BS: What kind of email scam is this one???

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 08:45 AM

they got $AUD3000 (similar in USD & somewhere around UK2000)

let us all join in George & Ira Berlin's "Nice work if you can get it ...

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 05:33 AM

Sorry to hear that Sandra. People get concerned and worry about the 'stranded' one. Even if the scam works only once or twice, I suppose it makes it worth their while to keep doing it.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: David C. Carter
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 04:32 AM

That should have read"The Bill Gates Foundation".

David

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 04:28 AM

Eliza - friends of one of my friends sent money to help her when she was 'stranded' in (wherever it was)

They live interstate & didn't check with other friends here in Sydney who could have told them it was a scam cos she was rushing around Sydney attending to her usual business. Unfortunately the money had gone via a legit wire transfer before they contacted someone in Sydney & couldn't be retrieved.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: David C. Carter
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 04:17 AM

I got one last week from The Bill Gates Foudation,telling me I have been the winner of some money.I didn't look at the next page,I binned it.Twice in one week.Anybody had this one?

David

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: EBarnacle
Date: 31 Aug 13 - 05:01 PM

Got a really new one today. I was invited to participate in a professional conference [actually in my field] in Washington and then be guest for a second part of the conference in Lagos, Nigeria. My travel and accommodations would be hosted by the conference organizers. Others have gotten this invitation in an earlier round about 6 months ago and actually fell for it, giving up a credit card number and personal data to register.

The bad guys are getting better at it.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 31 Aug 13 - 03:15 PM

LOL Joe, I like the fact that you're asked to 'fasten'! The tone of the letter is African, I imagine a Nigerian or Cameroonian, something like that. Aren't they just too daft for words? Who'd believe that a Catholic priest would be able to get his hands on nearly $9 million originally designated for an orphanage building? I'm always amused at the weird and wonderful tales these folk cook up, stories that not even my cats would swallow.
Don, a very elderly friend's email was hacked and I got a similar emergency message that he was stranded in the Far East, the British Embassy and local Police refused to help and would I send thousands of dollars (which he very kindly promised to refund on his return!) The email was headed 'Sad News About X' (my friend's name) and I thought he had died. He's far too old and frail to walk to our village shop, never mind whizzing off to the Far East. Do these people imagine that we don't know our friends' whereabouts? Pathetic, but evil just the same.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 Aug 13 - 02:38 PM

Barbara and I both got an interesting bit of e-mail a few days ago (we each have an e-mail box).

It was from John S., who lives in our apartment building and travels a lot on business.

It said that he was stranded in London because he had been mugged and all his money, credit cards, and passport had been stolen. It went on to say that he had no money to get home on or pay his hotel bill, and the American Embassy in London had been no help at all. The hotel wouldn't even let him leave the building until he paid his bill.


Could we send him enough money to pay his bill and get home on? He, of course, would reimburse us as soon as he got home—and with many thanks in advance!

Small problem with this.

John S. was not in London. He was upstairs, in his apartment.

Don Firth

P. S. John found out that his computer had been hacked and the hacker had got his e-mail address book. He had the e-mail addresses of all the residents of the building. And everyone in the building got the same e-mail.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Joe Offer
Date: 31 Aug 13 - 02:02 PM

Here's one that piqued my curiosity:

Dear Friend

Please take your time to read this message; although i know you will be amazed at the level of trust that i
am willing to place on someone I have never seen nor spoken with before. It is my condition that has prompted
me to do so. I have been disowned by the people I lived my productive life serving, Catholics!

Please my friend, i want you to swear an oath of secrecy never to mention this to any body not even your spouse
must learn of this, you must uphold this information am about to share with utmost confidentiality, fasten
and prayer. If this information get's into the wrong hands or into the hand of the wrong catholic they will go
to any length to jeopardize this course

My name is Rev. James Robinson, I am a 75 years old catholic priest of over 25 years. I was framed for sexual
offenses against minors in 1985. This was the work of my enemies who were against the reforms I pushed for in
the Catholic church.

I was sentenced in October 2010, after hiding in the USA for a long time. Since then I have been battling
with a heart condition and I know I cannot live any longer than I have done. I've decided to release to you
the total sum of $8,970,000.00 (Eight million Nine Hundred and seventy Thousand us dollars) deposited in
a offshore bank. I had wanted to use this money to set up an orphanage but since it is clear that may not
live to achieve this, i want to bequeath this money to you so that you will help me accomplish this dream.

As a Catholic priest, I had no child, no wife, and no family. The church i trusted all my life on has failed me,
so I have no other option as my days on earth are numbered. It's true we don't receive emails like this every
day, but today is a different day for you. I will turn 75 years a day after tomorrow.

I took this decision because I was raised in an Orphanage, i do not have relatives and thirdly, i will soon be
undergoing a major heart surgery of which i do not think i will survive any more knife in the theater. this is
why I have decided to contact you so that you can help me fulfill my last wish. As soon as i receive your
reply indicating your interest, i will furnish you will all the detail information's you would require to claim
this money from the bank as my next of kin.

Regards
Rev. James Robinson

NB: Please remember to include your full contact information's phone number(s) and address, if you are willing
to help me with this noble call.
© 2013 MicrosoftTerms

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 05:04 PM

If I do, I'll tell them you're responsible and get you extradited to Canada's most top security prison where you will be forced to eat maple syrup and Tim Horton's donuts.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 02:16 PM

Dang it, LH! I called her and she's reported it to the Seattle Police! You might get a visit from the RCMP.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 12:42 PM

UK premium numbers are 0600 and 0900 and variants thereof. There are none prefixed with 01 or 02.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 12:12 PM

Rap, I changed all those phone numbers to some extent before I pasted in the email text in my first post. I don't think I changed any of the area codes, but I did change other parts of the numbers. Therefore your hypothetical lady in Seattle, the one who lives on Dexter Avenue, is most certainly not getting any calls on account of this particular email scam! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 10:16 AM

The baddies don't need it, Eliza. They have other ways of finding out. Is there a City Directory in your public library that lists people's addresses by street name? Do you have a telephone directory? A business directory? A few minutes in a public library would be sufficient, I'm sure.

Or just hang around a pub, maybe buy a couple of rounds.

You'd be VERY much surprised how much information is out there. Reverse phone number look-up is nice, but hardly necessary if you're willing to invest a little time in the effort. Believe me on this -- I did "looking it up" as a profession for more than 40 years.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 06:42 AM

Henry, we may not have the 'freedom' to discover everybody's name and address merely by their phone number, but then, neither do the baddies.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Monique
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 06:37 AM

LH, "I'm still wondering how the hell they got my name". They just need to put the name of a town + "company" or "business" into our friend Google, they get a list, then they ask our friend Google again about every company. Just try it: there are your name, address, phone number, email address in 4 or 5 sites in the two or three first pages. They also have time in their hands...

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Henry Krinkle
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 05:46 AM

You don't have much freedom there, do you?
=(:-( o)

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Will Fly
Date: 01 Nov 12 - 04:44 AM

In the UK, reverse telephone number lookup is not allowed and available only to the emergency services.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 02:58 PM

That was a good thought, Will, but I checked, and in North America, premium numbers are in the 900 area code. The fraudulent e-mail gives a number in the 206 area code.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 02:49 PM

Oh, fer goodness sakes! Do a reverse phone number look-up on US phone numbers (not cell numbers, though)!

The 206 number is registered to a lady in Seattle who lives on Dexter Avenue. She might be very annoyed with the phone calls by now!

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 02:38 PM

I think that's it, Will Fly. There must be some gain for the scammer. Beware, your phone bill may give you a coronary!

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Will Fly
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 02:28 PM

It may be that the telephone numbers themselves are premium numbers which, when you call them, charge an exorbitant rate - well over the normal rate - the revenue of which accrues to the person who owns the number. They keep you talking about something and nothing - and the cash racks up.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 02:22 PM

I have to agree, Henry. It makes me smile when folk but five tickets instead of just one, as if that will make any difference! I'd rather keep the money in my pocket, but some people are very keen to gamble. Have you noticed the increase in the number of gambling sites advertised on TV? I find that quite worrying.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Henry Krinkle
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 02:09 PM

The Lottery is a tax on stupidity. The more stupid you are, the more you play.
=(:-( ))

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 02:00 PM

Thaat's very sad, Little Hawk. An interesting comment on how people can be scammed because of their ardent hope for something good to happen. I suppose we all have this to some extent. After all, why buy a Lottery ticket? There's a several-million-to-one chance that you'll win anything at all, but they sell like hot cakes on a Saturday. My husband was very vulnerable to this kind of thinking when he first came to UK. He was naively convinced that he could get something for nothing by subscribing to this and that (most poor Africans are). I had to guide and protect him tactfully through those months until he wised-up. How do you view folk like this LH? Are they just greedy and deserve to be scammed, or are they naive, simple and vulnerable and deserve our guidance and protection?

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 01:47 PM

"Is there a person left on the planet who would fall for a 419 scam nowadays?"

There are probably many who would, Eliza. After all, the human ego has the habit of thinking of itself as "the center of the world". As such, it expects that maybe one day it will get its "lucky break" and its ship will come in. This usually means getting a lot of money! ;-) This makes people vulnerable to things which seem to offer them that dream.

I saw my father go though it, despite the fact that he was a pretty cunning and cautious businessman...but what made him vulnerable was the kind of thinking I spoke of above. He was waiting all his life for that one big break that would make him very wealthy (as well as working like a dog to get it).

He, like anyone else, was receiving these 419 scams in his email in about the last 10 years of his life when he began using computers regularly. He just couldn't resist the lure of the "big break", so he followed up on one of them and contacted the people who sent it.

They wanted him to provide bank account numbers and stuff. He was too smart to do that, but he kept in touch with them, and they finally arranged to set up a meeting for him in New York City when he was on a trip there on some other business. He met with their "representative" at some place in Manhattan and had a half hour of fruitless discussion which led nowhere useful, at which point he decided that they weren't "real", and he gave up on the whole thing.

So he didn't lose any money to them, but he did lose quite a bit of his time and attention to a wild goose chase.

They kept in touch with him for months afterward, and he kept putting them off. The emails got funnier and funnier. They began questioning his sanity for being so foolish as to pass up such a great opportunity. In their last email, they began with the sentence, "Dear Mr ---------, are you COMPLETELY MAD????"

I was laughing and laughing about it. I used to help him with his computer stuff (he had a terrible time using the computer), and I saw most of those emails. I had advised him from the beginning that it was a scam, but he decided to pursue it anyway. He just could NOT resist the thought of getting all that money! And who better in the world to deserve it than him?

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 01:25 PM

It's probably not the same scam/scammer. African scammers choose very English names for their rubbish, and they get them from all sorts of sources. One that always makes me giggle is their belief that we all address eachother as 'dear'. I've had quite a few emails which start with 'Hello Dear'. They take it from the Dear Sir, but don't use it in the right context. Is there a person left on the planet who would fall for a 419 scam nowadays?

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 01:17 PM

Well, well. ;-) It turns out that "Peter E. Williams" also runs a 419 scam out of Lagos, Nigeria! Thanks for the link, 999.

I'm still wondering how the hell they got my name.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 01:16 PM

Naturally, anybody wise in the ways of the Internet would not respond to such an e-mail, but if one did, then what?

One would call them and provide the numbers they provided. This reminds me of the drawings in the old manuscripts where you trace the length of a snake's body only to discover that it is eating its own tail.

Well, perhaps they are compiling a list of gullible people to sell to others.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 01:02 PM

It's hard to see what they'll get out of this. UK phone numbers usually begin with a zero. eg +44 (code for UK) 01418 etc. 01418 is one of the codes for Glasgow, Scotland by the way. As if anyone's bank would ask one to contact them like this! Maybe it's a special line which gives them premium profits by ringing it.

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: GUEST,999
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 01:01 PM

http://www.hoax.cz/scam419/zenith-international-bank/

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 01:00 PM

Oh, I'm not planning to. There's no way my "accounts and assets" are in the care of anyone's establishment in the UK anyway, so it has to be a scam of some kind.

"Peter" has just sent me a 3rd email along the same line. They're persistent. I wonder how they got my name?

Subject: RE: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 12:54 PM

I haven't seen this particular solicitation, but note the random use of capital letters -- not something seen in genuine professional correspondence in English. Don't bother phoning.

Subject: BS: What kind of email scam is this one???
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 Oct 12 - 12:38 PM

I suspect this is another email scam of some kind, but it's different from those I've seen before. It doesn't have a link or an attachment to click on...it has phone numbers to call, and it addresses me by my full name. Here it is in its entirety, only I've removed my name wherever it appears, and I've altered some of the numbers in the original:

****

Dear (my full name) ,
This is a follow up to an earlier email sent to you about Mr. (my surname), whose accounts and assets are in care of our establishment.

To verify Mr. (my surname)'s information and Account Please call any of the banks automated telephone numbers, enter his eight digit account number and four digit pin which are provided below.

Call any of the Phone Numbers for verification.
-----------------------------------------------
Automated Telephone Number : Tel: [phone] (United Kingdom)
Automated Telephone Number : Tel: [phone],

(Eight)8 digit Account number : 31293585
(four)4 Digit Pin: 9283

Also note the information provided to you in this mail is highly confidential and will help you better understand the email.
Contact me as soon as the account is verified for further assistance.
Regards,
Peter E. Williams
Tel: [phone]


It is the 2nd email I've received from "Peter" about this. I ignored the first one.