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 Post subject: How you can help scam education and awareness
PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 4:57 pm 
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Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
Years ago we used to organize letter writing events. Everyone would write a letter telling why they think scam education and awareness are important topics that need attention brought to them, and need the attention of lawmakers. Then all you have to do is send that same letter on the first of the month to the contact that I post on this message board . . . someone in the media, law enforcement or government. If we all send the letters the same day then their contact person will get a flood of letters on the same topic around the same time, and could get more attention than just one letter all by itself.

My question is this . . . who is with me and willing to commit to sending out one letter per month? If we do not have a big enough impact, then it will not be effective.

_________________
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Share your story with the media and educate others about scams! Details here http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=6319
Sign our petition http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs
Follow our blog http://scamvictimsunited.wordpress.com/
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch
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 Post subject: Re: How you can help scam education and awareness
PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:38 pm 
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Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:39 pm
Posts: 414
Location: Third Rock from the Sun
You can count me in.

_________________
NEVER send money

Media Reporter for ScamVictimsUnited.com

Google is your best online friend. Google everything.
http://www.google.com/

For Romance Love scams
http://romancelovescams.mysubdn.com/forum/index.php


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 Post subject: Re: How you can help scam education and awareness
PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:26 am 
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Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
I was thinking, since the petition has taken off, maybe we can do the same thing with the letter writing campaign . . . post the link back to this site where I will post the contact info for the month on other sites. And, if people do not want to come up with their own letter, they could use bits and pieces from the letter that is attached to the petition.

Here is that letter if anyone wants to use it or any part of it in their letter for the Letter Writing Campaign.

Quote:
The Consumer Federation of America released the results of a survey in May 2009 which states the following: fifty-nine percent of the respondents incorrectly believe that when you deposit a check or money order, your bank confirms that it is good before allowing you to withdraw the money. The number goes up to 70 percent among young adults age 18-24, and 71 percent of people with incomes under $25,000 and who did not complete high school. More than 40 percent of those surveyed do not know that they are liable if the checks or money orders they deposit or cash are counterfeit. Fifty-two percent age 18-24 and half of Hispanics incorrectly said the person who gave you the check must pay the bank back.

As you can see by the results of this survey, there is a great need for education in the area of banking terminology and the check clearing process. One of the major reasons that counterfeit cashier's check scams work so well is that when a bank customer hears the terms "the check is clear" or that it will be "verified in 24 hours" it gives them a false sense of security that the check is legitimate and that they can use the money with no repercussions.

We would like to see the development of a Scam Education and Awareness Program across the country. The areas of service for this project would include, but are not limited to: schools, community centers, social networking sites, financial institutions and businesses. Since education is the key to fighting scams, this program would include the development of educational videos, speakers/presentations and informational literature, all which could be utilized in the school system as a part of lesson plans, or made available at community centers and libraries. We feel that bringing this information into the school systems is vitally important since educating the next generation about scams gives them the tools they need to better protect themselves.

Scam education and awareness programs will help to protect the consumers from con-artists and scammers, and help to boost our economy by ensuring that the American public has the knowledge and tools that they need to keep their hard earned money in their own hands, and not have it go to another country in internet scams.

For more information on Scams, Fraud and Identity Theft go to http://www.ScamVictimsUnited.com/ or http://www.GiveMeBackMyCredit.com/

Petition for Scam Education and Awareness at http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs


People who have their own sites can also add the links to those at the bottom of the letter.

Basically, we just want something that says why you think bringing attention to scams and fraud is important. If you have a personal story that is great . . . share that . . . it helps to show why we are passionate about the topic.

_________________
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Share your story with the media and educate others about scams! Details here http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=6319
Sign our petition http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs
Follow our blog http://scamvictimsunited.wordpress.com/
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch
_______________________________________________
Has this site helped you?
Buy us a coffee to say thanks ~ http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/donations.htm


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 Post subject: Re: How you can help scam education and awareness
PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 4:40 pm 
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Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
Here is another sample letter that I was working on to send to senators . . . info from this could also be used in the letter writing campaign.

Quote:
So many of the online scams involve the scammer sending a counterfeit cashier's check or money order, asking the victim to wait for it to "clear" and then wire a portion of the money on to someone. The scammers make up all kinds of stories to make the reason for having to wire money to someone else make sense, and of course since the bank has already told you that the check is "clear" you feel like there is nothing to worry about.

Did you know this . . . when you wire money to someone, even if you write on the documentation that the wire transfer is to be picked up in Detroit, Michigan if the scammer has the test/security question and answer along with the wire transfer information then they can pick up the money at any location in the world . . . like Lagos, Nigeria.

These test or security questions are a feature put in place for emergency situations, when the person picking up the money has lost their photo id, which is normally needed to pick up a wire transfer. But if you give the scammer the test/security question information that is how they bypass the need for a picture id when picking up the money. This happens every day on sites like Craigslist. The scammer will pretend to be within the United States so as to not raise any red flags with the potential victim by mentioning that they are really in Nigeria.

With so many scams using wire transfering services like Western Union and MoneyGram we at Scam Victims United would like to see these companies increase their security by making it mandatory that the money must be picked up in the destination zone. If the documentation filled out by the customer says that the money is going to Detroit, Michigan, then the money should not be able to be picked up outside of the state of Michigan, no matter what information the person picking the money up has. This would help to reduce the number of scams going on because the scammers would then have to tell the victims to wire the money to Nigeria for them to be able to pick it up, and with so many people this would be a red flag because of the information about Nigerian scams.

In addition, wire transfering services could have a Fraud Alert posted in their store locations, and when anyone does fill out a wire transfer form and indicates Nigeria as the destination for the money to be picked up they could point out the Fraud Alert or have the customer sign a secondary document saying that they are aware that there are many internet scams coming out of the country of Nigeria which involve receiving a cashier's check or money order and then wiring money.

Since we cannot go to other countries and arrest the people running these scams we must do as much as we can to provide the correct information to the American public to educate them about these scams. This means that everyone must do their part, including the wire transfer services that the scammers use as a part of their business. I would like to propose laws that would require wire transfer services to implement and follow such security measures.

Education is the key to fighting scams, and that is why we are also asking for scam education and awareness programs. To read more about this please go to http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs

_________________
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Share your story with the media and educate others about scams! Details here http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=6319
Sign our petition http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs
Follow our blog http://scamvictimsunited.wordpress.com/
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch
_______________________________________________
Has this site helped you?
Buy us a coffee to say thanks ~ http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/donations.htm


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 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: How you can help scam education and awareness
PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:33 pm 
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:39 pm
Posts: 414
Location: Third Rock from the Sun
Quote:
when you wire money to someone, even if you write on the documentation that the wire transfer is to be picked up in Detroit, Michigan if the scammer has the test/security question and answer along with the wire transfer information then they can pick up the money at any location in the world . . . like Lagos, Nigeria.


I did not know the money could be picked up anywhere. This is an excellent letter.

_________________
NEVER send money

Media Reporter for ScamVictimsUnited.com

Google is your best online friend. Google everything.
http://www.google.com/

For Romance Love scams
http://romancelovescams.mysubdn.com/forum/index.php


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 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: How you can help scam education and awareness
PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:50 pm 
Offline
Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
So many people don't know this . . . and THAT is another reason that these scams work so well. If the scammers did NOT have the wire transfer info and security question info, they would have to show a picture ID. Yes, fake picture ID's can be made, but if they needed to create a new one each time that they created a new name/profile it would slow them down.

_________________
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Share your story with the media and educate others about scams! Details here http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=6319
Sign our petition http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs
Follow our blog http://scamvictimsunited.wordpress.com/
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch
_______________________________________________
Has this site helped you?
Buy us a coffee to say thanks ~ http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/donations.htm


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: How you can help scam education and awareness
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:55 am 
Offline
Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
I think we might hold off on this for a little while. With so much talk about health care in the news right now, it will be hard to get anyone to listen to our letters.

_________________
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Share your story with the media and educate others about scams! Details here http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=6319
Sign our petition http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs
Follow our blog http://scamvictimsunited.wordpress.com/
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch
_______________________________________________
Has this site helped you?
Buy us a coffee to say thanks ~ http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/donations.htm


Top
 Profile  
 
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