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An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is a common confidence trick. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster claims will be used to obtain the large sum.
After the list is sold, the victims may be called by scammers promising to recover the money they lost or the prize or merchandise they never received, in an advance-fee scam. [4] [5] An early example of sucker lists is mentioned an 18 November 1929 article in Time which described a list of people who contributed to a lobbyist fund. [6]
A recovery room scam is a form of advance-fee fraud where the scammer (sometimes posing as a law enforcement officer or attorney) calls investors who have been sold worthless shares (for example in a boiler-room scam), and offers to buy them, to allow the investors to recover their investments. [92]
Every year, about 90% of consumers either fall for or encounter online scams. And while many consumers are sophisticated enough to avoid some of the most common scams, it doesn't take much for a ...
Nigerian prince, see § Advance-fee; Odometer – the practice by the seller of a used vehicle of falsely representing the actual mileage of the vehicle to the buyer, by rolling back the odometer to make it appear that the vehicle has lower mileage than it actually does. [23] Overpayment; in parapsychology; Paper hanging, see § Check; Passport ...
For scams conducted via written communication, baiters may answer scam emails using throwaway email accounts, pretending to be receptive to scammers' offers. [4]Popular methods of accomplishing the first objective are to ask scammers to fill out lengthy questionnaires; [5] to bait scammers into taking long trips; to encourage the use of poorly made props or inappropriate English-language ...
An alternative form of lottery fraud, commonly known as a lottery scam, takes the form of informing an individual by email, letter or phone call that they have won a lottery prize. The victim is instructed to pay a fee to enable the non-existent winnings to be processed. This type is a form of advance-fee fraud and a common email scam. [1] [2]
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity , naivety , compassion , vanity , confidence , irresponsibility , and greed .