There was a time when, every other week, most people’s email inbox would contain an unsolicited invitation to avail of an offer to become rich beyond dreams.
It was sometimes the widow of a far-flung potentate, seeking assistance to transfer her late husband’s illicit riches to a place of safety. Or it might be a high-ranking banker in a remote country who had come across an unclaimed fortune and who was prepared to share the deal with a trusted foreigner who could help shift the haul to London. Or it might be that your name had come up as a winner in a multimillion lottery for which, mysteriously, you had never bought a ticket.
The scams were so infantile and transparently bogus that it was hard to see anyone falling into the obvious trap. (Although it was said that, either through naivety or sheer desperation, some victims took the chance in the hope of solving their financial woes.)

Sophisticated scams
But that was back in the day of donkey-and-cart online trickery. Since then, the villainy of scamming has become much more sophisticated, with even the smartest and savviest being duped into parting with all they own on the promise of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.........

© The Mayo News