It is common for anyone with an e-mail address to receive
e-mails from a “prince” of Nigeria informing the recipient they have
been chosen to help invest money from abroad and earn a reward for their
troubles — for a small initial fee.
“Everybody gets spam in their e-mail and most of that spam is just an attempt to phish for information to try to get you to respond back,” said Eric Fell, a detective with the Yuma Police Department that specializes in property crimes and fraud crimes.
The prince of Nigeria scam is just the tip of the iceberg for Internet-based fraudulent crimes aimed at taking the hard-earned cash of potential victims.
“There is an illegal market out there where people will buy and sell account and personal information on people because it doesn't take too much personal information to open up credit cards and bank accounts in your name,” Fell said.
Fell, along with other detectives at YPD, are constantly tracking down criminals who use the Internet to facilitate their nefarious activities.
“More and more peoples' lives revolve around the Internet,” Fell said. “As more and more people go into that realm to do their day to day lives, more and more criminals are going to follow them and do their crimes.”
Criminals may be attracted to committing crimes on the Internet because of the impersonal way it allows them to cheat and steal, Fell added.
“More people might be inclined to do Internet crimes because they feel their faces are never shown and it is never going to be tracked back to them.”
However, “it tracks back to them just as easily as if they had went to a store themselves and shoplifted. I don't know if people realize that it is just as much of a criminal act.”
Detectives on the trail of a crime are able to follow cyber footprints that can lead them right to the computer that was used to commit the offense.
“They leave their IP addresses, e-mail addresses — everything is tied electronically through digits,” Fell said. “We can eventually get the address or even the computer that was used for the offense.”
Craigslist is a hotbed of Internet-based criminal activity, Fell said.
“Craigslist has really taken off in the private sector. There are a lot of false advertisements from criminals and responses to advertisements from criminals.”
One way criminals use Craigslist to commit crimes is to set up a meeting with a seller of an expensive item at a discreet location. Then during the meeting, the criminal robs the seller and disappears. That is why it is important to set up such meetings at highly visible public locations, police stated.
Another way criminals use Craigslist is to send bad checks to buy items. The criminal will claim they made the check out for too much money, and that they need the recipient to send the extra money to a third party. To get the victim to go along, the criminal will offer more money to sweeten the deal.
“They will go cash the check or wire the money off to this other person,” Fell said. “Well a couple of days later that check bounces in the bank and the bank takes all the money back.”
Another e-mail scam informs potential victims they have won millions of dollars from a foreign lottery. But to claim the winnings, the person has to send money first to pay for initial fees.
“The sad thing is people respond to those,” Fell said. “We get at least one every two weeks where someone has sent thousands of dollars off to win this lottery and they are convinced they have won and they just need to send a couple more dollars.”
ID theft, which can happen online, poses a huge threat to Yuma area citizens, Fell said.
“It can be a very expensive and very time consuming… crime to overcome. It can damage your credit history and then you have to go through there and it is a lot of paper and pain to correct that because you have to prove it was a crime, and wasn't just you making something up.”
People should take every precaution not to let their personal information out to prevent such crimes in the first place, Fell added, noting that YPD has limited resources available to track down the criminal, especially if they are located in a foreign country.
“Never give out your personal information. That includes your date of birth, Social Security number, (and) banking information.”
Computer users should also use strong passwords.
“Use capitals, numbers, and special figures,” Fell said.
In addition, “it is always recommended to do business in person, as opposed to online if you can, that way you know who you are talking to directly. If it sounds too good to be true, it is and can ruin your credit and your finances. Always stay vigilant.”
The public should also keep a close watch of their bank and credit card records to catch any unauthorized activity, and get a personal credit report once a year.
Fell recommended www.annualcreditreport.com, where users can get their credit reports free once a year.
“Everybody gets spam in their e-mail and most of that spam is just an attempt to phish for information to try to get you to respond back,” said Eric Fell, a detective with the Yuma Police Department that specializes in property crimes and fraud crimes.
The prince of Nigeria scam is just the tip of the iceberg for Internet-based fraudulent crimes aimed at taking the hard-earned cash of potential victims.
“There is an illegal market out there where people will buy and sell account and personal information on people because it doesn't take too much personal information to open up credit cards and bank accounts in your name,” Fell said.
Fell, along with other detectives at YPD, are constantly tracking down criminals who use the Internet to facilitate their nefarious activities.
“More and more peoples' lives revolve around the Internet,” Fell said. “As more and more people go into that realm to do their day to day lives, more and more criminals are going to follow them and do their crimes.”
Criminals may be attracted to committing crimes on the Internet because of the impersonal way it allows them to cheat and steal, Fell added.
“More people might be inclined to do Internet crimes because they feel their faces are never shown and it is never going to be tracked back to them.”
However, “it tracks back to them just as easily as if they had went to a store themselves and shoplifted. I don't know if people realize that it is just as much of a criminal act.”
Detectives on the trail of a crime are able to follow cyber footprints that can lead them right to the computer that was used to commit the offense.
“They leave their IP addresses, e-mail addresses — everything is tied electronically through digits,” Fell said. “We can eventually get the address or even the computer that was used for the offense.”
Craigslist is a hotbed of Internet-based criminal activity, Fell said.
“Craigslist has really taken off in the private sector. There are a lot of false advertisements from criminals and responses to advertisements from criminals.”
One way criminals use Craigslist to commit crimes is to set up a meeting with a seller of an expensive item at a discreet location. Then during the meeting, the criminal robs the seller and disappears. That is why it is important to set up such meetings at highly visible public locations, police stated.
Another way criminals use Craigslist is to send bad checks to buy items. The criminal will claim they made the check out for too much money, and that they need the recipient to send the extra money to a third party. To get the victim to go along, the criminal will offer more money to sweeten the deal.
“They will go cash the check or wire the money off to this other person,” Fell said. “Well a couple of days later that check bounces in the bank and the bank takes all the money back.”
Another e-mail scam informs potential victims they have won millions of dollars from a foreign lottery. But to claim the winnings, the person has to send money first to pay for initial fees.
“The sad thing is people respond to those,” Fell said. “We get at least one every two weeks where someone has sent thousands of dollars off to win this lottery and they are convinced they have won and they just need to send a couple more dollars.”
ID theft, which can happen online, poses a huge threat to Yuma area citizens, Fell said.
“It can be a very expensive and very time consuming… crime to overcome. It can damage your credit history and then you have to go through there and it is a lot of paper and pain to correct that because you have to prove it was a crime, and wasn't just you making something up.”
People should take every precaution not to let their personal information out to prevent such crimes in the first place, Fell added, noting that YPD has limited resources available to track down the criminal, especially if they are located in a foreign country.
“Never give out your personal information. That includes your date of birth, Social Security number, (and) banking information.”
Computer users should also use strong passwords.
“Use capitals, numbers, and special figures,” Fell said.
In addition, “it is always recommended to do business in person, as opposed to online if you can, that way you know who you are talking to directly. If it sounds too good to be true, it is and can ruin your credit and your finances. Always stay vigilant.”
The public should also keep a close watch of their bank and credit card records to catch any unauthorized activity, and get a personal credit report once a year.
Fell recommended www.annualcreditreport.com, where users can get their credit reports free once a year.
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