Hi Everybody:
It’s impossible to know how your email address is distributed to the unscrupulous but I have gotten six of the Nigerian scam letters in the last 24 hours.
SOOOOO, even though C&Fers are all brilliant in my opinion, do NOT regard anything letters of solicitation from Nigeria, or the bank of Nigeria as anything but harmful junk. This ploy manages to screw old people out of their money on a regular basis.They promise to share a great deal of money in exchange for a deposit.
Like I said, somehow my email got out there, so you never know how or what systems may have been tapped.
If you get any Nigerian Scams and they appear to be new, I was given this address: 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov by the secret service to report them. It looks like a treasury dept. address.
I have finally stopped getting them in my email but now I am getting these in our snail mail as well! So far we’re turning them over to the RCMP. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
I got one of these recently. I reported it to the service provider of the sender. I had just read about some of them getting arrested, when I got this.
I had heard about this scam a few months ago. From what I remember some American citizens had actually gone to Nigeria and ended up missing trying to get their money. The government of Nigeria, while they don’t actually promote this kind of activity, doesn’t discourage it either. They consider it a feather in their cap to swindle Americans.
Thanks for validations. The last letter was from some guy who signed it Doctor, which really was a hoot. I had already dumped em, but I will refer them to officials, now that I know to.
Funny thing is, I am about the hardest guy in the world to sell anything to. I have resisted Rainbow vacuums, water filters, Circle of Gold pyramid scheme, Melaleuca products, Tax People, you name it.And all were being foisted on me by friends and family!!! Okay, I bought a pizza stone and an apple peeler from Pampered Chef via my sister, but I use em regularly.
I wish everybody was like me in just that one single, solitary way. Sales resistance! Then all people might have more honorable jobs.
As my boys say about Barbie dolls around Christmas,
“Not gettin’ it, don’t want it, don;t need it, not gettin’ it!”
Adding later: I forwarded latest to gov. But I was “amused” to notice that at the bottom of the last letter was a link to FIFA World Cup results and yahoo.com. I think they must have gotten me somehow through Yahoo??
Thanks DanielBingamon.
The Weekenders
[ This Message was edited by: The Weekenders on 2002-06-14 07:00 ]
I’ve been trying to get into the SPAM business myself and I’m currently drafting my SPAM letter. What do you think?:
PLEASE READ THIS EMAIL! DON’T DELETE!
You have an opportunity to REFINANCE YOUR MORTGAGE to FREE UP CASH to BUY MORE PORN featuring HOT WET REFINANCED BABES! In order to qualify for this REFINANCE you need only to START ENHANCING YOUR LOVE LIFE WITH HERBAL VIAGRA AT LOWEST PRICES and with our patented PERFECTLY LEGAL CABLE DESCRAMBLER. And, with the money left over you can HELP ME RETRIEVE MY DEAD NIGERIAN FATHER’S MULTI-ZILLION DOLLAR SWISS BANK ACCOUNT. For helping my family with this you will get 25% of my father’s VAST RICHES (approximately 38 zillion dollars) and all I will need is your banking account numbers, PINS, and your social security number, along with the account number of all of your CREDIT CARDS and YOUR MOTHER’S MAIDEN NAME. Speaking of CREDIT CARDS, how about a brand new secured VISA CARD AT only 38% APR (Introductory)? We’ll not only issue you a CREDIT CARD, but we’ll fix your lousy CREDIT RATING OVERNIGHT for a mere $200 (Only a tiny fraction of what you’ll be getting when you get your share of my DEAD NIGERIAN FATHER’S VAST RICHES!). All of this AND the opportunity to make up to $650,000 a year by WORKING AT HOME on your own BUSINESS!
Dale Force:
Now I know why you left those filthy links at the Personality Parade, even after I mentioned them. You’ve been studying, yeah, that’s the ticket.
Well written, especially “hot wet refinanced babes”. Thanks for morning laughs.
The “Nigerian Scam” has been around sufficiently long that it has begun to inspire copycats. A recent version has to do with our troops in Afghanistan.
For those who may be interested, here are some things I’ve learned in my years knocking around the internet ( Old Pros can bail out now ):
Spammers have robots they use to troll internet archives harvesting “warm” e-mail addresses. Post once to UseNet and get spammed for the rest of your life. Realistically, a spammer could romp through the archives and membership pages of this forum and come up with a very useful address list. This happens frequently on professional mailing lists I subscribe to.
When you register to use most websites nowadays, be sure to look for the little box to uncheck so that you don’t allow the hosts to spam you or sell your e-mail address to people who will. Keep in mind the possibility that they might just do it anyway, and how would you know it was them?
Never respond to spammers for any reason. All you do if you do is confirm that your e-mail address is good, and that a liveware package is monitoring the mailbox contents. What more could a spammer want? It also makes your e-mail address a much more saleable property, and then you will get spammed. Most spam is a one-off thing anyway, so just delete it, congratulate yourself on your superior intelligence and net savvy, and soldier on.
Never send money, the equivalent, or any personal information to anyone over the internet if you didn’t initiate the transaction, and sometimes not even then.
Privacy is a joke on the internet, unless you use strong encryption for everything. Using the internet is not like being at home, in your bathroom, with the door closed and locked. It’s like standing on a street corner and shouting. No matter where you go or what you do, there’s a log of the transaction somewhere.
Offered for what it’s worth. Your mileage may vary.
Funny thing is, I am about the hardest guy in the world to sell anything to.
Hey Lance, I got a great product for you, you really must get one. It’s the Sweary Chinese Guy mad e-mail translator, you just pop the nonsensicla flaming e-mail in the top and it comes out making complete sense in long thin shreds.
Martin, you are a lamer I don’t like your attitude to spam. Spam are people, too. Or as Monty Python would say, “Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam and spam with spam.”
Was wondering how long it would take you, Bloomie, to join in the fun.
I posited to Martin privately that Sweary Chinese guy might have been trying to call us FLAMERS for our Internet antics and perceived insults rather than the much funnier LAMER…
And for the record, being the lamer that I am, I would like to say that I consider red flashing sigs with Christian slogans in Latin a form of spam. YMMV.
picky picky picky. You little agnostic/atheist/secular humanist/whatever!
Don’t mind em and like flying pigs too.
Hey, I didn’t GET to study Latin like some overeducated types. I sit and try and figure em out. That and the elvish one. I can barely do the smilies, They only work half the time
On 2002-06-14 14:07, The Weekenders wrote:
picky picky picky. You little agnostic/atheist/secular humanist/whatever!
Don’t mind em and like flying pigs too.
Hey, I didn’t GET to study Latin like some overeducated types. I sit and try and figure em out. That and the elvish one. I can barely do the smilies, They only work half the time >
But Bart mooning was the best.
Anna needs whistling weasels for sig.
NAW! Anna needs whistles for kids who can’t get 'em in the countries they live in!
There is a great site called http://www.truthorfiction.com that has info on this and other hoaxes. They actually research scams, urban myths, scares, viruses, etc.
