Top 10 Internet Scams

We found a nice breakdown of the top 10 internet scams on switched.com. These are general descriptions of the types of scams being used. If you scan through our site you'll find actual copies of emails received from the scammers. This will hopefully better assist you in determining whether the emails you receive are a scam or not. You can read the article by clicking here.


Remember, the best thing you can do is to delete the email if you don't know the sender. And if the sender APPEARS to be from a company you deal with, you are better off to delete the email and go to your vendors website or call directly to determine if the email was real or not. In most cases you will be told the email is spam or a phishing scheme. Also, in many cases the vendor will give you a spoof@____.com address to forward the email to.

Spam Scam Sympathy Spam Scam

Here's a good one for any Dr. Suess readers out there in web land. We labeled this supposed spam scam The Spam Scam Sympathy Spam Scam.......Sam I am.

The email subject catches your attention since you've received so many scams.

Email Subject: Good News to Scam Victims

Enticing subject. Could it be possible that someone has finally caught these scammers and shut down their operation? Is there some new program that blocks all of these scams? Not hardly.

This Nigerian scammer is claiming you get 1 million dollars from the Nigerian Government because they are embarrassed by all of the bank scams which have been committed through their country. Including you...they are giving away 100 victims 1 million dollars.

The Big Question is....Would someone who's been victimized by a Nigerian Bank Scam actually reply to this and get scammed twice? We sure hope not unless they're going for the Darwin awards.

Once again there are grammatical and math errors. While promising 100 people will get the million they later claim 84 have been paid and 20 are left. That's 104. Maybe if you hurry they won't notice the 4 million dollar mistake.

Also, who would believe Nigeria would pay out 100 million dollars? Based on their GDP you would think that amount would be a stretch. Anyway...........

HERE'S THE SCAM EMAIL

CENTRAL BANK/UNITED NATIONS 2008 COMPENSATIONS
                        PAYMENTS DIRECTOR
ATTN:Sir/madam,
SCAMMED VICTIM/1 MILLION BENEFICIARY.REF/PAYMENTS
CODE:06654 1MILLION  USD.

This is to bring to your notice that I am delegate from the United Nations
to Central bank Nigeria to pay 100 Nigerian 419 scam victims $1 Million
each, you are listed and approved for this payments as one of the scammed
victims,get back to us as soon as possible for the immediate payments of
your $1 Million compensations funds.
On this faithfull recomendations,I  want you to know that during the last
UN meetings held at Abuja,Nigeria,it was alarmed so much by the rest of
the world in the meetings on the lose of funds by variouse foreigners to
the scams artists operating in syndicates all over the world today,in
other to retain the good image of the country,the president of the country
is now paying 100 victims of this operators $1Million USD each,Due to the
corrupt and inefficient banking systems in Nigeria,the payments are to be
paid by Central bank Nigeria  as corressponding paying bank under fundling
assistance by the National westminster bank london.

According to the number of applicants at hand,84 beneficiaries has been
paid ,half of the victims are from the United States,we still have more 20
left to be paid the compensations of $1Million each.Your particulars was
mentioned  by one of the syndicates  who was arrested in Lagos, Nigeria as
one of thier victims of the operations,you are hereby warned not to
communicate or duplicate this message to him for any reason what so
ever,the US secret service is already on trace of the criminal.

For more vital information,please 
visit:http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/news1jul.htm
You can receive your compensations payments via any of the both options
you choose,ATM
CARD,DRAFT PAYMENTS or WIRE TRANSFERS,I shall feed you with further
modalities as
soon as I hear from you.

Reconfirm the following ..
1) Your full Name.
2) mobile Phone
3) Age and marital status.
4) profession,
5} Your Full Address.

Send a copy of your response to
email:cbnunitednations@gmail.com
Yours faithfully,

Rev.Dr.Patrick Azziza

Remember, it's best if you ignore these scammers by banning their ip address.

Death Threat Email Spam

We received another Death Threat email this week. That's two in one week. Considering we've never done anything to hurt anyone it's a pitiful shame that these spam scammers would make such a horrible attempt to scam our hard earned money. Please let your friends know about this scam so they will be prepared if they recieve a copy. You can report this spam to the FBI by visiting their complaint site: http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/

Here's a copy of the latest Death Threat Scam. This one posed as a member of Al Quaeda. Not funny!


Attn,

I am very sorry for you, is a pity that this is how your life is going to
end as soon as you don't comply. As you can see we are the members of
the deadly networks in the world, which is the responsible for the bombing
of twin tower's in America on Sept. 11th and the bombing of London
transport services on the July 7th (AL-QUAEDA NETWORKS), I don't have any
business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you
and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.

Someone whom you called your friend told us all about you and how you
supporting President George Bush, during the war against our Muslim
brothers
in Iraq and this person have spent a lot of money in this venture, This
person came to us and told me that he wanted you dead and he provided us
with your name, picture and other necessary information's we needed about
you. So I sent my boys to track you down this including bugging of your
phones with satellite tracking devices and they have carried out the
necessary investigation we needed for the operation on you, and if you
doubt this information am going to give you all the necessary information
about you back to you in your next reply so that you can believe me, and
my boys are really on you but I told them not to kill you that I will
like to contact you and see if your life is important to you and the one
of your family. I called my client back and ask him of your email address
which I didn't tell him what I wanted to do with it and he gave it to me
and I am using it to contact you now. As I am writing you this mail my
men are monitoring you and they are telling me everything about you.

Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? Since all program has be made and draw to
kill you. Get back to me now if you are ready to pay some fees to spare
your Life, $10,000 is all you need to spend in this process you will
first of all Pay $7,000 and then I will send a tape to you which I
recorded in every discussion I had with the person, who wanted you dead
and as soon as you get the Tape, You will pay the remaining balance of
$3,000. If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my
job straight-up, while we are doing this, we want to make America,
London, Spain, Germany a hell for those that support the President George
Bush war against Iraq, our Muslim Country.

WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELLING ANYONE
BECAUSE I WILL NOW ,REMEMBER, SOMEONE WHO KNOWS YOU VERY WELL WANT YOU
DEAD!

I WILL EXTEND IT TO YOUR FAMILY, INCASE I NOTICE SOMETHING FUNNY ABOUT
YOUR TELLING THE SECURITY ABOUT IT BECAUSE A GOOD LOOK IS OUT YOU AT
MOMENT.

DO NOT COME OUT ONCE IT IS 7PM UNTIL I MAKE OUT TIME TO SEE YOU AND GIVE
YOU THE TAPE OF ALL DISCUSSION WITH THE PERSON WHO WANT YOU DEAD THEN YOU
CAN USE IT TO TAKE ANY LEGAL ACTION. GOOD LUCK AS I AWAIT YOUR REPLY......


THANKS,

AL-QUAEDA NETWORKS

German Fedex Courier Scam full of mispelled words and poor grammar.

Here's a good candidate for a spam scammer we could match up with another spam scammer.

Now these scammers proclaim they have given the courier our address which we need to verify. We seriously doubt this is the case being that they don't even know our name. Also, how could a Barrister (attorney) not know how to spell affidavit? I guess the law schools in Germany don't check for spelling errors...LOL.

On the bright side it was nice of them to refer to us as "My Dear"...shouldn't they have called me "My Dear Sucker Candidate" :)

Here's the latest scam from "Barrister Paul Dan. Now that's a real German sounding name, don't you think?

Title of the email read: CONTACT FEDEX OFFICE IMMEDAITELY FRIEND THANKS.
Note: If we contact the Fedex office we'll request that they teach their customers to learn how to spell immediately.

Here's the email scam: We're thinking Dr. Matthew Godwin may be getting a call from one of our other scammers real soon.

Attention, My Dear

I have Paid for the delivery fee for your Cheque Draft.but the manager of Ecok Trust Bank Plc Benin told me that before the check will get to you that it will expire.So i told him to cash $1.4million United States Dollars all the necessary arrangement of delivering the $1.4million United States Dollars in cash was made with FEDXE EXPRESS DELIVERY COURIER DIRECTOR.

Below is the needed information to enable them deliver your fund to you immediately. the only fee you have to pay them is $135 usd only that they will use it to obtain security keeping fee and claims of affadvite that will prove that the parcel belong to you be rest assure that all other fees have been paid by me.
ATTN: DR Mathew Godwin.
TEl: : +229-979-368-05
EMAIL: fedex_express_delivery018@yahoo.fr
Please, Send them your contacts information to able them locate you immediately they arrived in your country with your BOX .This is what they need from you.

1.YOUR FULL NAME__________________
2.YOUR HOME ADDRESS__________________
3.YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER_____________
4.YOUR CURRENT OFFICE TELEPHONE_______________
5.A COPY OF YOUR PICTURE_________________
SHIPMENT CODE AWB 33XZS
PACKAGE REGISTERED CODE NO XGT442.
SECURITY CODE SCTC/2001DHX/567/
TRANSACTION CODE 233/CSTC/101/33028/
CERTIFICATE DEPOSIT CODE SCTC/BUN/xxiv/-78/01

Try to contact them as soon as possible to avoid increasing the security keeping fee.I gave them your delivering address but you have to reconfirm it to them again to avoid any mistake in the delivering including with your ID or Picture.Hoping to hear from you as soon as you cash your Draft .
Thanks and God bless you and your family.
BARRISTER PAUL DAN
FRANKFURT-GERMANY

BONUS NOTE: If we could only receive $1 from each of these scammers we would have accumulated a nice chunk of change by now. Maybe we'll work on this in the future. Something along the line of...will you send me $1 to proof to me that you are serious.

Let's have some fun Contest

We're thinking about connecting a few of these scammers with each other so they can hassle each other for awhile instead of innocent people. We're currently taking suggestions for the best way to accomplish this without getting our blog hacked.

1. We need a perfect email address which we can create to entice these scammers to play the game.
2. We need your suggestions as to who we should match up against each other on our current blog entries.

The best suggestions we receive for #1 and #2 will each be be given 50 EntreCard Credits!!!!!!!

We'll close this contest on March 1st. Then we'll follow up with their responses.

This could be fun if guido the killer doesn't figure out how to track us down.

Thanks,
Spambusters

The Best Spam Subject Ever!

We received a spam email today which had us jumping for joy....at least for a minute. The subject read "THIS IS MY THIRD AND FINAL EMAIL TO YOU".

Could it be true? A FINAL email from a spammer! Now this is a subject line that captured our attention. It wasn't like the others, i.e. , regarding your inheritance, contact immediately, bless you for your assistance, your funds have arrived, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc...

Well obviously we were disappointed when we anxiously opened the SPAM email to read more of the same old stuff. You know, some guy died who wanted to leave his money to someone trustworthy because he didn't have any relatives.

It's nice to be thought of as trustworthy but it just doesn't mean as much when it's from a total stranger and oceans away.

Well anyway, here's a copy of today's spam scam of the day. If you're a helicopter pilot maybe this was meant for you since this guy apparently in a Helicopter society of some sort. We could think of a lot easier groups to match up with strangers such as "He was a member of the "I don't care for barristers of lawyers who claim to have inheritance club.

Here's today's spam scam from DAVID SMITH AND ASSOCIATES' david.smith1esq22@yahoo.co.uk

The Barristers' Chambers:
DAVID SMITH & ASSOCIATES
Phone: +44 701 113 3308
+44 704 572 6455
Fax: +44 700 592 1653
E-mail: dsmith631@googlemail.com
Address: 33 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4JH, England


Attention:

On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the estate of Late Engr.
Jurgen
Krugger,I once again try to notify you as my earlier letter was
returned
undelivered.I hereby attempt to reach you again by this same email
address on the WILL.I wish to notify you that late Jurgen Krugger made
you a beneficiary in his WILL. He left the sum of Thirty Million, One
Hundred Thousand Dollars (USD$30,100,000.00) to you in the Codicil and
last testament to his WILL.

This may sound strange and unbelievable to you, but it is real and
true.
Being a widely travelled man, he said he met you sometime in the past
or
simply you were nominated to him by one of his numerous friends abroad
who
wished you good, I am not too sure again. Jurgen Krugger until his
death
was a member of the Helicopter Society and the Institute of Electronic
&
Electrical Engineers and a German property magnate. He was a very
dedicated christian who loved to give out alms to the poor,hungry and
needy. His great philanthropy earned him numerous awards during his
life
time. Late Jurgen Krugger died on the 30Th day of July, 2000 at the age
of
80. His WILL is now ready for execution after 8 years of thorough
investigation.

According to him, this money is to support your humanitarian/medical
activities and to help the poor and the needy in our society. Please if
I
reach you as I am hopeful, endeavour to get back to me as soon as
possible
to enable me conclude my job. I hope to hear from you in no distant
time.
I am sincerely sorry if you feel bothered or embarrassed by this
message;
I am just about my own job. I do hope you understand that? Thank you.

Note: You are advised to contact me with my personal email address
below:

Email:dsmith631@googlemail.com
david.smith1esq22@yahoo.co.uk

I await your prompt response and please keep this very discrete and to
yourself until the transfer of the funds to you is finalised.

Yours in Service,

BARRISTER DAVID SMITH.
PRINCIPAL PARTNERS
PARTNERS: Barrister Aidan Walsh.Esq, Markus Wolfgang, Mr. John Marvey
Esq,
Mr. Jerry Smith Esq.

Scare Tactics Scam

Now this one was quite alarming because we could see where someone might be tempted to respond based on their concern that government authorities are getting involved. Some of these scammers are getting pretty good at catching our attention. They should be writing headlines for newspapers or magazines instead of trying to scam innocent people out of hard earned money.

This one came from:
'INDEPENDENT CORRUPT PRACTICES COMMISSION(ICPC)
cbn_org@freenet.de



Subject:

Intercepted Transfer By National Drug Law Enforcement/Anti-Terrorist Commission.

Type: Text

INDEPENDENT CORRUPT PRACTICES COMMISSION(ICPC)
HEADQUARTER: LAGOS HOUSE, IKEJA GOVERNMENT QUARTERS.
MOTTO: NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW.
YOU AND THE LAW

Re: Intercepted Transfer By National Drug Law Enforcement/Anti-Terrorist Commission.

Dear Sir/Madam,

It was reported to our Minister for Foreign Affairs that your impending
funds($10,500,000.00) which was intercepted by the National Drug Law
Enforcement/Anti- Terrorist Commission. We have investigated your
transaction through the apex bank of Nigeria(CBN), We noticed that you made
several attempt to transfer your funds but to no avail. Our
investigation continued to the judiciary upper house(National House of
Assembly),The Senate monitoring team gave an unsatisfactory report to your
transaction, hence the chairman is presently under investigation for conspiracy
and with an intension to divert your funds.

We have in our powers as the only and approved office by the Federal
Government of Nigeria taken absolute possession of your funds which has
been deposited with H.S.B.C BANK PLC LONDON. In consonance with the law
guiding this organization, It might interest you to know that Prof
Charles Soludo and others shall be interrogated and if found guilty, they
shall have no option than to pay whatever you have spent in the past.

Below is the information we have stating that it belongs to you but we
still advise that you re-confirm this again as we shall not be held
responsible for any misdirection of your transfer.

Bank name:USBank
1015 Industry Road
Lexington,Kentucky 40505
A/C# 189706657
Routing# 034577123
Swift Transfer# usbkus44imt

If the above information is not correct,then endeavour to send the
correct one including your direct phone number,address etc. Haven said
this, in other to avert any form of difficulties or problem with your
transaction,you will be paid via our corresponding bank in London. This is
base on our bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom(UK). You
might be a foreigner in the United State and for this reason no American
Bank would accept an individual transfer to such an amount of money. It
might also interest you to know that since the September 11th attack by
terrorist in America, they have beefed up their security even to banks
and the flow of cash is totally checkmated. The homeland security agent
even in the airport despite your position as a diplomat, You must be
searched. The same situation is applicable here in Nigeria and even in
the United Kingdom.For this reason, your funds will be only and safely
released to you through an organization which is registered by the
government of this country.

Our interaction with the National Drug Law Enforcement/Anti- Terrorist
Commission was real but due to the fact that the homeland securities
even in the banks are not convinced and your transfer was halt. Finally,
we have your funds in our custody and it is safe but will be
transferred via our corresponding bank.

You are advised to call the telephone number below for oral and
important discussion, Should you fail to call or respond as advised then we
shall have no option than to confiscate this funds in agreement with the
law governing this organization. We promise to give you our
professional service that will ensure your quick receive of your funds within
7days.

1. YOUR FULL NAME:........................
2. YOUR FULL ADDRESS:......................
3. YOUR TELEPHONE.........................
4. FAX....................................
5. AGE....................................
6 .SEX:...................................
7. YOUR OCCUPATION........................
8. YOUR ACCOUNT DETAILS WHERE YOU WANT YOUR FUND TO TRANSFER INTO:
...........................................
...........................................

Yours Faithfully,

Dr. Ugo B. Emeson.
Head:ICPC

Another Bank Scam full of Mispelled Words

Here's another Bank spam scam. After receiving over 1000 of these they all begin to sound familiar. One of the things that amazes us the most is the consistent spelling and grammatical errors made in most of these emails. You would think someone serious enough to try and scam you out of your hard earned money would at least take the time to use some type of spell checking software. We counted 12 spelling or tense errors and we only did a quick scan of this spam. This is especially perplexing because so many of these scammers proclaim to be Attorney's or Dr.'s.

Another interesting part of these email scams is the part where the "scammer" claims we shouldn't trust anyone else with this opportunity. We assume this paragraph has been added after many of us "fight back" and contact the authorities.

If these people would concentrate their efforts on something useful they would probably be fairly successful based on their ability to find email lists.

Here's one of today's many scams:

HSBC BANK UNITED KINGDOM THE WORLDS LOCAL BANK.
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref:UK/9420X2/68
Batch:074/05/ZY369
28-1-2008


Greetings:Fund Beneficiary:

We apologise if this email causes you any embarrasment or shock. We have
intended this to be an informal approach so that you will know that We
have not contacted you in error or through spam.

We hereby confirmed receipt of part payment of US$25,000,000.00 dollars
only, into our official ESCROW account with the Central Bank Of Nigeria,
by order of the Central Newly Introduced 2008 Settlement Of Debt Scheme
(SDS) incharge of Foreign Debt Recovery Committee on Overdue Contract
/Next of Kin payments in Africa, as indicated in our database.

This programme was introduced to all bank in Africa such as the Central
Bank Of Nigeria, for payment and settlement of Foriegn Debt,as the African
Nation, has suffered a lot of loss becuase of debts owed
internationally,the 2008 budget has the payment order and you are approved
and schedulded for payment immediately, forthwith and unconditionally,your
funds will be deliverd to you through diplomatic courier services like a
consignment. to your door step.

Meanwhile forward the below infromation immediately, so that as soon as
the diplomatic arrive in your country they will call you immediately to
notify you.

Kindly provide us with the below information by
Email/hsbcbank_hsbc_code1@yahoo.ca /to reconfirm your details in our
database for immediate release of your fund to your destinated home
address.

Beneficiary Full Name:...............

Address:.........................................

Tel:.............................................
Fax:.........................................

Age/sex:.........................................

Occupation:......................................

A copy of your working ID:...........

We sincerely apologize for the delays and advice you to STOP any further
communication with your associate in any of the African countries for they
contributed 100% hindrances to the release of your funds.

Our finalfund release order will be forwarded to our operational paying
bank, the HSBC Bank in London, UK for immediate transfer of your
allocation into your designated account upon receipt and official
re-confirmation of your information in our database.

Note: We are to pay through our diplomatic services.

Your full co-operation is fully required , as this might be the only
available payment order for the year.

Note: Fund will be retrieved to treasury after ten (10) working days of
this notice.

Yours in service,

Dr Chris Anderson
Manager, foreign Operations Dpt.
HSBC Bank, Liverpool, London
United Kingdom.
Telephone: + 44-704-573-8078
Fax : + 44-845-2801-195
hsbcbank_hsbc_code1@yahoo.ca

They Will Take Everything

That's right. If you fall victim to one of these scams you could lose everything. The next thing you know your beautiful antebellum house is just a shell. They'll even take the windows!!! So please think twice before responding to these scammers who pull on your heartstrings, call you friend, tell you God will bless you, etc. These spam scammers are ruthless and they obviously have NO remorse.

Saddam Hussein Money Transfer Scam

It's amazing how these scammers feel no remorse in using the names of real people to make their scams sound more believable. In this case this scammer acts like he and one of his fallen military comrades found millions of dollars which had belonged to Saddam Hussein. Same scam, different story.

Here he wants you to help him transfer the millions for a generous commission. Of course once you give your information he'll drain your bank accounts and leave you holding the bag.

Hopefully one day some of these scammers will get caught. It would be a shame if this scam ever fell into the hands of the family of the fallen soldier he refers to in this email. They've lost enough as it is.

Here's this one....

Subject read: From Sergeant Giles Bright

FROM: SERGEANT GILES BRIGHT.
Camp MXP-512 Third Infantry Division Unit(T.I.D.U), Abul Uruj, Baghdad , Iraq .

I am Sergeant Giles Bright, a native of the United Kingdom . But a citizen and resident of the US . I am a soldier of the America troop currently serving in the third infantry division Unit in Iraq .
I am currently on duty break. My partner Darren D. Braswell,36, of Riverdale , Ga. ,Darren D.Braswell died Jan. 7th near TalAfar , Iraq , when the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter in which he was a passenger crashed.
Braswell worked For the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Before his death

We secretly moved some abandoned cash in a mansion belonging to the former president, Saddam Hussein and the total cash is US$20,200,000.00 (Twenty Million two hundred thousand Dollars). As I write this letter to you, this boxes are in security company as I secretly moved it out of Iraq to safe place. You do not have to be afraid of anything as no one else knows about this and everything is safe.

I would be pleased And grateful to you if you could assist me and My late partner Darren D. Braswel in receiving this boxes for us on your behalf as I will be heading back soon to camp in Iraq to join my colleagues. Of course, I shall compensate you with an attractive percent of the total funds for your role/efforts. We have limited time now, kindly get back to me immediately.

Moving the funds out of the security company is not going to be much of a problem as arrangements are being made towards that. All I want from you is your trust, please get back to me with your full name and contact phone number (cell phone, preferable) without delay and lets negotiate terms.

Your response will determine our subsequent correspondence.
You can read more on this website for more information and explanations


Yours in Service.
SERGEANT GILES BRIGHT

Another UK Lottery Scam

Here's another apparent lotto scam. It's pretty amazing that a company we've NEVER heard of has so much money to give away to someone that knows nothing about them. We don't think we'll give them our personal information any time soon.


--
Online Cyber Lottery
20 Craven Park,
Harlesden London NW10
United Kingdom
Ref Number: EH 9590 OG 0612
Batch Number: 563881545-NL/2006


Dear Winner,

WINNING NOTIFICATION

The prestigious Online Cyber has set out and sucessfully organised a
Sweepstakes marking the new year 2008 anniversary we rolled out over
$25,000.000.00 for our end of year Anniversary Draws. Participants for the
draws were randomly selected and drawn from a wide range of web hosts which
we enjoy their patronage.

The selection was made through a computer draw system attaching personalised
email addresses to ticket numbers.
Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to Ref Number: EH
9590 OG 0612, Batch Number: 563881545-NL/2007 and Ticket Number: PP 3502
/8707-01 which subsequently won you $2,500,000.00 USD as one of the 10
jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the entire winning sum
of $2,500,000.00 USD.

Please be informed by this winning notification,to file your claims,you are
to make contact with your designated agent who shall by duty guide you
through the process to facilitate the release of your prize. To file for
your claim Please Contact your fiduciary agent

Name: Steve West,
Phone: +44 70359 02983
+44 70359 02983
Email:onlinecyber_lottery@strompost.com



You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details
to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:
1. Full name and address.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Tel and fax number.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Occupation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.Email Address.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.Electronic Bank Transfer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issuance of a certified Cheque.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for being part of this promotional award program.

Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates.We wish
you the best of luck as you spend your good fortune.
Yours Faithfully,
Walter Jones.
Lottery Coordinator.

Spam Scam Rebate Scam Spam....Ahhhhhhhhh

This may be the craziest alleged bank scam we've seen. This email claims you get $150,000 as payment to make up for someone else scamming you previously. Of course they want you to hurry and be secretive because there are only 37 rewards left. We're not sure what to label this....perhaps a spam scam rebate from a spam scam. With all the spam and scam in this email maybe we'll call it the Green Eggs and Ham spam scam, Sam I am. :)



Attn: Sir/Madam,



SCAMMED VICTIM/$150,000 BENEFICIARIES.



REF/PAYMENTS CODE: 02007 $150,000 USD.



This is to bring to your notice that We have been having a meeting for

the passed 7 months which ended 2 days ago with the former secretary to

the UNITED NATIONS. On this faithful recommendations, I want you to

know that during the last U.N. meetings held at Abuja, Federal Republic

of Nigeria, it was alarmed so much by the world in the meetings on

the lost of funds by various individuals to scams artists operating in

syndicates all over the world today.



In other to compensate these victims, the U.N Body is now paying 221

victims of this operators $150,000 USD each in accordance with the U.N

recommendations.



Due to the corrupt and in-efficient Banking Systems in Federal

Republic of Nigeria, the payments are to be paid by UNION BANK PLC as

corresponding paying bank under funding assistance by United Nation body.

Benefactor will be cleared and recommended for payment by UNION BANK PLC

Nigeria.According to the number of applicants at hand, 184 Beneficiaries

has been paid, half of the victims are from the United States ,we still

have more 37 left to be paid the compensations of $150,000USD each.



Your particulars was mentioned by one of the Syndicates who was

arrested as one of their victims of the operations, you are hereby warned not

to communicate or duplicate this message to him for any reason what so

ever as the U.S. secret service is already on trace of the other

criminals. So keep it secret till they are all apprehended.Other victims who

have not been contacted can submit their application as well for

scrutiny and possible consideration. You can receive your compensations

payments via any of this options you Choose, DRAFT/CHEQUE PAYMENTS or

WIRE TRANSFERS.



You are advised to contact Mr.Bill Westmoore of UNION BANK PLC, as he

is our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately for your

Cheque/International Bank Draft of USD$ 150,000,00. This funds are in a

Bank Draft for security purpose ok? so he will send it to you and you can

clear it in any bank of your choice.



Therefore, you should send him your full Name and telephone number/your

correct mailing address where you want him to send the Draft to you.



Contact Person: mr Bill Westmoore

Director,International Banking Dept

UNION BANK PLC



Email:bill-hypertecintl@ommail.com





Thanks and God bless you and your family.



Hoping to hear from you as soon as you receive your payment.



Making the world a better place.



Regards,



Mr. Koffi Annan

Former Secretary (UNITED NATIONS).

SCAMMED VICTIM/REF/PAYMENTS CODE: 02007 $150,000 USD).

Well written Bank Scam (unverified)

Kudos to Mr. Williams for taking the time to write such a long spam email. This supposed bank/inheritance scam sounds official. Of course so do the other 600 we receive from the UK and Nigeria.

Title of todays email was simple: Re: Inquiry from John Williams

Here's today's latest spam scam attempt........



Greetings,

I am John Williams,staff of Coutts & Co Private Bank London UK. I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our banks management three years ago.I Would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail.I am contacting you independently of our investigation and no one is informed of this communication. I would like to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you. In the year 2004, the subject matter; came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars, which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his behalf.



I was the officer assigned to his case, I made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto chief operations officer of the private banking sector then, especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed.I encouraged him to consider various growth funds with prime ratings. The favored route in my advice to customers is to start by assessing data on 6000 traditional stocks and bond managers and 2000 managers of alternative investments. Based on my advice, We spun the money around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first months of operation, the accrued profit and interest stood at this point at over Two million United States Dollars, this margin was not the full potential of the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.



In mid 2005, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Helsinki- Finland. He directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with a security firm. I informed him that my Bank would have to make special arrangements to have this done and in order not to circumvent due process, the bank would have to make a 9.5 % deduction from the funds to Coutts for banking and statutory charges. He complained about the charges but later came around when I explained to him the complexities of the task he was asking of us.



Cash movement across boarders has become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11. I contacted my affiliate and made the funds available to the security firm. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited with the security firm. The Security Firm is a specialist private firm that accepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue chip corporations that handle valuable products or undertake transactions that need immediate access to cash. This small and highly private organization is familiar especially to the highly placed and well-connected organizations. In line with instructions, the money was deposited with the security firm. The deceased told me he wanted the money there in anticipation of his arrival from Norway later that week. This was the last communication we had, this transpired around 25th of November 2006.

In June last year 2007, we got a call from the security firm informing us about the inactivity of that particular portfolio.This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned, given the fact that I managed the private banking sector I was the only one who knew about the deposit at the security firm, and I could not understand why the deceased had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate the deceased. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of Coutts & Co Private Bank.Four days later, information started to trickle in, apparently our client was dead. A person who suited his description was declared dead of a heart attack in canne, in Southern part of France.We were soon enough to identify the body and cause of death was confirmed.



The bank immediately launched an investigation into possible surviving next of kin to alert about the situation and also to come forward to claim his estate. If you are familiar with private banking affairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity, but also some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the field of private banking, opening an account with us means no one will know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. This bank also gives the choice to depositors of having their mail sent to them or held at the bank itself, ensuring that there are no traces of the account and as I said, rarely do they nominate next of kin.



Private banking clients apart from not nominating next of kin also usually in most cases leave wills in our care, in this case; the deceased died without a testate. In line with our internal processes for account holders who have passed away, we instituted our own investigations in good faith to determine who should have right to claim the estate. This investigation has for the past months been unfruitful. We have scanned every continent and used our private investigation affiliate companies to get to the root of the problem. It is this investigation that resulted in my being furnished with your details as a possible relative of the deceased.



My present official capacity as the Head of Finance dictates that I am the only party to supervise the investigation and the only party to receive the results of the investigation. What this means,is that our dear late fellow died with no known or identifiable family member. This leaves me as the only person with the full picture of what the prevailing situation is in relation to the deposit and the late beneficiary of the deposit. According to practice, The Security Firm will by the end of this financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to Coutts & Co Private Bank, failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to Coutts & Co Private Bank.This will result in the money entering the Coutts & Co Private Bank accounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the private banking division.



This will not happen if I have my way. What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical practice but I want you to understand something. It is only an outsider to the banking world who finds the internal politics of the banking world aberrational. The world of private banking especially is fraught with huge rewards for those that occupy certain offices and oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together the general direction of what I propose. There is Twelve Million five hundred thousand dollars. deposited in a security firm, I alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the existence of this deposit for as far as my Bank is concerned.

The transaction with our late customer concluded when I sent the funds to the security firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are just customer services and due process. The security Firm has no single idea of what’s the history or nature of the deposit. They are simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any party that come forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts of money trying to track this man’s family; they have investigated for months and have found no family. The investigation has come to an end.



My proposal:I now seek your permission to present you as a next of kin to the deceased, as all documentations will be carefully worked to make you the beneficiary to the funds $12.5m (Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars.) ; I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct The security Firm to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving relation. Upon receipt of the deposit,I am prepared to share the money with you. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 60/40.I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit.I assure you that I could have the deposit released to you within a few days.



I will simply inform Coutts & Co Private Bank of the final closing of the file relating to the deceased. I will then officially communicate with The Security Firm and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these two things: all is done. The alternative would be for us to have The Security Firm direct the funds to another bank with you as account holder. This way there will be no need for you to think of receiving the money from The Security Company. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions am aware of the consequences of this proposal.I ask that if you find no interest in this project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive and destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and forget I ever contacted you.



Do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal. You may not know this but people like myself who have made tidy sums out of comparable situations run the whole private banking sector.I am not a criminal and what I do, I do not find against good conscience, this may be hard for you to understand, but the dynamics of my industry dictates that I make this move. Such opportunities only come ones' way once in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by, for once I find myself in total control of my destiny.

These chances won’t pass me by. I ask that you do not destroy my chance, if you will not work with me let me know and let me move on with my life but do not destroy me. I am a family man and this is an opportunity to provide them with new opportunities. There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth undertaking.I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is from you refusing to work with me and alerting my bank. I am the only one who knows of this situation, good fortune has blessed you with a luck that has planted you into the center of relevance in my life. Let’s share the blessing. If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me through this email account. If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this process towards a conclusion.

I wish to inform you that should you contact me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about this project. I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official phone lines nor do I want you contacting me through my official email account. Contact me only through the numbers I will provide for you and also through this email address. I do not want any direct link between you and myself. My official lines are not secured lines as they are periodically monitored to assess our level of customer care in line with our Total Quality Management Policy.Please observe this instruction religiously.



Please, again, note that I am a family man, I have a wife and children. I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences, but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained and that success and riches never come easy or on a platter of gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private banking clients. Do not betray my confidence.



Send your response to my private email:

johnwilliams44kk@yahoo.co.uk

I await your response.



John Williams.

(Coutts & Co Private Bank London UK.).



PS. THANKS BUT NO THANKS!

FedEx Courier Scam

Here's another one where you supposedly get 5.5 million dollars if you'll pay $285 to the person in this email. I wonder why a FedEx representative wouldn't have a FedEx email address.


Attn/ My Good Friend,

Happy New Year . I have been waiting for you since to contact me for your
Confirmable Bank Draft of $5.5 Million United States Dollars, but I did
not hear from you since for a couple of weeks now. Then I went to the bank
to confirm if the draft has expired or getting near to expire and Dr.Wilson
the Director Bank of Africa told me that before the draft will get to your
hand that it will expire. So I told him to cash the $5.5 Million USD UNITED
STATES DOLLARS to cash payment to avoid losing this funds under expiration
as I will be out out of the country for a 3 Months Course and I will not
come back till ending of March 2008.

What you have to do now is to contact FEDEX COURIER SERVICES as soon as
possible to know when they will deliver your Consignment to you because
of the expiring date. For your information, I have paid for the delivering
Charge, Insurance premium.

The only money you will send to the FEDEX COURIER SERVICES to deliver your
Consignment direct to your postal Address in your country is ($285.00 US)
Two Hundred & Eighty Five United States Dollars only being Security Keeping
Fee of the Courier Company so far.Again, don't be deceived by anybody to
pay any other money except $285.00 US Dollars. I would have paid that but
they said no because they don't know when you will contact them and in case
of demurrage.

You have to contact FEDEX COURIER SERVICES now for the delivery of your
Draft with this information bellow;

Directors Name: DR. DAVIS MOORE
Companys Name:FEDEX COURIER SERVICES
Email Address: (info.fedex_courierltd207@yahoo.fr)
Tel/00229-939-15-468
FAX:00229-938-132-00

Finally, make sure that you reconfirm your Postal address and Direct telephone
number to them again to avoid any mistake on the Delivery and ask them to
give you the tracking number to enable you track your package over there
and know when it will get to your address. Let me repeat again, try to contact
them as soon as you receive this mail to avoid any further delay and remember
to pay them their Security Keeping fee of $285.00 US Dollars for their immediate
action.

Note this. The FEDEX COURIER SERVICES don't know the contents of the Box.
I registered it as a BOX of Africa cloths. They did not know it contents
was money. this is to avoid them delaying with the BOX. Don't let them know
that box contents money ok.
I am waiting for your urgent response.

Yours Faithfully,

Barrister Pamela Jeffery

Note to our Readers

We have not verified all of the information submitted on this blog are scams. It is only our assumption that this information posted is spam scams. Our assumption is based on the number of similar emails we receive on a daily basis.

To give you an idea of the amount of these emails we receive, we have saved 551 emails similar to those posted on this blog over the past couple of months. Many are repeats from different emails and many are similar in content with a few words changed around.

Posting these emails on this blog is our attempt to educate the readers of this blog of the various techniques used by these apparent scammers to obtain your personal information. We hope these postings will help you verify if a similar email you receive(d) is identical to one posted on this blog.

We do not guarantee the validity of any of the information posted and any information you use for personal reasons is at your own risk.

We hope this blog can assist you and/or your acquaintances in identifying apparent email spam scams.

Courier Scam

This apparent courier scam only requires you to send $100 for delivery fees in order to receive your large amount of cash. We guess they figure there are enough suckers in the World who will part with $100 for the chance to receive $850K. Take our advice, save the hundred and avoid this apparent scam like the plague.

Subject Read: For Your Information
Sender Was: ben_chumas03@zipmail.com.br

The email read:

Hello Dear,
I have Paid the fee for your Cheque Draft.but the manager of Eko Bank Benin
told me that before the check will get to you that it will expire.So i told
him to cash $850,000.00 all the necessary arrangement of delivering the
$850,000.00 in cash was made with SHALOM COURIER COMPANY LTD.This in the
information they need to delivery your package to you.

ATTN: PROFFESOR.REV:Victor Brown
TEl: +229-937-24-486
EMAIL: diplomatshalomco@netcourrier.com

Please, Send them your contacts information to able them locate you immediately
they arrived in your country with your BOX .This is what they need from
you.

I also want to remained you that $3000.00 was deducted from the total sumand
this amount includes the registration and the delivery fee which is $500.00
and $2500.00 of the barrister that did the job, The only money you will
send to the company to deliver your package box direct to yourAddress
in your country is $100 dollars for their security keeping fee,addressbelow.And
don't let them know the content to avoid delaying delivery ok.


1.YOUR FULL NAME:
2.YOUR COUNTRY:
3.YOUR HOME ADDRESS:
4.YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER:
5.YOUR CURRENT OFFICE TELEPHONE:
6.A COPY OF YOUR PICTURE
7.COMPANY REGISTRATION NO EG58945
8.CODE NMBER 0140479

Please make sure you send this needed infomation to the Director general
of Shalom Courier Company Ltd ROFFESOR.REV:Victor Brown with the address
given to you.

Note. The Shalom Courier Company Ltd don't know the contents of the Box.
I registered it as a Box of an cloths.They don't know it contents money.
this is to avoid them delaying with the Box. don't let them know that is
money that is in that Box.I am waiting for your urgent response.
You can even call the Director of Shalom Courier Company Ltd with this line
+229-937-24-486
Thanks and Remain Blessed.

SECRETARY BEN CHUMAS

Bank of America Account Information Scam

This apparent SCAM is scary. They trick you into believing someone is tampering with your account so you'll click on the link to enter your login and account information. Remember, most financial institutions will not solicit your personal account information via email. Only enter your information on the company's direct website. This email did NOT come from Bank of America. The sender did NOT leave a return email address. Beware of these dangerous scams because they can sound real. On this one they even had Bank of America logos on the email. Subject read: Important Messege From Bank Of America (Notice they misspelled Message :)

Bank of America is constantly working to protect your account. Your Bank Of America Online Banking Account has been SUSPENDED because you have exceeded the maximum Number of SIGNIN attempts allowed. To lift this SUSPENSION, you are required to log on to your account and update your online banking details.

SIGN IN

*Important*
Be warned that filling wrong details will result in a permanent SUSPENSION of your account.

Customer's Security Advisor
Bank Of America

Microsoft Lottery Scam

It amazes us that this apparent scam came from a person who claim to be a representative of Microsoft. The comical part is that you would think a Microsoft representative would have a Microsoft email address, not blahblahblah@live.com. We hope you'll not fall victim to these scams by educating yourself through our blog.

Subject of the email was: Microsoft® 2007 End of Year Promotion(£500, 00Promotion(£500,000.00GBP).
Sender was: newtonterry@live.com

MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM
Microsoft Corporation
#1 Microsoft Way Redmond, B3 3BU,
London, United Kingdom.
CONGRATULATION
This is to inform you that your email has won a consulation prize of
the Microsoft Corporation EMAIL DRAW held on Decenber 27th 2007. Your
email has won 500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds).
Please fill the verfication form below and send it with your (Ref#:
BTD/968/07) and (Batch #: 409978E) to your claims agent.

PAYMENT RELEASE ORDER FORM:
Full Names___________________
Gender_______________________
Age__________________________
Contact Address______________
Occupation___________________
Country______________________
Nationality________________
Telephone numbers____________
Batch________________________
Reference____________________

Contact Microsoft Fudiciary Agent on:
Mr. Newton Terry
E-mail: newtonterry@live.com
Tel: +4470-45-772911.

Congratulations from the entire member of the Microsoft Promotion Award
team.
Sincerely,
Dr. Marylyn Lloyd
Head Customer care Service.
Microsoft Promotion Team.

Nigerian Bank Draft Scam from an alleged Senator

This one came from f_d111@myway.com with an email from a person who claims to be a Senator. These Nigerian bank scam spam emails sure make their government look bad. We hope the real government officials will get a handle on this thing so these supposed scammers will slow down on their attempts to fraud harmless citizens.

I'm happy to inform you about my success in getting those funds transferred

Dear Friend,

I'm happy to inform you about my success in getting those funds transferred under the cooperation of a new partner from paraguay . Presently I'm in paraguay for investment projects with my own share of the total sum. Meanwhile, I didn't forget your past efforts and attempts to assist me in transferring those funds despite that it failed us some how.

Now contact my secretary in nigeria, her name is VIVIAN OBASI

On vivianobasi222@live.com

Ask her to send you the total of ($1.800.000 Million) which I kept for your compensation for all the past efforts and attempts to assist me in this matter in the past. I appreciated your efforts at that time very much.So feel free and get in touch with my secretary VIVIAN OBASI and instruct her where to send the amount to you.

Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the joy after all the sufferness at that time. In the moment, I’m very busy here because of the investment projects which me and the new partner are having at hand.Finally, remember that I had forwarded instruction to the secretary on your behalf to receive that money, so feel free to get in touch with VIVIAN OBASI she will send the amount to you without any delay.

Regards,

Senator Davison F Williams Esq

Distribution Company Money Transfer Scam

Here's another supposed scam where representatives from a foreign company offer 20% of the funds you allow them to transfer to your US account so they can avoid higher tax rates. 20% is quite a large sum to offer. What is the tax rate in China anyway? Ironically, once again the contact email isn't in a company name...it's carried by the large provider yahoo.
The subject reads: How are you today? Without replying I hope they know my answer is...."Tired of receiving all of these email spam scams.


MAJESTICGOLD.LTD

Dear Sir/Madam,

We introduce ourselves to you as a Diamond Mining and Distribution company
located here in China . This communication serves as an attempt to locate a
willing participant who can aid us with our business in the following manner.
We are major distributors and exporters of Gold/Diamond to various company in
the United States , Canada and part of Europe .

Due to currency restrictions here, we are seeking the participation of a third
party who can handle certain financial aspects of our business in the United
States of America . We would require assistance in the movement of
funds since
we are unable to freely control this from our country.

We are interested in associating with a reliable /credible trust worthy person
or company whom will represent our company as payment collection agent, you
will be expected to act as a medium of getting to our customers and also
receiving our payment from our various customers within the United States and
North America .

In order to identify, evaluate and select a suitable participant we would
require that you or your company are able to demonstrate credit worthiness by
having a strong relationship with your bankers and having a running line of
credit account with your bank.

Our overall objective is to reduce our tax exposure, to increase ease of
payments between our suppliers and customers and to alleviate the problem of
wire payments from One country to another that we are currently experiencing.
Our company Policy does not accept checks from customers, therefore, we
strongly advise all our customers to pay through direct wire transfer to the
line of credit account of our collection agents.

We are offering a 20% share of any payment received on our behalf, all profits
in this endeavor to an honest, trustworthy, and credible participant. Please
respond to us if you feel that this assignment is of interest, in order for us
to mutually agree on future terms and conditions.

Please if you are interested in this lucrative business With us, we will be
very glad. Please for more information contact the President/CEO Mr Anthony
Hope
email mitsuioilfield20077@yahoo.com www.majesticgold.net Subject to your
satisfaction you will be given the opportunity to negotiate your mode of which
we will pay you for your services as our representative in your country Please
if you are Interested forward to us your phone number/fax and your full
contact address and Age.



Mr Anthony Hope
President/CEO
MAJESTICGOLD.LTD
www.majestcgold.net
Email : mitsuioilfield20077@yahoo.com