Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Update on scam victim arrested

Back in August I told you about a scam victim who was arrested, and now I have an update on her case.

Her day in court came, and then the DA first started to read the documents in her file they commented "How could she not know" and "How stupid is she" . . . all while she was sitting just a few feet away. Then, as the DA continued to read their commnets changed to "Wow . . . he is very convincing!". Too bad they did not appologize for his earlier comments.

When all was said and done the case was dismissed, which is wonderful. She is still struggling to find a job and to recover from the financial loss that she took due to this scam, but she knows that the worst is over.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Scam Jam 2009

Please join us in Portland, Oregon for Scam Jam 2009!

Learn how to protect yourself from ID theft, investment fraud, repair scams, financial exploitation . . . plus speak with Shawn Mosch of Scam Victims United!

http://portlandscamjam.com/

You can also go to http://www.chuckwhitlock.com/scamjam.html to see footage from past events.

Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more through
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Coca Cola Lottery Scam

The other day I posted that I got a Lottery Scam email that said I had won a contest through Pepsi . . . well, today I got one from Coca Cola!

Subject: LETTER FROM COCA COLA COMPANY OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION 2009
Date: 9/27/2009 8:38:19 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: c.cola018@insing.com
Reply To: cocacolapromotiononline2009@rediffmail.com



THE COCA COLA COMPANY OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION 2009
VIEW THE ATTACHMENT AND
(CONTACT PROMOTION MANAGER)
Name: GREG SMITH Phone # +44 703 174 5628 :+44 703 195 3669 Email: gregsmithmanager@insing.com

Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,
Mrs.Kate Hudson
Coordinator

Window Decal/Bumper Sticker

Scam Victims United now has Window Decals/Bumper Stickers.



Let us know if you would like one to display on your car!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pepsi Lottery Scam

From: info@pepsi.com
Reply-to: pepsiclaimsdepartment026@w.cn

Subj: (no subject)


THE PEPSI COMPANY OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION

Dear Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual
final draws held on the 25th September 2009 by Pepsi Bottling Company in
conjunction with the British American Tobacco Worldwide Promotion, your
email was amongst the 10 Lucky winners who won £ 2,500,000.00 GBP each on
the Pepsi Bottling Company promotion award.

For Claims, Contact:
-=====================================
Mr. Gordon Moore.
Email: pepsiclaimsdepartment026@w.cn
Tell: +44 704 576 6733
Fax: +44-871-900-7833
=====================================
PEPSI-COLA WINNERS DOCUMENTATION FORM

Full Names: Address: Age: Sex:
Marital Status: Occupation: Country: Nationality:
Telephone/Fax number:

Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,
MR ERIC FOSE


_____________________________

I did find some information at http://cr.pepsi.com/usen/pepsiusen.cfm?time=8923183 about this scam.

While this is a great warning, it is very hard to find . . . and I was looking for something . . . imagine the person that does not know to look and dig for this information. They could think that this is real. I would encourage Pepsi to place this warning in a more noticeable location, or to even do a press release on this topic so that the media would pick it up and get the word out to even more people It would be a great way for Pepsi to show that they are looking out for the good of the American public

Education is the key

One of the common threads between many of the current scams, including Items for sale/ Internet Auction Fraud, Pet Scams/Puppy Scams, Secret Shopper Scams/Employment Scams, Romance Scams, Roommate/Rental Scams and even Lottery Scams, is that at some point the scammer will send the victim a cashier's check, money order or traveler's check. For some reason, the check will be for more than the agreed on amount, and the scammer will ask for the victim to wire that overage back to them. For many victims this will be a red flag, which it should be, so they take the next step and take the check to the bank . . . but this is where the confusion often comes into play.

To demonstrate my point, ask yourself this . . . if you deposited a cashier's check into your bank account, at what point would you feel safe that the check is legitimate, and that you can use the funds from it with no financial risk?

A) After 24 hours
B) In 7 - 10 business days
C) When the check clears
D) When the funds are made available
E) A and C
F) C and D
G) None of the above

If you said A, you would have become a scam victim. Many banks will tell customers that a cashier's check is verified in 24 hours. This is what our former bank told us when we deposited the check we received. Then, one week later, they called us and said that same check was now found to be counterfeit, and we owed them the money.

If you said B, you MIGHT NOT have become a scam victim, but it is still possible. As I just stated, our former bank found out that our check was counterfeit in one week, so we would have been saved, but there are some victims I have worked with that have seen there checks come back several weeks or months later. I was once told that a check could come back 6 months later, and the account holder would still be held liable.

If you said C, you would have become a scam victim. The term "cleared" only means that the clearing house has not sent the draft back for non-sufficient funds, closed account, or flag instructions on the account. It DOES NOT mean that the draft was written by the account holder, or that the money belongs to you.

If you said D, you would have become a scam victim. When you deposit a check into your account, your bank advances you the money for that check to keep the wheels of commerce moving . . . you cannot spend the money until you have it . . . so they credit your account with what is called a "provisional loan", which is a no-signature loan from your bank to you. This DOES NOT mean that your bank has been
credited by the issuing bank.

If you said E or F, I'm sorry, I only put those in there to try and throw a few people off. Since I have already shown you how A thru D are not correct, well, two wrongs don't make a right.

The correct answer is G, none of the above. The sad part is, the scammers know this, and they use that to their advantage. This is why these scams work so well. The scammers are using counterfeit cashier's checks, money orders or traveler's checks, that are so good that many bank employees cannot tell the difference. They have watermarks on them and are made on the same quality of paper, so they get passed into the system just like a real cashier's check would. It could take weeks before the item is detected as counterfeit, and by that time it is too late for the victim.

This is why education about scams, warning signs, red flags and banking procedure and terminology are so important in the fight against internet scams.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Mrs Bernie Madoff

Well guess who I got an email from today . . . Mrs. Bernie Madoff! Okay, it was from a scammer pretending to be Mrs. Bernie Madoff. Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that someone who runs a scam fighting website got an email from a scammer pretending to be someone that operated the largest and most talked about Ponzi Scheme to date?

Subject: My Great Compliments /Can I Trust You?
From: mrsruthmadoff03@googlemail.com
Reply To: mrsruthmadoff@hotmail.co.uk



Mrs. Ruth Madoff
West, Liverpool,
London.


My Great Compliments,

I’m Mrs. Ruth Madoff, 67, wife to Mr. Bernard L. Madoff, of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, who pleaded guilty to operating a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, is worth up to $826 million, according to a document filed with a federal court on Friday 13th March 2009.

Just last 2Month my husband pleading stealing billions from investment from his clients and he was ordered to jail Thursday 12th March 2009, after pleading guilty to all 11 criminal counts in one of Wall Street's biggest swindles.

Now the Federal investigators in the USA are working around the clock to freeze all my assets, fearing that I'm trying to flee the country which I have done shortly after my husband was sentenced, I have $93 million in my name beyond their reach.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is working with federal prosecutors in Manhattan to prepare a filing asking a judge to formally freeze all of my assets as soon as possible.

My husband deposited the sum of (USD$25.000.000.00 Million) in a Finance Firm in Europe some years ago in my name, I need you to collect this funds and distribute it to both of us since the Federal investigators are working around the clock to freeze all my assets. Meanwhile all documents related to transfer of this fund to your account is with the bank

Presently, I’m in a hard out here in UK as the Federal investigators as well the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking for me to freeze my entire asset as well prosecute me like my husband.

Please reply back to me on this e-mail as I will like if you contact my bank directly so that he will direct you on the way forward. Please due send to me all your contact details as I will like to speak with you before we commence on the transaction.


Please Keep this transaction secret and confidentail for now. You can read my story on this website:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03152009/news/regionalnews/ruth_in_crosshair_159631.htm


God bless you.
Best Regards,
Mrs. Ruth Madoff

Jamaica Gleaner News - Lotto scam victims to be reimbursed - Business - Thursday | September 24, 2009

Jamaica Gleaner News - Lotto scam victims to be reimbursed - Business - Thursday | September 24, 2009

Shared via AddThis

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

More on reporting scams

Often when victims ask "Where can I report these scams?" what they really want to know is how they recover the money that they lost. The sad truth is that there is no place that you can report this scam to that will be able to recover your money. To the scam victims, at the moment that they realized that they have been scammed it seems like it would be easy to find and arrest the scammer, and recover the money lost . . . you have their name, email address, phone number and maybe even a mailing address . . . but most if not all of those items are fakes that they use for their "profile", and the other issue that comes up is jurisdiction, which we spoke about earlier.

So then what can be done?

Different scam fighting websites have different approaches to how they "fight back" against these scammers.

At Scam Victims United we take the approach of providing information about scams in order to try and educate people before they become a victim. We have created a Facebook Fan Page in order to bring our message where people "hang out". We would like to see scam education brought into the school systems so that we can give the next generation the tools and resources that they need to recognize and avoid these scams. We allow people to post scam emails that they receive so that then names, email addresses and company names being used in the scams will come up in search engines. We also encourage people to report these scams, as we talked about earlier.


“Scam Baiting" is another way of fighting back, and there are websites devoted to this. Scam Baiting is pretending to be interested in the scammer's offer in order to waste their time, and money, by having them send you counterfeit checks. The site that I would recommend on this topic is 419eater.com because they will assist new "baiters" in learning the best way to go about this in order to
protect yourself.

Other sites focus on different ways of shutting down the scammers fake websites and closing the emailing accounts that they use by reporting them to the hosting sites or mail providers. One of these sites would be http://report-online-scams.com

While these sites cannot help you recover your money, they can help you to do something to fight scams. Education is the key to fighting scams, so talk about it with your friends and family and share sites like this with people you know.


Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Inheritance Scam

Here is an email that got past my spam filters.

Subject: I have been touched
From: schooluniforms@dickies.com


My name is Mrs Bernadette finchley,I have decided to donate what I have to you.
I was diagnosed of cancer for about Few years ago,immediately after the death of my husband.

I have been touched to donate from what I have inherited from my late husband to you for the good work of charity organisation,I decided to WILL/donate the sum of $12.8 million united states dollars to you to carry out my last wish on earth.

Contact my Physican Dr Steve Elliott with this specified email--
drsteveelliott101@gmail.com

I know i dont know you but I have been directed to do this.Thanks and God bless.

Regards,
Mrs Bernadette finchley.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Reporting Scams

"How do I report that I have been a victim of an online scam?" is a question I hear on a regular basis, either on our message board, through emails or left as comments on other sites.

There are plenty of places that you can report that you have been a victim of an online scam. The main place that I would recommend would be the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which is a combined effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). As you can see, you get the resources of three larger agencies all from one place, and to me, that much better than reporting with multiple agencies individually. To file a complaint with the IC3, go to http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx

The following information is right from the IC3 site Frequently Asked Questions section . . .

Q: How are complaints resolved?


The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) thoroughly reviews and evaluates each complaint so that we may refer it to the appropriate federal, state, local, or international law enforcement or regulatory agency. Every complaint that is referred is sent to one or more law enforcement or regulatory agencies that have jurisdiction over the matter. Once we refer a complaint to the appropriate agency, it may then be assigned to an investigator. We, therefore, ask that you provide a telephone number in the event an investigator needs to contact you for additional information.

IC3 cannot guarantee that your complaint will beinvestigated.


Why can't they guarantee that your complaint will be investigated? It all comes down to jurisdiction . . . who has the power and authority to address this sort of crime in the location that the crime was committed. Now, you might say that the crime was committed in what ever city or state that you live in, but since this person did not come to your home and take the money from you that is not true. They were sitting in front of a computer in another country and through the information sent to you over the internet they defrauded you. Being that the crime took place over the internet, with the place of origin being the foreign country where the scammer is, it would be the law enforcement and government in that country that would have to address this crime. (why other countries do little to nothing is an issue for another time)

Now, I am not in ANY way discouraging anyone from filing a complaint . .. quite the opposite! I feel that it is VERY important for every victim of a scam to report it. This will bring more attention to the growing problem and history shows us that when enough people feel that something is a problem they will try to do something to change it. So if you area victim of a scam please report it. http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx

Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more through
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

Thursday, September 17, 2009

More scam emails

Don't you love it when Banks use gmail accounts

Subject: BANK TO BANK TRANSACTION FOR YOU
From: makanabenson5@gmail.com
Reply To: makanabenson55@gmail.com

I am Mr. Makana Benson A manager with one of the majorbanks in South Africa.

I am in a position to Move a chunk of money out of the vault of my bank although legally. The money was owned by a customer who died long ago and we couldn't get trace of anyone to claim his money, despite desperate search for a next of kin.

The rules and ethics of our banking regulations demandsthat, after 8yrs of unclaimed funds (money) themoney would be forfeited to the Bank and declared surplusand paid into the states accounts.

Since I am the manager who is in charge of this unclaimed money, I have perfected legaly means ofmaking you stand as the next of kin to the late fellowas a foreigner.

This is risk free as all legal backings are present and would be detailed to you once I have gained your trust and certainty that we can be friends and trust in you. You would be handsomely rewarded with 30% of the total sum.

I will disclose some vital information about the late owner 0f the funds and how he died and the name of my bank once I have gained your trust. I expect your utmost response to this email.

Please in your reply let me have your contact telephone numbers so I can call you and explain more to you.

Makana Benson

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Barclays bank London UK

I wish I had a dollar for every one of these emails I get . . .


Subject: RE: US$800,000.00 INTEREST PAYMENT:
From: joeythebag@sbcglobal.net
Reply To: infodesk.bbplc@sify.com

Barclays Bank Plc.
26th Floor 1 Churchill Place,
London, E14 5HP Reg. No: 1026167.
United Kingdom
From: The Desk of Mr.Chris Lucas
Barclays bank London UK

Dear Esteeemed Client,
RE: US$800,000.00 INTEREST PAYMENT:

I am Mr. Chris Lucas Head of Financial Services and Global Head of Banking and Capital Markets. Payment Director, Corporate Services Division and Head of Swift Transfer Unit of Barclays bank London UK.

Sometime ago, in our bank your fund was brought to our bank from National Lotto Group here in England and after some period, the money was taken back to their treasury. But for the period of time this money was in our bank, it generated an interest of US$800,000.00 which we are about to pay you Via International Bank wire transfer through one of our corresponding bank in US.

For your information and advice, you need to hasten up to pick this Fund because from time to time the National Lotto Group auditors do come to our bank to cross-check our files and our financial update, the earlier you comply with the demands of the transfer of the fund, the faster the action, because when the auditors arrive and find out that his interest fund is still in our bank they will call back the accrued interest to the lotto treasury account.

What we need from you now is any form of your identification for example;your International passport or your driver license,your telephone and fax numbers for easy communication to you with your receiving bank details and address,or if you wish to have this fund paid to you through any other means that you find more suitable kindly indicate meanwhile, forward your banking detaisl to us.As a matter of fact we dont have enough time to waste since we have wasted time in trying the best way to reach you since we do not have your contact phone number, so try and comply with the entire necessary requirement for the transaction to be completed by contacting the gentlement below for the payment.

Contact : Mr. Terry Jones (Customer Adviser Case Officer)
Email: infodesk.bbplc@sify.com
Phone No: +447035973996
Fax Line: +448704795431

Note all effort to reach you failed and I had to send you a mail on this email address, which I guessed belongs to you.

Expecting your immediately response.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Chris Lucas
Barclays bank London UK.

*********************************************************************
Barclays Bank Plc London
UK CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
This transmission may contain confidential information protected by state or federal law. The information is intended only for use consistent with the state business discussed in this transmission.If you are not the intended ecipient,you are hereby notified that any isclosure,copying, distribution,or the taking of any action based on the contents is strictly rohibited.If you have received this transmission in error, please delete this email and notify the sender immediately.Your cooperation is appreciated

Scam using Obama Foundation name

Here is an email that I found in my spam folder.

From:
Mrs Joy Terry

OBAMA'S FOUNDATION info@foundation.com

Greetings to you,On behalf of the Obama's Foundation, we wish to notify you as abeneficiary of $99,000.00 USD in compensation of scam victims.Do contactLloyds TSB Bank plc; London's Branch for verification and release of your$99,000.00 USD that we have depositedThe account log on will be presented to you by the bank in order to accessthe funds before releasing into your nominated bank account. You willtransfer the funds into your nominated account on-line as the Lloyds TSBBank plc will provide the necessary information to you. Please if you arewilling to acceptthe funds, do contact us Via: obamafoundation.49@9.cn

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs Joy Terry
Co-ordinator.OBAMA'S FOUNDATION

-------------------------
Watch out for these scams!

Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://scamvictimsunited.com/
There is strength in numbers!

Check out our blog at http://scamvictimsunited.blogspot.com/
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more through
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

Has this site helped you?
Then help us to continue to fight scams by donating at http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/donations.htm

Monday, September 14, 2009

The state of the economy

I got this email (this one is NOT a scam) from the Friends of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As Congress undertakes one of history's largest legislative agendas, Chief Economist, Marty Regalia, and Executive Director, Katie Hays, from the U.S. Chamber will discuss the state of the economy and health care reform.Join us Wednesday, September 16 at 1:00 p.m. EST for an update on President Obama's Second One Hundred Days, its impact on the economy, and the latest details on the health care debate -- including the Senate Finance Committee's most recent proposal.Register now online and submit your question for the U.S. Chamber's policy experts to discuss during the call.

I went and submitted my question . . . when is the government going to do more to address the issue of scams and fraud? It seems clear to me, that if millions of dollars are going out of the United States each year to scams and fraud, that one way to help the current economy is to do more to battle this issue.

I encourage all of you do share your thoughts also, by filling out the form here
http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/takeaction/index.cfm?ID=489&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=submit&utm_campaign=regaliacall

Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more through
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

Fan Page on Facebook

We just started a fan page for Scam Victims United.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Scam-Victims-United/130347739735?ref=mf
Please join and tell your friends.

Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more through
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

Sunday, September 13, 2009

More scam emails

Subject:GOD BLESS
Date:9/10/2009 1:57:44 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From:bettylawson@earthlink.net
Reply To:rowwllms@gmail.com


My name is Mrs.Betty Lawson I was diagnosedof cancer 2 years ago, I have decided to donate the sum of $5.5 million to you for the good work of the lord. Contact my lawyer with this email
Peter J. Wallace
rowwllms@gmail.com

Quote my personal reference number tsd/08/ikg/91
I wish you all the best and may the good Lord bless you abundantly, and please use the funds well and always extend the good work to others I don't know you but I have been directed to do this.
Thanks and God bless.
Regards,
Betty Lawson

Friday, September 11, 2009

Mystery Shopper Scam email

Here is a Mystery Shopper Scam email that I found in my Spam folder.


Subject:MYSTERY SHOPPER NEEDED IN YOUR AREA
Date:9/10/2009 6:26:15 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From:jobs@mysteryshopper.com
Reply To:mysteryshopper@dowdles.org

"We have a mystery shopping assignment in your area and we would like you to participate"Secret Shopper® is accepting applications for qualified individuals to become mystery shoppers. It's fun and rewarding, and you choose when and where you want to shop. You are never obligated to accept an assignment. There is no charge to become a shopper and you do not need previous experience. After you sign up, you will have access to training materials via e-mail, fax or postal mail.

ABOUT US
Secret Shopper® is the premier mystery shopping company, serving clients across America and Canada with over 500,000 shoppers available and ready to help businesses better serve their customers. Continual investment in the latest internet and communication technologies coupled with over 16 years of know-how means working with Secret Shopper® is a satisfying and rewarding experience. Secret shopping as seen on ABC NEWS, NBC NEWS, L.A.TIMES. Stores and organizations such as The Gap, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and Banks. One amongst many others pay for Secret Shoppers to shop in their establishments and report their experiences. On top of being paid for shopping you are also allowed to keep purchases for free. Secret Shopper® NEVER charge fees to the shopper. Training, tips for improvement, and shopping opportunities are provided free to registered shoppers. Mystery shoppers are either paid a pre-arranged fee for a particular shop, a reimbursement for a purchase or a combination of both. Secret Shopper® has availableThe assignment will pay $75 - $200.00 per duty, depends on the amount of assignment.Kindly Fill Out the application form below and we will get back to you shortly with the assignment:
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
First Name.................
Middle Name................
Last Name..................
Street Address.............
City, State, Zip Code......
Cell Phone Number..........
Home Phone Number..........
Age........................

We await your urgent response, Thank you for your help.
We look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Thomas Bode
415 830 6195
Secret Shopper®

Thursday, September 10, 2009

National Consumer Expo

Join us, and other Consumer Protection Experts at the National Consumer Expo on November 21st, 2009 in Hollywood, Florida.

This event is hosted by Denise Richardson, Advocate and Founder of http://givemebackmycredit.com/blog/ along with Americans For Fairness in Lending.

For details about the Expo go to http://www.givemebackmycredit.com/blog/expo.pdf


Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more through
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

Monday, September 7, 2009

Lottery Scam Email

Here is a lottery scam email that I found in my spam folder


Subject:WINNING NOTIFICATION
Date:9/7/2009 7:42:17 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: info@comp.org
Reply To: mrpeterharrison@inMail24.com

West African Commission
Enterprise and Industry DG
Communication and Information Unit/R4
abj 13/ 092B - 1049 Abuja (Nigeria)

Released: 27th August, 2009.

We bring to your notice the decision by the board of trustees of The West African Union to choose you as one of the final recipients of a cash grant/donation for your own personal, educational, and business development (SME funding).

To promote growth and creating new jobs in the West African economy, We are giving out a yearly donation to 100 lucky recipients who have been selected from random websites all over the globe,as funding/aid from the West African Union,AfricanCommission, and the United Nations in accordance with enabling acts of Parliament.

Your Confirmable International Certified Bank Draft of $1.200,000.00 One million Two Hundred United States Dollars Have Been Deposited with the CARDINAL SECURITY SERVICES And For your information, We have paid for the delivery Charges, Insurance premium and Clearance Certificate Fee of the Cheque showing that it is not a Drug Money or meant to sponsor Terrorist attack in your Country.

The only money you will send to the CARDINAL SECURITY SERVICES to deliver your Draft direct to your postal Address in yourcountry is ($175 USD) Dollars only being Security Keeping Fee of the Cardinal security Company so far for keeping the draft till date. Again, don't be deceived by anybody to pay any other money except $175 US Dollars.

For detailed information, please contact paying office

Name: Mr. Peter Harrison
E-mail: mrpeterharrison@inMail24.com
Telephone: +234 802 313 2389

Remember to quote your identification numbers. Find your identificationnumbers below:

BATCH NUMBER: WA-09102XN
UNIQUE NUMBER: AF09788

Note that these numbers fall within your location file.
Thank you and accept my congratulations once again!

MRS. JOAN MARY
Information Officer and Coordinator,
West Africa Resources Network © 2009

Sunday, September 6, 2009

FBI Scam Email

This one made me laugh . . . look at the email address it was sent from! When did the FBI start using gmail as their main email account?

Subject: Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) ***ATTENTION***
Date: 9/6/2009 5:03:45 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: fbi.Washingtondc8040316@gmail.com
Reply To: dynamiclaw2@windowslive.com

ATTENTION
This is an official advice from the FBI foreign Remittance / telegraphic department; it has come to our notice that the Central Bank of Nigeria district has released 10,500.000.00 US dollars into Bank of America in your name as the beneficiary by inheritance means.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) knowing that they do not have enough facilities to effect this payment from the United Kingdom to your account used what we know as a “Secret Diplomatic Transit Payment” (S.T.D.P) to pay this fund through wire transfer, they used this means to complete the payment.

They are still waiting for confirmation from you on the already transferred fund which was made in direct transfer so that they can do final crediting to your account. Secret Diplomatic Payments are not made unless the funds are related to terrorist activities. The question is, why must your transfer be made through Secret Transfer if your transaction is legitimate. If you are not a terrorist why did you not receive the money directly into your account? This is a “MERE-CODED” means of payment! Records which we have had with this method of payment in the past has always been related to terrorist acts, we do not want you to get into trouble as soon as these funds reflect in your account in the U.S.A. so it is our duty as a worldwide commission to correct this little problem before this fund will be credited into your personal account.

Due to the increased difficulty and necessary security by the American authorities when funds come from outside Europe and the Middle East, the F.B.I bank commission for Europe has stopped the transfer on its way to your account so to debit your reserve account and pay you through a Secured Diplomatic Transit Account (S.D.T.A). We govern and oversee funds transfer for the World Bank and the rest of the world.

We advise you to contact us immediately, as the funds have been Stopped and are being held in our custody until you can be able to provide us with a Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer (DIST) within 5 days from the world local bank that authorized the transfer to certify that this money that you are about to receive from Nigeria is for the support of any Terrorist Activity and is Drug free or we shall have cause to cross and impound the payment. We shall release the money immediately we receive this legal document from you.We have decided to contact you directly to acquire the proper verifications and proof from you to show that you are the rightful person to receive this fund because of the amount involved. We want to make sure it is clean and legal money. Be informed that your money is now in United State in your name but right now we have it placed on “HOLD” under our custody in the bank and would not be released to anybody that comes to them unless we ask them to do so because we have to carry out our investigations first before releasing the fund to you. Note that the fund is in the BANK OF AMERICA right now but we have asked them not to credit the fund to you yet because we need a solid proof and verification from you before releasing the fund.

So to this regard, you are to re-assure and proof to us that what you are about to receive is a clean money by sending to us a Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) to satisfy that the money your about to receive is legitimate and real money. You are to forward the documents to us immediately if you have it in your possession if you don’t have it let us know so that we will direct and inform you where to obtain the document from so that we will ask the bank holding the funds i.e. the Bank Of America to go ahead and credit your account.

These Document is to be issued to you from the world local bank that authorized the transfer, so get back to us immediately if you don’t have the document so that we will direct you to the particular place/office to obtain the document in Nigeria because we have come to realize that the fund was authorized by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This condition is valid until 11th of SEPTEMBER 2009 after which we shall take actions on canceling the payment and then charge you for illegally moving funds out of Nigeria.

Guarantee: Fund(s) will be released on confirmation of the document.

NOTE: We have asked for the above documents to make available the most complete and up-to date records possible for the enhancement of public safety, welfare and security while recognizing the importance of individual privacy rights. If you fail to provide the Documents to us, we will charge you with the FBI and take our proper action against you for not proofing to us the legitimate of the fund you are about to receive.

The United States Department of Justice Order 556-73 establishes rules and regulations for the subject of an FBI Identification Record to obtain a copy of his or her own Record for review. The FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division processes these requests to check illegal activities in U.S.A.
ROBERT MUELLER, IIl

Friday, September 4, 2009

Off-Topic: President Obama's speech to school children

Okay . . . this is a scam blog, but I am going off topic today because there is something that is really bugging me. Last night on the news I heard them talking about the speech that President Obama plans to give to children in school. From what I have heard, the overall message is to stay in school, get a good education, education is important, and set goals and look at what you can do not only for yourself but for your country . . . I am summarizing here, but you get the idea. So what I don’t understand is why everyone is so upset about President Obama giving this speech, and why some schools are talking about NOT showing it, or taping it and then decided later on if they will show it to the students. If he was planning on talking about items that don’t relate to the children in school I could understand it, but it sounds to me that he just wants to take this chance while the kids are getting back into school after the summer break to remind them how important a good education is.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Vocabulary - Cashier's Check

Are the terms and vocabulary used by the employees of the bank confusing to you? You are not the only one. The average American is not fully aware of what the words used in banking conversations really mean, and in the examples below I am going to show you how the definitions of these terms differ depending on the source . . . Webster’s Dictionary, Banking Glossaries and real world usage.

Let’s start with the definition of a cashier’s check.

: a check drawn by a bank on its own funds and signed by the cashier

"cashier's check." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009.
Merriam-Webster Online. 2 September 2009<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cashier's check>

A bank-issued check, also called official check or treasurer's check, signed by
a bank officer and drawn against funds of the bank itself. A cashier's check is
generally regarded as good as cash.

"cashier's check." Business Dictionaries from AllBusiness.com. 2009.
http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/cashiers-check/4948626-1.html

A check drawn on the funds of the bank, not against the funds in a depositor's
account. However, the depositor paid for the cashier's check with funds from
their account. The primary benefit of a cashier's check is that the recipient of
the check is assured that the funds are available.

"cashier's check." Dictionary of Bank Terms and Phrases. 2009.
http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/dictionary/index.html#c

Knowing what we do about counterfeit cashier’s checks, the second two definitions are very misleading. One says that a cashier’s check is generally regarded as good as cash, and the other says that the recipient can be assured that the funds are available. Both of these statements would give people a false sense of security about the check, making them believe that they are valid checks. This is exactly why so many people become victims of Counterfeit Cashier’s Check Scams. In the minds of most Americans, a cashier’s check represents a valid and secure document to use, and they put their trust in that image of security.

Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of ScamVictimsUnited.com

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