“Ponzi scheme” or Italian way of making business.
As the United States continues to fracture in every way imaginable, most citizens are unable to keep up with the never-ending hodgepodge of government corruption. Each day, a new larger-than-life scandal emerges, and in the short mind span of news media, there is always a bigger and better story to chase. The world has witnessed all sorts of frauds despite many rules and regulations in place. Trading scams and big investment frauds have resulted in the loss of billions of dollars for gullible people. Here’s a look at some of the world’s biggest frauds.Thousands of con artists, grifters, fraudsters, and other denizens of the dark are trolling for victims. Can you recognize fraud when you see it? What do you know about “Ponzi scheme”?
Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant to the United States, became one of the greatest fraudsters in America. The term ‘Ponzi scheme‘ describes a scam that relies on a pyramid of investors who contribute money to a fraudulent program. He duped many people with a Ponzi scheme. Ponzi used to do odd jobs, for example, in Canada, he worked for a bank where he forged signatures on cheques: he was sent to jail for 3 years. But this did not deter him from moving ahead. He attracted investors with promises of big returns. Ad finally the returns were given to investors initially out of the money they invested. He said by selling cheaply bought coupons from abroad for huge amounts, investors could double their money in three months. In 1919 Ponzi duped many investors making them believe that in 45 days investments in foreign postage coupons could yield 50 per cent returns. Many working people who wanted to make more money in a short span of time joined the scheme. Ponzi was convicted of mail fraud in 1920 and was imprisoned before he was deported to Italy in 1934. He is aid to have died penniless in Rio de Janeiro in 1949.
Have a look, it happened in far 1920 and this scheme is still widely used all over the world. As all you know, much has already been reported about 70 year old Bernie Madoff, particularly how he managed to misappropriate 50 Billion of US dollars. Madoff had been a prominent member of the New York investment community and an advisor to the US Government on market regulation since he started his business in the 1960s. He gave himself up to US Prosecutors who on 12 December 2008 charged him with a single count of securities fraud. His disclosure occurring only after he knew his business could not possibly cover the $ 7 Billion in redemptions, funds that had already been lost in the “Ponzi scheme” he’d been operating for decades. The fraud only came to light when Madoff confessed that his investment scheme was a total sham. Now his business is identified as modeled on the 1920’s “Ponzi” or “financial pyramid” scheme. The scheme operated by using funds obtained from the most recent investors to return some limited funds to earlier punters in order that they in turn kept bringing inducting other unsuspecting investors. Madoff’s investment firm focused on attracting wealthy and prominent investors by claiming annual returns of around 10-12% year on year. With the allure of easy riches and giving the appearance of exclusivity if you were permitted to invest Madoff perpetuated his reputation by being seen to invite only the select few, even going so far as to refuse certain investors. With so much local success in obtaining investors, Madoff went on to attract others from around the globe including banks and investment houses in Europe and Asia.
So you can notice that old schemes are still working today.
This HSBC email seems almost like a scam to me
All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. Every time you turn around there’s a new scam. Every year you end up dealing with some new scam where the bad guy tries to get money from the good guy. There are some frauds so well conducted that it would be stupidity not to be deceived by them. There are lots of new twists on an old trick for how to steal from people.
Some times scammers invent really sophisticated plans. Have a look at the phishing attempt for HSBC customers.
The e-mail has the subject “Protect Yourself Against Internet Fraud” and tells you that it is instigating a special fraud prevention exercise which if you don’t participate in you get yourself suspended. But have a look closely. This mail does not specify the name of addressee and on the text version the link points to a different site. So you can easily say that it’s fraud. Also emails like “HSBC has been receiving complaints from our customers for unauthorized use of the HSBC Online accounts. As a result we are making an extra security check on all of our Customers account in order to protect their information from fraudulent uses. Due to this, you are requested to follow the provided steps and confirm your Online Banking details for the safety of your Accounts. Please Click Here To Start” can be send to you, it’s another variant of scam letter.
HSBC is the world’s local bank, one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world that is why it’s frequently attacked by scammers. HSBC’s international network comprises around 8,000 offices in 88 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. Its headquarter is in London.
HSBC asks its clients to send any scam/ phishing emails you have received to them, so to say to report them in order to prevent further unpleasant situations. HSBC aims to report every variant of the scams they receive. Remember, HSBC (http://hsbc.pissedconsumer.com/) will never send you an email to “Dear customer”, they won’t ask for personal details online and their form won’t go to ktacademy.co.kr. If you receive this email and the subject line is Important Message From HSBC Bank plc, delete it immediately as it’s a scam.
There is one more clever scam, which was noticed by people who use internet banking. If when you log in, on the page that you see after entering your ‘IB number’, a third box appears asking for your full security number, do NOT enter it. Close your browser and contact HSBC fraud department. It seems to be a very clever scam. I’d say that it’s a genuine page and that it’s an internal cock-up or employee-driven scam. Emails asking you to verify your login details are one thing, but this is another matter. Address bar looks legit.
Think twice before believe any letter you received, especially, if it’s from your bank and your money is at stake.
It is a wise man who lives with money in the bank and it is a fool who dies that way
A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it. A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. But nobody can life without them, banks are the part of social structure, the part of everyday life. People put my money in a bank because they have to think of life in 30ears, when they are not so young and full of energy.
Money always attracts people, those who have it, store it in the banks, those who don’t, all life want to be bank robbers. Carry a gun and wear a mask. Some times banks are robbed by criminals, but some times banks are robbed by their workers.
Wachovia is an example of such case. Wachovia is a part of Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo & Companyis a diversified financial services company providing banking insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance. Together, they are one of North America’s largest and most diverse financial services companies with a legendary reputation for strength and stability, offering more convenience and resources to help you reach your financial goals. They provide service through more than 11,000 stores, over 12,000 ATMs, the Internet and other distribution channels across North America and internationally. They are number one in the U.S. in community banking presence, mortgage originations, small business lending, middle market commercial banking, agricultural lending, commercial real estate lending, commercial real estate brokerage and bank-owned insurance brokerage. They are number two in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit card.
It seems that everything is quite ok with this company, but betrayals can be found everywhere, don’t forget about it. The topic of this blog is scam, so let’s discuss it on the example of Wachovia bank (http://wachovia-bank.pissedconsumer.com/). Terry Scott Welch – Ex-Wachovia vice president accused of 9-year conspiracy to fleece bank of $11M in false invoices. Ex-Wachovia VP was charged with mail fraud and tax evasion. Federal prosecutors say Welch had been bilking the bank for nine years. Terry Scott Welch oversaw the payment of invoices submitted by outside vendors who provided goods and services to Wachovia. He got small-business owners to turn in fake invoices for goods and services the bank never received. Two more figures took part in this fraudulent scheme, they were John Cousar Jr., 47, of Albemarle and Delmar Dove, 59. They also were charged with mail fraud and tax evasion. Welch is accused of receiving nearly $3.4 million in kickbacks from Cousar and Dove through false invoices claiming that Wachovia owed for fictitious moving and delivery services. This scheme ran from about 2000 through November 2008, soon after Wachovia announced it would be bought by Wells Fargo. The two men kept millions more for themselves as a result of this scheme. Nobody knows how the scheme was discovered. All of them understand the serious consequences of those decisions.
The charges carry maximum penalties of 35 years in prison and fines of up to $1.25 million. The bank declined comment.
The money’s the same, whether you earn it or scam it.
“A wealthy foreigner who needs help moving millions of dollars from his homeland promises a hefty percentage of this fortune as a reward for assisting him.”
You are often contacted by unsolicited bulk mail, spam email and someone began to call you by phone as soon as you gave your details? They claim to have a lot of money stashed away in a Nigerian (African) account or they have a certain some of money from inheritance, will or, may be, they recently won a lottery? Do they need someone to help them transfer it out of the country with a view to sharing the said sum with them? Do they assure you that it’s a risk free deal and encourage you to send them your personal details? I’m happy to inform you that worldwide this situation has the name, it’s a Nigerian scam.
The world famous Nigerian Scam (also known as a “4-1-9″ or “Advance Fee Fraud” scheme) got its name “419” after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes is usually targeted at small and the medium sized businesses, plus charities. 419 is a menace to every person. Scams are carried out by fraudulent people who plan to defraud gullible respondents. They might tell you that the source of this fund is as follows; during the last military regime here in Nigeria, the government officials set up companies and awarded themselves contracts which were grossly over-invoiced in various ministries. The present civilian government set up a contract review panel and we have identified a lot of inflated contract funds which are presently floating in the central bank of Nigeria ready for payment. However they cannot acquire this money in their names as they are civil servants and members of this panel. Hence they are ready to share. They offer you from 1 to 3 % of their “fortune”.
Here’s how it works: Letters (or, nowadays, e-mail messages) postmarked from Nigeria (Sierra Leone or the Ivory Coast, or almost any other foreign nation) are sent to addresses taken from large mailing lists. The letters promise rich rewards for helping officials of that government or sometimes just members of a particular family. Typically, the pitch includes mention of multi-million dollar sums. If you agree to participate in this international bailout, something will go wrong. Paperwork will be delayed. Questions will be asked. Money from you – an insignificant sum – will be required to get things back on track. You pay, you wait for the transfer … and all you’ll get in return are more excuses about why the funds are being held up and assurances that everything can be straightened out if you’ll just send a bit more cash to help the process along. Once your bank account has been sucked dry or you start making threats, you’ll never hear from these Nigerians again.
The Nigerian Advance Fee Scam had been existed around for quite a while, but despite many warnings it continues to draw in many victims. In fact, the Financial Crimes Division of the Secret Service receives about 100 telephone calls from victims/potential victims and 300-500 letter pieces of related correspondence per day about this 419 scam! 419 scam Nigerian Spam. Lately it is seen in Russia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, also in the US.
If you’re tempted to respond to an offer, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), which protects America’s consumers, suggests you stop and ask yourself two important questions: Why would a perfect stranger pick you — also a perfect stranger — to share a fortune with, and why would you share your personal or business information, including your bank account numbers or your company letterhead, with someone you don’t know? And the U.S. Department of State cautions against traveling to the destination mentioned in the letters. According to State Department reports, people who have responded to these “advance-fee” solicitations have been beaten, subjected to threats and extortion, and in some cases, murdered.
If you receive an offer via email from someone claiming to need your help getting money out of Nigeria — or any other country, for that matter — forward it to the FTC at spam@uce.gov.
The Nigerian Scam has been emptying the pockets of victims for decades – first through letters, then with faxes, and now via e-mail.
Fraud is the minister of injustice
There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny. In the modern world fraud is around us and it affects not only small businesses, but large, internationally known companies. Unfortunately, Barclays Bank is not aside from all other companies.
Barclays Bank was established about 300 years ago, since then their business has grown. Now they can offer their customers a wide range of products and services, which can meet any your specific needs all over the world. Barclays Bank (http://barclays-bank.pissedconsumer.com/) has its branches in over than 50 countries. This major financial structure covers following services: international, investment and corporate banking, credit cards, wealth and investment management services. Wherever you are, in Europe, the Americas, Africa or Asia Barclays Bank travels with you.
Barclays Bank offers four types of service: personal banking (is includes credit cards, insurance, loans, mortgages and more); corporate and business banking (Barclays Bank supports businesses all over the world. It helps with lots of services to suit any type of your business); investment banking (Barclays has lots of large corporate, government and institutional clients with numerous solutions. Barclays has lots of pieces of advice for strategic advisory, financing and management needs); wealth management (Barclays Wealth deals with all types of clients (private and intermediary) all over the world. Barclays Wealth offers international banking, private banking, investment management and many more). Barclays Bank has more than 48 million customers. Everyday when its clients sleep, work, drive, eat or train Barclays Band lends or moves, invests or protects money for them.
Recently people sent a lot of inquiries to Barclays Bank because they received emails which contained a form, it was made like a form for consumer of Barclays Bank and it asked clients to enter their personal information and click “submit”, “send” or “update”. These mails stated that the data base of Barclays Bank needs to be updated and all customers are to provide their personal banking information in order to check it. These forms utilize script, which is located on a remote server, which in its turn receives and copies all information. What happens next? All that either will be forwarded to fraudsters, or placed in a database and fraudsters pick it up later. Exactly such methods are used by phishing scammers. How can you protect yourself? You can disregard any unsolicited emails or calls that ask for your confidential information. If in doubt, contact the company that supposedly sent you the message to make sure that it’s genuine.
Barclays Bank also gives the following information: “Card-not-present fraud” is the most common type of card fraud. It occurs when fraudsters steal your card details and use them to make purchases over the Internet or by phone, fax or mail. Always be aware of who you are dealing with. To protect yourself you need to follow several simple rules: do not enter your card details on shared or public computers, always log out of any websites where you entered details of your card, enter details of you card only on the sites which you trust, report any fraudulent transactions immediately.
“Mail non-receipt card fraud” is the second common type of fraud. When it occur? This fraud occurs when your card which you have just ordered was stolen in transit. You can face with this type of fraud if you have a communal letterbox. I mean such boxes as a block of flats or a student residence hall has. How to protect yourself in this case? First of all you need to find out how much time it takes for any new card to be mailed out to you. Also you need to contact your card provider if it doesn’t arrive on time.
Any other fraud types you can find on the official site of Barclays Bank. I hope, this information was useful for someone.
Have a good day!
We have to check your ATM card details
Have you are received mails which contain words like: “The management of our bank has made a decision to phishing, identity theft and trademark violation. In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. A phishing technique was described in detail in 1987, and the first recorded use of the term “phishing” was made in 1996. Phishing is an e-mail fraud method in which the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients. Typically, the messages appear to come from well known and trustworthy Web sites. Like those mentioned above. They usually steal -“fish/ phish”- information like credit card numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), social security numbers, banking numbers, and passwords. They usually do it in a variety of ways, but most commonly through fraudulent emails claiming to be from your bank or another institution that already has your personal details, asking you to confirm these details. As with many phishing scams, the victim is directed to visit a fraudulent site and any information entered on that site is sent to the attacker. Phishing emails are commonly used in association with a fake web site that looks very similar to a real website from the relevant institution.
Once scammers have ‘phished’ out your information, they could use it in a number of ways. Your credit card could be used for unauthorized purchases, or your bank account could be cleared out, or they may simply gather the information for an identity theft scam, or sell your information to identity theft rings.
These scammers are really smart, but you can be smarter. First of all you need to look at the email you’ve received. Note, this email has to have your Customer name as they have it in their database and no bank in this world will address to you like Dear Client. Of course the link given in the email points to the legitimate site. But when you try to contact the given link by copying and pasting it in the browser, the actual website displays an error. And this shows that your bank has never sent this email, as they don’t even have such page for updating the account.
If you click on the link instead copying, you will find yourself on phishing site which resembles your bank website which would obviously steal the information and will mail the information collected from the innocent people to the scammers’ email address.
If you receive such email just let your bank, company, or organization know about this scam mail to block a phishing website. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems. If you believe you’ve been scammed, file a report with the Federal Trade Commission. You may also report it to your state Attorney General, using contact information at naag.org.
Many of phishing schemes appear to be quite legitimate. Don’t be a victim.
