New Malaysian Bank Scam

MEDIA RELEASE - The Alliance Police Department recently released a press release regarding a local senior citizen on 10-14-09 regarding a rising scam referred to as the “Granny Scam”. In the release we asked other residents to report suspected scams immediately so we could both investigate and educate the public about the specific scam. Yesterday a concerned citizen reported a new scam to our department. The scam involves a fax recieved from a subject named "Mrs. Zeinabb Tafi Dame" from Malaysia. In the fax Mrs Zeinabb explains that she and her husband are managers at the O.C.B Bank in Malaysia and that have discovered and abandoned sum of $70 million dollars. The money, according to Zeinabb, was the property of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Zeinabb further states that Hussein deposited the money into their bank under someone from the United States who has the same name as the intended victim - how convenient. Zeinabb states that she and her husband can arrange to split the cash with the victim and that the process will be very simple. Zeinab tells the intended victim that they will fax an "application" for the funds that the victim must fax back to the attached fax numbers. This scam is similar to many others. Vicitms fall prey to this type of scam becuase they scammer has asked for no money from the victim, so whats the harm? In these cases the scammer will ask for the intended victim's bank account information to transfer the funds in, when in reality they will transfer all the money out of the victim's account. These types of cases are very difficult for law enforcement to successfully investigate. Our best tactic is prevention and education so people do not fall victim to these criminals. If you are contacted please contact the police department if you have any suspicions at all. We provide information regarding identity theft and scams on our website at www.alliancepolice.com. We are also providing a free public training class (1 hour) in November on Identity Theft and Scams. You can register online at http://www.alliancepolice.com/public-training-class. You can also call 330-823.5708 to register.