| Author |
Message |
    
Gene Z
Citizen
Username: Genez
Post Number: 242
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2004 - 10:26 pm: |     |
This isn't exactly "Tech," but...
To whom can I report a spam scam?
I received one of those e-mails from an "attorney" offering to let me share in $20.5M in repatriated funds if I pose as the long lost relative of a deceased someone with the same last name. All I have to do is, well, that will be explained when I respond to the e-mail. But I have to act fast, as the bank is going to confiscate the funds in the next ten days.
Now, this is the best laugh I've had all week. But when I stopped laffing, I wondered, is there some official agency I can report this guy to that might actually pursue this? Would the local PD do anything? FBI? CIA? Homeland Security?
Or should I just ignore it and forget about it?
Or, should I . . . ?
Nyah.
Z |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 658
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2004 - 11:13 pm: | |
There is an entire group in the Secret Service devoted to these scams. They're called 419 scams after the section of Nigerian law. These scams started in Nigeria (it was, at one point, a very large art of their GNP).
There are dozens, if not hundreds of web site devoted to these scams. A few are written by folks tat have actaully scammed the scammers, and gotten small amounts of money from them.
Check out http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=419+Nigerian
and specifically http://www.419eater.com/ for a few laughs. |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 1048
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 9:20 am: | |
I won the Spanish Lotto. Got a letter in the mail just last week. Now I'm sitting back waiting for my money to roll in. |
Joan
Citizen
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 2978
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 9:42 am: | |
Gene:
If the message came to you via a lan server at work, you should definitely let the systems administrator know so he/she can take the appropriate action. |
Gene Z
Citizen
Username: Genez
Post Number: 245
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:02 am: | |
No, this came to me at home, to my personal e-mail, using just my surname and referring to the deceased as "a national of your Country."
All in all it was laughable. However, I am considering contacting the Secret Service, as suggested by several of the links I found through Woody. I am concerned that someone was able to link my name to my e-mail address.
Z
P.S. Does anyone think that posting the letter itself, say in the Virtual Cafe, might have any benefit as a general warning? |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 1049
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:16 am: | |
This guy has posed a tone of them.
http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/nigeria/nigerian_june.html |
Gene Z
Citizen
Username: Genez
Post Number: 246
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:13 am: | |
Well, the Secret Service said thanks, but there are so many reports now they can't investigate them all, unless you've responded and are already involved with the scammer. Since I hadn't their advice was to delete it and forget it, which is what I'll do.
I'm sure these folks at the S.S. have a lot more important things to do than chase down these guys. Still, you've gotta wonder how it would have turned out.
Just a little excitement in an otherwise ho-hum life. Guess I'll go back to the Soapboxes.
Live with Passion.
Z |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 3211
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 2:06 pm: | |
I read that these scams are now Nigeria's second largest industry, after oil exports. |
monster
Citizen
Username: Monster
Post Number: 139
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 7:48 pm: | |
the proper place to report this is actually the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC).
http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp
This is a joint partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).
This department was formed to investigate and address fraud committed over the internet.
Fill out the form the best you can and make sure you know how to supply a copy of the email with full and complete header information.
You should also send a copy of the email (with all header info) to your ISP, generally addressed to
abuse@yourISP.com or .net or what have you.
while not a Nigerian scam, there is a great story about how an ebay scam artist got what he deserved.
The original forum thread is here,
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1016390&perpage=40&p agenumber=1
you'll see a message at the top of the page about registering but scroll down and the thread is right there. It's been edited slightly and has addresses for mirrors of the thread and to PDFs you can download and view.
It is a great read and you will even have a laugh or two, plus...the scammer gets scammed!
After reading the thread you can get the final result at the bottom of this mirror, http://69.93.112.102/~pbook/
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