{"id":1042,"date":"2016-04-26T15:25:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T13:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2016-04-26T16:27:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T14:27:11","slug":"search-engine-assisted-fraud-howto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/archives\/1042","title":{"rendered":"Search-engine assisted fraud HOWTO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As many of the readers of this fine site are career criminals, it seems good to explain a new and popular procurement fraud scam.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a piccie to muddy the waters, followed by the blow-by-blow account, in which the numbers do not match the picture.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1049\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/scamlyscam.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1049\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1049\" class=\"wp-image-1049 size-large\" src=\"\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/scamlyscam-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"Scam by search engine\" width=\"640\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/scamlyscam-1024x771.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/scamlyscam-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/scamlyscam-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/scamlyscam.jpg 1087w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1049\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scam by search engine<\/p><\/div>\n<p>1. Register a web site with a forgettable name, e.g. <a href=\"http:\/\/hpa-supply-centre.com\">hpa-supply-centre.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>2. Register a web site with a name derived from some well-known business, e.g. <a href=\"http:\/\/vodacom-sdo.com\">vodacom-sdo.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>3. Send mail to your victims from <a href=\"mailto:finance@vodacom-sdo.com\">finance@vodacom-sdo.com<\/a> (Vodacom Special Delivery Office) requesting quotations for the Meissner <strong>RRC929PPZ<\/strong> toner cartridge, light bulb, shredder, light meter, call quality meter, gamma ray emitter, mulcher, etc.<\/p>\n<p>4. Your victim visits his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bing.com\/\">favourite<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/\">search<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/lmgtfy.com\/?q=favourite+search+engine\">engine<\/a>, and finds that the <strong>RRC929PPZ<\/strong> is available from only one supplier, who happens to be in a distant part of the country, but has a local office.\u00a0 He asks for a quote: it&#8217;s going to cost him <strong>R100k<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is the hook.\u00a0 Now you reel him in.<\/p>\n<p>5. Your victim submits a quote to <a href=\"mailto:finance@vodacom-sdo.com\">finance@vodacom-sdo.com<\/a>.\u00a0 You accept the quote irrespective of how much it costs, because it&#8217;s about the principle of the thing, not the money.<\/p>\n<p>6. Your victim contacts your &#8220;supplier&#8221;, and orders the goods.\u00a0 You ask for payment.\u00a0 Once you get paid, you withdraw the funds, while you slowly ship the goods from your &#8220;warehouse&#8221; directly to the well-known &#8220;business&#8221;.\u00a0 Laugh all the way from the bank to your evil lair.<\/p>\n<p>Bonus points are awarded for &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Accepting multiple quotes<\/li>\n<li>Haggling about the price<\/li>\n<li>Trade discounts<\/li>\n<li>Getting your victim to fill in a dealer application form<\/li>\n<li>Not going to jail<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fundamentally, this scam relies on people&#8217;s willingness to make a quick buck at the expense of others, also known as <strong>greed<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you think you&#8217;ll make a quick buck, you&#8217;re ready for the taking.\u00a0 If you think you will make profit by using a search engine, and forwarding mails for well known businesses, you are ready to lose your money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As many of the readers of this fine site are career criminals, it seems good to explain a new and popular procurement fraud scam.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a piccie to muddy the waters, followed by the blow-by-blow account, in which the numbers &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/archives\/1042\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[199,88,160,23,198,16,190,11],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","tag-bing","tag-crime","tag-fraud","tag-google","tag-procurement","tag-security","tag-stuff","tag-stupidity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcgill.org.za\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}