Tag Archives: scam

Don’t reply to spam. Ever.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

This should go without saying, but I just thought I’d point out one of many reasons why you should never respond to spam messages.

spam

(We wanted to let you know that we noticed that you still did not claim your $200 Amazon-shopping bonus that was gifted to you as a thank you for your business in past.
Please be sure to claim this before Aug 25
But Hurry! This Ends on Aug 25!
Please Go Here Now to Claim Your $200 Amazon-Shopping Bonus)

Click on the “Claim Your Bonus” link and your email program will generate a message to the following addresses:

  • info@delopment.net
  • sports@southeoffice.com,
  • mailtech@provintimate.net
  • reply@republck.com
  • info@templervices.net

Whatever message you send, such as “Ooh yes I want my bonus” or whatever, you have just given a live email address to five spammers/criminals/scammers or Mogg knows what, with a loud additional shout: “I am a sucker! Please Scam Me!”

Just don’t. Never respond to anything in your Spam box, and if you get email from people you have never done business with, delete it at once.

Be careful out there.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Hard Drive Safety Delete Will Start in Five Minutes

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Executive Summary: There is no “hard drive safety delete.” Your machine is not infected. You have been redirected to a malicious web page. Calling “support” will connect you to someone in India who wants to install malware on your computer. Don’t do it.

deleteDelete 2

Just posting this with a sample screen so that anyone who searches for the Zeus virus infection might see it.

A full description of this scam can be found at a previous entry.

Do NOT call 844-813-1552 to ask for support. Be very careful out there.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Business Loan Scam

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I apologize to my readers if this blog sounds like a broken record at times, but the dangers from scammers and fraudsters is real – and the more information available, the more likely that someone doing a web search will come across it and save their money or their information.

2015-08-31-1441027541-9677105-021913_robocalls_600.jpg

I’ve talked often about robocalls; here’s a good article from Consumer Affairs.

“[Scammers] have raked in millions of dollars with schemes like the business loan pitch. The recorded greeting says something like “congratulations, your business has been approved for a $250,000 loan.” If you stay on the phone long enough to talk to a live person, that person will try to get information from you that can be used to steal your identity.”

Got one of these just now. I pressed “1” to find out how the scam worked, and got someone who was virtually incomprehensible; he sounded like a Dane with his mouth full of Knödel.¹ His first question, in rapid-fire Mongolian, was “What is the annual revenue of your company?” When I asked him who was offering me this loan, he hung up.

Be careful out there. If it’s a robocall, it’s almost certainly a scam.

¹ A Dane sounds like a Norwegian with his mouth full of Knödel (which is a very heavy, thick dumpling). So this gives you an idea of what I was hearing.

An old scam, resurrected

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I previously posted about the most deceptive ad I had ever encountered in an article entitled “Selling It.”

Hall of Shame Advertisement

Take away all the mummery, and the thrust of the ad was, “throw away your old rabbit ears and buy our pretty rabbit ears.”

When it comes to separating suckers from their money, old ideas die hard. I mean, why throw away such a good concept if it works, right?

Saw this in WalMart just the other day:

20160914_161116

20160914_161101

Other than the fact that the old one was analog and this one is digital, it’s the same marketing pitch, with the same marketing weasel words. But the summum bonum of the product? “Works just like your old antenna, ONLY NOW with a sleek design.”

Well, that’s certainly sufficient incentive to throw away my old digital antenna and buy this one. Except for the fact that I haven’t watched broadcast TV for over 20 years, but that’s another story.

Save your money and don’t buy camel ejecta like this.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Hello Lucky Winner (Never answer emails like this)

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Bullshit

Hello Lucky Winner,

This might come as a surprise but 100% legitimate, as David and Carol Martin has approved a donation sum of $900,000.00 USD from part of their National Lottery Win of £33,000,000.00 Pound Sterlings. I believe this will come in handy and with it you can also be of assistance to the under privileged within your own community.

To verify the genuineness of this email and our winnings, please see our interview by visiting the web page below;

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-35297396 

Your email address was submitted to my wife and I by the Google Management Team and you received this email because we have listed you as one of the lucky beneficiary and all you have to do is get back to us with the below details so that we can direct our Bank to effect valid Bank Draft in your name to your operational bank account in your country.

============

  • Full Name:
  • State:
  • Country:
  • Occupation:
  • Age:
  • Sex:
  • Mobile/Tel:

============

SEND ABOVE INFORMATION ONLY TRHOUGH OUR CONTACT E-MAIL: madvcl@foxmail.com

Congratulations & Happy Celebrations in Advance

 

liar2

In case you were wondering, letters or emails or faxes like this are pure BS. Never respond, never send the money the scammers will invariably ask for (taxes, fees, bribes, you name it.)

Grandmarina

Be good then, and don’t!

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Would you like to work for the goverment? (Scam)

Posted on by The Old Wolf

It’s safe to say that there are as many ways to scam as there are scammers.

From: “Abranco” <demoonth@demo.ontha.com>
To: <abranco@cheshirect.org>
Cc: <undisclosed recipients>

Subject: Government Job Offer

Dear Sir or Madam

Would you like to work for the Government organization and participate in
the development of the United States?
Perhaps it is your talent the country needs at this moment.
Requirements – U.S. citizenship and minimum age 21
We invite you to work closely, anyone who does not care about the life of the state.
If you are a student, military, businessman, retired – we’ll be happy to listen to the opinions of everyone and take help from you.
Please send a brief summary to the human resource assistant on the lyne.holt@gmail.com and you will be assigned to interview

Naturally I never responded to this illicit offer, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the response would have somehow involved wiring funds via Western Union to someone in Africa for “interview fees,” or perhaps lead to a mail forwarding scam.

In the 1st quarter of 2015, spam accounted for almost 60% of all email traffic, according to this excellent article from SecureList. Have a look at the very top of my Spam inbox:

spam

Even if these emails are not directly criminal in nature (that is, loaded with malware or phishing attempts), my rule of thumb is this:

 “If a company spams you, avoid them at all costs.”

It’s a virtual certainty that their “offer” is fraudulent or, at the very least, a bad deal for you and a good deal for them.

Be careful out there.

 The Old Wolf has spoken.

Send now, $115 through Western Union or Money Gram!

Posted on by The Old Wolf

nigerians

As soon as you see the words “Nigeria,” “Western Union,” “MoneyGram,” or anything else that has to do with sending your hard-earned money to Africa, run the other way and don’t look back.

While these letters may seem repetitive, I post them here in case anyone who is considering acting on these scams does a Google search. If I can keep a single person from losing their funds to these scumbags, it will have been worth it.

From: Info Desk <ndlea1@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: We have completed the Automated Access code number program.

To: edcsservices@hotmail.com

From the desk of: Dr (Mrs) Sarah Alade,

Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way CBD, Cadastral Zone, Abuja, FCT
Attn: Beneficiary
We have completed the Automated Access code number program.
All we need now is for an attorney from our legal department to sign and we shall give you the access code and the program which your bank or our accredited paying bank near you will use to access the escrow using the password and your will get your funds.
Truly, everything is ready to go. It would cost you US$115.
The US$115 is to obtain the authorization and legal signing fee of the accredited attorney from our legal department, who will sign to enable us give the release codes to either JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America or BB&T Corporation to enable them access the escrow and pay the first $500,000 installments to you through check, draft or cash.
Due to nefarious activities of our corresponding banks and agents, we went into processing, management and online portal services pact with some banks in US.
We presently have three claimants in Georgia (U.S. state) and New York, one is from White Plains and 1 is from Ellijay.
We set up a secured escrow which can be accessed by and domiciled in JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America or BB&T Corporation for the purpose of these transactions.
Once the claimant satisfies the rule, the authorization and legal signing by the Central Bank of Nigeria accredited attorney done, we will give remittance order/authorization to either JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America or BB&T Corporation depending on proximity to the client. Then either JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America or BB&T Corporation will access the escrow using the PIN and password, then update the programmed funds from the escrow and pay it to the client in $500,000 installments through check, draft or cash even through local wire transfer depending on the choice of the beneficiary.
The US$500,000 is to bypass bureaucratic bottlenecks and unending money laundering quagmire and brouhaha.
Send now, $115 through Western Union or Money Gram to:-
Receiver: Adamu Ahmed
Address: Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way Central Business District, Cadastral Zone, Abuja, FCT
Question: Place
Answer: FCT
Thanks, and we regret any inconveniences you might have passed through.
Yours sincerely
DR. (MRS) SARAH ALADE,

DEPUTY GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN)

Marketing by Deception (Once Again)

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Edit: A recent comment indicates that these bottom-feeders have changed their name to “PVS LLC,” but are still sending out basically the same letter. Also operating as “TCU 100” in New Mexico and elsewhere. Beware.

“You are a Finalist in our 2016 Toyota Prius Giveaway!” trumpets the letter.

Image0002

Notice: They’ve never tried contacting me before, but along with the Washington DC return address, the “Final Attempt” makes the letter seem more urgent.

Image0004

Cute electronic gizmo and a scratch-off number. Any bets as to whether the numbers match? Pull the tab, scratch the number:

Image0006

What a surprise!

So I’m guaranteed to win one of those four fabulous prizes. Let’s look at the odds of winning on the fine print:

  1. Prius: 1:180,000
  2. Plasma TV: 1:180,000
  3. Apple iPad Air: 1:180,000
  4. Cruise: 179,997:180,000

If you’ve taken 9th-grade math, you know that it’s a sure thing you’ll be walking away from this experience with a cruise (valued up to $1,900.00).

This promotion is run by “Book and Sea,” a travel club that is using this promotion to “introduce their services.”

When I called the number, the young lady launched into her pitch and told me I’d be winning one of these great prizes, plus up to a $100.00 WalMart gift card. I asked her which prize I had won, and she said that I would only find out about that at the presentation. At this point I hung up.

Based on comments found on the web, it’s just another tired clone of Global Travel Network, about which I have already written:

“It is a 90 minute presentation you must listen to about a travel club and the discount they can give you (after you pay the fee for the membership). The idea is very interesting and the price was about $11,000 for a life time membership and an additional $300 per year fee. If you are interested I would suggest you play the game and say no to them first because they will come down drastically with the dollar amount that you would end up paying . At the end we got our salesman to give us the same deal for $3,775 and he was going to throw in two additional tickets for the cruise. We did not make the purchase however several people did at full price. We walked out with a gift card to walmart, which when I call to et the balance was only $5.00.”

According to the letter, the odds for the $100.00 gift card are 4:180,000, meaning everyone else gets a measly five bucks.

Image0005

These drones are targeting married couples with a combined income of over $60,000. As I wrote about in my previous post, even the cruise is no “prize” – by the time you pay taxes and other activation fees, you could probably find a flight and cruise as cheaply by yourself on the internet. So if they can sucker three or four couples per presentation to drop $11,000 plus a $300 per year maintenance fee, handing out these worthless cruises and gift cards makes the whole operation a pretty sweet racket.

Stay away from such scummy operators. Anyone who advertises their services with such reckless deception has the morals of a honey badger.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

No, not from Yahoo!

Posted on by The Old Wolf

In case you weren’t certain, letters like this are scams. Never send the criminals any information or money.

scama

YAHOO AWARD & MSN WINDOW LIVE PROMOTION CENTER

125 Shaftesbury Avenue London WC2H 8AD United Kingdom

This is to inform you that you have won prize money of Nine Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds, (£900, 000, 00.)  for the month of Sept 2015 Prize Promotion which was organized by YAHOO AWARDS & MSN WINDOWS LIVE.

YAHOO collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail and few from other E-mail Providers. Five people are selected this month to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM

Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre. Yahoo & MSN WINDOWS LIVE Prize Award must be claimed no later than 93 days from date of Draw Notification. Any Prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Stated below are your identification numbers:

BATCH NUMBER:           MGI/06/EUK-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER:   2008234200
PIN:         1200

WINNING  NUMBER:…      6,10, 22, 44, 49, 31,

These numbers fall within the England Location file, you are requested to contact our fiduciary agent in Manchester and send your winning identification numbers to him;

Agent Name: Dr. Denise Lewis.
Address: 61 Stradella Road, London, SE24 9HL

PLEASE CONTACT HIM THROUGH THESE EMAILS,

E-mail : drdeniselewis@worker.com

E-mail: drdeniselewis@dr.com

You are advised to send the following informations to your agent to facilitate the release of your winning fund to you.

  1. Full Names………………………..
  2. Country……………………………
    3. Contact Address…………………
    4. Telephone Number……………..
    5. Fax Number……………………….
    5. Marital Status…………………….
    6. Occupation………………………..
    7.  My Date of birth………………….
    7. Sex ……………………………
    8. Your banking information where the fund will be transferred into, either in your country or out side.
    9. I.e. the account number, bank name, swift code of the bank, address of the bank and the account name.

scamb  scamc

Congratulations!! Once again.
Yours in service,
Mrs. Amanda Brinkman

Email: mrs.amandabrinkman@consultant.com

——————————————————————————————————————————–

WARNING!!
Do not tell people about your Prize Award until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim.

You may also receive similar e-mails from people portraying to be other Organizations or Yahoo Inc. This is solely to collect your personal information from you and lay claim over your winning. In event that you receive any e-mail similar to the notification letter that was sent to you, kindly delete it from your mail box and give no further correspondence to such person or body.

Yahoo shall not be held responsible for any loss of fund arising from the above mentioned

scamd

Protect yourselves and your loved ones, especially those who are most vulnerable such as the elderly.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

A Letter from the “Assistant Secretary of State.”

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Please us with this email again! Right, folks – the Bureau of Consular Affairs is going to use a foxmail address. For the love of all that’s holy, never respond to an email like this. If you do, you’re handing your hard-earned money to fleabitten African scammers. YES, THIS IS A SCAM. Yes, I’m SHOUTING!

From: Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson <Anderson@gamma.ocn.ne.jp>
Subject: Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson,

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Bureau of Consular Affairs

Washington, DC 20520
Greeting from USA Embassy,

Attn Dear Citizens! Please us with this email again ( homelandsecurity20@foxmail.com )

This is to notify you that your consignment has been in our custody we are waiting for you to comply with our instructions before your package delivery will be effected to your delivery address. We have been waiting for you to contact us regarding your consignment box which Courier Company suppose to deliver to you which is on hold by USA Home Land Security Department Bureau and requesting for clearance certificate which will be obtain from the origination of the consignment box before it will be released. As a result of you not comply within duration given by Benin Government that is the reason the consignment box was diverted to treasury but the government of American have decide to make the world happy by been willing to release the package consisting of a Bank Draft Total sum of $ 3.5millions usd written with your name as the beneficiary within 4 hours immediately you secure the clearance certificate today.

After the Meeting Held by Our board of Director Which WAS Concluded That the Delivery of your Consignment to your address MUST BE Complete within 4hrs upon your Comply to Our requirement Which IS by sending the sum of  $ 155.00Usd  to enable the origin Obtain the needed certificate and your consignment for onward delivery to your house immediately without any further delay we decide to contact you because we confirm some offices are trying to deceive you.

Note that your consignment box has been arrived in US embassy and waiting to receive clearance certificate before the gate pass is given. Mean while you are advice to reconfirm the below information upon contacting us to avoid delivery to wrong person.

1, Full name:
2, Address:
3, Occupation:
4, Cell-Phone:
5, Nearest Airport:

Once you notify us with the Above Information include with the $ 55 payment we Will release your Consignment to you. Note That you Are expected to pay only  $ 155.00Usd  for Clearance certificate and you Are to pay it to Benin Republic as the origination of the Consignment box in favor of: Ofor Eze as Our accountant officer in Benin Republic Send the  $ 155.00Usd through Western Union or Money gram once you receive this mail with the Information Below for IMMEDIATE release of your Consignment box,

Receiver name: Ofor Eze
Country .. Benin Republic
city .. Cotonou
question: Yes
Answer: Yes.
Amount necessary. $ 155.00usd

Once you send the money, try to notify us with the MTCN for easy pick up and for immediate action on the release of your consignment.

Please treat this as matter of urgency .Note that any uncliam consignment will be return to the Courier Company after 3 days for final divertion as a result of failure to comply with our instruction and claim your consignment which arrived from Africa to our local airport here in USA.

So you are urgently advise to comply with our demand so that we will release your consignment we are working for the best of America citizen.

Treat with dispatch,
Yours Faithfully,
Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson,
FROM UNITED STATE OF AMERICA
Call +19189363447
Email: homelandsecurity20@foxmail.com

The Lads from Benin are still busy. They may be from Lagos, too – one can never tell where these drones are operating from.

Here’s my response to this one:

Nigerian Camels

All I can hope is that emails like this raise their blood pressure enough to precipitate a massive stroke…

The Old Wolf has spoken.