Scams

[FlyingVizsla]

Hi All,

 

I hate talking about the ugly side but I have noticed the rise in scams targeting aircraft owners and pilots. It seems "Nigeria" has recently discovered us. Some pilots and a couple of other Clubs and forums I am involved with have been contacted. It works like this:

 

• General request for help to buy something with an untraceable email (@yahoo, @hotmail etc).
   
   
  
• Your email goes on a list of gullible people which is sold to other scammers
   
   
  
• A reply which (for all sorts of reasons, corruption, secrecy, urgency etc) asks you to help by transferring money - they need your bank account details
   
   
  
• The money starts arriving in your account and you are requested to transfer it electronically or wire it to an overseas or untraceable person.
   
   
  
• The Australian police charge you with money laundering.
   
   
  

 

 

The scammers rely on some form of synergy, and if they are good at it, appear to be "just like you", a keen pilot intent on building a small charter business, or trying to get a decent plane for themselves (and then another, and another). The more sophisticated scams will string you along, talk pilot jargon, send pictures of me and my plane (really someone else lifted off the internet), then eventually start the money transfer scam. By that time you are thinking this is a nice guy from overseas for whom you will bend over backwards to help.

 

It may also work where they convince you to "loan" some money to get them out of strife (their entire fleet just went up in smoke and they need to hire replacements - don't worry we will pay you back when we get the new planes and the charter money comes in).

 

Be careful out there ...

 

Sue