Meta: Public Domain

This blog is published anonymously because spammers can be vindictive bastards, and I'd rather not make it easy for them to target me. The kinds of people who write and disseminate viruses, or attempt to steal people's money by lying to them, tend not to shrink from mounting the odd denial-of-service attack or Joe Job against those who would shine a light on their schemes. I've borne the brunt of these retaliatory attacks in the past, and I've no desire to go looking for the experience again. Thus, the relative anonymity of this blog, where I am known by the nondescript handle of "Spotter".

Such anonymous publication creates an interesting problem with regards to copyright. When I decide to retire from the deception spotting and reporting game, the copyright on the posts would still belong to me, but nobody would know how to contact me in order to gain permission to reprint something. The work would effectively be trapped in copyright limbo. My goals in creating this blog are purely altruistic -- or possibly purely hostile because I despise cheating and lying. Whatever the case, I've no intention whatsoever to pursue monetary gain through the publication of this resource. Nor can I expect to gain any personal fame through it without compromising my anonymity. Consequently, I think the whole notion of "copyright" is useless to me in the construction of this blog, and I renounce it.

I hereby waive copyright in all original work I have created in this blog to date. I also waive copyright in future work in this blog, up until such time, if any, as I announce a new copyright policy.

Lottery Scam: BONDSOFTWARE

This lottery scam arrived from 80.190.233.48 on Sat, 23 Jul 2005 14:19:11 -0000. Like most of the 419 crud I receive, it was sent directly to the (easily harvested) contact address for this blog. The source address is in Germany, according to WHOIS. One wonders whether Germany will be the next popular 419er locale, now that Spain has put its metaphoric foot down. Of course, the fraudster may not be in Germany at all, since it was sent through yet another webmail system that doesn't show the client source address. I've removed double-spacing from the text below.

BONDSOFTWARE  INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY
                                    
We are pleased to inform you of the announcement  today, 20th June  
2005of winners of the BONDSOFTWARE PROMOTION LOTTERY /UK
INTERNATIONAL  PROGRAMS held on 22nd May, 2005. Your email  address 
attached to ticket number  131-45637829487580, drew the lucky numbers 
7-14-75-42-48-80,batch number 6365/UK and  consequently won the lottery in 
the 1st category. You have therefore been approved of a lump sum pay 
out of GBP4OO,OOO (FOUR HUNDRED THOUSANDS POUNDS STERLING) is credited to 
file LOTTERY REF NO. BSIL/763276/03. This is from the total prize  
money of  GBP10,000,000.00 shared among the seventeen international  
winners in  categories C with serial number: UK/PLW/12-C8645651234. 
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system  drawn 
form 50,000 company email addresses and 50,000,000  individual email 
addresses from Australia, New Zealand, America,  Europe, North 
America,Africa and Asia as part of  the International  Promotions Program, which 
is conducted annually. CONGRATULATIONS!
Your fund is now in custody of a financial Security company  insured in 
your FILE REFERENCE. Due to the mix up of some numbers and names, we  
ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your 
claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or  
unscrupulous acts by participants of this program. This lottery  program 
was promoted by our group of philanthropist headed by the United Kindgom 
government. We hope that you will participate in our end of year high  
stakes GBP 10,000,000 million  International Lottery. To begin your 
claim, please contact your file/claim officer:


MR.CURTIS BROWN                                                   
FOREIGN SERVICE  MANAGER
OASIS FINANCE GROUPS
UNITED KINDGOM 
Email: oasisfinanceuk@netscape.net


Please be aware that the Paying Authority will Effect Payment  Swiftly 
upon satisfactory Report, Verifications and validation of your winning 
for due processing  and remittance of your winning prize to any 
designated account of  your choice. Remember, all prize money must be claimed 
not later than 14th August 2005. After this date, all funds will be 
returned as unclaimed.


NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please 
remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in  every one of your 
correspondences with your agent. You are also expected to send your 
full name and contact address for proper verification and assessement  of 
winnings. Should there be any change of your address, do  inform your 
claim agent as soon as possible.You are required to communicate ONLY 
with your claiming agent.

Sincerely,

Monica Johnson(Mrs.)
Lottery Co-ordinator


___________________________________________________________________________
Mail sent from WebMail service at PHP-Nuke Powered Site
- http://yoursite.com

Advance Fee Fraud: Miss Amaria Musa

Received this typical 419 scam from 212.74.114.48 (mk-smarthost-9.mail.uk.tiscali.com.) on Sat, 23 Jul 2005 02:45:17 -0000. This has been sent through Tiscali's webmail system, and it doesn't give me much of a hint where the fraudster is actually located, so the buck stops with them from my perspective.

Miss F.Amaria Musa.
Angré Start7 Villa 12
Abidjan, Cote d'ivoire.
July 23, 2005.

Dear Sir,

MAY PEACE BE UNPON YOU

I am Miss Amaria Musa the only daughter of late Alhaji Mohd Musa. My father
and mother were farmers and cocoa merchant when they were both alive. After
the death of my father long ago, my mother was controlling his business
untill she was poisoned by her business associates which she suffered and
died.

Before the death of my mother on October 15th, 2004 in a private hospital
here in Abidjan where she was admitted, she secretly called me on her bed
side and disclosed to me about the sum of Four Million Five hundred thousand
US Dollars(USD$4.5million) she left in suspense account in one of the bank
here in Abidjan, it was the money she intended to transfer oversea for
investment before she was strucked down by the posion.She instructed me that
I should seek for a foreign partner in any country of my choice who will
assist me transfer this money in oversea account where the money will be
save and be invested wisely.Because of the current political faction
problems here in Ivory Coast I decided to transfer the money to abroad where
it will be save and invested.

I am seeking for your kind assistance in the following ways:
(1) To serve as a guardian of this fund since I am a girl of 19 years old.
(2) To provide a safe bank account into where the money will be transferred
for investment.
(3) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my
education and to secure a resident permit for me in your country.Sir if you
can help me,please do contact me on my private email address.As soon as I
receive your urgent reply indicating your interest to assist me to
successfully transfer the money into your nominated account I shall inform
the bank of it so that they can do so.

Yours lovely,
Miss Amaria Musa

Pump and Dump: MWIS

This is an ordinary pump and dump, by the look of the sub-dollar stock being promoted. It's also another of those cases where one spam per recipient just isn't cutting it for the sender, so I received six copies.

IP Address	Date Received
68.113.72.141	Thu, 21 Jul 2005 20:55:35 -0000
61.149.4.150	Fri, 22 Jul 2005 04:48:23 -0000
222.187.78.126	Fri, 22 Jul 2005 05:41:19 -0000
221.196.90.76	Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:13:40 -0000
221.144.74.55	Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:19:48 -0000
211.178.44.219	Fri, 22 Jul 2005 11:29:22 -0000

Note that in the above table, the first source is in Charter Communications, USA, the next three are in China, and the last two are in Korea.

Sample text follows. Note that I've included the "forward looking statements" disclaimer block this time, because it is amusing to note that they are resorting to "leet speak" to get around filtering. The whole "forward looking statements" thing is such common boilerplate in pump and dump spam that it makes for very easy filter-fodder. In future, we can look forward to spam with "f0rw4rd lo0k1ng statements" and similar variations instead.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Inv^estor Alert--WE HAVE A RUNNER - STOCK IS UP  0.13 (118.18%) JULY 21st

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MWIS*****MWIS****MWIS****MWIS****MWIS

UP 118% ON THURSDAY JULY 21----WE ARE LOOKING FOR A HUGH FRIDAY

SYMBOL:  MWIS.OB
CURRENT PRICE: .24
1 WEEK PROJECTION .75-$1.00

This is the ONE that good make you 500-700% PROFIT  and we see that it
started already...BIG MOVE TODAY.


NEWS: Smart Global Gets m-Wise to the Benefits of a Bespoke Platform


LONDON,  (PRIMEZONE) -- London-based Smart Global, the UK's first
one-stop-shop for mobile data services targeted at SMEs, today announced its
partnership with m-Wise Inc (OTC BB:MWIS.OB - News). m-Wise, a leading
technology provider in the field of content management and provisioning has
developed a tailored solution to suit Smart Global's offering, which is
delivered in partnership with network operator O2. The m-Wise Platform
enables Smart Global to offer an end-to-end service to mobile subscribers
from online registration and over-the-air delivery of the service directly
to the customer's mobile device, to flexible real-time subscription-based
billing. The system also allows subscribers full access to their account,
allowing them to manage the services, add users and view all related
information. The Platform is connected to more than 10 technology vendors,
as well as to various billing, SMS and MMS providers. In total 12 business
mobile services are offered.

Says Rachel Perry, COO of Smart Global: ``We have spent two years developing
a suite of applications that meet the requirements of small and medium
businesses and believe that by removing the need for expensive,
time-consuming back office installation and IT integration we have presented
the ultimate solution to the market.

 Last time we issued a Inv^estor Alert and watched it climb from $2.00 to
  $8.00 faster than you can count the ways to spend your money.
  Now MWIS is on the on the move.

Inf0rmation within this em4il c0ntains "f0rw4rd lo0k1ng statements" within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21B of
the Securit13s Exchange Act of 1934. Any st4tements that express or involve
discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans,
projections, objectives, goals, assumptions or future events or performance
are not statements of historical fact and may be "f0rw4rd l00k1ng
statements."F0rw4rd l0ok1ng st4tem3nts are based on exp3ctations, estimates
and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a number of
risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or events to differ
materially from those presently anticipated. F0rward l00k1ng st4tem3nts in
this action may be identified through the use of words such as "projects",
"foresee", "expects", "will," "anticipates," "estimates," "believes,"
"understands" or that by statements indicating certain actions "may,"
"could," or "might" occur. As with many micr0c4p st0cks, today's company has
additional risk factors that raise doubt about its ability to continue as a
going concern. Today's featured company is not a reporting company
registered under the S3cur1ties Act of 1934 and hence there is limited
information available about the company. Other factors include an
accumulated deficit since its inception, a negative net worth, nominal cash,
an auditor's going concern opinion and no revenues in its most recent
quarter.It is not currently an operating company and has not had business
operations in over seven years. The company is going to need financing. If
that financing does not occur,the company may not be able to complete some
proposed transactions and the company may not be able to continue as a going
concern in which case you could lose your entire investment. Other risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability of the Company to
complete its business plan,reliance on key personnel, market conditions, the
general acceptance of the Company's products and technologies, competitive
factors, timing, and other risks associated with their business. The
publisher of this news letter does not represent that the information
contained in this message states all material facts or does not omit a
material fact necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.All
information provided within this email pertaining to investing, st0cks,
securities must be understood as information provided and not in-v3stment
advice. The publisher of this newsletter advises all readers and subscribers
to seek advice from a registered professional securities representative
before deciding to trade in stocks featured within this email. None of the
material within this report shall be construed as any kind of investment
advice or solicitation.Many of these companies are on the verge of
bankruptcy. You can lose all your money by investing in this stock. The
publisher of this newsletter is not a reg1ster3d in-vestm3nt advis0r.
Subscribers should not view information herein as legal, tax, accounting or
investment advice. Any reference to past performance(s) of companies are
specially selected to be referenced based on the favorable performance of
these companies. You would need perfect timing to acheive the results in the
examples given. There can be no assurance of that happening. Remember, as
always, past performance is never indicative of future results and a
thorough due diligence effort, including a review of a company's filings
when available, should be completed prior to in vesting. We have no
relationship, directly or indirectly, with ntrz, hisc or afvs. In compliance
with the Securities Act of 1933, Section17(b), The publisher of this
newsletter is contracted to receive fifteen thousand d0llars
from a third party, not an officer, director or affiliate shareholder for
the circulation of this report. Be aware of an inherent conflict of interest
resulting from such compensation due to the fact that this is a paid
advertisement and is not without bias.The party that paid us has a position
in the stock they will sell at anytime without notice. This could have a
negative impact on the price of the stock, causing you to lose money. All
factual information in this report was gathered from public sources,
including but not limited to Company Websites and Company Press Releases.
The publisher of this newsletter believes this information to be reliable
but can make no guarantee as to its accuracy or completeness. Use of the
material within this email constitutes your acceptance of these terms.

News: Spain nicks a load of 419ers

A while ago, I was complaining about Spain being such a ripe source of 419 fraud, particularly of the "you won a lottery" variety. Well, it appears that the local authorities have closed the net on them at last. According to an article in The Register entititled "Biggest 419 bust in history", a total of three hundred and ten people in Malaga, Spain, have been arrested in connection with this fraudulent activity. Here's hoping that justice is served.