Thursday, June 28, 2007

The "Job Offer" Spam Scam

So you want to offer me a job but you also want all of my information right away? I just heard about you, but hey since I am interested in finding a job as soon as possible then heck, why not send you all of my information.

Heres a Job Offer spam email I recieved this morning. You are almost certain to lose minutes of your life if you read the following email below:


Union Foods Company
43B Scrubs Lane Willemstad,
London NW10 6RF
United Kingdom

SOLICITING FOR A REPRESENTATIVE IN YOUR COUNTRY

It is my pleasure to write you in respect of Union Group of Companies
Europe & Asia ,We import and export all kinds of food and farm materials
and equipment into various countries.We are searching for reliable
representatives who can help us establish a medium of getting to our
customers in Canada and the USA as well as legally receiving cash and all
forms of payment on our behalf from Our customers as our Representative.

1: YOUR FULL NAME:
2: AGE:
3: MAILING ADDRESS:
4: STATE:
5: CITY:
4: ZIP CODE & TELEPHONE NUMBER:

To apply for this position,send the informations requested above to the

contact informations provided below.

Contact Person: John Gage
E-mail: jgage010@aol.com
Tel: 516-740-8820.
Time: 24 Hours daily by e-mail

Thanks
Hillary Caraway (HEAD OFFICE).
Hiring Coordinator, Human Resources

The "Reply" Spam Scam

You check your email and you see a funny looking foriegn name and all you see is a subject line that say's "REPLY."

You open it and find that it is from some idiot on the other side of the world that can't even speak fluent english.

What do you do? You post it to a blog so you can make fun of it.

Look how long this email is, its almost as long as paris hiltons prison sentance, the one she should have recieved if she wasn't famous.




Wan YonghongStandard
Chartered Bank
Hong Kong Branch
Thank you for giving me your time. Please be patient and read my email
to you.
I am a staff of Standard Chartered Bank attached in Private Banking
services. I am contacting you concerning a customer and, an investment
placed under our banks management 4 years ago, I contacted you
independently of our investigation and no one is informed of this
communication
and I would like to intimate you with certain facts that I believe
would be of interest to you.
In 2003, the subject matter; ref:SSCB/SCB/bank/77 came to our bank to
engage in business discussion with our Private Banking Service
Department. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 8.35
million United States Dollars, which he wished to have us turn over 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 Service Department, 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 600 traditional stocks and bond managers and alternative investments. Based on my advice, we spun the money around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first month of operation, the accrued profit and interest stood at this point at over 10 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 2004, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Europe. He directed that I liquidate the funds and had it deposited with a firm in Europe. I informed him that our bank would have tomake 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 cater 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 borders has become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11. I contacted my affiliate in Europe and had the funds available in main land Europe. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited in a security consultancy firm, the 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. He 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 February 2005. In June last year, we got a call from the security firm informing us of the inactivity of that particular portfolio. This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned, given thefact that I managed the private banking sector I was the only one who knew about the deposit, and I could not understand why he had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate him I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of our bank. Four days later, information started to trickle in, that he was apparently dead.A person who suited his description was declared dead of a heart attack in Cannes, South of France. We were soon enough able 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; he died in testate.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 who 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 US$ 8,370,000.00 deposited, 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 the finance firm, the transaction with our deceased customer concluded when I sent the funds to the firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are just customer services and due process. The finance 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 comes 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 am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the finance 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 in half and no more. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50. I would have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. But on the other hand, you as a foreigner and also with all the necessary legal and official documentations from me and the presiding attorney and also with the authority vested upon me by the original depositor, you would easily pass as the beneficiary with the rights to claim. I assure you that I could have the deposit released to you in a few days. I will simply inform our bank of the final closing of the file relating to the customer. I will then officially communicate with the finance company 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 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 firm. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions. I 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 or 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 once in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by I hope you understand because for once I found myself in total control and face to face with 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 married woman with 2 kids 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 name 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: mrswanyong@yahoo.com.hk If you give me positive signals,I will initiate this process towards a conclusionPlease observe this instruction religiously. Please note again, I am a happily married woman with two kids. I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences might be, 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. If we can be of one accord, we should plan a meeting, soon.I await your response.Sincerely,Wan Yonghong

The "Representative Needed" Spam Scam

If only spammers would just be honest and tell us what they really want. But yet who in the right mind would reply to a message that sounded like this:

"Please give me your information so I can sell it to other people."

But no, instead they have to rephrase their messages so they sound like this:




Attn:Sir/Madam,

let me crave your indulgence to introduce my self to you. I am Mr Thomas Lee, Managing Director Tran Export Co.,Ltd. My Associates and I deal in the Import and Export of Raw Materials to North America and Europe.

Recently some of our clients/customers in the United States informed us that they would no longer be making payments by Letters of Credit and that payments will only be made to and within the United States as is their new company policy.

As a result of this we have not been able to collect our outstanding sums of monies being owed us, We are therefore searching for a representative who can help us establish a medium of getting across to these customers and also assist us by providing an Investment Account in the United States, where our monies can be paid into from time to time.

Please if you are interested in transacting business with us we will be very glad, However I will appreciate it If you would furnish me with your full details:
Names:........................................
Address:......................................
Occupation:...................................
Company Name:.................................
Age/Sex.......................................
City:.........................................
State:........................................
Country:......................................
Tel:..........................................
Fax:..........................................

Be informed that if you do not have the capacity to receive large funds in your account and also cannot manage these funds as we may instruct you from time to time then you need not bother getting back to us.

We have agreed to give you 10% commission for your assistance in this transaction, Your commission will be deducted at source by you that is as soon as the funds are received in your account you will deduct every scent you spent.

Your prompt response will be greatly appreciated. You can contact me via my private email account: tlee_tranexport@yahoo.com.hk

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Lee

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The "Coca~Cola OnlineLottery Games 2007" Spam Scam

Simply put, Coca-Cola does not have positions called LOTTER CO-ORDINATOR, or send out emails to random people in different countries for phony "coca cola online lottery games 2007" promotions ran in another country.

They also certainly wouldn't give their employees an email address like mr_hedley_jed@yahoo.co.uk... don't be fooled.


The following is a "Coca Cola OnlineLottery Games 2007" spam scam email I received:



WINNERS ONLY:
C Don Jaime I nÂo11 2Âo
50.003
WORLD WIDE
Ref: EAASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Batch: 17/25/0034
JUNE 25TH 2007

Dear Lucky Winner,
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY SEASONAL PROMOTION PRIZE AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION.
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded
annual final draws of Coca-Cola Manchester Zone A3, UK Annual Promo.

You as well as the other winners are therefore to receive a cash
prize
of 150,000 (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS) each from
the total payout.
You are also advised to contact the claims agent for more informations.

Agent via email.
Mr.Hedley Jerold
COCA COLA PROMO CLAIMS AGENT
Foreign Services Manager, Payment and Release Order Dept.
EMAIL: mr_hedley_jed@yahoo.co.uk

Thank you and congratulations!!!
Yours faithfully,
LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR
MRS ELIZABETH CARPENTER

The "Work With Us!" Spam Scam

This one is dangerously simple, which sadly is enough for some people when they first start using the internet. All it has is a simple job description for a job that sounds easy enough.

Beware of emails like the one below that have been OVERSIMPLIFIED.



The following is a "Work With Us" spam scam email I recieved:



We are searching for Representatives abroad whose job will be to receive Payments from our Customers in their Region.Please Reply for more info.

The "Representative Needed" Spam Scam

Here's a good one, its one I'm sure you've seen over and over again, but if you are someone new to the internet and you are looking for a job, then this kind of email might actually catch your attention.

The warning flag is that employers (well the GOOD ONES) that are genuinely interested in you have heard about you somewhere and will tell you how they found you or heard of you, if you do not know the person or website from which they heard of you then you should just forget about it. If they really want you they will find a better way to contact you besides email, which is often face to face and rarely by phone.

I went ahead and checked the WhoIs database and found that the address for the company that the spammer is posing to be is actually correct. This means nothing, it doesnt mean it is a real email from the company, it just means this idiot was able to use the same service I used to find some legit information about the company to make his scam seem more realistic. To top off the email scam he included the real website address to the real company at the bottom of the email.

If you look at the email that he is requesting you to send your information to you will find that it is a yahoo.com.tr address, which wouldn't make sense because since the real company has a domain name they would have web email addresses like blank@kamasan.com so don't be fooled.

The format of the email is another give away, as it is very sloppy.


The following is the "Representative Needed" spam scam email I recieved:



KAMASAN PLASTIC INDUSTRY CO, LTD
DEREBOYU MEVKII ROAD,
HALKALY, 34303 TURKEY

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am Mr. Robert MarK, manager Kamasan plastic Industry in TurkeyWe are company who deals on Plastics and in need of representative that would be to represent our company in the
following countries
1 Canada
2 America
and All European countries.
subject to your satisfaction will be given
the opportunity to which you are going to negotiate your
mode of payment for your service to us
Please if you are interested forward to us;
Full Name............................
Contactaddress..................
Country...............................
State...................................
Tel.....................................
Occupation.......................
All correspondent should be forwarded to this email; my private email: robmcontact@yahoo.com.tr

Best Regards, Mr Robert MarkManaging DirectorKAMASAN plastic industrywww.kamasan.com

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

The "I'll Compesate You With..." Spam Scam

Hey everyone, got another one today, woohoo! This one is stupid, as it grabs a newbie internet users attention because the first thing they think is that it must have been an email sent to the wrong address.

The bad thing is, once you respond to the email they will come up with a clever apology for sending the email to the wrong address and then continue on to try and get you interested in sending them some of your information so that they can instead give you the money rather than the person they were trying to contact but failed to reach... hah.

The following below is the "I'll Compesate You With..." Spam scam email I recieved:



Hello My Friend,

How are you today? It's been long I heard from you. Well, I just want to use this medium to thank you very much for your earlier assistance to help me in receiving the funds, without any positive outcome. I am obliged to inform you that I have succeeded in receiving the funds with the help of a new partner from pargany.

Everything was perfectly done because we strike a deal with one of the Lady accountant who works with the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) and she rendered a tremendous help to us. my new partner initiated this idea and everything worked out successfully.

In appreciation of your earlier assistance to me in receiving the Funds.I have decided to compensate you with the sum of $950.000.00 US This is from my own share. I did this simply to show you that it is good to do good things to the right people always. Presently, I am in pargany for investment project with my own share under the advice of my partner.

Meanwhile, I didn't forget your past efforts and attempts to assist me in transferring those funds despite that it failed us somehow. I will be sending you e-mail from time to time to know if you have received your share or not.

Now contact my personal secretary in Benin. His contact is:Name: Mr Atigweuwa UjuEMAIL:uatigweuwa@yahoo.fr Please do let me know immediately if you receive it so that we can share the joy together after all the sufferings at that time.

In the moment,Iam very busy here in pargany because of the investment projects,which the new partner and I are having at hand. So feel free to get in touch with Mr Atigweuwa Uju to send the money to you without any delay.

With My Best Regards, PAULSON ADAMS.

The "Next of Kin" Spam Scam

Hey everyone, class is in, and today I have a perfect example of a "Next of Kin" Spam scam.

The easiest way to tell that this is that banks do not contact you by email unless you request it, and if you have never heard of the bank mentioned in the email, then scrap it.

Plus, the biggy is that this kind of thing never happens over email and never happens in real life, and you wouldn't need to give them any information anyway because they would already have it.

Ask yourself lots of questions, and if it ends up being the real deal you will start to get phone calls, and even then, if you do get a "Next of Kin" phone call, then you should instinctually start to ask questions before answering anything.

Example question: why would a bank pick someone at random and try to split something with me?

Hmmmm, sounds fishy.

I went ahead and highlighted the major warning signs in the following "Next of Kin" spam scam email below:



Good Day,

I am Mr. Patrick K. W. Chan. Executive Director and General Manager of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd. Before the U.S and Iraqi war our client Col. Hosam Hassan who was with the Iraqi forces and also businessman made a numbered fixed deposit for 18 calendar months, with a value of Thirty million United State Dollars($30,000,000.00) only in my branch.

Upon maturity several notices was sent to him, even during the war which began in 2003. Again after the war another notification was sent and still no response came from him. We later find out that Col. Hosam Hassan along with his wife and only daughter had been killed during the war in a bomb blast that hit their home.

After further investigation it was also discovered that Col.Hosam Hassan did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. And he also confided in me the last time he was at my office that no one except me knew of his deposit in my bank. So, Thirty million ($30,000,000.00) United State Dollars is still lying in my bank and no one will ever come forward to claim it.

What bothers me most is that according to the laws of my country at the expiration 5 years the funds will revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong Government if nobody applies to claim the funds. Against this backdrop, my suggestion to you is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand as the next of kin to Col.Hosam Hassan so that you will be able to receive his funds.

MODALITIES: I want you to know that I have had everything planned out so that we shall come out successful. I have an attorney that will prepare the necessary document that will back you up as the next of kin to Col. Hosam Hassan, all that is required from you at this stage is for you to provide me with your Full Names, Contact phone and fax numbers and Address so that the attorney can commence his job. After you have been made the next of kin, the attorney will also fill in for claims on your behalf and secure the necessary approval and of probate in your favour for the move of the funds to an account that will be provided by you.

There is no risk involved at all in this matter, as we are going to adopt a legalized method and the attorney will prepare all the necessary documents. Please endeavor to observe utmost discretion in all matters concerning this issue. Once the funds have been transferred to your nominated bank account we shall then share in the ratio of 70% for me, 30% foryou.Should you be interested you can reach me on my private email address below:

chan_0_1@yahoo.com.cn And finally after that I shall provide you with more details of this operation.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Patrick K.W. Chan.

Internet Spam... A $992 Million Dollar Market

Yes, it is true, there are more spam emails sent daily than there are internet users... how crummy is that?!?

According to Spam Filter Review (http://www.spam-filter-reviews.com/) there are 12.4 Billion spam emails sent every day...

According to Internet World Stats (http://www.internetworldstats.com/) there are 1,133,408,294 internet users worldwide...


That means that on average we receive around 10 spam emails daily. I don't know about you, but that is way too much for me and frankly I'm tired of it.

While you may think that spam is easily identifiable and worthless, surprisingly 28% of those that receive spam end up replying to it, and around 8% actually purchase from spam email.

If we calculate how much spam emails generate in revenue, assuming that the average purchase is around $20 spent on a product a spam email advertises, we find that the spam generates around $992,000,000 in sales. Whats sad, is that that number will presumably continue to grow as long as the internet continues to grow and people continue to give into this tom-foolery.

There are a couple of ways we could battle this issue:

  • We could write and complain to our email service provider
  • We could reply back to spammer email accounts in large numbers in an effort to disable that users account
  • We could mark each and every spam email as spam
  • We could just ignore it and let email providers deal with it

Or... we could engage in spamucation - educate ourselves so that we learn how to identify internet spam in an effort to choke the $992 million made off of spam emails every year.

Lets think about it, which solution do you think will be the most beneficial? Keep in mind that in order for it to be the most beneficial we should not only think about ourselves, but also the email providers we currently have email accounts with. If we choose the wrong solution, we could end up hurting our email providers and loosing whatever quality of service (some are good, some bad) we had available.