Email scams

**646guy** · 19th February 06, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by JerMc

If I responded to and got the monies that all of those darn right comical emails, Bill Gates would be next in line behind me in the worlds richest people list. No that's wrong, Hamish would be way behind me in the most kilts list and Bill would still be in second place. I'd also be just eccentric instead of a little bit nuts.

LOL you got that right....imagine how many kilts 10 million could buy....

**Sciuropterus** · 19th February 06, 10:07 AM

Having fun with those scammers is a hobby called "Scambaiting" for some people, the goal is to lead them along for as long as you can, and to get them to do bizzare things to prove their sincerity, like taking a picture of themselves standing on one foot holding an umbrella, or holding signs with unflattering messages that they do not understand. The people that have fun with the scammers often post the funniest results on the web. They also engage the scammers pretending to be fictional characters, it is quite funny. Most of those scam e-mails come from Nigeria (I think e-mail is their biggest export), and the scammers are usually referred to in the scambaiting community as the "Lads from Lagos" or "Lads".

Seriously, they do find victims all the time, and clean them out. Many victims are reluctant to report it, because they know they will look like a fool for falling for it.

See:

http://www.scamorama.com/#antiscam

http://www.419eater.com/index.htm

**bubba** · 19th February 06, 10:39 AM

Yup, they mostly originate from Nigeria where they're unlikely to be prosecuted. They bring in enough money that the Govt overlooks it. Nigeria has a huge organized criminal element.

**646guy** · 19th February 06, 10:41 AM

I think I've been inspired....

This could be F-U-N for me

**Graham** · 19th February 06, 03:14 PM

The sad thing is that some people are stupid enough to fall for these scams. I the local news the other days there were reports of people loosing money.

These scammers are evil, reporting them is the best way.

**GlassMan** · 19th February 06, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by Graham

The sad thing is that some people are stupid enough to fall for these scams. I the local news the other days there were reports of people loosing money.

These scammers are evil, reporting them is the best way.

A lot of the scams are when people get letters asking them to help the scammers launder money stolen from Aid grants or UN programs and such that are meant to help the poor. Or they claim to be children of a deposed leader trying to get the money their daddy stole from the 3rd world country out to the west. I have a really hard time feeling sorry for the fools who lose their own money by getting involved. If you think that you're going to make millions by laundering money meant to feed starving children, then you deserve to have your money stolen from you. Seems like just punishment for being a greedy pig.

**Mike1** · 20th February 06, 05:30 AM

These 'individuals' harvest e-mail addresses from e-mail servers and send out the initial messages to every address they harvest. If they do not get a reply, they typically move on to the next list of addresses.

However, if they do get some sort of response, they then know they have a actual, working e-mail account. So a reply to these types of e-mail is rather akin to jumping up and down, waving your arms, while shouting, "Spam me!"

**cessna152towser** · 20th February 06, 05:50 AM

Often the scams are configured according to your profession - I'm a lawyer and get these regularly from so-called barristers in Togo, Nigeria, etc. and I forward them straight to Metropolitan Police Fraud Alert. Like others here I always forward E-bay and Paypal ones to these companies to let them deal with them.

**starbkjrus** · 20th February 06, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by Mike1

These 'individuals' harvest e-mail addresses from e-mail servers and send out the initial messages to every address they harvest. If they do not get a reply, they typically move on to the next list of addresses.

However, if they do get some sort of response, they then know they have a actual, working e-mail account. So a reply to these types of e-mail is rather akin to jumping up and down, waving your arms, while shouting, "Spam me!"

Perhaps give them the number for Bank of America? That'll teach them to call me every week to sell me something that they can bill right to my account.

**ByDand** · 20th February 06, 07:02 AM

If we reported and investigated every e-mail scam, we would have to have another government entity set up to do nothing but that. With all of the technology we have there should be a way to isolate or filter all the BS that goes out over the net. We will never be able to do anything about them because of where they originate, however having fun with them may curtail some of the abuse. I, like the rest of you, feel sorry for the few that actually believe them and get scammed.