#kindlepublishing #onlinemarketers #scammers #scams #asshole #dipshit #fuckface #twitter #retweet #tweet #RETWEEET #youtube

Be aware of fraudulent door-to-door #scams and watch for these warning signs. #homesecurity #csgcares #homeowners

#Scams are everywhere. Do you know how to help eliminate yourself as a target? Check out #BBB top 5 tips for preventing scams!

#BBB of Utah urges consumers to watch out for #scams involving cleanup efforts, tree or limb removal, fence, roof and home repairs! Read these tips before taking any action:

Pensioner receives 30,000 prize scam letters

For five years, 70-year old Jessica was hounded by organised gangs who contacted her via both post and phone. Royal Mail delivered approx 30,000 scam letters. She spent most of her time reading, sorting and responding to criminals, spending all her savings as a result. Her daughter, Marilyn Baldwin OBE, believes the torment inflicted by the scammers contributed to her death and as a result set up Think Jessica in 2007. This is Jessica’s story.

Jessica

When Jessica was in her seventies she decied to continue her late husband’s subscription to Readers Digest. She got heavily involved in a competition run by ”Tom Champagne” who convinced her she was on the cusp of winning a large cash prize. To stay in with a chance she bought hundreds of pounds worth of books, tapes, CDs and various other things she neither needed nor could afford. She never did receive a prize, but “Tom Champagne” sent her many cheques made out in her name. She once tried to pay one into the bank but hadn’t spotted the small wording that said the cheque was only a sample. She did however receive something for her loyalty, a plastic champagne glass to celebrate her win.

Despite her family continually trying to explain that some companies use very devious sales techniques, Jessica was really disappointed. She wanted to financially help the ones she loved and donate money to the children’s charities she cared about. Jessica eventually received a very exciting letter, which looked like an important document, stating she had won a competition and promising she would receive a big cheque if she sent a small fee. Jessica thought this was the big win that she had been waiting for from “Tom Champagne” and quickly sent off the fee. On the claim form she put down all her personal details.

Suckers List

The fact is Readers Digest sells mailing lists. The letter wasn’t from “Tom Champagne” or Readers Digest, it was Jessica’s first scam letter. When family members realised what she had done, they tried to explain that she had fallen for a scam, but Jessica had never heard about scam mail and didn’t believe them. No money ever arrived, but the scam mail increased. Unbeknown to her, the scammers who sent that first scam letter had put her name on a ‘suckers’ list and her details were sold to criminals all over the world. Soon she would receive around 30 letters a day from all over the world, with “Guaranteed Winner”, “Time Sensitive Document”, “Reply Immediately to Release Your Award” and various other slogans and logos plastered all over them.

Jessica was sending nearly all of her pension each week to keep up with the scammer’s demands. “Clairvoyants” had also jumped on the bandwagon pretending to be her friends and convincing her that her family were jealous of her forthcoming wealth and pretending to be concerned for her welfare, or telling her that they could see harm heading towards her or her family and could keep bad luck away for a fee. She befriended a certain “clairvoyant” from Holland and would send him personal letters along with his payment, often staying up until 3am trying to keep up with the scammer’s demands.

30,000 scam mail letters

Jessica’s house was full of scam mail, filling cupboards, drawers, wardrobes and even the shed. Her daughter Marilyn found and removed over 30,000 scam mail letters, and also letters threatening disconnection from the gas and water board and a letter from a bailiff, threatening to remove the contents of her house, all of which she still has in storage. Jessica continually gave out her phone number and would be phoned late at night. Marilyn could see her mum had been brainwashed by the volume and content of the scam mail. But Jessica firmly believed that the money she was sending was an investment that would make her secure in her final years. Her family couldn’t believe how much money she had spent on goods from catalogues including Vital Beauty, Biotonic, Vitamail, Fredrich Mueller, Best Of and other “companies” who sold overpriced goods. Jessica could have parted with anything up to £50,000, but nobody really knows the total amount.

Jessica's health suffers

Jessica had also suggested releasing some equity from her house to continue making payments; fortunately the house was in the name of her three children so she couldn’t sell it. She started to panic when she couldn’t find enough money to fill all the pre-addressed envelopes with PO Box addresses from all over the world, and so she stopped paying her domestic bills. She told no one about the financial mess she was in, except her favourite “clairvoyant” from Holland. She would be upset and embarrassed at not being able to give gifts to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and would invent excuses for not receiving the promised cheque in time, such as “the Christmas post causes a lot of mail to get delayed or lost”. She started having panic attacks and palpitations, one of the clairvoyants who used fear as a way of extracting money told her that there was an evil force on a higher plain, Jessica had not been able to cover his “fee” to keep the evil away and thought that the evil was upstairs. She became breathless and fearful every time she tried to climb up the stairs. Her body and mind were at breaking point with the continual torment that the scammers had inflicted on her over the years.

Marilyn found some of the many heartbreaking letters Jessica had written to those she perceived as her friends. She confided in them about everything and trusted and befriended those who were manipulating, teasing and taking from her. Marilyn and Jessica had always had a close relationship, but driving her mother to the Building Society and waiting outside whilst she drew out all her pension for scams were amongst the only days they would spend together without arguments. Jessica would sometimes ask her daughter to drive her around to look at houses for sale, saying that she wanted to “set up” her grandchildren before she died. Her electric was on a “pay as you go” meter as she couldn’t keep up with her bills. Marilyn would always ensure it was topped up and would pay for her food, but would often feel bitter as she felt she were subsidising the criminals. Jessica missed a family wedding and other invitations so she could be in when the courier arrived, fearing she may miss a “delivery” from an Australian lottery or some other bogus company. She told Marilyn that if she discussed her business with anybody else she would disown her. Yet Marilyn still tried to seek help, contacting the police, social services and every charity with Help, Concern and Support in the title and her mother’s local MP, but the advice that she got was to tell her ”if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” and not to respond and throw away.

Marilyn takes control

At the end of July 2007 Jessica was taken in to hospital. She came out after about two weeks but a few days later collapsed and was admitted to hospital again, where the family were told she had a heart attack. In a final attempt to help her, Marilyn forged an authentic looking document and gave it to her mother in hospital, which stated that all the competitions had closed; she wouldn’t be getting any more mail and would receive her winnings in the New Year. This wasn’t false as Marilyn’s husband had arranged to sell a thin strip of land that belonged to Jessica’s terraced house. Marilyn also took her mother’s Building Society book and one of her utility bills to the post office, forged her signature and redirected the mail.

Marilyn moved in with Jessica for three weeks when she came out of hospital. They would go out most days and look at things she could buy with her “winnings”. She was delighted to plan a big party for when the payout would arrive, never suspecting that the absence of her mail had anything to do with her daughter and believing she had proved everyone wrong. In October 2007, Marilyn went on holiday, with her aunts taking over and Social Services calling in. The day before she was due back, Jessica was rushed back to hospital where she passed away aged 83. One of the last things she said was “Marilyn, has the post been?”

‘If we do nothing to protect those who are being exploited for whatever reason, whether it be vulnerability, trust, confusion or ignorance how can we ever stop this horrendous criminal activity?’ Marilyn Baldwin

Do you know a vulnerable person who has been the victim of prize scams, or perhaps you've been a victim? Share your story below.

The copyright in this post belongs to Spark&Fuse Marketing Ltd. All rights reserved. You are welcome to republish this post provided you contact us for permission first and prominently credit us in any republication.

#slamprizescams #prizescams #scams

#ABPNews EXCLUSIVE: This is how #cricket clubs under #DDCA are committing #SCAMS
#KirtiAzad 
http://www.abplive.in/videos/abp-news-exclusive-this-is-how-cricket-clubs-under-ddca-are-committing-scams-266319

Don't become a victim! Recognize it - Top ten #scams to watch out for. #FPM2015 http://moneyontrees.ca/top-ten-scams-to-watch-out-for/

#Elderly  #Scams #Abuse #Deceipt   #Deception  #Gullible #Gullibility #Attorneys   #Law  #Legal #Senior #Seniors

Job Scams
Beware of these 10 #Job #Hunting #Scams http://buff.ly/1TkZgiR

#Scams #WhatsAppGold #GoldWhatsApp #WhatsAppGold

#kindlepublishing #scammers #scams #onlinemarketing #dipshits #losers #assholes #worthless #tweet #retweet #twitter #facebook #youtube #instagram #holeinone

#kindlepublishing #amazon #onlinemarketing #scammers #scams #twitter #retweet #tweet #facebook #youtube #asshole

Crooks use these 7 #scams to destroy your #finances. How to protect yourself - http://buff.ly/2cYYYBx

Prize scams: Protecting the vulnerable

Marilyn Baldwin OBE founder of charity Think Jessica answered our questions about her work fighting fraud and explained how her story began.

Why did you set up Think Jessica?

My mother Jessica was a victim of postal and telephone fraud for five years up until she died in 2007 aged 83. Throughout that period she was brainwashed by a host of characters the criminals had invented, lottery officials, solicitors, bankers, prize holding companies, presidents of companies and clairvoyants. They put her details on what they call a ‘suckers’ list and circulated it to other criminals worldwide. My mum was trapped in a delusional world which became her reality hence she refused to believe family or professionals who tried to help her understand the truth.
She received around 30,000 letters (thirty thousand) and was bombarded with phone call from criminals. I tried to find help but there was none.

Following her death I campaigned for seven years to shock the government and Royal Mail into taking action to protect elderly and vulnerable victims who were being repeatedly targeted. I met with MPs, ministers and the Director General of The Serious Organised Crime agency (now called NCA - National Crime Agency) and gave talks to professionals who work alongside elderly and vulnerable people, police, age-related charities, the attorney general, Office of Fair Trading. I also gave dozens of TV and radio interviews which resulted in thousands of other relatives of victims speaking out about struggles similar to my own experience with my mum. See the About Us page.

Which agencies and bodies do you work with?

To name a few National Trading Standards scams team, police forces across the UK, local councils, Neighbourhood Watch, Checkatrade, Lloyds Bank and True call.

What support do you offer victims and their families?

Think Jessica's greatest tool is the website; thousands of people have used it to educate and protect their vulnerable relatives. We produce educational booklets, DVDs, posters and other material distributed nationally. We believe the best protection you can give potential victims is education. Victims reported to Think Jessica are forwarded to the National Trading Standards scam team who in turn refer them to Trading Standards officers local to the victim.

Thanks to years of your campaigning, Royal Mail and Trading Standards began working together to train postal workers in 2014 to spot scam mail reaching victims. Typically what do they look out for?

People receiving large amounts of mail - although in some instances once a victim has been flagged up to Trading Standards they have already lost a lot of money or are in denial, like Jessica, and no amount of persuasion can break the grip the scammers have over them.

The National Scams team working with Royal Mail have seized large amounts of mail and victims details are passed to Trading Standards officers local to the victim for a one to one visit - but again some victims ignore professional advice and continue to send money to scams. These are the victims (JSS victims) we are trying to get protection for – a change in law would enable their mail to be redirected to a trusted person who would hand over the genuine mail only and fit a call blocker. Just because someone is not diagnosed as having a mental incapacity or can't/won’t recognise they are a victim, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be protected.

In 2014 you received an OBE for your voluntary work with the metropolitan police on Operation Sterling; what can you tell us about this?

In 2010 the met police set up Operation Sterling – the officers had no knowledge of postal fraud and the sergeant in charge shadowed me as I gave talks and visited victims so the team could get a better understanding of this type of crime and learn from my knowledge. In the first operation of its kind, they seized scam mail entering Heathrow airport - it weighed around eight tonnes. I was awarded my OBE for the four years voluntary work with Operation Sterling, and which resulted in the police, government and Royal Mail working together for the first time.

You’re trying to have Jessica’s Scam Syndrome recognised as a condition. What is Jessica’s Scam Syndrome (JSS) and what should we look out for in our elderly relatives?

The psychology the scammers use is so powerful it can shut down a vulnerable person's normal thought process. Victims with JSS focus on the prize and not the money they are sending to claim it. The tactics used by these criminals are so sophisticated although to outsiders looking in it's easy to see that the letters and phone calls are scams. However the victim is bombarded to such an extent that the letters and phone calls knit together and make sense to them. Criminals posing as clairvoyants instruct the victim to ignore any intervention by advising that those 'trying to interfere are jealous of them or wish them harm'.

Victims with JSS often (but not always) receive large amounts of mail, they are often short of money and food and preoccupied – making more than usual visits to post office, and/or the bank. Some ask friends or relatives for loans and promise people gifts or money. The problem is victims with JSS will go to any lengths to keep their relationship with their ‘friends’ for example, convincing their family they have stopped while they can carry on in secret.

In many of the case studies on your website, victims appear to receive mail from Reader’s Digest. What’s the connection?

Readers Digest is just one of thousands of companies which sell mailing lists categorising people as being elderly. These lists also categorise people as being interested in and have already responded to competitions.

Each year Mass Marketing Scams cause approximately £9 billion pounds worth of detriment to UK consumers (Age UK, 2015), is the Government doing enough to tackle this crime?

Things have moved forward over the last few years but for victims with JSS and their desperate relatives nothing has changed. The Royal Mail is threatening those behind scam mail contracts with prosecution if they continue to send this type of mail. However the scammers just start a new scam and new contract and so it goes on. There is no prosecution or repercussion, no deterrent for the criminal - this needs to change.

What is Think Jessica’s greatest achievement to date?

As well as countless regional campaigns we have carried out three national poster campaigns on backlit billboards in shopping centres, train stations and supermarkets, Scam Mail is Blackmail, Silence of the Scams and Scam Trap. All our hard-hitting campaigns have received excellent feedback and enormous publicity. But my biggest achievement personally was to get people to listen and take action; I was a sole voice for the five years my mother was a victim, and another four years after that - that’s nine years of banging a drum – I spent time at the attorney general’s office educating the team setting up Action Fraud and got scam mail on their reporting agenda, that was a big achievement as well.

What advice would you give to anyone who thinks a friend or relative might be a scam victim?

Visit our website, send for our educational material and if necessary send us the victim's details and we will pass it on to the National Scams team who will arrange for a Trading Standards office to get in touch.

You can contact Think Jessica via the website, or follow @thinkjessica

The copyright in this post belongs to Spark&Fuse Marketing Ltd. All rights reserved. You are welcome to republish this post provided you contact us for permission first and prominently credit us in any republication.

#slamprizescams #prizescams #scams #thinkjessica

Why people fall for prize scams?

Martina Dove's research concentrates on the psychology of fraud. Understanding what scammers do to persuade us and what makes each of us vulnerable to fraud at different times. Why do some people say no and some have no problem saying no? What makes one person find a fraudulent offer attractive whilst others recognise it is a scam? Understanding these factors is crucial for successful fraud prevention. Here Martina explains why people fall for prize scams.

Everyone likes winning prizes. You get something for free - is there anything better than that? Prize promotions have been around forever but social media has really given them a platform to flourish and reach a wide audience. A prize draw by a legitimate company might mean they will ask you to like their Facebook page and share the post for a chance to be entered. This is relatively simple to do, whilst for them it is an opportunity for free advertising by word of mouth. But scammers have caught up with this concept too, creating fake social media accounts, imitating legitimate companies and asking you to like and share for a chance of a win; a free year worth of flights, a cruise and so on... Often these prizes sound too good to be true, and they are. Your details are often stolen and sold on to other scammers who will target you with fraudulent offers.

Sadly, it is often the most vulnerable people that get targeted by scams. Fake postal prize draws and lotteries defraud many people each year and the concept is always relatively similar; you are told you have won a prize but need to send some information back, after which you may need to send an administration fee in order for the prize to be sent to you. This often leads to several other fees. But what makes people engage with fraudulent prize draws and keeps them sufficiently engaged for a while? A good explanation comes from research by Langenderfer and Shimp (2001) proposed model of scamming vulnerability, that explains how visceral factors guide our behaviours (also Lowenstein, 1996). Visceral factors are drive states such as hunger, fear, emotions etc. and they have an effect on our immediate behaviour. When we are scared, we are likely to run away from what scares us, when we are hungry, we will find something to eat and when we are excited about something or have a strong emotional reaction to it, we may do things that we would not normally do to get it. This emotional reaction often undermines careful information processing. When people are offered what seems to be a great deal or something awesome for free, the excitement felt takes over the usual routes of careful information processing. Scammers are aware of this, therefore scam offers are designed to be extremely enticing. They often have an expiration date, limited time in which to decide, which evokes fear that the offer will go away unless we act straight away. This, in turn, may make us act hastily or not in our best interest. When we are in a heightened emotional state, we are more likely to be vulnerable to scams. In such a state, it is a level of self-control we possess that decides whether we fall for a scam or not. A healthy dose of cynicism and background knowledge (i.e. knowing how these offers persuade) is also something that may subdue the initial excitement at the offer at hand and allow us to think clearly.

Another study also explains the power of visceral processing. Fischer, Lea and Evans (2013) observed differences between people who, in the past, complied with scams and those who never have. Those who reported compliance, reported having positive emotions at a thought of winning a large prize. This is why prizes that seem 'too good to be true' are almost always bad news.

Another tool scammers use is 'proximity' of a prize or a win. Proximity is important in how appealing the offer will be, the closer the winnings, the more exciting the offer will appear. Imagine if someone told you to enter a prize draw to win something in 20 years. You probably would not bother, but if the win was just around the corner, the prize immediately looks more attractive. Another scamming tool with prize draws and lottery scams is that scammers need to keep it vivid for you to be interested for a period of time, this is why people often receive reminders of the win each time they are asked to pay yet another administration fee before the prize can be released.

What to ask yourself, if you receive news of winning a prize draw or a lottery win out of the blue is 'how can I win something I did not enter'? Often, in a heat of the moment, we don't think to ask even the most obvious questions. Can you win a prize or win a lottery if you don't remember buying a ticket or entering a prize draw? Sometimes people think that they must be an exception to the rule for winning something out of the blue, but in reality, exceptions to the rule are extremely rare. If, on the other hand, you like entering prize draws, it still pays to be a bit careful. Make sure you Google the company and what is on offer as often this will unearth information if it is a known scam going around. Ask yourself, is the prize 'too good to be true'? Don't assume the deal is legitimate just because your friend shared it on social media in hope of winning, as this is how scam offers proliferate. And take the time to think things through instead of acting on impulse, when you are excited about something.

When it comes to scams, it is best to question everything and assume nothing. It may just save you a lot of grief in the end.

For further insights, read Martina's research, and keep up with her via her blog. She's on Twitter @curiousshrink.

Do you recognise any of these tools used by scammers? Or have you been persuaded by some of their tactics? Share your story with us below.

The copyright in this post belongs to Spark&Fuse Marketing Ltd. All rights reserved. You are welcome to republish this post provided you contact us for permission first and prominently credit us in any republication.

#slamprizescams #prizescams #scams

#HMRC wins latest battle against adviser's £916m #tax-dodging #scams after it was found guilty of circulating payments for tax deductions.

http://www.irstaxreliefsettlement.com/irs-tax-scams/ Latest #IRS #Scams 2016: #Warnings Issued

RT @scammercast: The Scammercast Podcast: Jessica Warren - Work from Home/Too Good to Be True #Scams - @WUStopFraud

#Consumers   #Scams  +LendingTree 

Consumers Beware of Lending Tree Loans, It Is An Affiliate Referral Scheme Not a Lending Company - i.e. SCAM