It never ever really goes away, but those who are subject to it are always really tempted!
Always ask yourself:
“If someone says they want to pay you ‘One Hundred Thousand [Currency Units]’ > Why do they need me to pay them ‘Ten Thousand [Currency Units]’?
Why don’t / Can’t they pay you the net amount of ‘Ninety Thousand [Currency Units]’?
It’s that simple!
The example we saw this week, was a (seeming) Thailand based ‘bandit’ – targeting early-stage ventures who were publicising their existence upon ‘Crunchbase’.
The intended ‘marks’ were advertising that they are in receipt of ‘seed funding’ and now searching for their ‘Series A Funding Round’.
“‘We’ have EURO 250, 000 to invest in ‘you’, but ‘we’ need you to send us monies (‘4.51% of investment funds’) to pay for the insurance product that the Thai Govt. requires for outgoing international investments,” wrote the bandit.
They gave away one obvious ‘red flag’ (which I won’t share – so as not to assist the bandits).
Those who contacted me / the intended mark ‘want to be absolutely certain’ that they are not ‘looking a gift horse in the mouth’, so they’ve gone off to ask the bandits for ‘proof of funds’ – i.e. a bank letter confirming that the bank has known them for a considerable period of time and confirming that they have resources to make a EURO 250k investment = Which I’ll wager my house will never be forthcoming!
They’ve promised me that they’re merely going to ‘jerk the bandit’s chain’ (/ waste their time).
The problem is that any continuing engagement with the bandit > allows the bandit to potentially (further) scam you the intended mark.
I’ve been tempted (in the past) to do much the same > But it’s best to cut off all contact ASARP (= they are wasting ‘one’s time).
I’ve seen the defrauded, then be contacted by ‘fraud recovery professionals’ who for a further payment (of course!) will help ‘one’ recover the money defrauded . . .
Don’t get fooled people!
Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com / www.EquitableLaw.com / +44 (0) 3333 90 3525 (e-Voice)
