Advance Fee Fraud: Tsunami Sob Story

Always bear in mind that fraudsters have no shame whatsoever. Received from 212.34.129.32 on Wed, 30 Mar 2005 02:17:40 -0000, one 419 spam sob story about a person who is fifteen years old, lost the other four members of his family in the tsunami disaster, and is currently dying of "Esophageal Cancer" which has "defiled all forms of medicine". This particular spammer claims to be one "Lima Jung from Indonesia", but the message was sent through a web mail system which reports the originating address as 195.44.181.17, which is in a block of addresses delegated to "Nigeria Telecommunications Limited". Nigeria? Who'd have thought it?

It is the dying wish of "Lima Jung from Indonesia" that you take charge of a certain $18 Million in a foreign bank account, and dispose of it as follows. "I will want you to use 30% of the funds to surpport Charitable Organization and 30% should be donated to the Tsunami victims to alleviate their sufferings,while addional 20% should be used to set up a Foundation in my name and the remaining 20% should be for you as compensation for your gesture."

Anyone attempting to help Lima Jung from Indonesia will, no doubt, be led on a merry and rather expensive wild goose chase. My advice: make a donation to a reputable aid agency if you haven't already done so, and ignore Lima Jung from Indonesia, along with any other random spammer who wants you, a perfect stranger, to assist in moving millions of dollars around.

Spam: Spy Control

Beware of spammers bearing GIFs. Received from 69.166.48.47 (ny-auburn-cuda1q-47.bflony.adelphia.net) on Tue, 29 Mar 2005 22:17:25 +0000, one spam advertising Spy Control software. There's a number of things to be said about this. First of all, there's good cause to be suspicious of the software itself. It has been advertised in an unethical manner, and there's a significant chance that the software will also do unethical things if you install it on your computer. Installing software of any sort on your computer is quite a trusting act, so consider the reputation of your source when doing so.

The other thing I'd like to mention about this spam is that it appears to use "affiliate marketing", but this is often a smokescreen. Affiliate marketing is where marketing is out-sourced in an open manner to anyone who wants to do it. Some of these "affiliates" might advertise by spamming, and the company so advertised may try to deny responsibility by blaming the affiliate. It's the responsibility of the company to deter spamming by affiliates. I can see no reason to think that the "affiliate" even exists in this particular case.

Spam: Fake Rolex Watches

This one is slightly amusing. Received from [82.55.142.114] (host114-142.pool8255.interbusiness.it.) on Fri, 25 Mar 2005 13:47:42 +0000. Subject: "Rolex watches starting under $99.99" -- yeah, right! Craptastic replicas are us, inc. And then, this little gem in the body: "Who can resist a 24kt. white gold Rolex watch surrounded in stainless steal?" I think that the "steal" part is a fair indicator of the level of integrity involved here. It should go without saying that you never deal with any random shonks that try to sell you something by spamming you: the risk of fraud is ludicrously high. And if that isn't enough to put you off, here's a scare-mongering article from Reuters entitled "Don't Buy That Fake Rolex! It Could Finance Terror". See? Avoid at all costs.

Advance Fee Fraud: Barrister Phillip Andrews

Received from 213.154.88.101 (deepest darkest Africa) on Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:41:34 -0000, one perfectly ordinary Nigerian 419 scam. A brief extract follows.

I contacted you to assist in repartrating the money
and property left behind by my client since I have no
place to locate any of his relatives. I can easily
convince his bank in the  Europe with my legal practice that
you are the only surviving relation of my client.Otherwise
the Estate he left behind will be confiscated or declared
unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposits
were lodged.

Particularly, My late client had an account with one
of the banks in  Europe valued at about US$9.3Million
 (Nine Million Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars)
which I witness the documentations before he left for the
states on 24 october 2002.

Remember kids, Captain Obvious says, "if a complete stranger promises you lots of money in exchange for doing something dishonest, it's a scam!"

Pump and Dump: CWTD

Stock scamming is popular today. This one was received from 69.47.163.175 (d47-69-175-163.try.wideopenwest.com) on Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:55:21 +0000. I'll reproduce it here in all its ugly HTML glory, minus the insanely verbose "forward looking statements" fine print disclaimer.

INVESTOR ALERT- IMMEDIATE RELEASE-INVESTOR ALERT

Breakout Forecast     March-April     2005

CHINA WORLD TRADE CORP.         CWTD   CHINA WORLD TRADE CORP

CURRENT PRICE       $2.12 

Projection    5 to 7 Days -------$4.50 - $5.00
Projection    12 to 18 Days------$6.00 - $8.00

China World Trade Corporation&apss WTC Link to Utilize SMS Platform to Increase Member and
Merchant Network 

ALSO LOOK FOR NEW CNN INTERVIEW re: Tremendous 12 Month Company Growth
COMPLETED!!!!  Forward Plan to dominate China's Travel Industry.  (A Chinese Expedia.Com?)

China World Trade outbid CTRP on acquisition of  "NEW GENERATION" Southern
China's largest travel company.

WHICH COMPANY IS THE BETTER VALUE?
CTRP     @  $40.00  SHARE PRICE
OR
CWTD    @    $2.35    Growth rate 5 times higher vs CTRP

CHAIRMAN TSANG, FORMERLY OF GOLD LION HOLDINGS has taken the
 reins of CWTD and continuing his record for success. CWTD is here to stay.   READ
 THE NEWS @ yahoo.com  Finance