There are plenty of scams out there.  All of them take advantage of the human desire to get something for nothing.  Three of them crossed my desk this week and I thought I'd pass them along.   Each one uses a different method of targeting the victim: in person, by email, and through the US mail.

First we have the pigeon drop.  The victim was approached by a woman who claimed she was in the country illegally, and needed help cashing a winning lottery ticket.  The suspect offered the victim a portion of the winnings.   The victim agreed, and the offender asked the victim to put up $5,000 in "good faith" money, so they offender would know the victim could be trusted. The offender drove the victim to a bank and the victim withdrew the money.  Next thing you know, the offender gets sick and has to leave, and gives the victim the envelope containing the victim's $5,000.  Only when the victim realizes the offender isn't coming back and looks in the envelope, it's filled with scraps of paper.  The offender switched the contents of the envelope while the victim was distracted.  The victim lost $5,000.

A variation of the Nigerian 419 scam made its way through the email filter into one of our detective's in box this week.  The scam is also known as advance-fee fraud, and there are numerous versions.  After reading this, with its multiple misspellings and stilted language,it's hard to believe anyone would fall for it.  But people do.

This last one almost makes me nostalgic.  It's an award scam that actually reached the victim by mail--how quaint is that?   I have to say that it looks a lot more official than the previous email, with its "Claimant Data Form" and "Real Documentation".  It only requests a $20 "processing fee" from the target.  A quick Google search shows that the address listed, 245 Eighth Avenue, NY, NY, is home to a Mailboxes Etc.   Fortunately the victim sensed that something wasn't right and contacted our department before he sent any money.