Clever people ï¿½are easier to conï¿½ - apparently

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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:47 am

Spotted in the Times:

Clever people ï¿½are easier to conï¿½

Doctors, architects, engineers and other white-collar professionals are being conned by e-mail fraudsters who lure them into contributing to fake ventures after taking their details from conference websites.

A report on e-mail scams indicates that the high-achieving professionals are frequently defrauded, contrary to the widely held belief that the poorly educated and financially desperate are most vulnerable.

The research, carried out by Ultrascan, an IT fraud agency based in the Netherlands, also showed a strong correlation between white-collar victims and a recent or life-changing family trauma, which appeared to have impaired their judgment.

The review of 362 of the most serious cases, in which victims lost more than ï¿½150,000, found that 85 per cent had suffered a parent-related trauma ï¿½ either death or an acrimonious separation.

The report concludes that those who have suffered a bereavement appear to be more likely to be duped.

Advance-fee fraud ï¿½ where the victim is asked to pay up before receiving benefits ï¿½ is the most successful type of scam in the world and was responsible for victims losing an estimated ï¿½2.1 billion in 2007. There were 300,000 fraudsters active globally last year, a rise of 3 per cent from 2006.

Full article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3564520.ece

300.00 lads, ey? Phew..plenty left to do then

Very Happy

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:54 am

We should try to have them all safari to an elusive scammer-convention.

It's pretty weird that those people who are supposed to know better obviously don't.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:00 am

WhackMeister wrote:

The research, carried out by Ultrascan

It's trustworthy then Rolling Eyes

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:03 am

WhackMeister wrote:

The research, carried out by Ultrascan

Ultrascam, 'nuff said. Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:08 am

Oh - why? Who they?

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Ultrascan isn't very well thought of, here. They charge AFF victims money with promises to recover funds or see that lads are punished.

I'd stay away from them.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:22 am

Oh - thanks!

Maybe someone should have pointed that out to the Times...

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

The media is going to do what they want to do, regardless.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:30 am

As much as I dislike Ultrascam, they do nearly have a point here.
For those here still laboring under the misconception that all scam victims are uneducated, it is very true that some VERY "book smart" people fall for 419s. Those who believe that they are of superior intelligence are harder for scammers to hook, but tend to also be harder to convince when confronted with the fact that they are being scammed.

Baiting Guru Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 2163

Tsnerd wrote:

Ultrascan isn't very well thought of, here. They charge AFF victims money with promises to recover funds or see that lads are punished.

I'd stay away from them.

they aren't even registered at the dutch chamber of commerce

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:57 am

Quote:

There were 300,000 fraudsters active globally last year, a rise of 3 per cent from 2006.

Wow! A mugu census!

That is about the population of my home town. Now if we could just get them fraudstars all on safari in one place at the same time and drop a bomb on it we could all find something else constructive to do with our time.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:42 am

300,000. I thought the last count was at 263,489? Confused

These people are way off, it's obviously 263,489, I'm sure.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:47 am

Remember, 89% of statistics are complete inventions*.

*Including this one.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:50 am

Actually its 75% of Statistics are made up on the spot to make a point. Well it really varies, I've heard it could be 42.2 or 85% or even 90%, we know some percentage of statistics are.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

I've just done a scientific and rigorous investigation. And based on this thread it currently stands at around 66%. Although that assumes that the Ultrascan ones are not invented. The other 33% are of course merely dubious.

Compare this thread wherein it is agreed that clever lads are easier to bait. Probably for the same reasons. Broadly speaking there is a scam for everybody. Nobody is immune. The people who are really at risk are the ones who think they are immune.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:07 pm

thud419 wrote:

The people who are really at risk are the ones who think they are immune.

Which would be us, wouldn't it?

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:01 pm

Completly Retarded Article wrote:

There were 300,000 fraudsters active globally last year, a rise of 3 per cent from 2006.

How in the world did they come up with this number? This statement alone should be a giant red flag that they have NO idea what they are talking about. Morons.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

Ultra received 10 scam emails last year as opposed to 9.75 in 2006 (one of the emails had a link to some funny internet joke so it wasn't considered a full scam).

Ultra then extrapolated that there's probably about 30,000 more people/institutions out there that received emails in 2007, so it just multiplied and got the 300,000.

Quite simple really. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:36 pm

Tommo Shanter wrote:

Now if we could just get them fraudstars all on safari in one place at the same time and drop a bomb on it

Too bad certain governments are more interested in chasing phantom terrorists than going after real international criminals...

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:46 pm

So why don't we send them on a safari to Waziristan?

You know - the united States military has left some monkey in a trunkbox. We could steal it!

Headlines in the news:: Nigerian Fraudstars Invade Pakistan/Afghanistan border

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:53 pm

It's mean that they keep the monkey in a trunkbox...

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:11 pm

bearkat419 wrote:

Tommo Shanter wrote:

Now if we could just get them fraudstars all on safari in one place at the same time and drop a bomb on it

Too bad certain governments are more interested in chasing phantom terrorists than going after real international criminals...

Good thing the responsibility doesn't lie just with those certain governments, but with all governments.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Folks, let's steer this thread back to the OP's point.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:34 pm

Staying in topic, I can see how clever people are easily scammed. Most people know, whether they like it or not, that smarter people tend to be more deceptive and selfish and believe that they are way to smart to be scammed. Scammers depends on this ego and exploit it.

EDIT: BTW, whats the deal with Ultrascam? Feel free to explain in a PM if need be.

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:07 pm

Eliza_Doolittle wrote:

...You know - the united States military has left some monkey in a trunkbox. ...

If it's expired from asphyxiation I know where you can all order a new one, along with no end of other exotics...

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=132201&highlight=

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