News: FTC (USA) takes action against some "Work at Home" scammers

One of the categories of job scam is the one where you are asked to pay a fee to get a work-at-home kit, or some kind of useful information on how to work at home. Any kind of up-front fee or need for a credit card should make you think "likely scam" without further ado. The good news is that some legal action is being taken against these scammers: the FTC has just announced seven new cases being brought against businesses using allegedly deceptive and illegal techniques to sell "job opportunities" of various sorts. You can read the FTC press release, or a nice summary at Sunbelt blog.

Info: Interview with a Nigerian Scammer

Scam Detectives are blogging a series of interviews with a Nigerian ex-scammer. This is worthwhile reading for anyone who wants to be informed of the inner workings of the Nigerian scam scene.

News: Qchex shut down by FTC and US courts

Good news for a change: one of the major sources of fraudulent cheques (checks) in the USA has been shut down and ordered to hand over their revenues. Qchex offered a service whereby anyone could have cheques printed for any bank account, but the service made no attempt to verify that the person placing the order had any authority to do so. I hope this puts a significant dent in cheque fraud, but it's too much to hope that it will eliminate the problem completely.

Alert: Malware via MMS Spam

I don't usually report this kind of thing, but it's hot off the press and at least somewhat novel, so here it is. Some miscreant has just registered the domain name mmswirelessweb.com, and is spamming everyone with notifications that they have received an MMS from someone. This notification uses Verizon Wireless branding, but this is just a rip-off: Verizon is not involved in any way. Clicking on the link will prompt you to install a piece of software that is, of course, malware.

   Domain Name: MMSWIRELESSWEB.COM
   Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
   Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
   Referral URL: http://www.melbourneit.com
   Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
   Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
   Updated Date: 16-nov-2008
   Creation Date: 16-nov-2008
   Expiration Date: 16-nov-2009

If you have allowed this software to be installed on your computer, you should assume that your computer is badly compromised and disconnect it from the Internet until it can be repaired by an expert.

Phish of the Day: eNom

A correspondent forwarded me this phish which is unusual in that it has an unusual target: customers of the registrar eNom. These phishers are looking to hijack other people's domain names for nefarious purposes. Note that the links in the message below do NOT go to eNom. The phisher seems to have a pile of domains in the form "comN2.biz" which he is using to support these phishing sites. So far, I have found com62.biz, com72.biz, com82.biz, and com92.biz. All were registered to someone using the email address alexeyvas@safe-mail.net at around  Mon Oct 27 00:45 GMT 2008. All use nameservers in the domain XWHLWWW.COM, which was created on 10-Oct-2008.

I recommend against clicking on any of the following links, since they go to a known hostile site at the time of posting.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Dear user,

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 XX:XX:XX -0500 we received a third party complaint of invalid domain contact information in the Whois database for this domain Whenever we receive a complaint, we are required by ICANN regulations to initiate an investigation as to whether the contact data displaying in the Whois database is valid data or not. If we find that there is invalid or missing data, we contact both the registrant and the account holder and inform them to update the information.

The contact information for the domain which displayed in the Whois database was indeed invalid. On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 XX:XX:XX -0500 we sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain. The domain has subsequently been purchased by another party. You will need to contact them for any further inquiries regarding the domain.

PLEASE VERIFY YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION - http://www.enom.com

If you find any invalid contact information for this domain, please respond to this email with evidence of the specific contact information you have found to be invalid on the Whois record for the domain name. Examples would be a bounced email or returned postal mail. If you have a bounced email, please attach or forward with your reply or in the case of returned postal mail, scan the returned letter and attach to your email reply or please send it to:

Attn: Domain Services 14455 N Hayden Rd Suite 219 Scottsdale, AZ 85260


LINK TO CHANGE INFORMATION - http://www.enom.com


Thank you,
Domain Services

[IncidentID:XXXXX]

Info: Freelance Home Writers

I've been asked a few times about whether "Freelance Home Writers" is a scam. My forte is outright fraud and crime rather than "dodgy business", so I'd first like to emphasise that this isn't (as far as I can tell) a front for organised crime.

Having said that, I still wouldn't trust them with a penny of my money. Why's that, you ask? Well, in addition to the informed opinion of an independent party, I note that "Freelance Home Writers" employs a tactic in common use by scammers who want to avoid the ill effects of a bad reputation: the progressive registration of multiple domain names. The image attached to this post is a snapshot of one of several identical "Freelance Home Writers" websites operating under different domain names that have been registered at different times. For example, "freelancehomewriters.com" was registered on 21-Feb-2007, whereas "freelance-home-writers.com" was registered on 29-Aug-2007, and "freelancehomewriters.biz" (which was misconfigured and causing a browser error when I tested it today) was registered on 29-Jan-2008. All of the above were registered using the "WhoisGuard" anonymisation service, so we have no idea who is actually behind this service, or where they are based. Would you trust an anonymous company with no address?

Bear in mind that these guys are selling a product, not offering jobs. They want you to pay to join. Are you going to trust them with your credit card details? Will you have any recourse if their "product" turns out to be worthless? Will you even be able to navigate away from their damn home page without being blocked by pop-up ads? Can you believe their claim on their FAQ page that they have "been online for nearly 6 years now" when the earliest domain name registration is dated 2007?

So, in answer to the question, "is Freelance Home Writers legit or a scam?" my answer is, "I really can't say, but there's plenty of evidence that they can't be trusted!" When you're handing over your credit card information to someone in exchange for a promise of goods or services, trustworthiness is what counts, isn't it? "Scam or legit" frames the question the wrong way: "trustworthy or not" is, I think, a better way to look at it. As fas as I'm concerned, "Freelance Home Writers" operates in a manner that shouts, "I can't be trusted!"

Advance Fee Fraud: Royale Financing Company

A correspondent tells me that he has applied for a loan through "Royale Financing Company" at www.royalefinancing.com. This is an advance fee fraud scam: they want you to send them fees up-front via Western Union before they will send you the loan. Sadly, the loan and the whole company are both a big lie: this is just a bunch of fraudsters conning people into sending them money. They will gladly take your money and keep it -- you'll never see a cent back.

Bear in mind that the name "Royale Financing Company" is made up. Scammers make up new names regularly because people like me report the old ones as scams. Don't judge the operation by its name: judge it by what they do. If they want you to send them money to apply for a loan, just assume they're scammers and steer clear of them.

Here are the current registration details for royalefinancing.com, for what they're worth.

   Domain Name: ROYALEFINANCING.COM
   Registrar: ENOM, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.enom.com
   Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
   Name Server: NS1.DOMAINCITYSERVERS.COM
   Name Server: NS2.DOMAINCITYSERVERS.COM
   Updated Date: 01-may-2008
   Creation Date: 01-may-2008
   Expiration Date: 01-may-2009

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.

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

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.

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 www.us-green-card-lottery.org    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 Email: uscounsular@oued.org      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.

---

Walla! Mail - get your free 5G mail today

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.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

News: Fake Checks are a Multi-Billion Dollar Business

According to a Reuters report, "an international crackdown on Internet financial scams this year has yielded more than $2.1 billion in seized fake checks and 77 arrests in the Netherlands, Nigeria and Canada." This is one of the possible frauds behind the "money mule" job scams I report at Suckers Wanted.

Spam: P.P. Bankcard Services

Here's a slightly interesting thing. This is spam, straightforwardly enough: it was sent to my Gmail account, and I have never corresponded with this party, let alone sent mail with the subject to which this is supposed to be a reply. So what's the motive behind the scam? Is it an actual business just trying to drum up custom through spam? More likely it's a kind of phishing, because the scammers are only interested in companies that do at least $300,000 a year in credit card or check sales. If anyone replies to this with an expression of interest, they've just marked their network as worth compromising, and they'll likely receive a reply containing attachments with malicious payloads, designed to leave back doors into the system for these miscreants to use.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Tucker <bancardoffice@gmail.com>
Date: 26 Sep 2007 04:10
Subject: Re: Phone Call For Merchant Account
To: Owner <ideceive@gmail.com>


Hello this is John Tucker with P.P. Bankcard Services, we help businesses setup, reduce, and clarify credit, debit, check, and atm processing costs. Our company even works with businesses that are considered "high risk" by other Processors.

I'm not sure if it would make sense for a phone appointment at the moment so I sent this email to see if you had any of the following situations:

>> Are you currently seeking to setup processing?

>> Are you currently processing and are dissatisfied with your Processor?

>> Are you receiving bad checks?

>> Are you having issues with Accounts Receivable and aren't receiving payments on time from customers?

>> Or, are you seeking to setup an ATM or receive a higher surcharge income from your ATM Machine?

If you have any of the above situations give me a call at: 1-866-543-6268 to discuss creating a potential solution. You can also send me a fax to: 1-866-553-8246.

*** Very Important, due to the popularity of our company and our programs we can only see businesses who will do at least $300,000 a year in credit card sales or check sales.

(To comply with marketing regulations, if you are fine and would not like to be included in future emails give me a call or send me a email and our office will gladly comply.)

Thanks alot and I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

John Tucker
Account Manager
P.P. Bankcard Services and Systems
Direct Extension: 1-866-543-6268
Direct Fax: 1-866-553-8246

Job Scam: New money mule variant?

Here's a scam I haven't noticed before. Some dodgy West African wants to send you credit card details (stolen, of course) so that you can wire back money (ostensibly to a travel agency -- but we know it's just the scammer himself) via Western Union. Personally, if I were running a Western Union agency, I wouldn't accept payment by credit card -- especially not in "card not present" situations. Does this scam have a snowball's chance in Western Sahara of working?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: patrick clerk <patrick_clerks@yahoo.fr>
Date: 8 Sep 2007 01:13
Subject: I AM WAITING FOR YOUR SOONEST ANSWER
To: patrick_clerks@yahoo.fr

Dear Sir,
 
I am Patrick Clerks, at the time of the marriage of my son, I would like to reserve 2double rooms  and your restaurant or club bars for the day of September 20th, 2007.
I intend to regulate by remote credit card.
Then I would like to be in contact with the person in charge of the reservation.
the ammount that i can be able to spend is 10.000 euros which is planned for a cocktail and a dinner (of 18h with 23h).

Thus you will understand that I want the best for my only son that why i will try as much as possible to make this reception to have success.
Also I would like to make a reservation for 10 or may be 20 guests who will come to assist to the weeding of my son because those persons are his best friends and i want this day represent the most important moment in his life.That is the reason why i contact you in order to guarantee with you the success of this weeding.

I will ask you to help me sending a group of 4 persons three days before the weeding day as my representants close to you so that they can work with you and inform me in any organisation which will take place there,because this weeding is a challenge for me.
i want also to tell you that those person i will send close to you will help in the choice of the menu and the decoration and something else you will ask them to do before my arrival.

 

However I will consequently ask you to remove the reservation price and 5000€ by charging my the credit card that i will send you as soon as you give me your oK.
Not that this ammount of 5000€ wiil be used to regulate the plane ticket of those 4persons who will represnt me until my arrival.

Not also that i will need you to send the 5000€ to a member of NAKATA TRAVEL AGENCY which is located in Ivory Coast by western union because i used most of the time to take my travel ticket and i have a reduction there in each ticket.

 

I am currently in Morrocco for a congress and I benefitted from the occasion to take my son and his future wife with me for the choice of the weeding clothes they will need at the time of the ceremony that why i am not capable to make any transfer because the law of this country forbid this.
 
Thus I am waiting for your soonest response in  order to communicate to you my credit card number+ the scratch date for the payment.
MoreoverI ask you the disponibilty to help me resloving this matter.

 

Not that NAKATA TRAVEL AGENCY have problems with their machine so they cannot charge my credit card by themselve.

 

For your will to help me i will reward you with 500€ .

 

MY DIRECT PHONE NUMBER IS 0022504735052.

 

Respectifully yours.

Mr.Patrick Clerk

---

Découvrez le blog Yahoo! Mail : dernières nouveautés, astuces, conseils.. et vos réactions !

Advance Fee Fraud: LIVE-PAYMENTS.COM

Some 419ers tell you they have a stash of cash they want you to repatriate; some tell you you've won the lottery; some want you to pretend to be next of kin to receive an inheritance; some pretend that you are owed money for contractual work in Nigeria. These scammers just tell you there's a payment waiting for you -- simple as that. The story changes, but the fraud remains the same: there is no stash of cash waiting for you -- they're just trying to blind you with dollar signs so that they can (a) take all your personal details, and (b) persuade you to pay a few small incidental fees on the way towards receiving this imaginary stash.

   Domain Name: LIVE-PAYMENTS.COM
   Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
   Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
   Name Server: NS1.SEDOPARKING.COM
   Name Server: NS2.SEDOPARKING.COM
   Updated Date: 29-jul-2007
   Creation Date: 29-jul-2007
   Expiration Date: 29-jul-2008

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gilmac Financial Services <cititiconsultant@gawab.com>
Date: 06-Sep-2007 00:14
Subject: Live Payment
To: ideceive@gmail.com

ATTN:

You have been sent a payment, here is your payment information:

PAYMENT NOMBER:      03115027
PAYMENT DATE:    05/09/2007
PAYMENT VALUE:   750,000 USD
In order to receive you payment please confirm you identity in our verification page:

Dr. P. Brook

Gilmac Financial Services
Weeps-The Netherlands.
Tel: +31-634-254755
Fax: +31-847-118266
Email: live_payment@gawab.com


1). Full Names:..................
2). Residential Address: ........
3). Occupation:..................
4). Sex:.........................
5). Phone/Fax Numbers:...........
6). Country of Resident:.........
7). Nationality: ................
8). Payment Value:.........
9). Payment Number:...............
10). Amount.................
11). A scan or Fax Copy of any Valid Proof of your

Identification like International Passport or Driver's
License:................

All participants where selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from over 20,000 company and
30,000,000 individual email addresses and names from
all over the world drawn from Europe, Asia, Australia,
New Zealand, Middle East, Africa, North and South
America. Do note also that every email addresses that
were used on this program were gotten without the
knowledge of each recipient. Be informed here that all
winnings must be claimed not later than the 15th Day
of September 2007 and that anybody under the age of
18yrs is automatically disqualified and hereby not
eligible to apply for a claim of this amount.

Congratulations from our management as we expect you
to make good use of your funds. Do note also that
every email addresses that were used on this program
were gotten without the knowledge of each recipient.
www.live-payments.com


Please follow the given instructions.
After we receive your confirmation, we will send you the payment.

Thank You
Live-Payments staff
Mr,Franck William

News: Monster.com data compromised

Here's an important heads-up for people with personal details on Monster.com. According to Symantec, a new piece of malware has been sucking out the personal details of job-seekers from that site, via compromised recruiter accounts. Consequently, we can expect some very targeted job scams aiming at monster.com users.

Advance Fee Fraud: Fondation de France

This is really just a variation on the "you won a lottery you didn't enter" scam. Only the cover story is different: you've been given a grant for which you didn't apply. This is typically advance fee fraud: they want money up front for some fee or other before you get to see any of your promised wealth. Sometimes they send a fake cheque or money order. Basically, don't get involved. Note that the FDF is a real organisation -- it's just that these scammers have nothing to do with it.

In addition to the contact address given in this spam, " fdf_org07@yahoo.fr", a correspondent reports one which uses "fdfgrantoffice967@atmail.org ". These are freemail addresses which anyone could register, anywhere, anytime, and they're probably not the only ones in use for this particular scam.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: THE FONDATION DE FRANCE(FDF) <[random address]>
Date: 02-Aug-2007 22:08
Subject: THE FONDATION DE FRANCE(FDF)
To: [redacted]



THE FONDATION DE FRANCE(FDF)
http://www.fdf.org.

The Fondation De France(FDF) would like to notify you that you have been chosen by the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of a  cash Grant/Donation for your own personal, educational, and business  development. The FDF, established 1977 by the Multi-Million groups and now  supported by the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS),  United Nations Organization (UNO) and the European Union (EU) was conceived with the objective of human growth, educational, and community development.

In conjunction with the ECOWAS, UNO and the EU, We are giving out a yearly donation of US$1,350,000.00 (One million, Three hundred and Fifty  thousand United states dollars only) each to 100 lucky recipients. These specific Donations/Grants will be awarded to 100 lucky international recipients worldwide, in different categories.

Based on the random selection exercise of internet websites and millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide, you were selectedamongst the lucky recipients to receive the award sum of US$1,350,000.00 as charity donations/aid. Nevertheless, according to the federal and international law concerning the personal collection of prize winnings, your bonding fees, broker fees, and tarrif fees, have already been deducted from your donation.So congratulations once again.

You would be required to send down the following informations:

FULL NAMES:______________
ADDRESS: _______________
CITY:____________________
STATE:__________________
COUNTRY________________
SEX:_______________
AGE:__________________
MARITAL STATUS:___________
NATIONALITY__________
OCCUPATION:_______________
E-MAIL ADDRESS:____________
TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________________

You are required to contact the Executive Secretary below, for qualification documentation and processing of your claims. After contacting our office, you will be given your donation pin number, which you will use in collecting the funds. Please endeavor to quote your Qualification numbers (FDF-444-6647-9163) in all discussions.

Executive Sec. Mr David Tinny
Email: fdf_org07@yahoo.fr

Tick a suitable mode for payment of your funding grant award as listed below:

1.Online Bank Payment
2.Courier Delivery

Do note that these funding grant are strictly administered by the EU, ECOWAS and UNO.

On behalf of the Board kindly accept our warmest congratulations

Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Martha C. Edmondson.
(Director of Human Resources )

Meta: I'm a slacker

The month of July, 2007, is nearly at an end, and if you look at the monthly archive for the Suckers Wanted blog, you might get the impression that it was a slow month for job scams. This isn't the case: I have a total of around sixty job scam spams that I didn't get around to processing. No doubt there was some repetition in this lot, so the total number of additional blog entries I ought to have written is somewhat less than that, but it's still a lot of work.

The reason for the slacking off has to do with my secret identity: he's been a busy boy, and this has seriously bitten into my deception spotting time. August isn't looking much more promising, either, but here's hoping for the best.

Advance Fee Fraud: 419 through 101egreetings.com

This is probably more common than I'm aware of, because my reflex action is to delete "ecard" notifications of this sort. Anyway, this is an instance of an "ecard" site being used to send 419 scam spam. I checked out the site, and there's no "report this as spam" button on the page that I can see, so shame on 101egreetings.com for leaving their system so open to abuse.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: danlami_zbplc@yahoo.co.uk <danlami_zbplc@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: 07/26/2007;
Subject: A warm wish from Mr. DAVID DANLAMI
To: ideceive@gmail.com

Dear Recipient,

[Mr. DAVID DANLAMI (danlami_zbplc@yahoo.co.uk)] has sent you an egreeting from 101eGreetings.com
101eGreetings.com is all about saying something, expressing yourself,
and connecting . We have got ecards for all occasions to help you
celebrate all the little and big things in life. Share the joy with
people you love and care about, make them smile, by sending them an
e-wish from our collection.

Your ecard will be available on our server for the next [30] days.

--------------------------------------
        CARD DETAILS
--------------------------------------

To view your ecard, please click on the following link :

http://www.101egreetings.com/cgi-bin/greetings/viewcard.pl?cardnum=EG12505126072007783

Alternately, you may copy and paste this link in your browser's
address box.

Your ecard number is : [ EG12505126072007783 ]

In case you have any questions or queries regarding your greeting
please mail us at [ support@101egreetings.com ]


Best Wishes
Customer Care
http://www.101egreetings.com/

To send someone an ecard, please visit us at http://www.101egreetings.com