I normally just ignore and delete Nigerian and Phishing scam emails I receive, but the one I got the other day was just so bloody stupid that I felt I had to share. I was told I’d won the UK Sweepstakes International Programme – and a million pounds!
Of course they wanted more information from me … and I was supposed to believe that some dude with a Hotmail email addy was in charge of something like this? The mind reels.
Anyhow, below is the email in full – dern shame it weren’t fer real…
Attn: Lucky Winner
We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address has won the UK
Sweepstakes International Programme.Therefore you have been approved for a
lump sum payout (1,000,000.00 GBP) One Million Pounds in the Uk
Sweepstakes International Program held on the 1st Of October 2008, and
released 4th October, 2008. Your e-mail ID emerged as one of the
winners in the 1st category.Please fill the form below and send it to our claims department for the
immediate release of your funds.Name: Mr James McMillian
Email: jamesmcmillian1@hotmail.comPAYMENT PROCESSING FORM
1.Full Name:
2.Full Address:
3.Status:
4.Occupation:
5.Phone Number
6.Country:Yours faithfully,
Caroline Bryan
casa azahar 
hey, I won too!
LikeLike
I recently got a phone message telling me to renew my car warranty. As I was surprised that I COULD renew my warranty, considering my car is now almost six years old, I saved the message and planned to call the dealership. I was also surprised that I hadn’t received a letter to this effect from Toyota instead of a phone message.
On the following Monday I was talking to my office mate and he said that out of the blue, he had received a card telling him to call the 1-800 number on the card to “renew his warranty”. He was suspicious because not only did the card not have his dealer’s name on it, his car is a 1991 model and he figured it must be a scam.
To top it off, he told me, he had a message on his phone to renew it. He noted that ne name of the company calling him was garbled (as it was on mine). I immediately called my message service and played mine back to him…
Sure enough, the messages were identical.
Neither of us have the same make of car, either.
The thing is that so many people don’t think twice about replying to these sorts of things.
I tried to call the fraud squad with the police but unless you are stupid enough to have actually lost money to the scam, they don’t want to know. It seems to me that alerting the public to new sorts of scams would prevent at least some of them from working.
LikeLike
scams – and the gullible/trusting souls who fall for them – are as old as the hills.
This will probably be famous last words, but I’ve never been sent a scam email or phone message.
LikeLike
Don’t get mad, get even – or do it vicariously…
Have fun following those who scam the scammers at:
http://www.419eater.com/
LikeLike
There is someone who is phishing email addresses also. That scam asks you for your correct email address and your password.
LikeLike
I got the car warranty renewal call, too. Which is strange because I don’t have a car. I found out it was a scam by looking up the number at a website where people could put the number in, and other people would tell what they knew about it. It’s still there, but seems to have been taken over by spammers to the point where it’s no longer useful. From there I found out the car warranty people are not only selling a scam, they are doing it by taking over the phones of people who have long absences from home. Truly wicked.
LikeLike
So maybe I should have filled in the info as Bill Gates and sent it back?
I get Nigerian scam emails about once a week; though most go directly to my spam file the occasional one slips through. But I’ve never had a scam phonecall. At least I don’t think so. Whenever I answer the phone and it sounds even remotely like telemarketing people I immediately say I’m not interested, tell them not to call again, and hang up.
I’ve also had phishing emails from people pretending to be Paypal, asking me for account information. Except Paypal only ever asks you to do this online, when you are logged into your account, not by email. I wonder how many people have been sucked into that one.
It does seem odd that the fraud squad only wants to know after someone has been taken in, Anneke. Surely they should be tracking down all fraudsters, not just those who succeed.
LikeLike
Oh, someone beat me to the 419eater website. Hours of fun!
Paypal has a ‘report fishing scam’ option or something on their website. I always dutifully report them, I hope it helps. (But why do they need my bank details and password, I wonder?)
LikeLike
I report mine from y email box directly, an option with gmail.
LikeLike
Jim McMillan is up to his old tricks eh! You should send him a mail… You are the winner of an FBI e-mail fraud investigation. Your ISP Provider has been contacted…
LikeLike
When I get those phone calls I have three favourite responses.
1- I say “Can you just hold for a second?” and then go for a walk.
2- I repeatedly hit the number “7” button because at the very least it annoys a person or occasionally it will trigger a computer response at the other end.
3- I recite chapter and verse the Canadian Radio and Telecommunication Commision’s 2002 regulations concerning unsolicited phone calls (I have a copy by the phone at home). They usually say “I’m sorry” by the middle of the first page and hang up.
LikeLike
My favorite response from the above has to be the leaving them on the line — if you don’t hang up, it won’t clear their line, and may even cost them, if they’re calling long distance.
I never get the Nigerian entertainments on AOL, but tons on my Yahoo addy. Go figure.
LikeLike