Tag Archives: scam

“Mega Millions” scam from Jamaica

Posted on by The Old Wolf

beware_of_876_jamaica-scammers (1)

Had a call today from “Mega Millions Corporation” about a “coupon” that I had filled out at one of my “local convenient grocery stores,” supposedly “last March.” I was told that I had won a bank check for $1.6 million dollars, and a beautiful, luxurious Mercedes-Benz valued at over $125,000.00. Of course, there were taxes to be paid… but thanks to a “special offer,” those would only be $399.00, payable with a Green Dot money card. I’ve got a phone number to call back (1-876-856-8974) when I have that card in my possession, so I can take delivery of all these fantastic prizes.

I kept the drone on the phone for as long as I could… I wasted about 20 minutes of his time, scorched his eardrums with some choice insults, and hung up. I may call the number back later on the drive home, just to see if I can yank their chains some more. The guy’s accent sounded very Indian Subcontinent, with a hint of Nigeria thrown in. Sheesh. Some people’s children.

This is a good example of the Jamaica 876 scam. Another good website about this scam is here. These phone calls originate from Jamaica, even though they look like they are coming from toll-free numbers. Unless you know exactly whom you are calling, stay away from calls that come from area code 876. These calls, like the UK 40 70 prefix, can be routed to other countries, so you have no idea where these scumbags are hiding (beside under slimy rocks, naturally.)

Of course, the basic rules always apply: Never pay money to collect a prize of any sort. If people want you to wire money or use some sort of money card or ask for your private financial information, you are being scammed.

Be careful out there, folks. 

Relentless Spammers

Posted on by The Old Wolf

These people don’t give up. Despite my sending them the vilest possible insults in Chinese, along with demands that they cease and desist, I get one of their spam messages almost every week.

From: “Kevin” <cijiajiajiaixoauio33@msn.com>
To: Everybody in the whole flipping world

Subject: [SPAM] Photo Retouching Services – Photo Cut Out

Hi,

We are one of the best digital images retouching team located in China. We provide all kinds of image editing solutions to different companies all over the world.
We Specialize in:
. Cut out/masking, clipping path, deep etching, transparent background
. Beauty retouching, skin retouching, face retouching, body retouching
. Colour correction, black and white, light and shadows etc.
. Dust cleaning, spot cleaning
. Fashion/Beauty Image Retouching
. Restoration and repair old images
. Product image Retouching
. Jewellery image Retouching
. Real estate image Retouching
. Vector Conversion
. Wedding & Event Album Design.
. Portrait image Retouching
We Offer Best Quality; Best Service and the Most Competitive prices.
Every day we process and manipulate large volumes of images from U.S.A and Europe. So you will be in good hands when it comes to quality, service and the most competitive prices.
Waiting for your images for the free trial so that you can judge our quality of work yourself.
We are waiting for your reply.
Thanks & Regards,
Kevin
Kanucssa Imaging Professionals
Contact: <redacted>

Just remember:

Rule #1: Spammers/Scammers Lie.
Rule #2: If a spammer seems to be telling the truth, see Rule #1.

Do NOT do business with these bottom-feeders.

(For more discussion about the nature of spammers, visit this thread at Spamcop.net.)

The Old Wolf has spoken.

It’s only a Done Deal if you give these scammers your credit card number

Posted on by The Old Wolf

donedealscam

Notice the legitimate address for DoneDeal up there? It’s http://www.donedeal.ie, the home page of a legitimate Irish commercial site.

No surprises, then, that when the email leads you to http://recza.com.mx/donedealone/[obfuscated], red flags wave, sirens blare, and bells ring. Why would DoneDeal be using a web host in Mexico?

Of course, they wouldn’t. This is a phishing scam, pure and simple. I’ve received two in the last couple of days, the second pointing to a different website after the first one was shut down. You fill out an innocent-looking survey (and if you believe that they will pay you €150.00 for that 30-second effort, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you) and then you’re taken to a page where you enter your credit card details and other critical personal information:

Survey2

Most of my readers here know how to recognize a phishing scam from miles away, but most of us have loved ones and friends who may not be computer literate. Protect them; educate them; teach them NEVER to give out their financial data online unless they know what they’re doing.

DoneDeal knows about these bottom-feeders; whether they can do anything about them is debatable, but forewarned is forearmed.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Shipping Scams: One way the Nigerians find their accomplices

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I have received over the last year or so around a dozen fraudulent checks from Nigerian Craigslist scammers, about whom I have posted previously. I received an email today which illustrates one method by which they get people in the USA to act as their stooges.

New_Mail_Scam_for_Stealing_Identities1

—————————

From: Andrew Joycelyn JoycxuelfaynAncudrew@outlook.com
 To: Me
A US based organization is looking for Mail Associates. This position requires no special knowledge besides entry-level computer skills and physical ability to work with correspondence and dispatches.
Perfectly fitting for stay-at-home moms, retirees and business owners who reside in the personal office during the day.

The work pressure is around five hours every day.

Duties:

– Accepting of correspondence and dispatches
– Checking whether the contents match the description
– Submitting photos 
– Sending shipments to clients
– Submitting of simple reports via our website

Prerequisites:

– A postal address anywhere in the United States
– Can work take responsibility 
– A personal car to deliver mail to the nearest USPS locations
– Physical ability to lift up to 25 lbs

This is a permanent job with a compensation of up to $2,000 net per month.

Should you become interested in this job offer, kindly reply to this email, and we will contact you at our earliest convenience.

——————–
Whatever kind of “work” these drones are offering, you can be certain it’s not legitimate. In addition to printing and mailing fraudulent checks, criminals also use people like this to forward illicit items or stolen property. My suspicion is that anyone who applies will also be taken advantage of monetarily in some way.
The following text is from the Postal Inspectors’ website:

Don’t Be the Victim of a Reshipping Scam!

Have you been asked to receive packages at your home or business and mail them to someone else? Postal Inspectors advise: Don’t do it!

Criminals who conduct reshipping scams recruit victims through a variation of one of these scenarios:

Work-at-Home Scams

Criminals often post phony job announcements at Internet career sites, offering positions such as “merchandising manager,” “package processing assistant,” or a similar title. Job duties generally include receiving packages and mailing them to a foreign address on behalf of a client. The websites may look legitimate, and they may offer to send you postage-paid mailing labels.

The real story? The offers come from criminals who buy merchandise with stolen credit cards and need help smuggling the goods out of the country. Even the mailing labels are phony. And you are committing a felony when you help out these criminals.

What should you do if you’ve been tricked into
one of these scams?

  • Don’t accept packages at your address for people you don’t know.
  • Stop all communication with operators who try to solicit your help in reshipping items.
  • If you already have merchandise from such an offer, don’t mail it.
  • Keep all correspondence (e-mails, faxes, etc.) related to these scams.
  • Contact Postal Inspectors at 1-877-876-2455. They’ll help you return stolen items back to the proper owners.
Also be aware of “Sweetheart Scams” and “Charity Scams” out lined in the same PDF document.
Stay away from such spurious offers; you’re dealing with the worst kind of soulless criminal, and will only stand to lose money and a whole lot more.
The Old Wolf has spoken.

Scam: You can’t win a lottery you didn’t enter

Posted on by The Old Wolf

TAKE NOTE:

Lottery-Fraud-Postcard

From: IRISH LOTTERY <parkerdskirish@hotmail.com>
To: <redacted>
Subject: RE: Irish Prize

IRISH GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED IRISH WEB LOTTERY

IS REGISTERED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT OF
(Registration Z720633X).

The Irish Lottery
47 Meadow Vale,
Sligo, Ireland
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Tel (+44) 701 002 8673

CONGRATULATIONS!
We happily announce to you the draw (#1004) of the IRISH LOTTERY online Sweepstakes International program held on the 30th of March 2014. It is now available for claims and you are getting the final NOTIFICATION as regards this.

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 5647560050000 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:02, 05, 09, 16, 18, 41, (bonus no.03), which subsequently won you the lottery in the 1st category i.e match 5 plus bonus.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of 700,000.00 EURO (Seven hundred thousand Euros) in cash credited to file KTU/902311308/03. This is from a total cash prize of 3,600,000 (Three million, Four hundred thousand euros) shared among the (6) lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus. All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online.Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your 700,000.00 EURO (Seven hundred thousand Euros) will be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

We are once again happy with you that you have won the IRISH LOTTERY PROMOTION. Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds.
Before we can gives you instructions on further step of your claims, you are advice to fill the claims below and get back to me for further instructions.

FULL NAME:________
SEX:________
COMPANY: IF ANY _________
FULL CONTACT ADDRESS:_________
PHONE:_________
AGE:____
CELL:____
CITY:_____
STATE:________
ZIP CODE:______
COUNTRY: ______
OCCUPATION: _____

For enquirers, more information and to file your claim, all contact should be forwarded to us via this email.

Congratulations from me and members of staff of THE IRISH LOTTERY.

Yours faithfully,
Thomas Parker (Mr)
Phone: (+44) 701 002 8673
Online coordinator for THE IRISH LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.(Ireland)

 EDIT: Just continuing on with these Lads from Lagos so you can see how the scam plays out. Red flags and gross errors are marked in red.

IRISH GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED IRISH WEB LOTTERY
IS REGISTERED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT OF
(Registration Z720633X).

The Irish Lottery
47 Meadow Vale,
Sligo, Ireland
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Tel (+44) 701 002 8673

Congratulations: Wolfington X. Analemma,
Congratulation once again your winning price has just been handed over to NATWEST BANK . We wish to inform you as a winner in this year IRISH ONLINE Award. Your check (Bank Draft) has been registered and deposited as a Bank Draft with the (NATWEST BANK) London, UK.

Contact the Bank via email as given below, NATWEST, Your winning check (700,000.00 EURO) was deposited with NATWEST, Kindly contact NatWest for transfer of your winning prize (BANK DRAFT) deposited from the National Lottery Department (IRISH LOTTERY).
You are to contact Mr. Stephanie Hughston ( +447010089271 ) Email: transfer-online@ntwstbonline.co.uk that is in charge of your fund right now in NATWEST BANK OF LONDON who will give instruction to the transfer department to commence on the transfer into the bank account details that is required by the NATWEST bank.

Operations Executive Officer NatWest Bank of London.
Mr. Stephanie Hughston
transfer-online@ntwstbonline.co.uk
+447010089271

Once again congratulation from me and member staff of the IRISH SWEETSTAKE ONLINE
For any clarification, kindly call IRISH Claim office Tell: +447010028673

Yours faithfully,
Thomas Parker (Mr)
Phone: (+44) 701 002 8673
Online coordinator for THE IRISH LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program.(Ireland)

By Mogg’s holy grandfather, can the grammar, spelling, and overall English be any worse? Who could possibly believe that this is from any official body in Ireland or the UK? Be aware that the Irish Lottery is aware of this ongoing game by the Lads from Lagos:

Please note – There are an ever-growing number of Irish lotto e-mail scams. Although these scammers have used our name and address in their fraudulent e-mails we are NOT involved in any way with any of these scams.

Please visit http://europeanlottery.net/scam/lotto_scams.html for more information.

An Excerpt:

There are an ever-growing number of lottery scams circulating in the world wide web. Although these scammers have used the name and address of Irish and UK Subscription Services in their fraudulent e-mails, we would like to stress that ILS is NOT involved in any way with any of these scams.

Please be vigilant. These lottery scams are cleverly and convincingly written, but deceptive and completely fraudulent. Thousands of people have lost money paying “commissions” and “charges” to receive cash prizes they’ve been told (falsely) they’ve won. Take for example, the latest Irish Lottery Scam which comes with a forged ILS cheque with your name on it! The opportunists behind these scams are stealing large amounts of money from gullible people and they tarnish the integrity of legitimate marketers of Government Lotteries.

If you have any doubt at all about the legitimacy of a lottery prize “win” you’re mailed or emailed about, just email us atsales@irishlotto.net or sales@irishsubscription.net  An ILS Representative will be very glad to assist you.

The rest of the page is very informative and worth reading.

—————

Just posting this in case anyone else gets this fraudulent email and does a search on the information. Please note the following facts:

  • You can never win a lottery you did not enter
  • There are no “international tombolas,” or lotteries that choose winners from random emails
  • NEVER pay money to collect a prize of any sort.
  • Participating in overseas lotteries is illegal in many countries anyway, particularly the USA. The Irish Lottery and the Spanish Gordo are two favorite cover stories for liars, thieves, scammers, and hqiz-eaters.
  • Again we see a (+44 70) prefix. THIS IS NOT A UK NUMBER: If you call it, you’re speaking to someone in Nigeria or elsewhere in Africa, in all likelihood.

Be careful out there. The number of people out there who want your hard-earned money and who will stop at nothing to get it is rising as the Internet becomes more accessible to larger sections of third-world countries.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Notice to Appear in Court (Scam/Malware)

Posted on by The Old Wolf

bigstock-Malicious-malware-warning-mess-41722204-1024x819

(Thanks to Techsrus for the image)

My cubicle neighbor (at the job we just both got laid off from yesterday, but that’s another story) showed me a couple of emails he had gotten in his Gmail account – each sported the header “Notice to Appear in Court.”  I told him they were probably scam threat letters and hoping to extort money.

I got one myself today, and decided to explore it a little further.

—————-

From: “Notice to Appear in Court” <customerssupport231@kaiserarbitrationlawyers.com>
To: <redacted>

Subject: Notice to appear in court SN8157

Notice to appear in court,

Hereby you are notified that you have been scheduled to appear for your hearing that will take place in the court of Detroit in April 03, 2014 at 11:30 am.You are kindly asked to prepare and bring the documents relating to the case to court on the specified date.The copy of the court notice is attached to this letter. Please, read it thoroughly.
Note: The case may be heard by the judge in your absence if you do not come.Yours very truly,
SAMPSON Hays
Clerk of court
—————————–
Attached was a file called “Notice_to_Appear_TY4769.zip”
Unpack this zip folder and you find a file called “Court Notice.exe”. That file lasted less than one second on my desktop, as Microsoft Security Essentials immediately quarantined it. The .exe file contained a Trojan Downloader named Win32/Kuluoz.D, which Microsoft describes as follows:
Win32/Kuluoz is a trojan that tries to steal passwords that are stored in certain applications and sensitive files from your PC. This trojan could also download other malware to your PC, like other variants of Win32/Kuluoz and Win32/Sirefef, and variants of rogue security software likeWin32/FakeSysdef and Win32/Winwebsec. This threat tries to hack your email accounts and file transfer programs.
In other words, really nasty stuff.
This is a perfect example of why you should do the following things on your computer to practice safe computing:

1. Always display file extensions. This option is turned off by default by Microsoft on its newer operating systems, which in my opinion is a dangerous and foolhardy idea. This means that instead of seeing “Notice_to_Appear_TY4769.zip” and “Court Notice.exe”, you would only see “Notice_to_Appear_TY4769” and “Court Notice.” To fix this, follow the procedure below for your operating system:

To show or hide file name extensions (Windows 7)

  1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.

  2. Click the View tab, and then, under Advanced settings, do one of the following:

    • To show file name extensions, clear the Hide extensions for known file types check box, and then click OK.

    • To hide file name extensions, select the Hide extensions for known file types check box, and then click OK.

Example

To show or hide file name extensions (Windows 8)

  • Open Windows Explorer and go to “View” and then click the Options button > Change folder and search options
  • Scroll to “Hide extensions for file types is known”
  • Uncheck it and click OK.

To show or hide file name extensions (Windows XP)

  • Double Click on My Computer.
  • Click on Tools > Folder Options… in the menus.
  • Click on the View tab.
  • Remove the check from Hide extensions for known file types.
  • Click the OK button.

2) Make sure you have robust malware detection software installed. AVG Free, Microsoft Security Essentials, and Kaspersky are all good options. The first two are free, the third reasonably priced and somewhat more robust than the other two.

3) ☞ NEVER ☜ open attachments from unknown senders, especially a file that contains “.exe” anywhere in its name.

(Did I make that emphatic enough? I’d make it blink if I could.)

A lot of folks are savvy enough to spot this as a scam in an instant, but this particular email is official-looking enough to scare a lot of vulnerable computer users; the scammers don’t care if you actually appear anywhere – they just want you to open that never-to-be-sufficiently-damned attachment. If you are technically savvy and you have loved ones, either elderly or otherwise vulnerable, watch out for them. Educate them. You don’t want them becoming victims of scams or nefarious behavior like botnets.

This has been an Old Wolf public service announcement.

Another Scam Phone Prefix: +4487

Posted on by The Old Wolf

?????????????

Image from Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services

This one was new to me. It’s long been known that phone numbers which begin with 4470, or 44 070, are designed to look like United Kingdom numbers, but which actually forward to anywhere in the world – usually Nigeria or some other rat-infested internet cafe where scammers tend to cluster.

Last week I got this cute email from a potential “lover:”

Good day my friend, my name is Priya Kadam .I’m 26 years old girl lives in England, but originated from India, I was impressed when I saw your profile and I will like to establish a long lasting relationship with you. Once again ,I am the only daughter of Mr. Nilesh Kadam, my parents are late, and I am living alone , for the past 3 years and life is not easy with me since the painful exit of my late parents in a Fatal car accidents which took their life’s instantly.
But all is now in the past, as I have moved on, and I am grateful that I survive and made it at last.

So to cut the whole story shot, I am very willing to relocate with you, if only you can treat me well and as woman and be my man forever, as I have made all the fortune to sustain our lives with our un-born children, if we invest wisely.

I had a deal with some white dude here, which I was able to stole some huge sum of money from them[1] and now they are in search of me, and they cannot find me because I am in hide out as I am writing this mail to you, but I assure you nothing will happen to me because, them don’t know my country of origin , they thought I am from Lebanon,

So I have in my possession, cool cash of ? 1.5Million Great British Pounds with me, and I am ready to invest it with you, if I am convinced that you will not betray me or treat me bad.
Below attachment are my photos for your identification and I will also like to see yours, in case you are interested with my proposal.

Have a nice day sweetie and waiting to hear from you
Miss Priya Kadam
Cell phone.+448712379440

Beside the usual “Lonely Heart” scam, take note of the phone number: Prefixes like +4487 or +44 087 are also national link prefixes that forwards anywhere in the world. These numbers are not in the UK.

The quantity of human refuse who wants your money and who will stop at nothing to get it is growing at a frightening rate. Be careful out there.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

[1] In addition to the horrid grammar, notice that this “lady” freely admits that she is a thief, and wants you to be complicit in her crimes in exchange for access to her money. How stupid or desperate would you have to be to fall for something so patently false?