Advance 419 Fraud Still Lives

Advance 419 Fraud is one of the oldest and infamous Internet crimes that still manages to operate online. Many consider this type of crime (also called Nigerian fraud) one of the easiest to spot - after all, how many people reading this are going to respond to a Nigerian banker who has just informed you that you are the beneficiary of millions of US dollars from a recently deceased businessman abroad. Not many, since that is what we know now to be the classic 419 trap.

But like all crimes, 419 fraud has evolved and has sparked many variants that may follow the same template, but are a lot harder to dismiss as fake.

One of these is the 419 romantic scam, or Nigerian romance scam, that baits victims with the promise of friendship and relationships, as opposed to the more traditional cash reward. While many still consider this type of scam relatively notorious, this week it has proved to be very much live and well after it was revealed that a woman from the UK was scammed for a huge £80,000 by an Internet crook who pretended to be a soldier.

Kate Roberts was taken by the scammer - who was later traced back to 419 capital Nigeria – over a period of many months, where the scammer requested many cash payouts, for a “telephone line” and “release documents” to travel back to the UK. What made this con much more convincing than many others is that it included telephone calls from many different “characters” in this fictional play that the cyber criminals created.

What is more, is that the cash payouts were to be paid via online wire transfer service Western Union, a massive red flag when it comes to cyber crime.

As always, be on the lookout for 419 scammers on every corner of the Internet. Romance scams like this can be started through unsolicited email, social networking sites or dating sites. Never hand over money to people you have never met online, and always be very wary of requests of payment via Western Union.

Related articles from our site –

Nigerian Romance Scams


Western Union Scams

The Most Popular Facebook Applications that Never Existed

Everyone who uses Facebook will know about Facebook applications, and the majority of Facebook users may recognise or even tried to install certain applications that purported to offer certain, shall we say, intriguing services. Here is our list of applications that many a person claimed they created, but never actually existed.

The Profile Stalker Application – this is the application that claimed it could tell a Facebook user who exactly was viewing their profile the most, i.e. who was stalking you. Of course, third party developers do not have access to this information, and displaying this information would be in violation of Facebook’s privacy conditions, so no application has ever been able to tell anybody who looks at their profile or how often they do so. Most of the applications were scams, and many others just picked several random names from the Facebook user’s friends list and claimed these were the Facebook user’s top stalkers. Untrue, however.

The Facebook Dislike Button – many Facebook users will be aware of the various online campaigns to get Facebook to add a Dislike button to allow users to dislike posts or comments made by other Facebook users. This led to a plethora of applications (and groups) that claimed to “officially” offer the Facebook Dislike button. Of course none ever did since third party applications cannot alter Facebook’s source code and any official adding of the feature would not depend on users installing an application. To this day there are no plans to add such a feature, and no application can include it.

Viewing Private Profiles Application – need we confirm that you cannot install applications that allow you to view otherwise private profiles and information? Apparently we do, since these applications are the most prolific. The only way to view profiles is to become friends with those profiles. There is no other way, short of becoming an exceptional programmer and hacking Facebook. No application can, will or has even been able to view private profiles, so do not even bother, or you’ll find yourself the victim of a rather obvious scam.

See Who Blocked/Deleted You – much like the applications that claim you can see who stalks your profile, it is also against the privacy terms of Facebook to see who blocked or deleted your account. Facebook does not notify you if someone deletes you, so if one day you were friends with someone and could access their profile, and the next day you’re not friends and cannot access their profile, you’ve probably done something to tick the other person off, because you have been “defriended.” You don’t need an application to tell you that, which is just as well, because they can’t anyway.

Change Your Facebook Theme – just like the dislike button, no application can alter Facebook including the theme (or account type, if you fell for the Facebook Gold hoax) so any application claiming it will change your theme or revert you back to an old layout was just lying. If Facebook do decide to change their theme, you won’t have to run a Facebook App to get it.

Also worth a mention are the applications that claim to tell you your first status, display your first picture, or applications that claim to tell you who you have had the most interaction with.

These applications have never existed. If you fell for any of them, then back luck because you were duped.  Can you think of any others? Feel free to post them below.

Facebook Instant Personalisation - Invasion of Privacy?

It's 2011, and we trust you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This is our first post of 2011 and for it we will be re-visiting a hoax that spread through Facebook virally back in 2010 but has reappeared this year.


If anyone has heard of Facebook’s Instant Personalisation, it’s a feature Facebook launched last year that allows select external websites to obtain basic information about a Facebook user before they visit that site. This is so when a Facebook user visits such a site, it is instantly personalised for them – meaning it will display their name and profile picture.


Whilst the movement caused minor controversy from hardcore privacy activists, the feature really wasn’t that controversial since the information given and displayed on these sites was only very basic information available to anybody, regardless if they were a friend or not.


However like any change Facebook makes regarding the sharing of information, alarmist messages like the one below began to circulate between Facebook friends warning users in an overly alarmist way, implying this was some sort of massive invasion of privacy.


ATTENTION ALL FB USERS----VERY IMPORTANT For those of you that didnt see this per CNN news....facebook will be allowing our profile pics on the web..please do this now.... GO TO Account, Click on Privacy Settings >>Applications and Websites>> UNCLICK Instant Personalization...and PLEASE TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS!!!

However these over-the-top messages, which were designed to panic Facebook users, were loosely based on truth, since Facebook users are automatically opted out of the Instant Personalisation feature. The feature, now available on 7 sites partnered with Facebook (including Yelp, Rotten Tomatoes and TripAdvisor) has only the ability to share information that you have already made public with everyone, and since you have to explicitly opt-IN to the service, there is no need to pass on the many deceptive messages floating around Facebook about Instant Personalisation.

You’ve Won the Christmas Lottery … Not.

Like many millions of other email users out there, you’re probably familiar some way or another with 419 Nigerian fraud. You’ve probably seen a Nigerian email in one of its many different variants filter through to your email inbox or junk mail folder. 419 Nigerian fraud, or Advance Fee Fraud, most prolifically takes on the classic wealthy businessman variation, which promises several million dollars dumped into your bank account from some deceased businessmans banker or solicitor in Africa, providing your pay some sort of fee upfront, of course.

Not all 419 Nigerian fraud is that easy to spot however, and one particular variation that comes increasingly popular during the run up to Christmas is the 419 Christmas lottery scam. For the unaware and uninformed, receiving an email confirming you’ve won hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars is the perfect way to catch someone’s attention. After all, 5.6 million USD might just come in handy over the festive period!

These types of scams prey on people who need money, and  the Christmas period provides many such people who may be willing to believe stories they normally wouldn’t do any other time of the year.

So this is why we will see a surplus of apparent Christmas lotteries and sweepstakes filling our inboxes, trying to dupe people into biting.

Remember, even if the initial email asking you to “confirm” your winnings doesn’t mention fees or charges, follow up emails certainly will, and can range from courier fees, security clearance fees, handling fees, release fees and even bribes!

Examples this December include the Coca-Cola Zero Lottery and the Nigerian Xmas Lottery sweepstake.

Remember this – you cannot win lotteries you have not entered, and no credible lottery notifies its winners via email, much less requires upfront fees to collect winnings.

For our full article on advance fee 419 fraud and its many variants and methods of spotting it, click here.

Facebook Launches New Profile – Viral Rumours Soon to Follow

Facebook have recently announced the imminent launch of the new profile page, meaning your profile page is going to be restructured and ergo is going to look very different indeed.

New features will incorporate recently tagged photos of yourself appearing at the top of the profile page, a featured friends element allowing you to select your important friends (many potential arguments there, then) and more information about your hobbies, work etc. (sharing even more information with Facebook? They must enjoy irritating the hell out of privacy activists)

We’re telling you about this imminent change [-all users should have new profiles by the new year-] because every time Facebook does make any sort of change, hoaxers see this as some sort of starting whistle to spread as much illogical tripe as possible to see how far and deep their alarmist lies can spread across a network comprised largely of people far too familiar with their Copy & Paste keyboard shortcuts. (It’s Control + C and V for the sceptics)

So this post is a pre-emptive warning that soon the old favorites are likely to make an inevitable return, such as…

-Facebook groups, pages and applications that claim it can get your old profile back, providing you invite people to join, of course. Like all changes Facebook make, once their finalised, there is no reverting back.

-Viral messages stating Facebook has been hacked because of some sort of irrelevant and obscure feature some hoaxer has discovered. Remember the assertion your account could be hacked because your own name appeared on your list of friends? Prepare for the next viral “Facebook has been hacked” panic.

-Similar to the above point, we expect a new round of “Facebook hackers” to miraculously appear, magically comprising Facebook accounts based on the illogical pseudo-jargon garbage the hoaxers dream up.

-Facebook are planning on charging for upgrades. You really have to admire this rumours ability to simply refuse to lay down and die. Always popping up every few months, likely prompting Facebook’s message on their homepage that it will always be free. We expect to see a timely return of this classic at some point.

So Facebook are already altering many of its users to the new profile layout.

We can’t wait.

Think of any more rumours likely to follow? Feel free to comment below.

Facebook Cartoon Profile Pics Have NOTHING to do with Pedophillia !!

It rarely seems a month passes by without some sort of specious claims about pedophiles running riot on social networking sites, and this December is certainly no exception with yet another viral rumour hitting the Facebook.

It all started in November when messages started to appear in Greece and Cyprus requested people to change their Facebook profile pictures to their favorite cartoon characters. The messages didn’t enjoy much success, and seemed doomed to a quick demise.

That was until early December when the messages were picked up, translated into English and were altered into saying the changing of profile pictures to cartoon characters was a way of saying "No to child abuse", and the cartoon character you opted for should be an old favorite from that respective Facebook users own childhood.

The move seemed popular, and enjoyed even more success than the “Post Your Bra Color” and the “Doppelganger Pic” viral campaigns. Even though the movement did not seem to be attached to any official charity of group, many people were happy to change their profile pictures for a day, or even a week.

But as the saying goes, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch, and this is certainly true as to the unfortunate path this story has ended up taking. Only a few days after the messages and cartoon pictures went global did the sick and vile rumours of pedophile involvement begin to surface, and surface they certainly did.

Almost instantaneously did various rumours appear claiming the whole idea of cartoon profile pictures was created by social networking deviants who owned and operated dangerous groups designed to steal your children and rob their photos. Yet again the illogical rumours led you to believe that pedophiles invented the idea of cartoon profile pictures in order to be accepted as friends to your children.

Yet again the rumours made no sense, offered no evidence and defied even the most basic principles of common sense.

And yet again people passed the rumours on in their thousands.

This includes rumours like -

ATTENTION! Just reported that the group that started the post about changing your profile picture to a cartoon character is actually a pedophiles group that is doing this because its easier to get accepted friend requests! Please re-post.

and

CHANGEYOUPRFILE PIC BACK TO NORMAL!! this cartoon thing has been set up by pedos using a registered charity thing to entice kids. Apparently on the 6th of december you will be kicked of fb if u hv cartoon pics. the more folk that put up the cartoon pics the harder it is for the police ...to catch the sickos!!!

Suffice to say, the rumours were not true AT ALL, and if you feel like changing your profile picture to an old favorite cartoon, whether it be to support child abuse awareness or simply to revisit nostalgia-town, feel free to do so in the comfort and safety of knowing you’re not allowing, supporting or endorsing any paedophilic related activity.

If you want more on the subject, here is our original post on Facebook pedophiles.

Casino Gambling System Scams

We'll warn you, if you're not interested in Math, probabilities or gambling, the following blog post is likely to bore you to death.

One of the longest running, controversial and popular fallacies in the world is the belief, support and use of betting systems apparently designed to improve or guarantee winnings from casino games such as roulette and craps. Such systems purport to overcome the casino odds by using various strategies, some simple and some complex to allow the user of such systems to “beat the casino”

Of course anyone familiar with casinos will know that people playing games such as roulette, blackjack and craps will statistically lose out over a long enough period because everyone playing such games are subject to the “house odds” - meaning that the chances of success are always very slightly in favour of the house (the casino) so that any betting spree long enough would statistically favour the house. For example the green zero in roulette or the player acting first in blackjack gives the casino a very slight advantage.
Such betting systems claim to not only overcome the house edge but virtually guarantee the person using it a profit, regardless of how long the betting spree goes on for.

Casino betting systems are advertised in a variety of ways, including many unethical methods of which the seasoned Internet user would be familiar with including SPAM email, malware attacks, spyware pop-ups and advertisements on equally unethical websites. Victims may be directed to websites or baited through email correspondence by people running the casino system scams. The people promoting such systems may either be under the false belief the system works, or may just be after your money, much like a get-rich-quick scam.

Many different varieties of systems have emerged over the decades, most of which pre date the Internet by many years. In fact most “brand new systems” flogged on the Internet daily are not brand new at all, rather one of many different thousands of systems that have been tried, tested and ultimately failed many years prior.

Varieties of systems include the "gambler fallacy" systems which somehow implement the age old fallacy that an event that has not occurred in some time is more likely to occur in the imminent future, for example a roulette wheel resulting in 3 red numbers in a row will more likely show a black number next. Of course this is not true, and anyone reading that previous sentence will realise this, but many systems disguise this error in logic by overtly complex equations and fancy hype.

Another type of system is the "bet big win small" systems such as the Martingale system which sees a player double his stake after every loss, so his first victory will cover his previous losses plus his original stake back, hence the small win. This system has proved incredibly popular since it maximises a players chances of winning in the short term, but like all "bet big win small" systems, the profit will only be small and the amount potentially lost will be much larger, meaning anyone using this system will eventually suffer a big loss and hence are at no more of a mathematical advantage that anyone using any other system. The probability of losing with the Martingale system is often underestimated by even experienced gamblers.
Another similar system involves betting low amounts on the majority of possible outcomes meaning the chance of victory will always be on the players side, who shall receive small profits. This is popular in roulette, where for example a player can place bets on 32 out of the 37 possible outcomes, meaning they are likely to win a small amount, but may suffer a huge loss. Like the Martingale, this may be a good short term solution, but players using such a system will eventually suffer a huge loss and be subject to the same mathematical probabilities as anybody else over the long term. Many betting systems stem from this short term solution to blind victims into thinking that the chances of winning can be on their side.

Even to this day many gamblers swear by and defend various betting systems, but the fact is that no one system will or can ever work, because of the core mathematics involved with gambling. No matter how the system is dressed up, or presented to the victim, or how complex the people behind the scam are willing to get, casino games are subject to simple, fundamental probabilities that no one can change. Betting systems that sell ultimate betting strategies are selling regurgitated information that will make no one more or less likely to become rich from a casino. Games such as roulette, blackjack and craps will always be in favour of the house over the long term, and in the words of Albert Einstein - "No one can possibly win at roulette unless he steals money from the table while the croupier isn't looking".