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| What is e-gold? |
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E-gold, an electronic currency issued by e-gold Ltd., was established in 1996 by Douglas Jackson to provide world wide money to the World Wide Web. This electronic currency is 100% backed at all times by gold bullion that is kept in allocated storage.
E-gold is not accounted by weight of metal, the weight units of which have a precise and invariable definition that is internationally recognized. This, along with the fact that gold has had a long and reputable history of monetary use globally, makes e-gold ideally suited for international transactions.
What makes e-gold such a powerful currency is that it is borderless, quick and cost-effective.
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- Borderless – Payments can be made from one e-gold account to another any where in the world via a web-enabled mobile phone, the e-gold Account Manager or the e-gold shopping cart interface (SCI)
- Quick – Irrespective of how large the payment or the distance between the Sender and the Recipient, e-gold payments clears instantly with no risk of chargeback.
- Cost-effective – There are no charges for sending e-gold even if the sender and recipient are at the opposite ends of the world.
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| How E-gold Fraud Is Perpetuated |
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| People all around the world use E-gold for various things like for-ex trading and network marketing. Another feature of E-gold not mentioned above is that, unlike pay pal, it does not need any verification for payments. This very feature along with the fact that there is no charge-back makes it easier for the scammers to commit frauds. |
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| The common technique for committing e-gold fraud is by locking you out by gaining illegal access into your e-gold and then moving the funds out of your account while you are locked out. |
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Here are some of the ways by which this can be done:
- Fraudulent E-mail - You receive an e-mail, which is ostensibly sent by the e-gold company. The mail states that you need to click the link present in the mail in order to verify your account. The link takes you to a page that is an exactly replica of the e-gold site but which in fact has no connection to e-gold at all. Once at the site you are required to fill in details pertaining to your e-gold account number, email address, email address password and passphrase. This is all the information the criminal requires to lock you out and transfer your money into another account.
- Keylogger software - The fraudster could install a keylogger software on to the system that you are using to access your e-gold account. This software is capable of capturing your passwords and account numbers, which is then used for fraudulent purposes. This often happens when individuals use public computers to access internet accounts.
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| Bulletin Boards – Because users can conceal their identity behind multiple aliases, it is easy for one person to generate an illusion of widespread interest by posting several messages under different pseudonyms. Very often an ‘unbiased observer’ could turn out to be a company insider or even a large shareholder pumping up the company image by revealing ‘inside’ information about lucrative contracts or new products. |
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| Like any online scam, most of the scammers involved in the E-gold scams cannot be traced. Somehow even if the authorities trace them, the cyber laws can hardly do any harm to the scammer if he belongs to another country altogether. These criminals know for sure that no one can catch them. |
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| Therefore the best option that E-gold account holders have is to take care of their accounts on their own. |
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| How to Protect Yourself against E-gold Scams |
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Here are some of the steps you can take to protect yourself again E-gold scams:
- Make it a point to always logout from your account after you’ve finished all your transactions.
- Remember e-gold will never send its customers e-mails asking them for their passwords or asking them to verify personal information. They don’t need to. If you receive such an e-mail delete it and don’t ever click on any of the links.
- There are certain settings known as ascent security settings on your E-gold account which are enabled by default. Do not change these settings.
- Never entertain the exchangers who offer ridiculously low rates. If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Make it a practice to always employ the services of trusted and reputable e-gold exchangers.
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