MFSA warns of foreign scams hitting Malta
Consumers who have been approached by foreign contacts with an offer to work from home might be victims of scams which have been doing the rounds in many countries before hitting Malta in the past weeks.
These scams include offers for modelling work, photo sessions and advertising campaigns.
The Malta Financial Services Authority said in a statement it had been informed that a number of consumers approached their bank to cash travellers cheques (with an American Express logo) in euro, US dollar or sterling which they received in part payment for their work.
The cheques were mostly in denomination of €500 and, for the untrained eye, looked rather authentic - complete with apparent watermarks, holograms and security threads. However, they were fraudulent and useless.
The problem was that by the time consumers found out, they might have already sent money to the fraudsters.
The MFSA said that consumers who were targeted by these foreign fraudsters claimed to have been contacted to appear in a photo session and sent a number of travellers’ cheques often €5,000 or £5,000, which they were asked to deposit into their own account and then transfer the money to a third party via a money transfer facility, which is usually not through a bank).
They are told that the money would cover expenses for the photo session, including studio hire and to keep 10 to 20 percent as their own modelling fee.
Although the cheques would be worthless, the fraudsters hoped the model would have made the transfer but the time this was realised – this was usually a few days after the bank received notification from abroad during the clearing process.
The MFSA noted that many of the victims who sent money to the fraudsters failed to ask some very elementary questions about the whole setup before parting with their money.
These would include why were the foreign contacts sending money which they wanted back and why were they paying with travellers’ cheques.
The MFSA called on consumers to remain vigilant by:
* not responding to such e-mails;
* not giving out any personal details;
* not sending CVs, scans of photo ID, driving licences or similar documents;
* not paying any money.
More information can be obtained from the MFSA’s Consumer Complaints manager, tel:
8007 4924 or 2144 1155, e-mail: consumerinfo@mfsa.com.mt .
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Christian Sciberras
Nov 1st 2009, 22:04
This isn't about knowing secure email/address and content etc.
People need to reason on what is written and analyze it thoroughly.
Here's something I've found some time ago:
http://covac-software.com/exploits/GovMtPOCs.doc
It (before it was fixed) allowed an attacker to show a malicious website from inside the Maltese Government website (gov.mt) (with some other side effects such as stealing information from users). The point is, a forged email could link you to this malicious site and you fall for it because you think the domain is safe.
gaffarena joseph
Nov 1st 2009, 11:07
With respect , but MFSA, will be better if she will be more involved in our life insurance policy,
that are operating in Malta.
15, years ago,I, was promised heaven on earth, if I, will make a life policy,and was told by one of this insurance agent the sum that I, will get upon my retirement. Now,when my policy is going to end,I, received a note telling me the sum I, am going to have, and beleave it or not.im only getting half of what I, was promised.This is a true scam,and MFSA konw about this, but still they find a way to escape this scandal.
Beleave me,im not going to leave a stone unturned to get of what I, was promised,The insurance, is responsable for their agents, and should burden the promises made by their agents,otherwise I, could had invested my retirement sum of money in an ordinary saving.
This is a white collar theft, and have to be settled.
Graham Crocker
Oct 31st 2009, 21:23
N.Calleja, in Malta? You'd be surprised.
The MFSA should also warn people about Pharming, sometimes people copy sites of banks, say from bankofsliema.com and they make it thebankofsliema.com and trick users into entering their details to log in to their internet banking account.
This can also come in the form of fake emails. that use email addresses that are similar to the original and some of them are very clever using 1 instead of l ect. They give you a copy of the actual email and change the links to direct you to their fake site.
Galea. L
Oct 31st 2009, 09:31
The thing to do is ask yourself this question. If you had a lot of money and precious things and you had a safe to keep them in, would you give the key/combination to anyone who asks for them? This is what you will be doing by giving any information which someone you don't know ask from you.
Moira Heath
Oct 30th 2009, 20:13
I was once targeted for a similar scam. I was selling something on a local website and was approached by an "english gentleman" (turned out to be nigerian, even his english was terrible. How can they get away with it?) who wanted to buy my product and pay by cheque. I received the cheque which was four times the asking price, and he asked me to cash the cheque and send him the difference, as the cheque arrived from a third party with the excuse that the payee owed him some money. Needless to say, I realised his game and toyed around with this criminal for a few weeks, and then he realised he'd been found and never got in touch again. Unfortunately there is very little that authorities can do to bag these thieves. The best way to protect yourself is to get smart.
Joseph Schembri
Oct 30th 2009, 17:57
Why am I not surprised at how gullible some people are? Just look at some of the persons that people vote for in elections. People get the government that they deserve it is said. We get a lot of other things that we deserve in life but don't think we do.
N.Calleja
Oct 30th 2009, 16:11
Is it possible that there are gullible people in this day and age? I'm really surprised to hear that people gave away 5000 or more euro without checking where this money was going. How very stupid of them. They seem to be very rich people to give away such huge sums!!