Sender's Question:
I recently got an email from Mrs. Fatima Nora Wilson/Mrs. Mariam Williams, the letter was almost identical to the one on your site.  What is it that they are trying to do? 

Answer:
Basically what most of these financial scams try to do is get your bank account information.  With that information they can withdraw money from your bank account...unfortunately, our banking system isn't very secure and all anyone needs (with most banks) is your bank's number (routing number) and your account number and they have access to your account.  You can dispute the charges on your account, but by that time the scammers have withdrawn your money from their account and moved to a different financial instituation (on their end).  Another version of this has people calling individuals looking for them to donate to their "worthy" cause.  The people doing the scam always use banks outside the US (since 9-11 our banks have stepped up the identification process to make it harder to "hide" your identity when you get a bank account).  The people calling will ask you to "just send us a check with a small donation", once they get your check, they have your bank information and they withdraw as much money as they can before you get your monthly statement...which, for most banks, is after the first or fifteenth of the month.

This page has been displayed 5 times this month, 702 times since January 2, 2005 .