 2006Source: chicoer.com
The Butte County District Attorney's Office, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Postal Service recently helped a 74-year-old Oroville man retrieve $20,000 he'd sent to scam artists in Montreal for a lottery prize "processing" fee.
Unfortunately, they couldn't help him recover the estimated $280,000 he'd already lost.
While the man's misfortune may be an extreme case, swindlers are successful with astounding frequency. Not all of their victims are elderly, nor are they people expecting something for nothing.
Part-time work turns to full-time anguish for struggling single mom
It took some convincing before Shannon Wallace, 36, agreed to try part-time work with Secret Shoppers — a company that said it did undercover customer service reviews for retailers like Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Sears.
Wallace said the process was explained to her over the phone, but the company offered no real training.
Within a few days, she had her first assignment. A cashier's check arrived from Secret Shoppers in the amount of $3,200.
She was directed to cash it, and take the money to Wal-Mart, where she would purchase a Money Gram in the amount of $2,835 and have it sent to a woman in Canada.
Wallace said she was told the wire would cost $115, and was directed to keep the remaining $250 for her "assignment" — which was to report on the quality of the service in providing the Money Gram.
Lisa Lewis, the name used by the woman Wallace had been dealing with, told her the Wal-Mart assignment would serve as her "probationary training." In order to prove she was serious about wanting to be a secret shopper, Wallace was told she had to "shop" Money Gram within 48 hours of getting the cashier's check.
Wallace followed her instructions precisely, including faxing back a critique of her experience.
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| 2006-05-17 22:41:08 - So was Wallace scammed. I have just lived... Peyton |
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