Internet Scams Spanish Prisoner
From the 1500’s on there has been a scam that has proven very lucrative for thieves and has left thousand of victims destitute. Due to how it started, it’s known as the Spanish Prisoner. Other nations became suspicious of Spain at that time because of its continuous menace. Scammers would tell victims that a member of Spanish royalty had been taken prisoner, and bribes would be required to release them. By offering their money to release the reward, not only would they be promised large rewards, but a princess would be offered as well.
As with any con it required some research in order to only contact “soft” yet financially solid targets, as well as a demeanor that’s hard to duplicate. This type of conman can sell anything to anyone and get away with not only the money, but with the mark not initially realizing they’ve been duped.
This type of confidence game continues today, but can take various forms. The con man preys on the secrecy and urgency of the matter to speed things along before the mark can consider their actions. They play on the fact that, at heart, people want to save the world and come out financially well-off in the process. Additional amounts of money are taken from these marks. The mark keeps putting in more money, because they still hold on to the idea that they’ll get their money back, but they won’t.
One of the most common forms today is called the advanced fee fraud, also known as the 419 fraud. The Internet has made scamming a very easy business. You can get access to people’s email addresses easily enough, and even find their last name with the right sources. The scammer then alleges to be a relation because of course he has the same last name.
The initial Internet approach may be followed by another contact with an involved, complex fabrication, and a course of action is arranged. That’s why it’s important to use telephone look-up services such as phone-records-search.com/518/307/ in order to be able to verify if the caller is really whom he or she says they are. Today there are several frauds with numerous modifications patterned after the Spanish Prisoner.
The advance-fee fraud, where operational fees are required up front to secure the release of far greater wealth, has generated many branches. People who have too much trust for things they read online have been duped by the lottery email, work from home, reshipping, employment, overpayment, and romance scams, leaving them destitute because they believed a lie.
There are many other ways to protect one self from scammers besides using telephone look-up services like the one previously mentioned. First, just don’t open emails that come from people you don’t know. It’s important to remember that once opened, scammers can gain access to an entire address book with the touch of a button. They are assured of ultimately finding a patsy when someone opens their e-mail.
If an email is inadvertently opened, scanning it quickly for poor spelling and grammar as well as any “hook” or free things a person might get just by sending a miniscule amount or opening a checking account that contains no money at all, should be questioned. Unfortunately, there are no international Internet police, however, agencies in many countries are trying to identify these groups and shut them down with the help of those who are tired of being fleeced. With everyone’s help hopefully this epidemic will end soon.