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Veterinary Practice News Editorial Blog:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
When an E-mail Sounds Too Good to Be True
By Marissa Heflin
Senior News Editor of VeterinaryPracticeNews.com and Veterinary Practice News
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Internet scams are certainly not new, but I was a little surprised to see one creeping into the veterinary profession.
Last week, I received an e-mail with the subject line “donation inquiry” asking if I was interested in an ultrasound, autoclave and a pre-used mobile van. Apparently a veterinary clinic (nameless) had recently acquired new medical supplies and a new mobile van and wanted to share some good cheer by donating its old equipment.
Although it was signed by someone who claimed to be a veterinarian, I had my suspicions.
The sender did not provide a clinic name, an address or even a phone number where she could be reached. The e-mail began “Hi,” not “Hi, Marissa,” suggesting that this was probably a mass e-mail. And it turns out many of my colleagues received a similar e-mail.
Another oddity: The sender spelled out her credentials: B.S., veterinary science; DVM, veterinary medicine; and Ph.D., veterinary physiology. It seemed odd that a veterinarian would spell out her credentials for veterinary recipients.
A Google search on the sender’s name pulled up only one listing, a blog by Alan Zeichick, co-founder and editorial director of BZ Media, a high-tech media company, and president and principal analyst of Camden Associates, an IT consulting and analyst firm in San Bruno, Calif. He had received the same e-mail and also questioned its authenticity.
Zeichick’s research indicated that the e-mail originated from an Internet service provider in India and guessed that the sender (or senders) is trying to solicit up-front funds to pay to ship the “probably non-existent” van and equipment.
Four people posted comments on the blog stating that they had received the same e-mail and also thought it to be a scam. Two said that their e-mail had a phone number but no one answered.
Zeichick said he replied to the e-mail but has not had a response.
In 2007, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3—a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National White Collar Crime Center—received 206,884 complaint submissions, a 0.3 percent decrease when compared to the previous year when 207,492 complaints were received.
From the submissions, IC3 referred 90,008 complaints to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies for further consideration. IC3 found most complaints alleged fraud and involved a financial loss on the part of the complainant.
The total dollar loss from all referred fraud cases was $239.09 million with a median dollar loss of $680 per complaint, an increase from $198.44 million in the year-ago period.
IC3 also found that e-mail (73.6 percent) and Web pages (32.7 percent) were the two primary mechanisms by which the fraudulent contact took place. Recent high activity scams commonly reported to the IC3 in 2007 involved pets, checks, spam and online dating sites.
Next, I came across a blog (blog.embracepetinsurance.com/2008/10/email-scam-usin.html) by Laura Bennett, co-founder of Embrace Pet Insurance in Mayfield Village, Ohio. She had a recent experience with Internet fraud.
Apparently in October a person in Cameroon posed as an Embrace affiliate and told potential pet owners that in order for them to complete the adoption process they needed to make an additional deposit of $388 for pet insurance, to be refunded “upon presentation of a valid identification paper, be it a driver’s license or Social Security card. We just need this insurance as a cover for the puppy on transit.”
Bennett told me she learned of the scam when the company began receiving phone calls from people inquiring about the pet insurance after buying it online.
Bennett said it’s hard to tell people they have been scammed.
“The feeling of ‘being had’ created feelings of distraught sadness that they were not going to get their pet, shock and dismay about losing money.”
Bennett heard stories of people losing from $250 to $2,000 with this scam.
“Scammers are getting more savvy,” she said. “They’re now getting into a niche business.”
Bennett said that after she posted her blog, the phone calls stopped, and she suspects that the con artists in Cameroon read it.
Although the phone calls subsided for a while, Bennett said Monday that they are slowing cropping up again.
Bennett offered advice:
- If someone is trying to sell you a purebred dog from Cameroon online, it’s a scam.
- If any of the companies this person mentions don’t exist with even a cursory search on Google, it’s a scam.
- If the e-mail asks you for more money to deliver the pet, it’s a scam.
If you are a victim of an e-mail scam or any other fraudulent activity, it is important that you report it to the proper authorities, she said.
“Some people don’t want to report it for the fear of looking foolish,” Bennett said. “However, they need to get over it and admit it.”
It could prevent it from happening to someone else.
So just like the old saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
- Click here for FBI guidelines about Internet fraud
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- Software company Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., offers seven signs of an e-mail scam. Click here to learn more.
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