YEARS ago, I came across an email message from a legitimate contact telling me of a sad story and asking for emergency money in a far-off land. I searched some phrases and sure enough, it was a scam. Out it went with the spam trash.
My take on this: my contact’s email was breached and his contact list hacked. This is one of the reasons I am loath to forward emails sent by well-meaning friends, no matter how funny.
What is amazing is that people have been victimized by this scam all over the world when a few keystrokes would have verified it and a bit of common sense and a smidgen of cynicism would have raised one’s hackles and suspicions.
There are rough estimates of $183 million per year on average that have been scammed from the unsuspecting on the internet. The figure could be more since a big percentage of people will not admit to being conned.
The electronic age has brought us wonders and unbelievable convenience defying space/time constraints and accomplishing things we can only do in previous times if we were physically present in one place. With an internet connection, we can do great and wonderful things that were the stuff of science fiction not so long ago.
But there is a sinister side to the internet — a very sinister side. And it gets darker as moral turpitude and relativism appear to be on the rise and our capacity to be shocked is diminished with every jaw-dropping crime.
There was a time when crime was met with swift and appropriate punishment. Sadly, we have archaic laws governing these types of crimes and enforcement is nearly non-existent. We are truly in uncharted territory.
For as long as these laws which were structured in the past cannot keep up with the overwhelming volume of cyber crimes, it is in our best interest to learn how to become savvy net users and defend ourselves from the onslaught that comes electronically.
The amount of available crud (translate that to disgusting things like porn, pedophilia, scams and gambling and some such variation of evil) on the net is staggering. In the book I wrote, there is a chapter dedicated on avoiding the pitfalls of scams and the schemes of con artists designed to separate you from your hard-earned money.
This time, the level of sophistication is up several notches higher as many unscrupulous and oftentimes, amoral and downright evil people everywhere around the world see the internet as the modern, deceptively innocuous version of highway robbery using a computer instead of a gun.
If we are internet users, we are all at risk, unless and until we take the necessary psychological and physical precautions to deal with this and become relatively “scam proof.” No one is sacrosanct. These scams are designed to prey upon two basic human weaknesses ingrained in our DNA wiring: GREED and FEAR.
Here’s one blanket caveat to keep us on our toes about how lottery scams and cons play out in virtual reality. REMEMBER — and I can’t emphasize this often enough, on this matter, and perhaps, other significant areas of life — IF IT’S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS. Okay, repeat that as your mantra.
The scams that feed on greed are so sophisticated that they can send a seemingly authentic check by mail from a real bank with so many zeroes on it. If you bite at the first overture, they then ask for a processing fee from you for you to get the rest of the winnings. This is called the Nigerian scam apparently because the first perpetrators allegedly were well educated but destitute Nigerians who found that their facility for the English language could be exploited to scam millions using the internet.
The scam has spread and morphed with mind-boggling variations but with only nefarious purposes — to separate you from your money OR on a more sinister level, to steal your identity.
No one race or culture has the monopoly on these. These can originate anywhere in the world. I have had mine come in purportedly from G7 as well as impoverished countries.
If you have not consciously joined any lottery, why in heaven’s name would you think you have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning even one thin dime? Also, legitimate lotteries will NEVER, repeat NEVER, ask you for money in order for a winner to claim a prize.
One other purpose aside from stealing your money is stealing sensitive information if you work for corporations or government institutions. BE WARY of clicking on innocent looking links which can infect computer systems and networks with crippling viruses.
Some scams feed on your fear. One of the most deceptive things is to receive an email from your bank instructing you to click on a link and verify your information since someone supposedly is accessing your account and if you don’t verify your information, particularly your pin number or password, this can result in a temporary hold on your funds. Or so, the scammer’s script reads.
The modern term for this is “phishing” and its derivative more laser focused version, called spear phishing,”which refers to the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company.
I received one of these phishing calls which had a legitimate ID on the caller ID asking us to call a number and even left a reference number claiming to check on some gas card purchases. I told her I need to verify if her call is legitimate. I detected a hint of dejection in her response. Sure enough, a check on the phone number she left indicated it was a phishing call.
No legitimate financial entity will ask you for financial information online. Cut scammers off at the knees with the simple expediency of calling the fraud unit of your bank or credit card company yourself.
Take the bull by the horns. Generate the call. Get the telephone number from your statement or your card and DO NOT CALL THE NUMBER that the caller or e-mailer provided you with. It’s a TRAP.
If it is an email, hit the spam button and empty the trash. Don’t just delete it. Sure, they will morph into another form but be proactive and make it more difficult for them. These scams are like viruses or shape shifters and can mutate faster than the speed of light.
PC users are more vulnerable to spammers/scammers and pesky pop-ups than Mac users. But this too can change. C’est la vie.
Is there karmic justice? Because con artists rarely ever see the faces of their victims or know the full extent of the damage that they wreak on real people with real lives, these crimes seem impersonal in nature and rarely, if ever, do con artists get their comeuppance or due punishment. Translate that to jail time or some form of punishment, like being exposed to an anthill, boiled in oil or tickled to oblivion… Just kidding of course… Con artists should be happy we no longer live in Medieval Times.
Often, these scammers are based overseas outside of any jurisdiction. They say the wheels of justice grind ponderously, exceedingly slow and it seems during this age, even at the highest levels of political and social crimes and malfeasance, have altogether ground to a halt.
It seems all we can do, short of wanting to become the judge, jury and executioner ourselves, is to pray without ceasing that someday soon, the rule of law prevails and swift justice is meted out to perpetrators in due time.
Be on guard. Better yet, UNPLUG for long stretches from Facebook, Twitter, Gab, Instagram, Reddit or any other social media or from following inane and insane celebrity tweets on Twitter.
Strive to live in the REAL WORLD. The virtual world STILL cannot hold a candle to the real world. You can’t feel the sensation of a good sneeze virtually. Or that of a hug or a kiss… Or of the wonderful feeling of being in your bed sipping a warm mug of cocoa as you listen to the gentle pelting of the rain on the roof at night as you prepare to go to sleep…
There is a lot of real living for us to do. The internet has its place in our world. But you are the boss and you can decide to curtail its influence on the quality of your own life. We get to pass this way but once. Choose well.
Grill salmon steaks brushed with butter (Yup! Butter makes it better!) and sprinkled with lemon on a summer’s day. Create panini sandwiches for friends or loved ones on your grill pan. Dance. Fly a kite. Knit a shawl. Take time to sip your tea or tend to your garden in the spring. Laugh with the kids. Log off for long stretches of time and create something with your hands that will make your heart glad and make the people in your immediate orbit praise God for having you in their lives — even for just a short while.
The virtual world is a blessing simply meant to enhance life, NOT REPLACE IT. That’s all it does. Even with all its bells and whistles, it is a spice, not the main entree.
After all, life tethered on terra firma, is for real living, right here, right now.
Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.
* * *
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
* * *
Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.
