Oregon’s high school seniors and college students are the second most targeted group when it comes to three new money scams, according to Attorney General Hardy Myers’ office.
The new scams are based on sympathy for a rich Christian Iraqi, fake international lottery notices and phony checks for high ticket items from Internet auction sites.
But considering their general tendency to sell items like computers and cars online when short of money, students in Oregon are most likely to encounter the third crime, which involves counterfeit checks of such high quality that banks initially accept them and then eventually go after the seller for the due amount after finding them counterfeit.
“Everybody gets scammed in that one,” Oregon attorney general’s office spokeswoman Jan Margosian said.
Department of Public Safety Associate Director Tom Hicks said the department has information of Internet scams occurring on campus, prompting officers to look into new reporting and investigating techniques.
“This is a crime that we can expect to involve the campus community with an increasing frequency,” he said. “Public Safety will have to become more familiar with the extent of the problem.”
The first of the three scams involves the story of Brameem Anu, who wants to give $20 million to a U.S. account holder for temporarily holding $120 million after his wealthy father was killed for supporting America. The victim’s account gets emptied once the Iraqi is given access.
The second scam involves phony winners’ notices via e-mail in the multimillion dollar International Lottery, which encourages winners to invest invisible winnings in a larger lottery and wire “good faith” money before any cash is received. Money is untraceable when it’s wired and the “winnings” are never seen.
The third scam, based on counterfeit cashiers’ checks, involves an Internet auction purchaser who sends a check for more than the amount — claiming the rest is for shipping costs — to the seller and requests for the rest to be wired to an account in Nigeria. The check is deposited and cleared, the victim wires the rest of the money. The bank goes after the seller, the person who deposited the money, a few weeks later.
According to federal law enforcement officials, money transfer con artists appear to target middle and upper income individuals in the United States, but statistics from Myers’ office say students and seniors are the groups that should be most wary.
“Students are the No. 2 most targeted age group in Oregon by money scammers,” Margosian said. “Seniors age 50 and older are No. 1.”
Myers’ office is currently investigating about 10 money scam cases, but Margosian said that doesn’t necessarily reflect the true number of Oregonians who are being duped.
“I’m sure there are plenty of victims who I won’t hear from because they are embarrassed for being so trusting,” she said.
Since the biggest problem for officers is finding Internet crime suspects, Hicks said the best advice to students is to try and avoid becoming a victim in the first place.
“When dealing with money without having it in your hands, you’re taking a risk no matter what,” he said.
In order to avoid being scammed, Margosian advises students never to wire money to people they don’t know personally. For those who have already lost money to one of these schemes, there are a variety of resources and organizations to contact, including the Attorney General’s Financial Fraud/Consumer Protection section toll-free at (877) 877-9392.
For more detailed information on the Nigerian advance fee scam and “copy cat” schemes, visit the U.S. Secret Service Web site at www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml.