Hah! Nice try, Mr. Scammer... (long, language)

[ZedOmega]

(Note: Not even sure where something like this should go, so mods, relocate as you see fit.)

I'm just so used to customers trying to fast-talk me into letting them get away with murder (gimme a minute about that; I got one for tonight's shift that'll make you shake your heads) that I had to laugh at this.

I checked my email after I finished winding down from work and noticed that in my junk folder, of all things, was supposedly an email from the FBI. It said something along the lines of 'we have it on record that you were involved with an illegal transaction' and all I had to do was send them US$260 and I'd get my share of the recovered stolen money.

Right. Bullshit. I hadn't even heard of this scam until I read it for myself.

First off, the email claimed to be from Director Robert S. Mueller. A quick look at the FBI's homepage, and look, they left off the 'III' part of his name. Plus, he's directing the entire department; it would be one of their agents looking for me instead of the director himself. Strike one.

Secondly, I know enough about the FBI to know that they'd rather send someone to my house instead of try to get ahold of me through a free email service. That much about the real FBI didn't change much from the 'we've got too much to hide' FBI that The X-Files crammed down our throats. Strike two.

And finally, when they mentioned the 'fee' to 'recover my stolen money', it wasn't printed $260, seeing as how both I and the FBI itself are American, it was typed out as '260us dollars'. Wanted to make sure I knew that they weren't getting Australian dollars instead, I guess. Strike three. Get the fuck out.

A quick look on Snopes confirmed it all. The version of the email I got was different, but the idea was the same. The article itself was dated two years ago in addition to that. So whoever thought this scam up apparently hasn't given up yet. I think whoever came up with the 419 scam eventually decided it wasn't worth it anymore at some point, too...

[Mr Hero]

This to me sounds like the 419 scam, but with a fesh coat of paint.

[fma_fanatic]

This has been going on for a while now. At least two years if not more. I get a few of those a month and I just click delete. No matter how you look at it, yes it is a 419 scam. Anything that asks you for money in order to get money is a scam.

[IT Grunt]

My wife got one of those letters after she discovered a scam in progress and shredded the fake money orders this scammer sent her. Then he started pestering for his money, and seeing he was not going anywhere with that, sent a similar email from the FBI Director indicating that they'd received a report from the scammer and that to avoid prosecution she should send him money immediately. We kept it in case we needed it later for evidence, but it was such an obvious fake I had to laugh at it.

[Amina516]

I felt really bad for one of my friends. She was in a bad spot as far as money went and she got one of those scammy emails telling her some long lost relative died and she stood to inherit it all, but all she had to do was send $2000 to somewhere and she would get back like $1,000,000. She came to work and told us all l about it. I told her it was a scam and her heart fell (you know what I mean, her whole face changed and she looked hurt)

She went home and emailed them back, asking for details, and they never got back to her. I guess this, more than anything else, cemented to her that it was a lie. I felt so bad b/c she was so excited that most of her problems would be over with the money.

Those scams, no matter how phony they are, still manage to wrangle some money. Its sad really.

[Canarr]

http://www.419eater.com/

A nice place to go...

[Ironclad Alibi]

http://www.419eater.com/

A nice place to go...

I have to avoid that site. Every time I visit it, several hours disappear. Of course, that also happens here.

[Andara Bledin]

I get to be the "bad email address" catcher for my work, so I get dozens of 419s every week.

I've been getting the FBI ones about as often as the escaping heir/ress, foreign lottery, and embezzling program director ones.

I forward them (with full source) to a couple of other places so they can be shut down as quickly as feasible.

scamreports@fraudaid.com is for Fraud Aid, an advocacy for fraud victims and those who wish to avoid becoming such. They have a lot of great info and I suggest them to anyone that asks.

spam@uce.gov is for the FTC's anti-scam/spam department.

I also try to shut down their reply-to email as well, when I can. Most of the freemail services are pretty fast to take them down when they get reported, although not all of them will tell you what they've done, only that they've acted in accordance with their TOS.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

oo that's a good point
i don't see them much now cos my gmail spam catches them

but i did something similar to that once.

it was an ebay scam telling me that my account was suspended and i was not allowed to open a new one, until i clicked their link to log in etc...

only thing is at that time my ebay was associated with another email address so i knew right off the bat that it was fake


but i decided to have some fun with it... i hovered the mouse over the link to see where it *really* went... a .edu site? Seriously? a college?


i went to the college's main page and found the email to the help desk and forwarded it to them, explaining where the link was pointing to. got a reply within a day or so stating that they had taken care of the situation.



and for a student, that could very well be academic probation or expulsion

[smileyeagle1021]

and for a student, that could very well be academic probation or expulsion

Actually Pepperelf, that is more likely expulsion. At least at both Utah State University in Salt Lake community college and a misuse of the e-mail system, to do either spam, or fraud, is grounds for immediate expulsion. So was doing illegall MP3 downloads, but that is a different story.