According to The Straits Times:

AT LEAST 31 victims have fallen prey to get-rich-quick lottery scams so far this year. The schemes made them poorer by as much as $52,800 each, police said on Thursday.

To prevent such pain, they are advising the public to be on their guard against a variety of schemes ‘all designed to dupe victims into parting with their money’.

Based on investigations, this is how the dupsters work: SMSes or overseas calls are made to victims’ mobile phones, informing them that they had won cash prizes in lucky draws held by foreign companies.

They then ask for up-front payments before the ‘winners’ can claim their money.

But the scams can take different forms because the conmen change tactics regularly, the police warned.

In one scheme, the fraudsters masquerade as staff of overseas firms. They call the victims to conduct ‘surveys’ or inviting them to attend events overseas.

The ‘company’ then call again a few days later, informing the victims they had won lucky draws entered on their behalf.

Herein lies the catch: to claim the money, the victims were asked to pay administrative or processing fees via remittance companies to accounts in China, though local accounts are also known to have been employed.

Another ploy is to send winning notices through SMSes. Victims are asked to call a foreign number to redeem their prize.

In a statement, the police stressed that these purported ‘lottery winnings do not exist‘, and ‘if anything sounds too good to be true, it probably is.’

‘After pocketing the money, the fraudsters either conjure up more tales to solicit further payments…or abscond altogether,’ it said.

Since 2005, the police have arrested at least six people for taking part in such scams.

Anyone with information can call the Commercial Affairs Department at 1800-325-0000, or go to any police station.

- The greed of mankind sometimes is their own downfall. Just it happened recently that my friend Chloe got a call from overseas (China Accent) trying to sell her something of such…wasting the oversea toll charges…she angrily say not interested and ceased the call immediately.

I ever receive a call too saying that I won a trip for 2 to some exotic locations but need to attend some seminars to claim the prize and end up as a Time Share “scheme”.

Those who had applied for jobs that pays very well per hour might find themselves in a room full of excited youngsters and retrenched workers…hoping to make big money….that I soon found out few years back is working for a Time Share Travel Agencies….haha

The clue is that they let you read a call “script” such as “Hello Sir/Mdm…Congratulation! You had won…” haha

Let’s quote a few more scams warnings issued by AsiaOne News:

The ‘Nigerian scam’
How it is done

First concocted by a Nigerian scammer, one version has a supposed African official offering a big cut if you could help ‘unfreeze’ millions in a late bureaucrat’s bank account. But here is the catch: You have to pay cash up front to cover some transaction costs. More money is requested, ‘snags’ occur, and your money is gone.

Tips

Be wary of get-rich-quick offers, say police. Contact the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on 6325-0000 if you smell a ruse.

Online auction ruse
How it is done

After hijacking the online auction account of a legitimate seller by fraudulently acquiring his password, the fraudster will offer sought-after items at very low prices.

Conned

Last September, watch collector Bernard Tan, 53, searched online auction sites for a 1970s Rolex watch. He contacted an auction site in the United States, which had many ‘testimonials from satisfied customers’.

He wired US$4,200 (S$6,400) to a bank in San Francisco for a watch he wanted, as instructed. Ten days later, a rusty 12cm iron strip arrived.

Tips

Internet auction sites are still a high risk, especially when expensive items are involved. More tips can be found on http://sg.auctions.yahoo.com

Offer of highly paid job
How it is done

The lure is usually a high-salary job – without the hassle of going through an interview or showing supporting documents.

The fraudsters often have official-looking websites and – of course – will ask for money in advance, purportedly to acquire work visas and for travel expenses.

Not conned

Ms Sara Dacillo, a Filipina married to a Singaporean, posted a ‘job wanted’ advertisement on the social networking website MySpace.com. Days later, she was offered ?600 (S$1,791) a week to work as an au pair, or nanny, in England. She was then asked to send ?1,200 to a personal account in Lagos, Nigeria, for visa and travel arrangements. Suspicious, Ms Dacillo, 36, sent no money.

There were 67 reports of online job scams here in 2005, and 48 last year. One victim was a 56-year-old security guard who was cheated of US$2,100 after he was promised a job as a hotel security director in Bahrain with a monthly pay of US$9,000.

Tips

Genuine job offers will have the company’s e-mail address. It is also unheard of to offer high-paying jobs without a face-to-face interview.

Bogus investment
How it is done

Unsolicited e-mail promises hefty profits for investors. In a variation, victims are ‘appointed’ to help manage a sizeable investment account for a generous fee but need to deposit money for an insurance bond first.

Conned

Recently, Mr Vincenzo Comboni, an Italian practising law in Switzerland, deposited US$1.125 million into an account of a Singapore firm thinking it was payment for an insurance bond, so as to be allowed to manage a $20 million investment coming out of South Africa. Instead, his money was used to pay for goods bound for Nigeria.

Tips

As in the earlier examples – be suspicious.

Fake marriage proposal
How it is done

A gorgeous woman wants to get to know you, with marriage in mind.

Conned

In a recent case, Indian national Bharani Indran, 32, a software engineer in the US, was fooled by a Singaporean woman he got to know through a Yahoo Internet chatroom in September 2004. They exchanged photographs.

But the woman, Maliha Ramu, 36, sent him a picture of a gorgeous Indian actress, and he asked to marry her.

A convoluted scam followed in which he wired nearly US$45,000 to her. Meanwhile, she kept postponing their marriage date. Mr Bharani finally grew suspicious when she asked for another US$10,000 in May 2005.

He flew here and reported the scam. Maliha was jailed for six months in March.

Tips

Stay away from love at first site – chatrooms or e-mail from Internet sites, that is.

Million-dollar lottery prize
How it is done

Sweepstakes or lucky draw scams are at least 30 years old. The latest variation involves a US$10 million prize from the ‘Microsoft Award Team’. Winners are asked to transfer some money in advance for taxation purposes.

Conned

Such scams still find victims, with 26 people parting with amounts ranging from $500 to $58,000 last year. In 2005, 16 victims lost between $1,500 and $90,000.

Tips

If you do respond, as soon as money is asked from you, contact the CAD.

Identity theft and fraud
How it is done

In the scam known as ‘phishing’, recipients of the bogus e-mail are tricked into disclosing passwords, bank PIN numbers or credit card numbers. E-mail attachments may contain a ‘Trojan Horse’ virus – which allows a hacker to capture every keystroke and ‘read’ victims’ computers to access bank accounts, or to purchase items on credit card accounts.

Tips

There has been no report of a successful phishing scam here although there have been a few attempts.

Banks will never send an e-mail asking for confidential information. Also, do not click on any link or open attachments in e-mail purportedly sent by a bank, credit card company or service provider. Internet fraud is on the rise.

- The horrible thought of being scammed is simply hard to ignore, the trust of the internet consumer are broken almost beyond repair. There must be ways to avoid the scams and safely do the business online.

The key words for avoiding scams is

” If it’s too good to be true, then maybe it really is “

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