

The Spanish Prisoner Scam - ryan_j_naughton
http://priceonomics.com/the-email-scam-with-centuries-of-history/

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pselbert
I came to this expecting something about the movie. Instead I was rewarded
with a staggering amount of history on the scam every one of has had
perpetrated on us.

~~~
ludicast
Me too, partly because it was one of my favorite movies about the dangers of
"intrapreneurship". I really enjoyed Mamet's mantalk in this one.

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bokchoi
Wow, $12.3 Billion lost to the 419 scam in 2013 and growing if the ultrascan
report is accurate.

Edit: interesting report on the scam (warning large pdf):

[http://www.ultrascan-
agi.com/public_html/html/pdf_files/Pre-...](http://www.ultrascan-
agi.com/public_html/html/pdf_files/Pre-
Release-419_Advance_Fee_Fraud_Statistics_2013-July-10-2014-NOT-FINAL-1.pdf)

~~~
acqq
The company producing the report you link appears to be the scam too:

[http://www.ultrascan-
agi.com/public_html/html/about.html](http://www.ultrascan-
agi.com/public_html/html/about.html)

"Ultrascan AGI is a subsidiary of Ultrascan Research Services, an
international research organization with over 3200 experts in 69 countries."

But in the report you link, made in 2014, they have their statistics of
"Yugoslavia" from 2008 and 2009, whereas the country with that name doesn't
exist in the world since 2003 (that is, more than a decade) easily verifiable
online.

I wouldn't be surprised that behind the "organization with 3200 experts" is
only one or two persons.

Edit: and here they are, possibly using the fake names, doing scams too:

[http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/texas-c466991.html](http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/texas-c466991.html)

"People, please be aware, globalinvestor.com IS a scam. It's just a website
with nothing legitimate behind it. The person behind it allegedly is a 'Max
Becker' who writes on his Linkedin profile that he is the CEO. He also writes
to be the CTO of a company called Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations.
The person behind Ultrascan is Frank Engelsman. He is Dutch and does exist.
Ultrascan claims to help victims of 419 (Nigerian advanced fee fraud) but that
appears also to be a scam."

[http://www.scambook.com/report/view/115492/Economic-
Frauds-e...](http://www.scambook.com/report/view/115492/Economic-Frauds-
economicfraudscom-Complaint-115492-for-$650.00)

"I was scam by Global Investor Alerts for $37,000. Exact same modus operendi
as Economic Frauds. I do some research and I find other company with same
modus operendi Ultrascan IGA website [http://www.ultrascan-
agi.com/](http://www.ultrascan-agi.com/) Take a look. It look like it is
abandoned since 2010. The owner of Ultrascan company is Frank Engelsman from
Holland. Then came Global Investor Alerts alias name now Max Becker now it is
Economic Frauds.

Max Becker tell me the same thing. How he can get my money back from garbage
stock I buy, called ALLI, and he already help a lot of people. So then I send
in my documents. Then he say it is class action with many others and ALLi do a
fraud.

Always a story to send money again and again. Then I am suspicious. I try to
get address to go see Max Becker and no more answer. Ultrascan, Gobal Investor
Alerts, Economic Frauds all have no address. Only telephone to take your
money."

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rdlecler1
This fraud has now moved to LinkedIn under the guise of Middle Eastern
Investors. They have websites that they copy from legitimate websites but with
no deep linking in the site. I actually think that this is a serious problem
for LinkedIn.

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dbbolton
A fool and his money are soon parted.

I doubt technology will ever make that proverb obsolete.

