Restaurants are part of all our lives and are one institution visited on a regular basis by many of us. Whether it is a breakfast before work, a quick lunch during work or dinner with family and friends, we often visit these institutions making life easier for ourselves.

In visiting restaurants we enter a relaxed environment feeling safe and secure, and this is exactly the environment fraudsters like to pry on. These circumstances are ideal for fraudsters as their victims can be manipulated easily without causing much suspicion.

How the Scam Works

Offenders of this scam always ensure that they are properly dressed and well-spoken, ensuring that they present the appearance of a professional manager. They then approach a busy restaurant.

Once inside the restaurant, the offender will approach a table and introduce himself as the restaurant manager to the victims. The offender will warn the victims of a recent problem concerning theft and will offer the victim to safeguard their belongings, such as jackets or bags. The victims will be informed of a new safeguarding area inside the restaurant and will also be presented with a small marked token, which must be presented when leaving the restaurant and collecting the property.

Once goods are handed to the fraudster, he will approach a colleague in another area in the restaurant, out of sight of the victims and hand the property over. The fraudster will then approach the next table with the same introduction, warning and proposition while his accomplice removes the goods from obtained from the first victims.

Once finished, the fraudsters will leave the restaurant and victims will be left with worthless tokens and without their property.

Protecting Yourself Against These Scams

Even though you might feel relaxed and secure in your environment, you should never place your trust in any person offering you to part with your property. If you do not know the owner or manager of the restaurant, it is highly suggested that you first call your waiter and confirm the identity of the person claiming to be the manager or owner.

When handing your property to another person, ensure that you go with this person to view the area where your property will be safeguarded. Do not allow the person to leave your table with your property without knowing where it will be taken.

By: Kaung | KMKBlog.com

Since our childhood days we all experienced a time when we dreamt of becoming the next TV or pop star entertaining thousands of people in our visionary audience. Thank you to technology this dream is far more realistic and easy to achieve, anywhere around the world. In addition to becoming an international star, the monetary advantages makes the majority of adults relive their childhood dreams by attempting to participate in a wide variety of reality programs presented by a large number of television studios around the world.

Where a large amount of people place their hopes and believes in possible future successes, fraudsters tend to thrive with their endless attempts at defrauding the innocent and unsuspecting dreamers.

How the Scam Works

In this scam fraudsters will identify a new reality program to be launched on a television channel. Generally they succeed in reality shows where large amounts of money stand to be won.

After identifying the basis for their scam the offenders will spend money by placing advertisements in local newspapers or magazines. In these advertisements offenders will misrepresent to be the television channel inviting interested participants for the upcoming reality show on television. Interested participants are invited to contact a specified phone number.

Victims phoning the phone number will be told that interviews will initially be held telephonically. Short-listed participants will be contacted at a later stage for a face-to-face interview at the television studio.

All victims phoning the number will later be contacted and informed that they were short-listed for a face-to-face interview and will be required to pay a small administration fee in order to ensure their commitment and attendance of the face-to-face interview. They will then be requested to pay the deposits into a specified bank account.

Once these deposits are paid the victims will not hear from the scammers again.

Protecting Yourself Against These Scams

Always remember that no legitimate organization will charge you any fees if you have qualified to attend any competition, especially reality shows on television. If you are required to pay a fee, this should always raise a flag for you to investigate the offer.

If fees are required, always be sure to contact the actual television studio by looking up their number in a telephone directory and confirm the competition and required fee, before you pay any money.

Always be sure to keep any proof of deposits made and telephone numbers you dial. Also keep the actual advertisement you found in a magazine or newspaper. In the event of a scam, you will need this information when reporting the matter to local law enforcement agencies.

By: Kaung | KMKBlog.com

Small businesses are continuously looking for opportunities to advertise or promote themselves in their respective communities. Often small businesses advertise in local newspapers, magazines and on street poles in order to attract the attention of their communities.

The need of small businesses in promoting their products and services naturally attracts the attention of fraudsters who subsequently infiltrate this market in performing their cunning scams on these institutions.

How the Scam Works

Scammers of the business directory scam will approach small businesses in a certain area and inform these institutions of a new business directory, community newsletter or any other distribution media that will be released and distributed, free of charge, to thousands of residents in the area.

Small business owners will be persuaded to advertise in these publications at very low rates. Often scammers will offer all businesses owners prime advertising space on the front page or full page advertisements throughout the publication if they reserve advertising space immediately. Small business owners will also be offered free advertising design if they sign up with immediate effect.

In order to lend credence to their scams, offenders will request upfront payment from advertisers, but victims will be informed that they only need to pay a 50% deposit. The remaining 50% will be payable once the advertisement has been designed and is ready for placement.

Offenders will receive these 50% deposits from small businesses and then disappear to another area where they will start the scam all over targeting new businesses. The promised publications will never materialize.

Protecting Yourself Against These Scams

Small businesses should always be wary when approached by an individual selling advertising space in unknown publications.

It is highly suggested that the publications be researched before a decision is made on advertising. Things to look out for or ask the agent should include:

• How long has the publication been in circulation
• How many residents will receive the publication
• Who will do the distribution
• Who is the holding company of the publication
• View previous samples of the publication
• Who will be doing the layout and printing of the publication
• Who are previous advertisers

Once these questions are answered, it is suggested that phone calls are made to the company to establish their existence. Contact previous advertisers and ask their comments. Contact the printing and distribution company and ask questions about the publication and the number of the prints that will be released.

By: Kaung | KMKBlog.com

Teaching or nursing, in any country around the world, is often some of the lowest paid professions known. In third-world countries the majority of individuals involved in these professions wish to emigrate abroad with the aim of increasing their monthly remuneration. Many teachers or nursing staff from around the world often simply wish to travel to other countries in gaining experience of other nationalities and/or cultures.

Fraudsters have come to realize the need of those in the teaching or nursing professions and started preying on unsuspecting victims.

How the Scam Works

Fraudsters will start their scams by placing advertisements in newspapers or magazines offering teaching or nursing positions abroad. Often offenders will offer the employment accompanied by free flights and accommodation to successful applicants. Interested applicants are invited to send their CV’s to a specified address or postal address.

Once received, the offenders will contact the victims and inform them that no interview is required and that the victims’ application was successful. The fraudsters will then request the victim to complete an employment contract and Visa application forms in order to prepare for the relocation to another country. The victim will also be informed that an administration fee is required before the Visa application is processed.

Fraudsters will then provide the victim with a fictitious employment contract and Visa application form. These forms need be returned to the fraudsters, along with the administration fee.

Once payment is made to the offenders, they will disappear and the victim will never hear from them again.

Protecting Yourself Against These Scams

Always start off by investigating the company offering the employment. Conduct Internet searches or contact local authorities to ensure that the company is legitimate. Equally important is to ask who the employer abroad will be and investigate the employer. If possible, contact the employer and confirm the positions advertised.

Always be wary when upfront payments are requested. Employment agencies will often generate income from your monthly salary and should not request an upfront fee for their services.

Always ask the company for possible references of people who successfully were employed abroad by their services. Contact these references to ensure the company is delivering a legitimate service.

In the event of a scam, always ensure that you keep the proof of all correspondences and payments made to the company, as this may be required by law enforcement agencies in a criminal investigation.

By: Kaung | KMKBlog.com

Premium numbers used by organizations in earning revenue from mobile phone users are becoming an increasing phenomenon. More businesses are advertising shortened mobile numbers, to where users may send an SMS in order to subscribe to services or ask questions. SMS’s sent to these numbers are charged at higher rates than your normal SMS’s that are being sent by mobile phone users. Many organizations are also making use of the premium number facility in obtaining donations from mobile phone users. SMS’s sent to these numbers are often charged at very high amounts.

Not only did legitimate business institution realise the potential of this income generation facility, but fraudsters have also realised the potential of the premium number service as yet another source of generating more ill-gotten gains.

How the Scam Works

Fraudsters register for membership to a premium number facility. Relatively small amounts are required to launch this service and many institutions offer this service free to qualifying users, sharing only in their profits.

Once successfully registered, fraudsters obtain lists of active mobile phone numbers from the Internet. Often specialized software is used to crawl websites, identify and collect mobile phone numbers. In many instances offenders may obtain lists of mobile phone numbers from existing companies, using friends or family members to illegally gather this information from company systems.

Once obtained, offenders will create an SMS falsely indicating to mobile phone users that they have been registered as users of the system and that a certain amount of money will be deducted from their mobile phone accounts on a daily or weekly basis. The user is also informed that he/she may cancel the subscription by sending an SMS to the premium number.

The majority of mobile phone users will then send an SMS to the number in order to cancel the subscription. What the victim does not realize is that he/she will, by sending the SMS, subscribe themselves to the service and funds will then start being deducted from their accounts.

It has been found that a number of fraudsters are working, along with the service providers, to automatically mass subscribe a number of mobile numbers on their systems. Here no SMS’s are sent and money will be deducted from the subscribed mobile phone numbers automatically.

Protecting Yourself

Always be alert when you receive SMS’s. Make sure that you carefully read every SMS received. If you do receive a notification that you had been subscribed to a service, when in fact you never subscribed, simply delete the SMS without replying to it.

If funds are being deducted from your mobile phone account for a service you have not subscribed for, immediately contact your service provider and launch a formal complaint for the funds illegally deducted.

In many countries around the world you will find specific organizations dealing with consumer scam related issues. Be sure to identify any such organization in your country and report the incident without any delays.

By: Kaung | KMKBlog.com

At some point in time you might be in possession of additional capital you might want to invest, ensuring wealthy returns in future from the investment. On many occasions world markets may prove to be ideal for investment purposes and this is the area where boiler room fraudsters strive to defraud unsuspecting investors.

How these Scams are Committed

Boiler room operators are unscrupulous sales people who operate from unknown locations making random calls to potential investors and attempting to pressure them into purchasing worthless investments. Offenders are usually equipped with sophisticated sales scripts and high-pressure sales tactics, which are used to convince their victims into purchasing worthless investments.

Boiler room operators often attempt to sell:

• Penny Stocks
• Foreign Exchange Investments
• Microcap Stocks
• High Risk Initial Public Offerings
• House Stocks

Penny and Microcap Stocks

In the United States Microcap Stocks are usually considered to apply to companies with low capitalization, which refers to the total value of the company’s stock. Generally Microcap Stocks trade in the “over-the-counter” market and are quoted on such systems, such as the Over the Counter Bulletin Board or “Pink Sheets.”

In many other countries around the world, Microcap Stocks are referred to as Penny Stocks which means stocks whose stock price is less than a certain amount, usually 1 US Dollar.

Foreign Exchange Investments

Generally fraudsters attempt to solicit money for investments in exchange instruments traded in foreign markets when such markets experience periods of financial crisis. The offenders of these scams attempt to convince its victims that certain foreign exchange instruments are good investments, which are currently undervalued due to the crisis which presents a tremendous buying opportunity and massive growth in future. These investments are generally non-existent.

Risky Initial Public Offerings

The majority of companies that are initially becoming publicly traded companies usually do an initial public offering to raise money. While many of such offerings are potential worthwhile investments, many of them are indeed risky ventures. The boiler room scammer will purposely downplay or neglect to inform the victim of the negative aspects so to ensure the victim parts with his/her funds in investing in these offerings.

House Stocks

House Stocks refers to stocks that an investment firm has purchased themselves to resell at a higher price ensuring a good profit margin. Consequently, brokers of these types of stocks will try to manipulate the market by buying stock of thinly traded companies, ensuring the values of these stocks are increased. They will pump these stock prices up to higher prices and then sell them to their clients at a profit. Once buying these stocks, victims will later realize that there are no buyers for these stocks, which subsequently results in the prices tumbling.

Protecting Yourself

If you receive a telephone call from a suspected boiler room broker who offers you invest potential in one of the various instruments, be careful of the following list of descriptions which are typical hallmarks of a fraudulent boiler room operator:

• Offenders often make use of high-pressure sales tactics. Offenders will attempt to sell the investment on the spot and often not allow the victim to make an informed decision.
• Offenders often make unbelievable promises of growth in investments at little to no risk to the victim.
• Offenders generally give very little information or documentary proof of investment opportunities.
• In almost all these scams offenders will inform the victim that they received information on investment opportunities from Insiders, which are not the truth.
• The majority of offenders will often make use of a systematic approach, whereby the victim will be contacted. They will attempt to build up trust on the first call, without making mention of stocks on this call. They will attempt to obtain permission to call the victim back.

Here are some tips that can help you avoid being a victim of a boiler room scam:

• Never cave in to high-pressure sales tactics. Do not make an immediate decision. Get written information first about the firm, the sales person, and the investment discussed.
• Obtain a second opinion from a professional financial advisor.
• The golden rule about investing: Never invest in anything you do not understand.
• Never encourage a caller to call you back.
• Don’t share any personal information with the caller over a phone. Demand a physical meeting.
• Always refrain from investing in risky companies. There are many better investment opportunities on financial markets.

By: Kaung | KMKBlog.com