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Scams and Shams come and go and one of the most enduring
is the Nigerian Letter/Email Scam or, to give it it’s correct name
the ‘Advance Fee Fraud’. It’s origins go way back but the
Nigerian version got going in 1980’s by some university students
and it’s developed into big business with multi millions fleeced out
of the gullible every year. Here are a couple of links at Wikipedia
and http://fraudgallery.com/ that fill in all the details.
Why should I mention this now? well for the last few weeks I have
received an average of two per day when previously it was about
once a week. Must be countering the recession with increased
output!
How can people be taken in by these poorly written letters and
emails I hear you ask. Far too easily it seems. Maybe we are all
suckers for a sorry story and link that up to the prospect of making
easy money and it’s not so surprising that it works so well.
There are many variants of the letter and I chatted to someone who
knows a friend who is taken in time and again via dating chat rooms.
On this one, the scammer befriends someone (or several hundred)
and asks for the air fare to be sent so they can meet up. You know
the rest, cash is posted and you would think the fraudster is never
seen again in the chat room. Not a bit of it, using the basic marketing
maxim that is harder to sell to new customers than existing ones, they
go after the same hapless person again and again and do you know,
they often pay up time and again until the cash runs out!
The latest video for http://www.tradersclass.net/ members shows how
well the Breakfast Trade worked again today but what of the wider
picture now the Euro has modestly bounced?
Markets are inextricably linked with a move in one affecting another,
currencies link to bonds that in turn link to stock markets, the
correlations are never perfect but they are general principles that hold
true over time.
The Euro is now looking a slightly safer bet as the focus is shifting to
how the US will cope with rising unemployment and stagnant housing
markets. But the Elephant in the room, the big issue, is what will be
the result of all the printing of US$’s, British Pounds and Euros?
In a word, inflation. Gold rising in price is telling us that the value of
paper money is falling. Gold rises with inflation and (usually) a weak
US$, it is the only real indicator and so much more accurate than the
various CPI measures that have been ‘adjusted’ over the years. It’s
on this theme that John Mauldin’s latest newsletter focuses,
'Print baby, print' you can read it here.
The Boiler Room Scam
Despite clamp downs by regulators in Canada Spain and Belgium
from where most of these scams once operated this one is also on
the increase. I get these calls every few days offering the opportunity
to buy cheap shares. Just recently two members asked should they
should go along with buying discounted shares from a nice broker
who cold called them, one from the US and another Hong Kong.
My advice, give them short shrift and put the phone down! The scam
works like this. The punter is sucked in with talk of bargain prices,
or even discounted shares on a known company, big announcement
due soon, share will take off when the news is released, etc, etc.
Money is wired to an obscure bank and then begins the long wait for
some confirmation that the shares are actually in the punters name,
the boiler room doesn’t answer the phone and so on. Take a look at
this short video on YouTube and you will get a flavour of how they
operate.
Rule number one in trading and investing is 'Don't lose money' and
this must be rule three 'Don’t have anything to do with cold callers',
and never, ever send any money. Just tell them you are reporting them
to the FSA. If they are genuine they will be registered and regulated
by them. This link is provided by the FSA so report them when
they call!
BTW, if don't remember rule two just email me.