By this time everyone knows that the internet has brought its own share of plight into the human world, although it is one of the best things that have happened to mankind. Modern technology has helped humans attain unreachable heights but has also been the cause of all the pitfalls that we face. The newest in the block is e-mail scams. Almost everybody using the internet on a regular basis may have found their inbox cluttered with such scam e-mails. Advance fee-fraud is an operation where the user is tempted to part with their money in the initial stages in the hope of bigger returns.
Mode of Operation
However, it was not before sometime that people realized that they were scams and by the time they did, many had lost valuable money and in more depressing cases, have been innocent victims of identity theft. What the users saw one fine morning was a tempting and fantastic e-mail in their inbox notifying them they have the chosen winner of a lucky draw in the U.S. or in the U.K. and that their e-mail id has been the one that the computer chose randomly. They can rejoice as now they are the proud owners of a million dollars or so. But to gain access to this amount they would just have to contribute a two thousand dollars or five thousand dollars as shipping charges. In fact, if they are provided with bank account number and password, they would automatically transfer the money to your account, and the service is free of cost!
Investigation
There have been many who have been lured by these e-mails and have provided the offenders with their account number or have lost a few thousand dollars in the hope of getting back a million dollars in return. They got no check, no money and the next time they logged into their account, it was empty. Only after reports started coming in from various quarters did the police and the Interpol started investigating and it was soon revealed that rackets operated from Nigeria and Russia, whose sole purpose was to trap unsuspecting people into turning over their personal information. Awareness was created among the general public in the form of articles in newspapers and magazines, but by that, the number of victims had risen. Since there is no possible way to trace these e-mails back, except perhaps the country, the offenders have escaped unscathed.
The only way in which these frauds can be stopped is by being careful and spreading awareness. Never part with any of your personal information, no matter how convincing you feel the e-mail is or how tempting the offer might be. Always remember that you could have never had won a lottery until and unless you, yourself had put your name into it.