The new age of scams

The Francswiss Internet scam is dragging a lot of people into this big mess with popular actors, politicians, military officials and known media personalities like Korina Sanchez reportedly investing several millions. It’s obvious that Korina’s name was dropped by Francswiss to lure other people into investing – being one of the country’s most popular TV personalities. Korina is simply too smart to fall for something like this, and even without any statement coming from her, nobody really believes she will get herself involved in a scam like this. Con artists normally namedrop well-known personalities and capitalize on the reputation of these people to give credibility to their scheme – and it looks like Francswiss was successful based on reports that in the Philippines alone, they were able to con a lot of people into investing close to P1 billion.

It’s a good thing that operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation were able to bust this international internet ring. The NBI has an Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division and while we can’t claim that our agents are already experts in computer forensics considering that this field is relatively new in the Philippines, the NBI has been getting a lot of help from the US State Department through training in software and data/equipment analysis to see if computer equipment had been used for illegal activities. As a matter of fact, I’m told that several forensic work stations were donated by the State Department two years ago for examining computer-related evidence. 

The Francswiss scam is just one example of how Internet technology is being used not only to dupe people but to commit crimes, and these can often transcend borders. I’m sure at one time or another you’ve received email spams informing you that you have just become an instant millionaire having won a lottery or some such online contest. And then there’s the Nigerian email scam supposedly coming from a bank official asking for help in the release of funds tied up in some foreign bank account. These con artists bait victims by promising to transfer a big percentage of the funds provided certain transaction fees were paid first. By the time the victim gets wind of the scam, it would already be too late since he had supplied vital business information like bank account numbers and other financial details which the scammers can steal. Just a couple of months ago, the US Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation on several companies allegedly involved in email spams hyping up stocks to tempt people into buying. Once the prices have become inflated, the crooks then dispose of their stocks at an enormous profit, leaving their investors bleeding with huge losses.

The Francswiss scam is being likened to a pyramiding scheme or even a Ponzi scam which promises unusually high returns, with investors not realizing that the so-called profits are taken from the money paid by succeeding investors and not from any tangible business at all. The Ponzi scam is named after an Italian named Charles Ponzi who, in the 1900s, migrated to the US and launched a large-scale operation that swindled a lot of Americans. Pyramid scams require their so-called “investors” to recruit at least two others to become their left and right hand “downlines” so they can earn initial commissions, with corresponding overriding commissions from other subsequent recruits.

The Internet is being used not only for fraudulent business transactions but other crimes like prostitution. In the past, authorities busted a number of cybersex dens mostly in Angeles, Pampanga, showing women, a number of them minors, performing sexual acts for online clients through the use of cameras mounted on computers. But what’s even more alarming is the fact that rapists are using internet chat rooms to lure victims. These internet Lotharios strike up conversations with potential victims, and after courting these women later suggest an “eyeball” or a face to face date which becomes their opportunity to rape the victim.  In the US, a lot of girls are being victimized by predators who pretend to be teenagers, asking innocuous questions like where the victim lives and if the parents are not home. The next thing you know, parents get the shock of their lives when they come home to find their daughters raped and worse, dead.

Interestingly, what also made Francswiss initially successful aside from its website are testimonial emails sent by investors to their friends and relatives, asking them to fork over $1,000 that will earn them 4.5 percent interest daily, guaranteeing a recoup in just 23 days. No doubt the promise of huge profits in very little time could have been too much for some people to resist. Remember Multitel and “pyramid queen” Rose Baladjay who was arrested in 2003? It created such a huge scandal because victims virtually came from all walks of life – military officials, housewives, even retirees and senior citizens who poured in their hard-earned money into Multitel.

It is human nature to fall for the old get-rich-quick scheme, finding out too late that it could only lead to financial ruin. If something sounds too good to be true, more often than not, it’s a scam. Remember the old saying, “if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck – it must be a duck.”

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