Miscellaneous Forum

Sounds right to me. Though I can't imagine that there is anyone left on the Internet that wouldn't know about these proposals and just delete/report them. Maybe the scammers are just too dumb to know they've been exposed or maybe they just have too much time on their hands.

You know Jenn, on second thought maybe those scammers are the "scammed." As a theory, could it be that someone is making money from the scammers by selling them the format letter and the UK or what ever e-mail address they use? It seems that these letters come from people in poorer countries. Maybe they are not Internet savvy and don't know how obvious they are to us?

There are still victims, but they generally refuse to talk or testify: guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ja...

There are quite a few people in eg Kenya who are not internet savvy. A lot of people don't know how to spell or construct a sentence properly and this shows up in the letters. The most dangerous are the ones sent from your *friends* who tell you they are in a hotel and their wallet has been stolen. You are more likely to believe them.

well this article was suggesting that it does still work - and that some scammers say they are from nigeria when they aren't - because nigeria has had a poor press and some people might think that chiefs can be poisoned and their daughters want to access the bank account where their father put all his bribes etc

oh gerald d that is a very sad article

One of our members husband's is a lawyer who handles some cases where people have fallen into some of these traps. He said you would be amazed by the number of people who are hoodwinked! Not the major ones for mega dollars that we get in the VT email, but smaller schemes for500 to a couple of thousand dollars. I heard something on the radio the other day which also rings very true. The premise of the little report was talking about how people spend days or weeks shopping for certain major purchases such as computers, new and used cars, etc, but often they will invest money in almost anything if they think they can make some quick money in return without doing a lot of research.

Those poor people...how on earth tbey thought money was going to come from nothing I simply dont know.. Just today I have recieved a call from "Jimmy" claiming that my computer is infected with malware that he can help me remove..the worst bit about that is that he knew my name as well....ugh! And an e-mail from someone I have not spoken to in 7 or 8years...claiming his wallet and phone and passport have been 'removed' from his hotel room in Spain and the Spanish police wont let him leave until I send money to pay his hotel bill and his return flight to the US...scammers are not very good as he does not even live in the US ...and after the fight we had I wouldnt really be very quick to send money to him

Thanks Gerald for the article link. When I read, "...the unnamed 65-year-old from South Korea and his daughter, in her 30s, evidently had a trusting nature." My first thought was it should have read, "greedy" instead of "trusting." :-) I'm happy they were rescued but can't really imagine that any embarassment would keep them from testifying and bringing those guys to a conviction. Also, I do know that just because I can't imagine something doesn't mean it wouldn't happen. LOL!!

As reasonably literate, internet savvy folk we say those proposals are shonky, but imagine the perspective of a Korean recently connected to the internet... I had a Congolese refugee working for me and allowed him internet access on our computers to keep contact with his family back home. Discovered from the rest of my staff later that he had charmed a lady from New York who came to visit him and willingly got pregnant to help him apply for a USA visa (she thought he was single). He now lives in Tanzania with his wife, or so he says.

The thing is, if you are desperate for money then you will take on such jobs. It's the same with 'home-working'...stuffing envelopes and suchlike, at a dreadful rate of pay and, often, for no payment at all in the end. I can imagine situations where I would do it (I've done home-working in the past, albeit briefly). That's why I try not to be personally abusive to spammers, although it is sometimes hard not to be. I suspect an awful lot of them are just trying to make some cash, by which I mean payment for sending out x emails or making x forum postings and not the scamming thing itself, which is profiting only the criminals who run these operations. The 'your virus is infected' calls are a commonplace scam here too. I've had about 6 so far. I tell them they are lying, and scamming, and that I have notified the authorities (not that they can do anything, because the calls originate outside the UK). The 'I need money because I am stuck in a dreadful situation abroad' scam is also fairly common, And yes, sadly, I can believe many, many people do still get caught. Otherwise, it would all have stopped by now. :-(

O, and to answer your question Jen..no, I don't think that's the case. I think they work from a variety of scripts & chunks of text, given to them by their 'employers'. I genuinely don't think they realise how 'shonky' (a lovely word, not heard it before) their emails sound.

>>>The 'your virus is infected' calls are a commonplace scam here too The call made to me was from Microsoft telling me that someone is trying to get into my computer. The technician wanted me to give him access to my computer! LOL! At first I was amazed by the call more than suspicious but still I wasn't inclined to give him any info at all. After trying to politely say no a few times I realized it was a scam. I just told him that it was not a convenient time and would he give his number so I could call back later. They've called a few more times and each time I ask for their call back number and they just hang up. Kristy, Jimmy might have gotten your name from the directory or the name & number list source they are using.

Yes, they always say they are from Microsoft. They're not, of course. They can just use the UK telephone directory, if they wish. They don't need to buy lists of numbers (although I've no doubt some do that). As they are based outside the UK the telephone preference service can do nothing about them. Same with the 'You have won a cruise!' US-based automated phone cam.

I do recommend this book: amazon.co.uk/Delete-This-You... I heard it serialised on Radio 4 and it's hilarious. The author engages spammers of several types (the 'I have millions to give you' and the 'I saw your photo and...')in lengthy email correspondence. Great fun. :-)

My name and number is supposed to be ex-directory and we paid our telephone provider an extra one off fee to block our number being looked up on websites too...it seems something has gone wrong...the telephone provider has been informed and is 'looking into it'....but since the number the scammers used to call me was blocked they are not even sure at this point where the call originated from

My Aunt bought her council house and she says it was the best thing. Her feeling of ownership did her wonders. Never mind grandkids, she did it for herself. No scam there. I am sure the scammers intentionally deliver dumb messages. These scammers are university trained, due to their aid upbringing, and then have little job opportunities. Scamming is their career.

leics -I had a look at that link because it triggered a memory. It's is a while ago now (2-3 -more years?) that I read something on VT by a Member who wrote a very similar, clever, witty and hilarious series of "letters" in correspondence with a scammer. One of those 419s trying to extract money via a "you pay me peanuts before I can pay out millions to you" scam Can't remember now whether it was on a Forum or a personal page but it was a well known and highly rated male member, resident, I think, in Europe. I wondered seeing your link if he had expanded it into a book...? Is he/are you still out there? Does anyone else remember what I am talking about?

I watched a documentary about these scammers and a new trend in targeting dating websites. A former scammer is interviewed in Nigeria, as are two women who fell for their scams: channel4.com/programmes/419-... and if you can't access it through the Channel 4 website, try this: youtube.com/watch?v=J9FDRInb...

Hahahahaha, well now that you have mentioned it, it seems so true or why else would they write it up like that. And trust me there are people dumb enough to not even realize that their deleted emails go to the trash folder, I am speaking out of experience here :)...

i think that was ivan