It's a golden opportunity... (Not!)

Subject: PLEASE I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE.‏
From: "Dennis Richardson"
If you are interested please reply to this email: dennisrichardson1@hotmail.com


Hello my dear,

Please pay attention and understand the reason of contacting you today, pardon me if I have offend you by contacting you for such a big transaction through an ordinary letter which makes it suspicious considering the type of fraud proposals moving around the world today via the internet But i want you to know that this is far from such. However, I was advised to explain this transaction to you on a face to face meeting but i could not do this because of the situation in the world today not being sure of your reaction. My name is Mr. Dennis Richardson. I am from Egypt I was involved in Terrorist attack on 21st of january 2008, when i was heading to san Francisco and seattle from puerto vallarta, Mexico, for my business trip. I was in comer for 8 mounths. I will send you my photo for you to see my condition in hospital.


I contact you because I was a highly reputable business magnet-(a gold merchant) who operated in the capital of Ivory Coast during my days. Because of the condition of my health today i cant move out of the hospital here in Egypt, So because of what my doctor told me about my life I am confused that is why I searching for a reliable and trusted person that i could present,as my next of kin, because i have about 50kilos of gold with one security company called GROUPAMA SECURITY COMPANY in spain, for save keeping, so since i can not move out from the hospital, i needed some one who can help me to get the gold or the company or the pay you with corent prize of gold now, but you have to work with my lowyer in spain because i belive with the lowyer there is no risk, If you are interested I will send you the full details, i just need a good partner that i can trust and assist me. Can I trust you?


When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail with dennisrichardson1@hotmail.com signifying your interest including your confidential telephone number. And i agree to pay you 20% of any amount we get from the gold. Thanks and God bless you.

My sincere regards,

Mr. Dennis Richardson.

This is as good a place as any....

While noodling around the 'net, I run into all sorts of interesting articles (well, they are to me) on chicanery, cons, scams and other such things. I'm definitely not a 'techie' and, while I have an active imagination, I don't have a particular larcenous state of mind so I'm always interested in learning about how scamlice manage to infest our global on-line society.

Anyways, I'm not adverse to sharing.


This article came from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8391018.stm.

How I helped nail the 'manhood' spammer

Two years ago Radio 4 reporter Simon Cox wrote in the Magazine about how he had traced the mastermind of an e-mail spamming scam. It signalled the start of a legal case which has just seen the spammer ordered to pay a huge fine.

It all started with a bottle of pills. They were the colour of bluebottles and as big as beetles. In December 2007 I ordered the "Manster" pills from the Elite Herbal Website - advertised in an e-mail for their penis enlargement qualities.

I paid $70 for the promise of "new exciting horizons of sensual pleasure". I wanted to find the spammers who plague our inboxes with unwanted e-mails and Elite Herbal was the ideal place to start.

As well as Manster the site sold everything from diet pills to herbal Viagra and was part of the world's biggest spamming operation. Finding the men who ran it wasn't going to be easy.

I decided to follow the money trail. After various dead ends I managed to track a computer monitoring Elite Herbal orders to an IP address [a unique code ascribed to each computer on the internet] in Christchurch in New Zealand.

It belonged to Shane Atkinson.

When I called him he denied sending any spam e-mails: "It wasn't me mate, we closed all that down years ago. I'm not controlling any computers, mate."

Shane and his brother Lance were well known spammers who ran a global operation with another man, Jody Smith, in the US. For years they had exploited the lack of anti-spamming legislation in New Zealand but the country had recently brought in new laws and the authorities were determined to shut down Elite Herbal.

Planned raid

E-mails subsequently shown to me by law enforcement sources showed that shortly after my phone call Shane Atkinson had contacted his suppliers in India asking what was going on.

I had already been in touch with them and they also wanted to know why a BBC journalist was asking awkward questions.

New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs had been planning to raid Atkinson's house in early 2008 but following my phone call they were forced to act.

They raided Shane's house in December and took away his computers. It meant officers working over the holiday. As one later told me I wasn't their favourite journalist.

To make matters worse, the case led to headlines in New Zealand asking why a British reporter had got to Atkinson before the police.

One memorable interview with a radio station in Auckland began with the question "Why are the police here so crap?"

You don't get that kind of question from John Humphrys, so I fudged a reply and wrapped it up as quickly as I could.

It wasn't long before New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs got in touch. In early 2008 I received an e-mail asking if I could provide any material for the investigation into Shane Atkinson and the Elite Herbal spamming operation?

An affidavit followed asking for as much information as possible. Not surprisingly BBC producer Richard Vadon and I declined to hand over anything that would reveal any sources but after lengthy conversations with lawyers and the BBC's policy advisers, we did give them some material which had already been in the programme.

£150,000 a month

For several months everything went quiet. I assumed my spam adventure was over. Apart that is from the scores of spam e-mails I was still getting every day.

Then in the autumn of 2008 two officers from New Zealand's anti-spam unit flew over to visit me.

Atkinson was refusing to plead guilty and they wanted to know if I would testify should the case come to court. I agreed, in principle uneasy at the prospect of appearing in the witness box. All of this for a civil case, which at the most would mean Atkinson getting a fine.

In June, my police contact told me to put a date aside in my diary for late 2009 to fly to New Zealand as Shane was still intending to go to court.

Luckily I didn't have to make the trip. Shane fell on his sword and agreed to pay a fine to settle his case. It cost him NZ$100,000 (approx £60,000). It was the same amount his brother Lance agreed to earlier in the year.

Not much when you consider one law enforcement official told me it was estimated the gang was making about £150,000 a month.

The Federal Trade Commission in America was also on the case. They were targeting Lance and the man running the US end of the operation, Jody Smith. Earlier this week the FTC announced Smith would turn over nearly all his assets.

They also imposed a $15m fine on Lance Atkinson. It sounded impressive but Lance had already been given a $2.2m fine by the FTC in 2005. As he was living in Australia the US authorities couldn't force him to pay. Unless he is planning a trip to Disneyland the fine will remain a largely symbolic gesture.

The Elite Herbal website is no more. It has been replaced by another. Are Shane and Lance Atkinson still running spam e-mail operations? The authorities don't think so, as they are keeping an eye on them. Filters are getting better at blocking out spam but with 120 billion sent each day you only need a tiny percentage of buyers to make some serious money.

And what of the Manster pills. I was tempted to try one, for research purposes obviously. My producer, Richard, wanted me to but he was over-ruled by a far greater power - my wife.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8391018.stm

Published: 2009/12/02 15:04:36 GMT

© BBC MMX

There ain't no accounting for some people...

From:  gerald alberto  webex2008@aim.com
Subject: PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010
Reply-To: alexmurray2000@rediffmail.com

Good day Dear Partner,

Firstly,I apologize for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of
a Certified mail/Post-mail. This is due to the urgency and importance of the
information. This project is based on Trust, confidentiality and sincerity of purpose
inn order to have an acceptable meeting of the minds. I am fifty two (52) years old
established lawyer. My name is Mr.Gerald Luis Alberto, a legal personal attorney to
an expatriate and a consultant with a France oil company, NOCOZOIL (Now deceased) He
died in the Tsunami disaster on 26th December 2004 while on vacation in Thailand.

Six years ago, My Client successfully executed a contract for the Spanish government
worth US$8.5 million dollars. A part payment of USD4.million dollars was paid to my
client, while the balance of USD4.5 million Dollars was still unpaid before my client
died in the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster. However, all my efforts to locate the
possible next of kin proved abortive. Untill his sudden demise, He was not married
and was 44years old.

NOW THE CRUX OF THIS E-LETTER is that the government of Spain is fully paying all
foreign contractors who have successfully executed their contracts and my client is
among those Benefited in this first quarter payment schedule, which has already been
deposited in his bank. As his personal attorney/Adviser, his bank has officially
notified and instructed me to forward particulars of my client's next of kin within
the next 14 official working days so that he/she can be paid the outstanding USD4.5
Million dollars otherwise his payment will be diverted to the government coffers
account as unclaimed bill.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating any of his relatives, I decided to contact
you for a deal so that we can work together as a team to remit the money to your
account as my client next of kin since I do not want to seat and watch my client hard
earned entittlement to go astray,i would like to assure you that I am proposing this
project to you with the best of intensions. As a lawyer, I have the power to secure
all the necessary legal documents that will be used for this claim.

All I require from you is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal
through. I guarantee that this transaction will be executed under a Legitimate
banking arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law.Upon successful
conclusion of this project, you will be compensated with 40% of the total fund, while
60% will be for me.

If you are interested to work with me in this deal, kindly reply strictly to my
personel Email: alexmurray2000@rediffmail.com with your personal Telephone /fax
number for effective communication and oral clarification on how to proceed next.

Sincerely yours,

Mr.Gerald Luis Alberto
{Legal Adviser}

Header Analysis
The following IP addresses were extracted from your headers:

IP Address Probable Country

87.198.241.244 Ireland (Dublin)*
84.123.124.139 Spain (Valencia)*
* The last IP listed is usually the originating IP address

Be careful what they vish for...

Most people at some time are going to get phone calls from strange phone numbers that, when answered, have nobody there. Or, if you're like me, you don't answer calls you don't recognize.

I got a call like that at 6:13 this morning and, unless it's a dire emergency associated with someone I know and hold dear, it's not likely I'll answer. When I did get up, I took the number (1-800-931-1026) to one of my favourite sites, www.800.notes.com where I could look it up. If you're curious, you can go look up the results yourself but someone's post held very salient information so I thought I would pick it out and feature it here as well.

And so today's topic is:

Vishing or Voice Phishing

What is Vishing?

"Vishing" or "Voice Phishing” is the act of leveraging a new technology called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in using the telephone system to falsely claim to be a legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam users into disclosing personal information. Government, financial institutions, as well as online auctions and their payment services, can be targets of Voice Phishing.

Methods of transmission:

* typically an incoming recorded telephone message uses a spoofed (fraudulent) caller ID
matching the identity of a misrepresented organization
* the message uses an urgent pretext to direct unsuspecting users to another telephone
number
* the victim is invited to punch their personal information on their telephone keypad
* criminals capture the key tones and convert them back to numerical format

Different variations of the scam:

* the potential victim is contacted by a phishing e-mail and directed to a VoIP-based telephone
number
* the potential victim receives a telephone call from another individual with a spoofed caller ID
* the potential victim receives a recorded incoming call with a spoofed caller ID directing them
to a phishing site

Characteristics:

The content of the incoming message is designed to trigger an impulsive reaction from you. It can use:

* upsetting or exciting information
* demand an urgent response
* use a false pretense
* is not normally personalized

Information at risk:

Any numerical personal information:

* payment card information (numbers, expiry dates and the last three digits printed on the
signature panel)
* PIN (Personal Identification Number)
* social insurance number
* date of birth
* bank account numbers
* passport number

Potential uses of your information:

* control of victim's financial accounts
* open new bank accounts
* transfer bank balances
* apply for loans
* credit cards and other goods/services
* luxury purchases
* hide criminal activities
* receive government benefits or
* obtain a passport.

How to prevent:

* As a general rule, be suspicious when receiving any unsolicited incoming communication.
* Never provide personal information in these circumstances.
* Never rely solely on your telephone caller ID function.

If you’re suspicious:

* Consumers have a role to play in stopping vishing scams. You are encouraged to Recognize it,
Report it and Stop it.
* Do not react immediately without thinking.
* If this concerns you, investigate by using telephone numbers known to be valid. In the case of
credit cards for example, use the telephone number printed on the back of the card.
* Never provide personal or financial information to non-validated sources.

Are you a victim?: If you have provided personal information:

Step 1. Contact all compromised card issuers.
Step 2. Contact your credit bureau.
Step 3. Report the incident online at www.recol.ca or by contacting PhoneBusters at 1-888-495-8501. (For Canadians)

Weepers and wailers line up on the right....

I'm having a little trouble coming up with
the appropriate tears for this sad, sad, sad
and extremely pathetic pile of horse manure.
Pardon me while I force myself to squeeze out at
least one onion-flavoured drop.


Reply-To: mrstatyana101@gmail.com
From: Mrs Tatyana info@mail.com
Subject: HEAR MY CRY

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010

My dear friend....As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone will die someday. this Razumovsky Tatyana, the 79 years old Russian widow based in New Mexico presently in Instanbul,Turkey on medical treatment. I have been diagnosed with Swine Flu which was discovered very late, due to my laxity in carrying for my health, before then i was disabled due to cancer of the ear making me unable to hear and speak. It has defiled all forms of medicine, and right now I have only about a few weeks to live, according to medical experts. I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone not even myself but my business.

Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I was always hostile to people and only focus on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world. Now that God ! has called me, I have willed and given most of my properties and assets to my immediate and extended family members and as well as a few close friends. I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul and so, I have decided to give arms to charity organizations and give succor and comfort to the less privileged in our societies, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the USA, ASIA,MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA,EUROPE.

Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this my self anymore. I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money which I have there to charity organization and to the less privileged in USA, ASIA,MIDDLE EAST,AFRICA,EUROPE but they refused and kept the money to themselves.

Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I have left for them. The last of my money which no one knows of is the huge cash deposit of 2,500.000.00 GBP (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds ) I will want you to help me collect this deposit and disburse it to some charity organization and to the less privileged.

I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and properties.Send me a mail to indicate if you will assist me in this disbursement. I have set aside 30% for you for your time and patience while 5% for my medical bills and 65% for charity organizations and to the less privileged.I will forward you

further information you need to proceed and receive deposited fund in an escrow coded in Halifax Bank here in London United Kingdom. While I await to hear from you.

Please send your information as follows:

YOUR FULL NAME

CONTACT ADDRESS

PHONE NUMBER

May God be with you and your entire family.

Remain blessed.

Mrs Tatyana

razumovskytatyana@gmail.com

Header Analysis
The following IP addresses were extracted from your headers:

IP Address Probable Country

66.165.38.215 United States (Bellingham)*
94.79.67.131 Turkey (Kibris)*

* The last IP listed is usually the originating IP address

I got this one in today's mail (March 4/10) and, after I finished laughing at it, the most intelligent thing I could think of was, 'Oh, fuck off you silly buggers.' Not exactly Shakespeare but still more effort than it deserved.

Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010
Subject: Hello Dear
From: mrs karen miller mrskarenmiller1@yahoo.com
Reply-To: missturnpoint@yahoo.co.jp

Hello Dear

My warm greetings to you. Do take this email as real and contribution to humanity 
development. This is not an easy task due to my health condition and that is the main
reason why I contacted you. Not actually that you are the best with my intellectual 
grading but I was driven to contact you from the innermost being. And that was my 
main reason for getting to you.  Please do not be offended and I will understand 
completely if you cannot be of assistance to me.My name is Mrs.Karen Miller 
Bernardus; I am a dying woman who has decided to donate what I have to you for 
humanity services.

I am 51 years old (Netherlands Citizen) and I was diagnosed for cancer for about 2
years ago immediately after the death of my husband who has left me everything he
worked for and because the doctors told me I will not live longer than some weeks
because of my health. I decided to WILL/donate the sum of $2,500 000 (two million,
five hundred thousand dollars)to you for the good work of humanity and also to help
the motherless and less privilege and also for the assistance of the widows.I wish
you all the best and may the good Lord bless you abundantly and please use the funds
well and always extend the good work to others.I will be waiting your urgent respond
as soon as you receive this mail

Mrs Karen Miller

Header Analysis

The following IP addresses were extracted from your headers:

IP Address Probable Country

200.49.172.226 Guatemala (Guatemala City)*
41.202.94.165 Cote D'Ivoire (Abidjan)*

* The last IP listed is usually the originating IP address

O lucky me...

Congratulations!!! Lucky number:(F9800/587/20KK)‏
From: ATM Inc. atmcard@atm.org

Reply-To: garantytrust@netscape.net

ATM Inc.

Avda Baron De Carcer 45

46009,Valencia.Spain.

This email will come to you as a surprise.Congratultions! your email have brought you an unexpected luck.You have won a free LIFE TIME INTERNATIONAL ATM MASTER CARD valued (800,000.00 Euro).Eight Hundred Thousand Euro Only,proudly sponorsed by AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE (ATM).Most recently this foundation set up the NEW HOPE LOTTERY to give out prizes.

HOW DID YOU WIN / SELECTION PROCESS DONE?

No tickets were sold out to enter this promo.Your email/ATM card series is one of the lucky emails/ATM card series,selected RANDOMLY via E-wheel Computer Ballot System drawn from over 200,000 companies and 300,000 individual email/ATM card users,from all over the world during the ATM Online EMAIL selection Draw attached to your Lucky number:(F9800/587/20KK),as one of the 20 lucky winners,in the on going ATM lottery promotion.

WHO IS SPONORSING THIS PROMO AND WHY?

The AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE (ATM).So much money is generated all over the World for using the ATM card,Without your patronage, this would not have been possible.To encourage the use of ATM cards globally,The ATM INC.SETUP THE NEW HOPE LOTTERY to give out prize via random email ballot selection.

To process and secured the release of your ATM card you must call and email the assigned agent below.

Mr.Richard Cox of the ATM inc.(General Secretary of the Organising Committee)

Tel: +44 750 915 5189

+34 672 836 962

Email: garantytrust@netscape.net

PROCEDURES TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE

***************************************************

You must email the following details to the assigned agent.

1.Your fully names,mobile,telephone and fax number,Address,occupation,ticket number and country.

2.You must obtain an approved notarization release order document in your names here in Spain,which will be used to process/issue your ATM card.Call the assigned agent for guidelines.

THE PAYMENT CENTER HAS BEEN MANDATED TO ISSUE OUT THE ATM CARD IN YOUR NAMES ONCE ALL CONDITIONS ARE ABIDE AND PROVIDED BY YOU,WHICH YOU CAN USE TO WITHDRAW MONEY FROM ANY ATM MACHINE,IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD OR OPTIONAL ONCE YOU GET THE ATM CARD YOU CAN DEPOSIT THE WHOLE FUNDS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.WARNING!! Do not tell people about your Award until your ATM card issuccessfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim.

Best of luck as you spend your good fortune and congratulations in advance.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs Wanab jang

(P.R.O)

Website http://www.moneymatterstome.co.uk/Interactive-workshops/ATM.htm

Header Analysis
The following IP addresses were extracted from your headers:

IP Address Probable Country

150.101.252.226 Australia (Adelaide)*
84.76.221.132 Spain (Madrid)*

* The last IP listed is usually the originating IP address

Subject: Winnings 2010 !
From: "UK National Lottery"

The National Lottery
PO Box 1010
Liverpool L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM

Dear Lucky Winner

The National Lottery Day wishes to inform you that you have won the sum of £ 900.000.00(Nine Hundred Thousand pound Only).

The National Lottery Day. draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 13 lucky emails of individual and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search. No tickets were sold

-----------------------------------------------------------
Ticket Nr: TNL 8217482148972 97427.
Batch Nr: TNL 017635197437-ZQG/2010.
Security File Nr:17050797737.
Ref Nr: TNL 3870209289/ES 977.
-----------------------------------------------------------

AGREEMENT:

The National Lottery day and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the 2009 National Lottery day celebration hereby Agrees, That the winning information written above are the orignal winning information as it was selected by the computer on 5th day of March 2010, And that the winner who these winning information has been sent to,will be paid the winning sum of £ 900.000.00 pound without fail.

To file for your claims and due remittance of funds contact Mr Mark Peterson on the information below.

Claims Officer
Mr Mark Peterson
Remittance Department Personnel
Email: claims2010@games.com

You are required to claim your winnings by March 12th, 2010 otherwise it rolls over to the next draw.

N.B: Procedures to claiming your prize:
1. Please quote your Reference number in all correspondence with the claims officer.
2. Indicate your Full Name, Address, Country, Telephone, Mobile, Fax Number, Occupation and Age.

Furthermore, should there be any change of address do Inform the CLAIM AGENT as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff.
Once again on behalf of all our staff CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified...

For a smooth and safe collection, you are required to keep your Reference Number confidential.

Congratulations..

Miss Rowan Sullivan
Winnings Coordinator

***********************************************************************
The information in this email message is confidential and exclusive intended for the addressed. The information in this message is confidential and is possible legally protected. The information sent is exclusive intended with this e-mail message for the addressed. Use of this information through others then the addressed is bans. Publication, vermenigvuldiging,spread and/or verse twich of this information at harmed not has been allowed. Not in for the right and complete transfer of the content of a sent e-mail, neither for timely reception of that. This footnote gives also at that this e-mail gescand is through a current virus scanner on the presence of computer virussdn. With kind greeting
***********************************************************************

Yup, I'm dead - delete my email from your list.

Maybe if I lie here very, very quiet they will go away....

Subject: Your Notification Advise

From: MRS FARIDA WAZIRI
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010
Reply-To: aborishade01@yahoo.com.hk

There is counter claim on your fund with the total sum of USD7.5M part payment, presently by one MR.DAVID JOHNSON,who is trying to make us believe that you are dead and even explained that you had an agreement with him,Reconfirm the above information to avoid making payment to a wrong person.

Thanks

Mrs. Farida Waziri
Chairman Efcc Investigation Office Nigeria.

Header Analysis
The following IP addresses were extracted from your headers:

IP Address Probable Country

212.216.176.236 Italy (Rome)*
203.143.24.161 Sri Lanka (Colombo)*

* The last IP listed is usually the originating IP address