Officials urge Airmen to be wary of scams

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Bryan Gatewood
  • 36th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFPN) --  “Congratulations! You’re the winner of $6 million. All we need you to do is contact our agent to begin the claim process.”

At one time or another, most people have received this type of offer in the mail or by e-mail. This “to-good-to-be-true” offer is in fact a scam to entice people to give up money or personal information. The foreign lottery scam is just one scam Airmen here have recently been subjected to through the mail.

“Be very wary,” said Special Agent John Phillips, of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations’ Detachment 602 here. “The old adage, ‘you can’t get something for nothing,’ generally applies 99 out of 100 times.”

Whether the scam is conducted via mail, e-mail or phone, it usually falls into two broad categories: fronting money and identity theft.

“Scams that fraudulently convince victims to front someone money on the promise that they'll receive more back are the hardest for victims to do anything about, as the fraud perpetrators are often overseas,” said Maj. Bruce Page, of the 36th Air Expeditionary Wing’s legal office.

“The biggest challenge in taking legal action against computer or mail fraud is often jurisdictional,” he said. “Identify theft victims seldom recover everything they've lost, but at least in the case of identity theft, there are more consumer protection laws that often limit the amount of loss for which a victim will be held accountable.”

The Federal Trade Commission offers the following cautions to consumers considering responding to a foreign lottery:

-- Playing a foreign lottery through the mail or over the telephone violates federal law.

-- There are no secret systems for winning foreign lotteries. The chances of winning more than the cost of your tickets are slim to none.

-- If a person purchases one foreign lottery ticket, he or she should expect many more bogus offers for lottery or investment “opportunities.” His or her name will be placed on “sucker lists” that fraudulent telemarketers buy and sell.

-- People should keep their credit card and bank account numbers to themselves. Scam artists often ask for them during an unsolicited sales pitch.

The bottom line is to ignore mail and phone solicitations for foreign lottery promotions, FTC officials said.

“If you receive what looks like lottery material from a foreign country, give it to your local postmaster,” Agent Phillips said.

Another scam that falls into the broad category of identity theft is “phishing” scams, which use e-mail or malicious Web sites to solicit personal information, including Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or passwords.

“Attackers may send an e-mail seemingly from a reputable credit card company or financial institution that requests account information, often suggesting there is a problem,” said Staff Sgt. John Racela II, an information system security manager here. “When users respond with the requested information, attackers use it to gain access to their accounts.”

Not only are these scam artists asking for the information, but they also put what appears to be a legitimate Web site address that routes the consumer to an official looking Web site where the perpetrators can gather the information, he said.

“Pay attention to the address of the Web site,” Sergeant Racela said. “Malicious Web sites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the address may use a variation in spelling or a different domain like dot-com instead of dot-net. Try to verify the request by contacting the company directly using information from previous statements. Don’t use contact information on the Web site connected to the request.”

If someone believes he or she is a victim of phishing, he or she should:

-- Report it to his or her information systems security officer or workgroup manager who will alert the wing information assurance office.

-- If financial accounts may be compromised, contact his or her financial institution immediately and close any accounts that may have been compromised. Watch for any unexplainable charges to the accounts.

-- Consider reporting the attack to the police and filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov.

“When it comes to these 'money-fronting' scams, people should remember that no one gives away free money,” Major Page said. “To best protect yourself against identity theft, limit your credit card applications, shred unwanted credit applications and other documents containing personal identifying information, and periodically check your credit reports. The earlier you catch a credit error -- whether fraudulent or merely accidental -- the easier it is to fix.”

Airmen who think they may have been a victim of fraud can contact their local legal office.