WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE FALL FOR JOB & VISA SCAMS

Oh yes, and don't forget even obtaining a visa does not, in itself, guarantee entry into any country. That is always up to the discretion of the immigrations officer who deals with you on arrival. Even if your visa is genuine.

Just remember, if you've been sucked into a job & visa scam, not only are you the victim of that scam, but by trying to enter into a country with a false visa you could also be charged criminally and be deported. This could also prevent you from ever applying for a visa from that country again. It won't matter a lot to immigrations authorities just how that fake visa came to be in your hands. They won't care that you were an innocent victim, not one little bit.

As with any scam, it works on the wants and needs of the individual, sometimes just trying to get the victim to do what the conman wants them to think is the right thing to do.

The trick is, examine the offer and decide if it makes sense - most don't stand up to even basic research.

Great post wjw. People often get sucked into the scams quite knowingly. They want it to be the real deal even though they have doubts about the authenticity of the offer and so carry on.
The unfortunate thing is that when they are found out it is everyone else's fault but theirs. The end result is that they end up jobless and with less money in the bank.

Thank you for sharing this information. I had one experience like this. Like you said if its too good to be true cos it's fake. Lucky i checked things n shared with my friends so nothing s bad happened. But thank you.

It gets back to the old saying, 'if it's too good to be true then it is too good to be true'

That's not true at all.  I just got an e-mail the other day offering me the job of President of Freedonia.  They're going to pay me one million rupiah a year and all I have to do is give them my social security number and bank account information so they can run a background check.

Hailey, does this mean we're going to have to start calling you "Your Excellency", or will "Madam President" be sufficient? 

I go for Madam President.

I get at least one of those Nigerian scam emails a week offering to make me rich. If I got all the money they offered I would be a multibillioniare by now   

I just reply telling them email has been forwarded to Federal police for investigation, so never get  a reply.

Not a job or visa scam, but I couldn't resist posting the link to this topic thread which proves how easy it is to pull the wool over some people's eyes.

Rather than do a bit of research on the internet, or use common sense this individual has already lost 900 euros and is ready to throw good money after bad, when two minutes on Google could have clearly shown it was a scam.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=381674

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Just remember one very important fact that will reduce your chances of being taken in by online scams of any kind, but especially cash transfer or advance fee scams....

IT IS ESTIMATED THAT ANYWHERE FROM 55 TO 80% OF THEM ORIGINATE FROM NIGERIA.

This is because the laws regarding fraud in that country are virtually non-existent and rarely enforced. In fact, scammers in areas of Lagos are seen almost like Gods. The practice is accepted as somehow being "right".

If it comes from Nigeria forget it, delete it without opening it in the first place.

wjwoodward wrote:

Hailey, does this mean we're going to have to start calling you "Your Excellency"

You should already be doing that.

stumpy wrote:

I get at least one of those Nigerian scam emails a week offering to make me rich. If I got all the money they offered I would be a multibillioniare by now 

You're not getting any of that money because they've already promised it to me.

I haven't had any Nigerian scam emails in ages but I did get a local b'stard trying to get me to pay into his account last week.
He had me for a minute but it didn't add up so I checked and, sure as eggs is eggs, it was a scam.

But they're ALL scams, surely. The safe thing to do is to delete them immediately. Why would anybody NOT do that?

teejayhandsome wrote:

They are extorters becareful of them and save the number and report to d nearest police station.

If the police care, and in many countries, they don't.
I have toyed with the idea of going to his bank and letting them know, but it's unlikely they'll much care.

It is no use reporting the scam to the police as there has to first be a crime committed against you. The Federal Police here in Oz are very busy with such scam emails and cannot follow up on every reported potential scam.
They just busted a Nigerian scam outfit who were selling Oz real estate online. The perpetrators have been arrested.

I once got an excited phone call from a friend of my son's, living overseas, saying she had won a million dollars in a Spanish lottery and there was a man on his way by motorbike with the cheque. "Did you buy a ticket?" "Well, maybe I did, though I don't remember exactly." I just laughed and got her to admit that it was pretty implausible to send a motorcyclist a thousand miles with a cheque. She had already given her street address to them over the phone, so I told her to ignore any and all future attempts to contact her, and just hope no stranger turned up at her door. Nobody did, and her lack of further response killed their attention. They probably concluded that she had asked someone for advice, so it wasn't worth their while to waste any more time with her.

Gordon Barlow wrote:

But they're ALL scams, surely. The safe thing to do is to delete them immediately. Why would anybody NOT do that?

People want something for nothing.  Hard work used to be its own reward.  Now too many people expect some kind of reward just for waking up.

Not all Hailey, in my case I'm so old that just waking up is its own reward!   

Cheers,
Jurassic Jimmy

There are special scams for centenarians.

Damned good to see that they haven't left me out then! 

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

There are special scams for centenarians.

I agree. I get around 6 or 6 a month, usually from an African country asking for my assistance to deposit or transfer funds, or get my inheritance. Millions of dollars involved.
My older friends get much the same too so perhaps the scammers are trying to hit on what they perceive as a vulnerable section of society who are watching their dollars and may jump at getting a big wad of cash for just supplying your bank details.

One of the popular scams in the United States right now is to call old people and pretend to be their grandson.  If they buy it, you try to sucker them out of as much money as possible.

stumpy wrote:

I get around 6 or 6 a month,

Is that a CRS typo?

typo and not bothering to check what I had written.

It is tax time here in Australia and so the latest scam is an email from the tax dept asking you to send bank details for payment of refund since the dept have done an audit on you and surprise surprise they owe you money....

That reminds me, you just won the tax lotto, so if you could send me all your bank information, I can forward your winnings to you right away.

I think Scams will work forever. Not because people are so dumb, but because it easy to manipulate them with feelings. And all scammers know this. People are fooled by their feelings, greed, hope. Gourous, politicians, firms, television, advertisers are scammers not only the known scammers.

hate that scammers using the name of GOD.
Sir,WJWOODWARD-an email from Lagos,Nigeria want to turn a friend's head with their 500usd dollar to receive after paying the STAMP FEE,INSURANCE AND TAX FEE.opening their web.is uncomplete web.their target are poor or christian people.
:reminders to Nigerians who are reading these hehe i didn't say,"you"nor "all of you"
just wondering why not to earn money with sweat so that life is sweet.

migzz wrote:

:reminders to Nigerians who are reading these hehe i didn't say,"you"nor "all of you"

But you did specifically call out Nigerians.

sorry missed to type "some"some nigerians is what i want to type.
in my country,some scammers also

NOTICE TO NIGERIANS WHO ARE READING THESE:I didnt say "u" nor "all of u"are scammers.(clearer)meaning(some nigerians are scammers)
in my country,some scammers also.

I tried so hard to ignore but I couldn't...I would like to refer to Mr wjwoodward, have u been to Lagos Nigeria to bet ur speech here as to freelance it that way. Why in your opinion of Hear say freely accounted that , its seen as right and so seen as that there is no Body of justice to put to effect scammers. Following some of your Read messages,I feel you state some of your comments  too harshly restricted to a Race,now I amnt saying this cos I am sentimental but I think you shud adjust your comments. Scammers are everywhere,yea it could be so much in some communities But to say in ur words I quote "This is because the laws regarding fraud in that country are virtually non-existent and rarely enforced. In fact, scammers in areas of Lagos are seen almost like Gods. The practice is accepted as somehow being "right", Its so wrong and an apology shud be tendered cos I am from there and I know scammers if found are arrested.

IBILOLA,nice to meet u here,UGUNLANA SURELE LAGOS NIGERIA do u know this place in which FEDERAL INLAND REVENUE SERVICE office is.(private message)

corded interviews; online interviews; skype interviews

Hi

This is quite a serious matter.  I have come to learn that a company has been recording their interviews with people and then publishing those illegal recordings online for the public to view.  These recordings are of interviews for teaching jobs.

I urge anyone who has had online interviews to google their name and check on you tube  for their name to see if anything has been published.

I have come across a lot of videos and I am sure all these people are unaware that they are being recorded.

If you have come across your video then report this to the site where it has been published. Contact the person who has published it if possible informing them to remove it.

ibilola wrote:

I tried so hard to ignore but I couldn't...I would like to refer to Mr wjwoodward, have u been to Lagos Nigeria to bet ur speech here as to freelance it that way. Why in your opinion of Hear say freely accounted that , its seen as right and so seen as that there is no Body of justice to put to effect scammers. Following some of your Read messages,I feel you state some of your comments  too harshly restricted to a Race,now I amnt saying this cos I am sentimental but I think you shud adjust your comments. Scammers are everywhere,yea it could be so much in some communities But to say in ur words I quote "This is because the laws regarding fraud in that country are virtually non-existent and rarely enforced. In fact, scammers in areas of Lagos are seen almost like Gods. The practice is accepted as somehow being "right", Its so wrong and an apology shud be tendered cos I am from there and I know scammers if found are arrested.

Experience (a short look into my SPAM box is enough) and official statistics (e.g. see an Economist article of about 1.5 years ago) show that advance-pay and similar scams overwhelmingly originate in Nigeria. In fact so much so that they are usually called 419 scams, after a Nigerian law that forbids them (and is obviously rarely enforced).
Unfortunately, this is the main information we outside of Nigeria get (from various sources) about your country. Of course you and the majority of your countrymen who are honest do not like it, but it's a fact.

No apology is necessary or will even be offered by me because they were NOT my words, they are a direct quote from several of the online articles I've seen and read about 419 scams.

The whole world already knows the lax attitude of the Nigerian government regarding scams, the whole world knows that the vast majority of scams either come from Nigeria or in the very least have been inspired by other scams that have come from Nigeria.

I'm sorry if the truth hurts.

I have been to london several tyms in my life and my sister is got scammed,even I but to quote that its seen right is way out,if its a fact to your knowledge,its not a fact to me, because I know when caught you face the law,there are so many scammers all around the world,the most famous palaces is liberian n I know cos I hv been to this places,that it is an hidden act,but the law is still in force to the guilty ones.well they shud have said all Nigerians from lagos or all together are scammers. Other neighboring countries that we are more developed than are more vast in this,so please dnt be so judging but well I take it that I wouldnt mice words with people whose mind are so already to see it that way. All nationalities have scammers,it shudnt be adhered to a nationality or that even in the force of the guarding bodies,nothing is done.

You can eat ur apologies,the truth doesn't hurt here, what hurts or what is so demeaning is that nothing is done and seen so right,if you can't pick that fact,as it is you from how you tame up your write ups,too bad.

Sometimes you dnt have to be on internet to be scammed,I use to work for a save your soul organization and I worked vastly in communities and one was liberian, and after leaving there I had so much mails saying they need help,n I did,but it was a scammed but the people I met there were good hearted pple,so many pple got scammed becos they used the war as a front to get pple scammed to their need. Till today I get but I know,a body of force would let scammer demoralize their country pix,many tyms I am in nigeria and I am at the cafe and police comes in,just to check wat we doing on internet,this is so wrong but becos of wat the world feels,they act and went they suspend anything,the cafe is closed up,there are people in each country who are criminals,you and I can't rule that out,but dnt denegerate a country to any barbaric view or self opinion

Sorry, but by posting a different opinion here you won't change the picture the world has of your country. That would require a change in attitude by the government towards accountability and the rule of law. I don't see that coming.