
Susanne T
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Its totally a scam, don't buy into it, don't give them information, just say no. |
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GLH (male 48 UK)
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It's a scam called variously Advanced Fee Fraud, Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud or 419 Scam. Recently a lot of the scammers seem to have moved to the Ivory Coast.
The Nigerian Scams are known as such because the type of fraud that they attempt originated in Nigeria. Before the days of email the same type of fraud was attempted by post, so they are not new by any means! They are also known as "419 scams" after Section 419 of the Nigerian Penal Code which makes this type of scam illegal in that country.
Basically they tell you some hard luck story and say they have millions of dollars that they can't get hold of without your help... and they offer you a massive slice of the cash if you "help" them.
Then they report various obstacles that they need you (and your cash) to help them overcome. The idea is to slowly bleed you dry with promises that just one more bribe to a customs official or whatever and the money will be on its way to you. There is no money (or if there is then it's fake).
There are basically three things that can be done with a "419" email, depending on how much time and effort you are prepared to spend:-
1. The simplest of all - DELETE it. Never reply, even to say "ha ha I know you're trying to scam me" This just confirms that you have a functioning email address and the scammer will then try to sell it on to someone else - so what you'll get is more 419 emails!
2. If the email comes from an email provider that you recognise and trust, like Yahoo, Hotmail, Netscape etc then forward the message headers to the email provider with a note of the complaint. [The message source maybe faked but often a contact email address is quoted in the message the scammer actually writes to you.]
To do this on Outlook Express:-
Right click the message and select Properties
Click on the Details tab
Click on Message Source
Right click the mass of code you see and click Select All to highlight the entire message
Right click again and click Copy
Paste into your message to Yahoo, Hotmail or whoever
The address to email this to is "abuse@(the email provider) eg. abuse@yahoo.com
I have a standard message in my autosignature to save time, which reads:-
"Dear Sirs,
We have today received the message, forwarded below, which appears to be from one of your users, namely [here I quote the email address of the scammer]
We believe that this message is an attempted West African Advanced Fee
Fraud, also known as a "419 Fraud". See London Metropolitan Police Fraud Unit website at:-
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419....
for further details.
We trust that you will take appropriate action against such abuse of your terms and conditions of use.
For your information, the message source code is provided below:-
******************************...
[I paste the message source in here]
******************************...
Sincerely "
Yahoo in particular is very good at deleting these scammer's email addresses so they don't get any replies and can't work their scam on unsuspecting victims
3. The third thing you can do is for experts only - but it is very amusing... play the scammer along and make him waste his time and money on you. WARNING: Don't try this unless you are confident that you know what you are doing. These guys are ruthless criminals and are likely to get VERY annoyed with you.
Visit this site for loads of advice (and some very amusing tales on how the scammers have been themselves scammed):-
http://www.419eater.com/index.htm......
But whatever you do, don't fall for it and don't let any of your friends or relatives fall for it either. The mere fact that these scams are still being attempted means that SOME people must be being fooled otherwise the scammers wouldn't be bothering to send out their nasty little emails
Source(s):
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.... |
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key key
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its a scam don't do it... They want your checking account so they can drain your account dry. |
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bobbyb
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is a scam hunny the same as the spannish lottery my sis inlaw got dum by it in germany and lost thousands. |
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xenon
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S C A M Don't even open it. TRASH IT |
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Barrett G
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It's a scam.
Eventually they will ask for money from you. |
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psych_78
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Because it is a scam to obtain your bank details. Ignore it. I used to get them all the time!! |
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DidacticRogue
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It's a scam. Do not walk, but RUN away from this. They are looking for P.T. Barnum's proverbial sucker. |
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blondie
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This is just a big con to get your personal details, especially your bank account, which they then clear out, so delete the email and don't give out any information at all. Don't even open anymore emails from them. |
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guitarvirgin
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It's a scam, sooner or later you will be asked to either give your bank details or to send them money for import duty or something like that. One things for sure, they will not send you any money. Why did you contact them? Do you really think someone has 3.5 million to give away? These thieves rely on people's greed and stupidity. |
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barn owl
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this is a con trick give any information and you will end up with an empty bank account you do not get money for nothing!! |
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tacho
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smells like a con to me |
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Helen Lee
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It's absolute scam. Beware of those scammers. More scams expose in these 2 blogs.
Please be warned!
Updated 24 November 2006: Scammers can access your sim card. Please check this Hot Alert if you don't want to burn your wallet: Latest Telecommunication scam http://lost-newbie.blogspot.com/2006/10/beware-of-such-callers.html
Be careful if you have a credit card.
This is a credit card scam http://latest-info.blogspot.com/ |
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nettyone2003
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I kept getting e.mails like this last year. Ignore them they are a con. Eventually they will ask you for money to process the transfer. Lots of people have fallen for it and lost their money. Best to report them to Yahoo. |
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iain
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There is a lot of spam offering large amounts of money
that is available and will go to the state because there
are no survivors of crash over Africa that killed all the
family. The spam is usually signed by a Prince or Sheik
so and so, and the alleged offer comes from a said lawyer
who offers to split 40/50%. The amount varies from 11 to
24 million dollars. Well, everybody knows about this and
even so, now and again temptation overrules and the email
is opened. I have tracked down a couple of these, and found
that the email has gone around the world and through several
providers. This is always an invasion directed to Microsoft
software and once on your HD, you can be another one
spreading the bug. Forget about it and don‘t open any mails
from this woman. She will insist, be sure about that, but the "she"
is most likely a gang o hackers sending this stuff from a cyber
café right next door to you. Be wise and stay out, and if necessary,
change your email address and. perhaps, even your provider. |
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tomzy33
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just one of the many scams |
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LISA C
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stay well clear a bad scam give them no information whatsoever |
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BRYAN D
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ARE YOU TOTALLY INSANE? don't EVER EVER reply to these scumbags and for pitys sake NEVER EVER phone them you have been told nobody gives away anything for nothing |
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tonyinspain
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dont mess with this report it to the police its a scam |
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chris n
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hang up the phone if the call back just hang up any eamils delete/block them ect dont deal with them total scam!!! |
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?
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sounds dodgy to me |
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pathtotake
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its a some scam. dont try and help or do ANYthing. dont do any thing without the police. call them |
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obsolete_allurement
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Its a scam. Dont give them any information. |
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magneto
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Whatever you do NEVER reply to this type of email - or "spam" - and certainly DON'T give them any personal details. I occasionally get emails from Africa saying someone's husband has died, and if I give them my bank details then the money can be "released" into my account! It's just junk mail sent out to random email addresses in the hope someone will actually give out their personal details - NEVER do, and especially not your bank account info. You can often spot these emails by looking at the sender & subject info before even opening them - that's what I do, I just delete them without even opening them. |
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avian
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Please do not have anything to do with this... it is a scam in order to get your bank account details and/or to get you to pay some sort of fee. These calls are common - just forget them. You did the right thing in putting down your phone. |
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uncoolmom
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Fraud,Fraud,Fraud |
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daft lad
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you muppet how much do you think these phone calls cost
there is no money waiting its just a premium rate number which you have rang
scammers send out emails costing little or nothing then when people ring them up they gain commision on the premium rate number you have just rang you are paying more for your phonecall than those sex line numbers
dont do it
and thats the best you can hope for
if they are asking for bank details then they plan to empty your account not fill it |
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yvnnrvs
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Don't reply to this Email as it is a Scam,I would report it though to the Police ASAP |
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Old Fart
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You don`t get owt` for `nowt.
Do a search on the net for "419" .
Don`t be so bloody naive. |
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Sandy G
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DON'T DO IT! There were some people in California that did one of those scams and they are dead now! The people got that person's bank account information and all that crap and now those people are dead. Report that e-mail and the number to the police ASAP!! |
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sweet-cookie
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Ignore it it is a cruel hoax
Some crook is attempting to obtain your details ,
and make fake passports or even rob your bank account
you did well to put the ohone down
>^,,^< |
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