How do scams work?
Scams are designed to exploit the trust you develop in your foreign partner and defraud you of goods, services, or money. Unsolicited letters and e-mails received in Canada often originate in another country. However, you may be asked to visit a foreign country to finalize the deal. Scams are usually flexible and may be adapted to take the greatest advantage of their targets. They can be very sophisticated and may take victims to staged meetings, often held in borrowed offices at government ministries or at overseas locations. The persons involved do their research and can often provide plausible, but fake, orders written on seemingly genuine government stationery, replete with official stamps and seals.
