Avoiding foreign money scams How to prevent foreign money scams

Prevention is better than cure; here's how to avoid falling victim to foreign money transfer scams.

Don't ever reply to requests to help strangers transfer money out of a foreign country. It's a long-running scam and the money never exists.

Don't worry; the scammers have not targeted you personally. Every day thousands of these scam letters and emails are sent to people across the globe.

Never reveal your bank and personal details to strangers. If you send your details they will be used by the scammers to take money from your account.

Report foreign money scam emails

If you receive one of these scams via email, report it to the internet service provider (ISP) that was used to send you the email.

For example, if the email came from a Yahoo! account, send it to abuse@yahoo.com. The ISP can then close the account which sent the email.