Current Status

This blog is not frequently updated because most case-by-case scam reports are now listed in subordinate blogs. At this point in time, most of my efforts are targeted at documenting employment scams in the Suckers Wanted blog.

2008-01-11

Alert: Beware Barbara Moratek of the Ivete Foundation

Sunbelt Blog is reporting a strange synergy between what appears to be a Nigerian scam variant and malware pushers. They report that there is spam circulating which claims to be from one "Barbara Moratek" of the "Ivete Foundation". The spam itself is relatively innocuous -- it may be a lead-up to some kind of advance fee fraud or cheque forgery scam, but that's all. If you do a Google search for those names, however, you'll get a lot of hits on sites which contain malware in the form of fake audio/video codecs.

Is this conspiracy, or coincidence? It's hard to say, but it's a new development either way, so far as I'm aware.

2007-12-06

Scam: Gadgets Ltd UK

I haven't checked whether there is a real company operating under this name, but I haven't seen a scam as blatant as this in a while. Nothing subtle here, just send money via Western Union in return for a false promise that you'll receive goods. If anyone has dealt with this clown, please tell us where he wanted the Western Union transfer sent. With a gmail address and a UK +4470 "forward anywhere" number, he could be anywhere in the world, but following the money is always interesting.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gadgets Ltd UK <gadgets.lmtduk@gmail.com>
Reply-to:
gadgets.lmtduk@yahoo.com
Date: 6 Dec 2007
Subject: APPLE iPhone/Sony PS3(60GB)for $600 USD FREE SHIPPING
To:

APPLE iPhone/Sony PS3(60GB)for $600 USD FREE SHIPPING


We are offering The Revolutionary APPLE iPhone 8GB and Sony PS3(60GB) =
$600 USD FREE SHIPPING


SAMPLE PRODUCTS PRICE LIST

Video Games
Playstation 3 ........$300
Nintendo Wii......... $200
Sony PSP......... ....$140
Xbox 360 Platinum.... $140
Xbox 360 Premium..... $120

Apple ipod Nano 4gb....$100
Apple ipod Nano 80gb...$250

GSM PHONES
Nokia 8800 sirocco....$350
Motorola V3i D&G......$250
Nokia N95......... ...$320
Nokia N93......... ...$260
Nokia N93i ...........$280
Nokia N70 ............$160
Nokia N72 ............$175
Nokia N73 ............$250
Nokia N80 ............$200
Nokia N90 ............$200
Nokia N91 ............$200

Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson W800i....$200
Sony Ericsson W810i....$225
Sony Ericsson W900i....$250
Sony Ericsson K510i....$105
Sony Ericsson W800i....$150
Sony Ericsson k750i....$165
Sony Ericsson M600.....$302
Sony Ericsson k700.....$100
Sony Ericsson W600.....$156
Sony Ericsson w850.....$230

PDA
Palm Treo 650........$170
Palm Treo 700w.......$250
Palm Treo 750........$240
QTEK 9000 ...........$300
QTEK S110 ...........$250
HTC P3300 ...........$300
HTC P3600 ...........$350
Dell Axim X51V.......$350
i-mate Jam ..........$400
i-mate K-Jam ........$420

All GSM Phones,Brand New,Tri- Band, Simfree ,Unlock and open to all GSM
Networks

world wide with 1 yr warranty and Video Games are also Brand new
with Complete Accessories plus Int'l Warranty .

Our Very Flexible Terms of Trade
Prices are in US Dollars
Payment:  Western Union Money Transfer
Delivery :FedEx Express 2-3 days after payment
Warranty : 1 Year Int'l warranty with 90 days return policy with full
refund option.

Thank you and looking forward to your order CONFIRMATION soon.

NOTE : FEEL FREE TO CALL OR REQUEST MORE INFO

John Philips
GADGETS LIMITED (UK) LTD
Registered No. 05881519
THE OLD STABLES, ARUNDEL ROAD,
POLING,ARUNDEL,WEST SUSSEX,BN18 9QA
UNITED KINGDOM
TEL : +447031917966, +447031917369


2007-11-29

News: UK Clarifies Cheque Clearance Times

This is good news for residents of the UK who have been targeted by cheque forgery scams, which account for a fair slab of the job scams I report at Suckers Wanted. Banks have been quite clear about how soon after depositing a cheque you can draw on it, but they have been rather less clear about how long it takes to fully process the cheque. There is a window in which you can withdraw the funds, but the cheque can still bounce, and this is the window that scammers exploit. Although the window has not been eliminated, new rules make the window small and uniform across banks. If you receive a cheque in the UK and you don't fully trust the source (which you should not, unless you have significant prior experience with it), you should wait seven working days before you act on the payment. If the cheque hasn't bounced in that time, it's the bank's problem for not detecting the issue quickly enough.

These rules come into effect on the first of December.

2007-11-06

Advance Fee Fraud: US Green Card Lottery

It's that time again: the time when you can apply for consideration in the U.S. Department of State Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery, and also when scammers will pretend that you've won it (see example below) in order to defraud you. It may come as a shock, but I didn't apply for entry to the increasingly-misnamed "land of the free", and I happen to know that " applicants selected in the Diversity Visa random drawing are notified by the Department of State, Kentucky Consular Center by letter, NOT email" [source].

There are a great many variations on this type of green card lottery fraud, but this one is a blatant case of advance fee fraud: they want you to pay a "visa processing fee". I suspect that they are not associated with us-green-card-lottery.org, although I don't think too highly of that site either. If you're going to enter this lottery, do yourself a favour and deal only with the U.S. government directly so that you can clearly tell the scams from the real deal.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: us green card lottery service <usgclsa@walla.com>
Subject: The Official U.S Green Card Lottery Program
To:

 
[image redacted]
The Official U.S Green Card Lottery Program
United States Department of State, National Visa Center
32 Rochester Ave, Portsmouth , NH 03801-2909
 
 Case Number:  2007BK21783000           
 
Dear winner.
 
We wish to notify you that you are among the selected lucky winners of the U.S visa Lottery (Green Card) through our email ballot lottery program held on the 20th of July in Arkansas (USA) The Green Card email ballot lottery program was conducted under the terms of Section 203 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 2006 ( Pub.L.101-649) This is the second edition of the email ballot program and it provides winners "Green Cards"
 
The aims and objectives of the program is to give free visa's to citizens of developing countries around the world who wishes to travel to U.S and start a new life and work. The green card Lottery is a matter of huge benefits for those who want to try themselves abroad.
 
Selection
6.3 million Email addresses were randomly extracted during the 33-days extraction period that ran from 12.00 AM on Aug 10, 2007 until midnight, Sep, 9 2007. All extracted email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy for final selection through computer draw system and your email address attached to ticket number 56402-188 drew the lucky numbers which subsequently won you the U.S visa and we are sending the winning notification through the selected email addresses which means that, if you receive the notification in your mail box you have been selected among the lucky winners.
 
Your visa duration is 10 years multiple entries to the U.S, it is renewable upon expiration and it permits you to travel to U.S with your spouse. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. Our visa processing agents had been apportioned among the six geographic regions.
 
Visa claim application (step 1)
Your visa winning details falls within our Asia/pacific booklet representative office as indicated in the draw system and we have forwarded your winning details to our Asia/Pacific office for the processing of your Green Card acknowledgement Certificates, therefore, FOR YOUR VISA FORM, REQUIREMENTS AND FURTHER DETAILS, contact our Asia/pacific agent with the below contact details;
 
Name:  Mr. Lewis Taylor. 
Ofiice Address:  95 Wireless Road Panthumwam Bangkok Thailand.
Tel:  +66- 8-1499-4471
Fax: +66-2251 9977
 
Approximately six hundred and twenty five (625) lucky selected winners had been notified through their selected winning email addresses including you today. All selected lucky winners will need to act on their claims applications quickly before the expiration of the visa claim deadline which is on the (30th Nov 2007)
 
Advanced Question.
How can I make the claim of my visa?
You will obtain your visa through the U.S Consular officer in your home country or any U.S Embassy nearest to you with your Green Card Acknowledgement Certificates that will be processed and send to you by our Asia/pacific agent. U. S. embassies and consulates will not be able to provide a list of winners until their Green Card acknowledgement certificates are processed with their case numbers and placed on the U.S Immigration Network Database.
 
Visa Processing Fee.
Single-$755USD
Dual-$1,250USD
 
What is processing fee?
The processing fee pays for the accuracy preparation of your documents that will enable you to obtain your visa through the U.S Consular officer in your home country or country of your present residence. Green card experts charges a nominal fee to cover administrative and processing costs incurred in conjunction with the careful processing of every document. According to J.Stevenson Wilson, Author of Visa Lottery services Report, the total average fee charged by green card lottery services ($755USD) for one person,there is no correlation between the fee charged and the quality of services provided and its benefits.
 
Benefits.
Winners will get FREE Airline Ticket to the USA.
people that win this Lottery will get the constant legal status of the US inhabitant, an opportunity of free country entrance and departure, the right to be working in the USA legally and getting American salary. You may have any job in America, whether it is a government, public or private job. A permanent residence visa (as well as American work visa) eases your life. In addition to permanent legal residence Green Card holders also receive health, education, retirement, taxation, social security and other benefits.
 
Disqualification.
Any selected lucky winner from the following countries will be disqualified;
Mexico-Canada-Haiti-Columbia-Elsalvador-Jamaica-Poland-Peru-Korea-Dominican Republic-Philippines-Vietnam-Russia and United-Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) This is because each has more than 50, 000 candidates in the USA.
 
Please retain this letter and take it with you to your visa interview centre when directed. 
Do not reply back to this notification email (busy)
 
Please read and follow all the enclosed instructions very carefully.
 
Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Christine Roberts.
Secretary General U.S Consulate-Kentucky.
 

2007-10-22

Info: A Nigerian Scammer offers his services

If you're currently looking for an experienced Nigerian scammer partner in India, then apparently this guy is available. In case you don't know the lingo, "wash wash" is the black money scam. Your guess is as good as mine as to why he thought I'd be interested in a partnership. Maybe he took "ideceive" as a literal "I deceive".

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shama uman <sman11k@yahoo.com>
Date: 22 Oct 2007
Subject: ur guy from india
To: ideceive@gmail.com

HELLO
I AM FROM NIGERIA MY NAME IS pascal FROM IMO STATE IN NKWERRE L.G.A NIGERIA AM GUY MAN I HAVE BEEN TO MANY COUNTRIES SOME WERE LIKE ABIDJA ,TOGO, GHANA ,DUBAI, CHINA MALAYSIA NOW IN INDIA I DO ATTEND FACE-TO-FACE EXECUTION WASH WASH, CONSIGNMENT DIPLOMAT LEVELS ALSO TRANSFER.....WE CAN
DO THINGS TOGETHER MY GUY LET WORK OUT MONEY,IF YOU HAVE INDIA JOB AM HERE TO ATTEND IT FOR YOU AND YOU WILL GET YOUR % GUY HERE IS MY CONTACT MOBILE NUMBER +919899227328 OR YOU CAN EMAIL ME ON p_ben2k@yahoo.com MY BEST REARDS,
pascal (ONYEZE)
ONE LOVE
our mode of sharing is 60/40.

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