Scam MABs emails/letters

dumac

Here's a fairly nasty scam doing the rounds, because it claims to be from MABs (Money Advice and Budgeting Service) which helps people who have big personal debts.

The scam says you have been approved for a €5k government granta nd you were selected from a Department of Enterprise / National Consumer Agency database.

You're supposed to phone a contact number and complete a "Grant Release Form" which involves giving away lots of key personal details, bank account etc etc.

As scams go, this one is particularly scummy :mad:, because anyone who does need MABs is usually in very dire straits already.

Full details are on NCA's website:

http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/News_+_Research/Press%20Releases/NCA_scams_warning.html

Cabaal

I like to see a copy of this e-mail/letter to see just how legit it looks, the vast majority of the time such letters scream scam!

jhegarty

That's just low.

On the other hand , why would you specially target your scam at people who no money / bad credit.

smelltheglove

They will try anything.

One morning I collected the post at my door, a couple of years ago, a few minutes later another letter came through. The letter was a lotto scam letter. I had read about it in a newspaper the previous week so was aware and felt so irritated that these people had just dropped this in my letterbox. I of course called the gardai straight away in case they could catch them. That evening I mentioned it to a neighbour who also had received it, I mentioned it to another then who was convinced there was some truth in this, hope I guess, but after convincing them to call the local station they were reassured that it was a scam. The scammers actually went to each house on the street within minutes of the postman so as people received their letters along with the post.

To those of us who are aware of these scams it is blatantly obvious but at the end of the day there are still people falling for the 'I need to rehome my purebreed as I have moved to south america' scam.

dudara

jhegarty wrote: »

That's just low.

On the other hand , why would you specially target your scam at people who no money / bad credit.

Because they're more susceptible due to the stress and gloom they're feeling.