PM scam

Phil Herring · Feb 25, 2016

Someone goes to an internet cafe in Nigeria, etc., signs up for a free hotmail account. They come to the site and register, doing a little homework so they enter plausible data in the registration fields. I'm not going to go into detail, but if someone is careful, they can defeat the filters we use to flag questionable accounts. The user then got his confirmation email in his shiny new hotmail account, verified his address, and sent about 20 PM's.

Forum security is designed to stop bots, but an individual registering is considerably more difficult to catch. The best thing you can do is report it right away. I think we had a report within an hour of posting, banned the user and deleted all of the PM's. The trick is to catch the bad guys without a bunch of false positives that frustrate real users trying to register. It's a delicate balance. FWIW, we have tightened up our filters a little more to a level that would have blocked this registration.

justsomeguy · Feb 25, 2016

While I hadn't received a PM from this person, I just emailed her, saying she could trust me with the inheritance.
Looking forward to doing business with her.

Oh, and I'll share all proceeds 50/50 with the SBO staff. Seriously!

Peggie Hall HeadMistress · Feb 25, 2016

justsomeguy said:
While I hadn't received a PM from this person, I just emailed her, saying she could trust me with the inheritance.

And by doing that you MAY have exposed everyone in your address to her merry band of scammers. Scammers can hide malware in ANY link that can be clicked on in an email...which is why you should never click on a link in an email that may appear to be from someone in your address book...that's how they got that person's address and how they'll get yours. How many times have we all seen posts from friends saying their email has been "hacked"...it hasn't. They handed it to 'em by clicking on a link they shouldn't have in an email.

I always check the return address in any unsolicited email I get, no matter who it claims to be from because the actual return or reply-to address from a scammer is never what it should be. Posting PMs is one way for 'em to make it impossible for you to do that.

justsomeguy · Feb 25, 2016

I may have been born at night, but not last night, Peggie.

Edit- sorry for misspelling your name.

kloudie1 · Feb 25, 2016

Like my old Navy Chief used to say, "I did come into town on a potato truck, but it wasn't yesterday!"

justsomeguy · Feb 25, 2016

Justin_NSA said:
You want to do something but usually the best thing is to ignore and delete them. Even unsubscribing to an unsolicited message gives the malicious sender opportunities to become a greater nuisance.

This is true.
That unsubscribe link at the bottom is bait.

justsomeguy · Feb 25, 2016

Now if all y'all will excuse me, I've got an appointment with my life coach, then I'm gonna buy one of those Willow Curve light/heat therapy devices, as seen on TV!

Meriachee · Feb 25, 2016

If you'd like to have a good read, there is a website out there called 419eaters.com where a merry band of miscreants take great pleasure in devising creative and somewhat hilarious ways of leading these fine folk on.
A very good read if nothing else, and no unsubscribe links necessary.

justsomeguy · Feb 25, 2016

That was quick. I've already received a response from "Grace", asking me to visit her.

A snippet from the response: "The content of your letter has given me the confident and courage to handover this matter to you directly, and please I beg you not to disappoint me at this point in time, because I have refused to tell any other person about this money."

...when all I'd written in my email was "Dear Grace.
Yes, you can trust me on this transfer of your late father's inheritance."

I have since asked for more details, which Grace should be sending forthwith.

Any of you folks get those phone calls from "Windows technical services"?

Phil Herring · Feb 25, 2016

Oh yeah. There a number of people who have become skilled at eating vast amounts of their time, which is pretty awesome.

Sailm8 · Feb 25, 2016

My 94 year old mother got a scam phone call "Hi grandma I'm in trouble and need your to wire me money quick". What a mistake for the scammer, he was on the phone with her for 2 and a half hours and never got a cent. No one can talk like my mother. I think he was ready to send her money.

Ward H · Feb 25, 2016

justsomeguy said:
Any of you folks get those phone calls from "Windows technical services"?

Yep, I followed through once just to see how they were setting up the scam. Pretty sophisticated stuff but I knew when to stop.
Now my wife enjoys talking to them a bit then saying something like "Could this lit up apple on the back of the screen be part of the problem?"

Kermit · Feb 25, 2016

justsomeguy said:
I may have been born at night, but not last night...

I may have been born yesterday but it wasn't yesterday morning. Doh!

woodster · Feb 25, 2016

Justin_NSA said:
The classic revenge call

i have that on my iPhone in my music that is the best karma in the world for telemarketing

Kermit · Feb 26, 2016

Hearing Tom Mabe's revenge call sorta makes me glad the hacker/spammer got past the firewall. Almost brings a tear to my eye. Reminds me of when a certain president said, "Mr. Herring tear down that wall!"

justsomeguy · Feb 26, 2016

Well, she sure seems legit. Sent me a few photos of documents, one of which I'll post here.

Sure enough, 5.5 million Euros. Says so right there!

She's also got a sailboat! She sent along this photo;

Meriachee · Feb 26, 2016

justsomeguy said:
She sent along this photo

That's an interesting camera angle. It makes the back of the hull look like the front.

PM scam

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