Wednesday 30 January 2019
I fell in love online with an American soldier
With just two messages your new virtual friend fell in love with you so strongly that he is too eager to see you. The only problem? He needs your money to buy airline tickets to get to know you. Unfortunately due to the loneliness of many women, mainly in good financial situation and between 40 and 60 years old, they become victims of internet fraud.
The "Nigerian scam" is the most recently arrived in Spain. The idea is to supplant the identity of American soldiers, stealing real photos of the military to put them in fake profiles and swindling their victims. The soldier manifests his love and devotion very quickly in messages or emails, taking advantage of the affection shown by the woman to ask for money based on false stories. The truth is that these scammers have a very high imagination and creativity since all the stories invented are authentic Mexican novels.
Many times they start asking for money for basic things like emergencies, hospital bills or plane tickets, by way of testing if the person will transfer money without thinking twice. If they are lucky, then the misery of the victim will begin, as they will rob her to the bone.
One of the stories reported indicates that a supposed American military has usurped, together with his unit, a fortune from a terrorist group, so he asked his "girlfriend" to send him money to expatriate the fortune. A simple story without great imagination, we know it. But stories tend to improve over time. Another, this time a little more elaborate, the false American soldier survives a bombing and due to the sublime work exhibited is awarded with gold ingots. But as gold cannot be kept in the country where he is, the woman will receive it at her address, but for that she has to send him 2000 dollars since it is necessary to put the customs stamps. After the stamps, other customs complications arise that always involve the transfer of money by the victim. The gold never reaches the destination.
Finally the story that reaches the heart of any woman, a US military man found a treasure and wants to try to get it out of Afghanistan in order to build orphanages in America. But he need to start by moving the money to Europe and for that he ask for help from his victim, guaranteeing that part of the money will be for her and the other part will be for the construction of orphanages. Many lonely and sentimental women do not think twice before doing it, it is the perfect trick.
To prove the veracity of their stories, the scammers send passports, war photographs or honorary titles, but all the papers they use are bad falsifications of real military documents and the unfortunate soldiers whose identity was stolen have nothing to do with this type of scams. So, whenever you receive a request of friendship from a Stephen J. Townsend, Nicholas Patrick Carter, James Hursey, Nathan Fish, Kevin James, George Donald, James Maner or Tom Davidson James, you need to be careful because it is likely that you become a victim of the "Nigerian scam".
To avoid suffering this type of fraud the best advice is never send money to anyone you met online. You can also avoid contact with any American soldier that you don’t know, evade online dating pages and check the English spelling of the alleged US military.
Even under the anonymity of the network, every day that passes more people are working together to eradicate this problem. And, if a similar situation happens to you, you can ask for help from private detectives to solve your problem, since they are equipped with the maximum capabilities to prevent or investigate fraud, providing concrete evidence about the scams. With the support of criminalistics techniques they can, for example, evaluate the veracity of the documents sent by the scammers and thus avoid that you become a victim of these love delinquents.
So, beware of new requests for friendship on social networks, something that may seem innocent, can actually be a scam resulting from a false profile.
Sindia Alves and A. Oliver
Anthropologist and Detective
of Oliver Detectives
Wednesday 23 January 2019
Ambition without limits
People need to be very careful when looking for a job, but companies also need to know who they are hiring, because the truth is that there are no perfect employees. However, there are always worse than others, so that more and more frauds are being carried out within the organizations themselves.
The workers of the companies are its main fraudsters. About 60% of business fraud cases are committed by the employees themselves. According to a study by the company KPMG, in most cases it is due to errors in the control systems of the company since the fragility of internal anti-fraud controls is presented as a great opportunity to commit crimes. In addition to the opportunity, this organization refers that there are two more reasons that favor this type of behavior, motivation, and rationalization.
Obviously when we talk about companies that have been defrauded it is supposed to be the big companies, however, that thought is incorrect since not only large companies are affected by this type of scam, because although it is in proportion to each one, both large and small companies suffer the attacks of fraudsters. So, all care is little in the labor market.
Fortunately, there are ways to trace the profile of the fraudster. Do you have workers between 36 and 45 years of age in your company? With a seniority of at least 6 years in the entity? Is your position in the area of marketing, operations or finance? And finally, it remains to know, do you have any managerial responsibility? Therefore, if the answers are all affirmative then it is necessary to be on guard since it is before the most frequent profile of a fraudster. And unfavorably almost half of them have unlimited authority within the company.
So to combat fraud in organizations, KPMG specialists ensure that the following points should be taken into account:
- Examine fraud risks proactively and periodically.
- Use technology.
- Know and choose the third parties with whom the company is related based on criteria of integrity and ethics.
- Stay alert to detect and know how to put protection measures against these internal threats.
Actually many people the more they have more want to have, not even think about the likelihood that their actions are harmful to others, not only for companies in themselves but also for the people who run them, promoting the Bite the hand that feeds them.
Sindia Alves and A. Oliver
Anthropologist and Private Investigator
of Oliver Detectives
of Oliver Detectives
Friday 11 January 2019
The new restrictions on labor video surveillance
Video surveillance systems can violate employees' rights to privacy and data protection.
Nowadays, the best ally for the security of companies, is undoubtedly video surveillance (obtaining images and sounds in a specific space, whose captured elements can be recorded, reproduced and visualized), since it allows the control of all the areas of a company, mainly when there is nobody. However, attention must be paid when it is used to monitor the people who work there, so as not to infringe on their rights of privacy and data protection.
The new law on the Protection of Personal Data and the guarantee of digital rights (LOPDGDD) sanctions the handling of personal data, for purposes that are not compatible with those for which they have been collected. Thus, it is important that the video surveillance system is adjusted to this purpose, when it is assigned to labor control. Only the space including the work station and certain common spaces can be recorded, and in no case will the installation of audiovisual control be allowed in areas of recreation or relaxation, changing rooms, dining rooms and toilets, by way of not incurring in violation of the rights of honor, privacy and image of the workers.
This type of recording has to comply with the principles of suitability, necessity and proportionality mentioned in the doctrine of the Constitutional Court. In other words, the surveillance system by video camera can only be used for a purpose that effectively justifies resorting to such methods and all personal data, object of treatment, must be adequate and limited to the purposes for which they were collected.
So, the covert video surveillance of a worker in his workplace is considered an intrusion in his private life, and therefore the use of hidden cameras should be restricted to the maximum, confining its use to contexts of exceptionality and seriousness.
In recent years, efforts are being made to guarantee both the probative effectiveness of the images and the fundamental rights of employees.
Sindia Alves and A. Oliver
Anthropologist and Detective
of Oliver Detectives