scam awareness letter

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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:46 pm

I am going to send this letter to the most red newspaper in Spain, the "20Minutos", tell me what you think of it. You are free to use it yourself.

Spanish:

Quote:

Título: La estafa nigeriana

¿Has recibido un correo electrónico prometiendo mucho dinero a cambio de una pequeña tasa? No te lo creas, se trata del timo nigeriano. Las historias que cuentan los estafadores son muy diversas: una herencia sin reclamar, gobiernos africanos que necesitan sacar dinero del país, ayudas concedidas por las Naciones Unidas, premios de lotería, etc. Todos tienen algo en común, te piden que previamente pagues una pequeña cantidad para costear los trámites, pero después de que la víctima pague jamás recibe el dinero prometido. Se han dado casos de gente que ha perdido cientos de miles de dólares. No caigas en esta trampa, avisa a tus familiares y amigos.

English:

Quote:

Title: the nigerian scam
Have you received a letter promising a lot of money in exchange for a small fee? Don’t fall for it, it’s the Nigerian scam. The stories told by the scammers are diverse: unclaimed inheritances, African governments who need to get money out of the country, UN funds, lottery prices, etc. They all have something in common, they ask for a small fee in advance to pay for some proceedings, but the victim never gets the promised money. There have been cases of people losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Don’t fall for it, warn your family and friends.

note: if you want to make any suggestions, please keep in mind that the letter cannot be over nine lines

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

I can't help with the Spanish but have a couple of suggestions. One of which is to properly name the scam as Advance Fee fraud rather than "Nigerian Scam".

I marked my other suggested edits in red. I think it's important to distinguish between "never getting the money" and the money not actually existing in the first place. I have talked to many victims who think the fund is real but the scammer is preventing them from getting it.
I also added a bit about doing searches. Google is AFF's worst enemy, apart from us. Wink

Quote:

Title: Advance Fee Fraud
Have you received an email or letter promising a lot of money in exchange for a small fee? Don’t fall for it, it’s advance fee fraud. The stories told by the scammers are diverse: unclaimed inheritances, African governments who need to get money out of the country, UN funds, lottery prices, etc. They all have something in common. They ask for a small fee in advance to pay for some proceedings, but the large fund doesn't really exist. The entire story is fabricated to steal money under the guise of "fees".. There have been cases of people losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Don’t fall for it! Warn your family and friends. When in doubt, trust your instincts and search the internet for more information.

You could also add a link to ScamWarners if you think it appropriate to do so.

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:30 pm

^^ thanks for the suggestions but I don't think there's a spanish translation for Advance Fee Fraud, and the vast majority of spanish people know it as nigerian scam

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 1:05 pm

A couple of other categories:
enfermos a punto de morir (e.g. Tickling the Spanish Ivories)
refugiadas amorosas (I get these, in Babelpeceño, occasionally)

@Ima: the Spanish says electronic mail.

Is the ink red, or is the paper red, or is it red by a lot of people?