Networking Websites and 419 scams

I am sure a lot of you are members of networking websites. There are a whole lot of different kinds of networks on the Internet, starting with things like Myspace, Hi5, as well as new ones such as 360 at Yahoo.

 

For people who like to network for business or fun, these are great places to make new contacts. I have set up an account with Myspace for just this purpose. Unfortunately, being able to contact with people all over the world through a service like this is also ideal for scammers.

 

I have noticed an increase in contacts by "poor" african boys and girls, who are are using these directories to find potential victims. My account at Myspace was just one day old, with no content, and the first message came from an african guy, who was trying to tell me he was a young girl (24) and wanted to contact me!

 

I have had quite a few reports from people who have lost money to these people, especially through matchmaking websites. But even business networking websites are places where you can lose money.

 

My local Chamber of Commerce ran an article just recently, reporting a new type of scam originating in South China. Hunan Province, I believe. It goes like this:

 

A company looking for business partners in China, gets contacted by a company who fit the bill. The contact develops to the stage where the company arranges to travel to China to visit the new partner. During their stay there, the company has a meeting with their new partners. They may even visit offices and factories. When this all comes to a conclusion, the new partners insist on celebrating at a local restaurant. So far so good.

 

When the party is over, for what ever reason, the company pays the bill. I can imagine a lot of companies would agree to this, simply for "good will" purposes. The bill itself? Well it can ammount to several thousand Euros! This is where it starts to go sour.

 

Of course, the company returns home with all the travel costs and the "Bill" with a total of several thousand Euros, only to find that the new partners are no longer reachable. The telephone numbers don't work. E-Mail addresses don't exist any longer. The partners have just disappeared into thin air.

 

I don't know about you, but it seems to me, these days it is extremely easy to cheat someone out of his money. The worst thing about it though, the criminals doing this, run no risks. They will never be caught. They will never be put in jail.

 

So, I can tell you now, there will always be a steady stream of victims who have willingly given their money to these people. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do about it!