SCHEMES, SCAMS AND FRAUDS

STIMULUS SCAMS ABOUND
You likely have money coming to you from the stimulus bill, but you won't need to pay someone to get it.

So if you come across a Web site festooned with photos of president Obama that purports to be brimming with stimulus cash that is yours for the asking, ignore it. Nothing good will come from pursuing it.

Similarly, if you get an email from some helpful soul whose dearest wish is to get your stimulus check deposited as quickly as possible into your bank account so no scam artist can get his hands on it, remember: the emailer is the scam artist. So don't open the email or, if you do, don't click on any of its links, as they may contain software that could make you a victim of identity theft.

SHOPPER DISCOUNTS - CREDIT CARD FRAUD
"Online companies pass on your credit number to this club (Scam)!" Search Google or Yahoo and you will find the complaints from consumers.
or go to:
SHOPPER DISCOUNTS - Complaints
or
SHOPPER DISCOUNTS - More Complaints
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against Webloyalty (“Reservation Rewards,” “Shopper Discounts and Rewards,” “TravelValues Plus,” and “Wallet Shield”)
Unauthorized Credit Card Charges by Webloyalty.com

FEDERAL BOUNTY FOR EMAIL SPAMMERS
"Email spammers will soon be targeted by the Bounty Hunters!" Six-figure incentives are the only way to persuade people to disclose the identity of co-workers, friends and others they know are responsible for flooding online mailboxes with unsolicited pitches for prescription drugs, weight loss plans and other products, according to the agency report.

Dirty dozen tax scams
Here are some tax "strategies" you don't want to consider using this season. Why? They're illegal.

Fraud Scheme Hits eBayers
According to investigators, the con artists target individuals selling merchandise over the Internet, specifically large-ticket items such as collector cars, motorcycles and boats. The buyer, who is from Africa, emails the seller to express an interest in the item and states that the method of payment will be a U.S. bank cashier's check.

TAX FRAUD ALERTS
"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!" Seek expert advice before you subscribe to any scheme that offers instant wealth or exemption from your obligation as a United States Citizen to pay taxes. Buying into a tax evasion scheme can be very costly.

Business & Professions Code (Unsolicited Email)
In 1998 the California Legislature amended Business & Professions Code. §17538.4 to prohibit unsolicited e-mails.

Chain Letter
In and of itself, chain letters are not illegal, but they are very annoying, and very wasteful of whatever medium is used to carry them. When a chain letter asks the recipient to send money to people through whom the letter passed before, with the promise that the recipient will receive money from those that the letter reaches after he sends it, then it has become a form of a pyramid scheme.

Spam E-mail
Junk Email is more than just annoying, it costs Internet users and Internet-based businesses millions, even billions, per year. Junk e-mail is "postage due" marketing; it's like a telemarketer calling you collect. The economics of junk e-mail encourages massive abuse and because junk e-mailers can get into the business very cheaply, the volume of junk e-mail is increasing every day. (SPAM LAW effective Jan 1, 2004)

Pyramid Scheme
A scheme in which a hierarchy is created by people joining under others who joined previously, and in which those who join make payments to those above them in the hierarchy, with the expectation of being able to collect payments from those who join below. Pyramid schemes are prohibited by the laws of the United States of America.

Gifting Club
This term is just another term for a pyramid scheme. The money you pay to join a “Gifting Club” is called a “gift”, and the claim is often made that any money you receive from such a scheme is not taxable, because the IRS does not tax gifts up to $10,000. This is a dangerous falsehood, because the IRS has always considered a gift, by definition, to be something given with no expectation of receiving anything in return.

Ponzi Scheme
A Ponzi scheme, named after Charles Ponzi who defrauded people in the 1920s using the method, involves getting people to invest in something for a guaranteed rate of return and using the money of later investors to pay off the earlier ones.

Nigerian Money Transfer Scheme
Experts are surprised people fall for the Nigerian scam even though it has received extensive media coverage. The Nigerian scheme is over ten years old but "spiked" in 2000 with the scam picking up more variations from more countries.

Initially targeting businessmen, the scam has now expanded to include the average citizen due to the low cost of email transmission in relation to potential gains. Church officials are also being specifically targeted with uniquely worded offers of charitable bequests. The common thread is that the initial letter sets the stage and is the opening round of a scheme within a scheme.

Yamashita Gold Bullion
The proponents go around telling victims to invest money in these documents on the promise that their investment would double when the documents mature. The face value of the documents is in billions of pesos or million of dollars.

Another mode of this scam is for the proponents to pretend to represent foundations for worthy causes and then to ask the victims to contribute to the foundations on the basis that these documents form part of the funding when they mature.

Sometimes the scams are simple, sometimes complex involving securities, BLOCKED FUNDS, insurances, special transportation arrangements, PARALLEL ACCOUNTS, banks in several countries, the Federal Reserve, HISTORICAL GOLD BONDS, and whatever combination needs to be assembled to part the unwary with their money.

Tales of Japanese war gold have floated around the Thai-Burma border for decades.

Buried Treasuries
All the fake bonds were dated 1934 and marked to "mature" 30 years later. Each of the hustlers told his victims the bonds were being demonetarized by the U.S. government, pulled from circulation in a matter of weeks, and that he needed some cash to pay his expenses to Washington, where he would redeem the Federal Reserve note before it expired.

Credit and Charge Card Fraud
When you get an Email or telephone call about your Credit Card - review this web site before responding.

Go to this page to work out if you are a winner or a sucker in a pyramid!
Read book - Crimes of Persuasion - Schemes, Scams and Frauds
Deceptive Practices - INDICATORS OF DECEPTION
SCAM Warnings - scams of immediate and present danger