Some Fun Time

lavender1

Recently here on the blog, we have seen a lot of very serious scam posts. However, I will like you to know that baiting the scammers can be a fun thing as well..

Today I have a blast from the past to share with you – please click through and read this blog post from October 2007 –

A Journey Along The Road To Stopping Online Scammers

I might consider doing this again – it has been a while since I’ve done much fun scambaiting stuff. ;)

funny, internet, looking back, scambaiting, Who Is Snoskred

And Already..

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people have arrived here searching for – is connected sky business assistant job a scam?

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Many people will not be scammed thanks to that post.. :)

Thank you to the brave person who emailed me about this – it takes great bravery to speak up about these things, because so many people make assumptions about scam victims. They are being scammed by criminals. That is the only assumption we need to make about them.

That person emailed me yesterday asking

Why do you do all this?

That is a really good question. Here is my answer.

Because I deeply believe that nobody should be scammed.

I can’t always stop people from being scammed, but the least I can do is put the word out there and hope that people find my site before they bank the check.

I also believe the banks should take their share of responsibility with these fake check scams.

Banks have everything they need to figure out the check is fraudulent, yet they choose not to figure it out, and they often tell customers “the check has cleared” – and take zero responsibility when it “unclears”.

Customers trust their bank and rely on the advice they are given – that the check is real, and that is has cleared.

People assume if the check “clears” it must be fine, because they believe that banks have done some homework as a part of this clearing process and the bank has checked to see if the account exists and if the funds are there.

What people do not know is –

banks can bounce a check up to a YEAR after they have “cleared” it.

If the banks were the ones to lose the money, you betcha they’d stop allowing checks at all – or they would do their homework and make sure the check was real. Banks have hidden clauses in the terms and conditions that you as a customer agreed to which mean if a check is found to be stolen or fraudulent, then the funds go back to the bank and YOU the customer loses out on those funds.

However those terms and conditions and the fact that banks will not take any financial responsibility for clearing a check and then unclearing it means that banks are essentially partners in this crime and they are enabling the scammers to get away with this.

I have seen people get a letter in writing from the bank to state that the check has cleared and the funds are available, and even that does nothing for them once the check unclears.

fake checks, Internet Safety, scam victims are not stupid, scambaiting, scams

Scam Advice.

scam1

I received an email today from someone in the USA who had found my fake check article and wanted to know if they were being scammed. As soon as they told me what was going on, I knew the answer was yes. Luckily, they had not received the check yet, and they will not be depositing it when they do. This scammer will be hearing from me as a surprise, instead..

I asked the scam victim to forward on the emails to me, so that I could post them here – this way any other potential victims can find these details and know right away that it is a scam.

Scammer Email #1

From: DONALD CRAIG {diesel@mail.wowway.com} (1)
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 2:50 PM
Subject: PART TIME JOB OFFER
To: (2)

If you are organized and honest, you can make three hundred dollars
($350) (3) a week, as a business assistant.Reply for more details .

Please all replies should be forwarded to donaldcraig18820@gmail.com

And please include your phone number.

Thanks
Donald Craig

Warning Signs #1

So, let us take a quick look at the clues here which point to this being a scam.

1. Donald Craig is emailing from one address (diesel@mail.wowway.com) and asking people to reply to a different address (donaldcraig18820@gmail.com) – Scammers do this because there is a very good chance the email address they are spamming people from will be closed down.

2. There is no name or email address in the To field. This gives the sign it is being blasted to multiple email accounts at the same time.

3. You can make three hundred dollars ($350) <-- one of these is not the same as the other. :) The person replied to the email with a brief note saying they were interested and they would like to know more. They received this reply -

Scammer Email #2

From: Donald Criag (1) <donaldcraig18820@gmail.com>

Hello {NAME},

Thank you for your reply.

Here is a brief overview of who we are and what we do. We are a Europe (2) based company, offering business consultancy services to numerous clients across the globe like auditing, accounting, investment counsels and particularly offshore incorporation services. You can read more about us below:

Snoskred deleted the link as these sites can sometimes contain malware and simply will say Connected Sky is the name of the website.

With an increase in our customers from different parts of the globe, the expansion of the company has made it essential in recent times to employ part-time representatives (reps) in different geographic locations where we render service. The current expansion is what has created job opportunities like this for people like you.

We currently have 12 agents i.e. certified accountants in the United States AND CANADA (3) working for the company. These agents periodically require materials like envelopes, files and stamps to carry out their daily job.
They shall email you whenever they need these materials and also state precisely which type of materials and the quantity they shall need.

Your job as a ‘rep’ is to contact the supplier through email to make orders for the materials requested for and also state the quantity that should be mailed to the agents address through post. (A standard supplier has been contracted to be making available these materials)

An agent can only order for materials once a week.

It has become quite untidy having 12 different agents, contacting different suppliers at different times for materials. It has not brought about accurate accountability for (ConnectedSky). We are employing you so all agents place their order with one person- You, and the supplier gets the orders placed, from that same person- You.
Having an employee like this in place would bring about precise accountability for the company, as we get to know what is been ordered and what is been supplied, and plus it saves us time. You shall be keeping a record of what an agent orders, and also a record of what you ask the supplier to provide. (Of course the logs have to match, as you are expected to ask from the supplier only what the agents’ demand).

Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (ConnectedSky) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!.

Salary/wages payment: $350 weekly will be paid to you in form of cheque.

Just like we said, it is a flexible online/ ’work from home’ job compatible even with undergraduates as it does not require having a college degree, so long as you are computer literate, you have an email and you can keep records.

Agents will only contact you for materials during the weekdays.

We will always email you guidelines and instructions to follow in getting your job done perfectly when you start working.

If you still care to proceed with the job, get back to us with your information listed below then we can proceed from there.

1, NAME: (4)
2, CONTACT ADDRESS,
3,CITY,
4,STATE,
5,ZIPCODE:
6, MOBILE:
7, AGE:
8, SEX:
9, EMAIL ADDRESS

Please all replies should be forwarded to (5)

And please include your phone number and all replies should be forwarded to this email

And you can reach me on this number 7072603466

I will be waiting to hear from you soon.

Regards,

DONALD CRAIG

Warning Signs #2

So what clues have we been provided in this email?

1. Donald Criag – most people know how to spell their own name. If it is mis-spelled, chances are, this is not their real name.

2. Europe is not a country. Real companies would say they are based in COUNTRY not CONTINENT. EG We are based in Germany.

3. Capital letters as a surprise out of nowhere are a dead giveaway.

4. The part with 1, NAME: – if you ever receive an email that asks you to supply details in that kind of format, you can be certain that it is a scam. No legit employer would ever ask for your details in this manner.

5. Please all replies should be forwarded to blank? Forget to put something in there, did you, scammer?

If you go to the supplied website, it looks legit until you do some googling and then you discover that other sites out there have the exact same text.

Google A Line Of Text

Taking lines of text from this email and searching for them can be quite interesting. For example this line –

Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (ConnectedSky) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!

comes back with these results – and you’ll quickly note the brackets contain many and varied company names within the exact same sentence –

Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (sovereigngroup Ltd) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!

Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (HI Audit Kyriacou & Partners) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!

Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by (Global Consultants) to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO!

Please note that all costs of supplies, shall be handled by the company, and at no time whatsoever shall you be asked by C&N to pay any charges or hidden fees- NO! – in this case there are no brackets, this scammer is likely the one who wrote the “script” to begin with.

What Script?

Scammers work on a script. When one of their gang finds the script to be successful, they will pass it on to other gang members who will use it – just changing their name, email address, phone numbers and the company name.

Scammer Email #3

Hello {name},

Thank you for the reply.

Your Details have been taken down and passed over to the admin. They have processed and reviewed your application so you can begin work immediately.

Please be informed that you will be working as the company’s representative in your location. Nothing hectic, as your recruit manager I’ll be giving you guidance every step of the way and attending to your every question until you get the complete hang of it.

Secondly, at this juncture I need to know through which channel, would you prefer receiving your salary- via check or via direct deposit?

We usually recommend paying via check, and I advise you select that also. As a straightforward and transparency principle, this way we can keep the working relationship as open and as simple as possible. (It is also via cheque (1) payments that the company shall fund you the money needed for ordering materials, which you shall pay to the supplier).

Note that your first salary shall be prepaid, (2) which means that your salary shall be included in the first check you receive and you will be paid as you start. Your salary after that shall be paid weekly, on Fridays.

Lastly, let me know if you can get started this week?

And please include your phone number and all replies should be forwarded to this email

And you can reach me on this number 7072603466 (3)

I will be waiting to hear from you soon.

Regards,

Donald Craig

Warning Signs #3

1. Note the two different spellings of check & cheque. It is spelled cheque in my own country but most of the scam victims I speak with are in the USA. I’ve often struggled to make sure I spell it as check myself and I am not trying to scam anyone. :)

2. They are going to give you money for doing nothing? Prepaid salary is not something legitimate jobs do.

3. Why is the phone number on the web site for Cyprus, and this one is for the USA? Both numbers divert to Nigeria, via a redirection service, by the way.

Scammer Email #4

Hello {name},

I got the response from the admin department earlier today and all your details with the company have been entered on there.

Please be notified that the company would be sending you a cheque to the residential address which you provided for you to purchase the necessary materials that our agents have been placing orders for.

The company shall also include in the cheque, your first salary of $350.

Note that your other salaries after this shall be paid at the end of the week- on Fridays.

The cheque shall be forwarded to you via courier and which begins this week Tuesday

Feel free to ask any questions and kindly stay close to your email, as I shall be mailing you at intervals.

Please all replies should be forwarded to (1)

And please include your phone number (2)

DONALD CRAIG

Warning Signs #4

1. Again no email address to forward replies to.

2. You have already provided your phone number, a couple of emails ago.

Scammer Email #5

Hello {name},

Check (1) for the supplier has been mailed out to your address you shall receive it this week Tuesday which is tomorrow.

The Cheque (1) is from one of our clients who is making part payment for auditing and account review services rendered by us. (2) You shall deduct your salary of $350 and pay the supplier the remaining funds.

As soon as you receive the Check, go straight to your bank and deposit the cheque at your bank. You’ll need to enquire from the bank when the funds would be available for withdrawal in 24 hours.

Here is the tracking number UPS.COM {number}

Use it to monitor exactly what time the package would arrive at your address.

Note that the funds would be available for withdrawal or 24/48 hours after you have deposited it into your bank account.

kindly send me me a reply or text me so i will be able to know when the funds would be available so i can get the name and location of the supplier and send them to you.

After you must have received the funds, keep your salary in your bank account (which is $350)

You can text me or call me on my this number (707) 676-3105 (4) to update me on the step after you have gotten back to me with reply from the bank

Would be waiting to hear from you soon.

Regards

DONALD CRAIG

Warning Signs #4

1. Again the check/cheque misspelling.

2. So now you are receiving a payment for the company and processing that via your bank account. Money laundering, anyone?

3. “kindly” is a word the Nigerians use a lot, along with “I will like to” “update me urgently” “compliments of the season” “modalities” and a few other catchphrases.

4. 7072603466 was the number previously given. Now we have a new number? And note it is written differently as well. (707) 676-3105

It was at this point that the scam victim became suspicious and did some googling – and they found my website as a result and sent me an email reaching out for assistance. Thank the deities, they will not be scammed. But for every one person who reaches out, there are thousands of people who do get scammed.

The scammers are constantly coming up with new scams – here is one which talks about wrapping your car in advertising to be paid a weekly amount via cheque and when you read through the comments there you will see hundreds of people who fell for it..

The Only Answer

Banks need to stop allowing checks / cheques / bank drafts. Full stop, end of story. There is no reason in these days of electronic funds transfer for this form of payment to be used. Allowing it simply allows the scammers to get away with these scams – especially when the bank is often a willing participant, telling people checks have cleared when they can bounce up to a year later!

Until then, you have to protect yourself, and here is the best advice I have seen on this subject – though I have added a rule #7 just to make things perfectly clear.

How To Avoid Fake Job Scams

Bitter Bastard said it best in their reply here

“Rules to follow” to avoid most fake jobs:
1) Job asks you to use your personal bank account and/or open a new one.
2) Job asks you to print/mail/cash a check or money order.
3) Job asks you to use Western Union or moneygram in any capacity.
4) Job asks you to accept packages and re-ship them on to anyone.
5) Job asks you to pay visas, travel fees via Western Union or moneygram.
6) Job asks you to sign up for a credit reporting or identity verification site.
7. Job asks you to deposit a check into your personal account.

Avoiding all jobs that mention any of the above listed ‘red flags’ and you will miss nearly all fake jobs. Only scammers ask you to do any of the above. No. Exceptions. Ever. For any reason.

Wait! I’m being scammed by Connected Sky

Did you find this post searching for something like “is connectedsky business assistant job a scam” – the answer to that question is yes – this is a scam. There is no job. You will be sent a fraudulent check, and they want you to send them money because your bank will clear the check at first.

If you have banked a check from them –

but you still have the money and have not sent it anywhere – PUT THAT MONEY BACK IN YOUR BANK RIGHT NOW. Do not send any money via Western Union or Moneygram.

If you have banked a check from them –

And you have sent the money via Western Union or Moneygram, then you may wish to seek legal advice. I strongly suggest that you do so as a matter of urgency, because..

In the USA, scam victims can be arrested for banking a fraudulent check.

Even the FTC in the US gives out incorrect information re check scams – they say “The bottom line is that until the bank confirms that the funds from the check have been deposited into your account, you are responsible for any funds you withdraw against that check.”

This is UNTRUE –

even if the bank confirms the funds have been deposited, the bank can undo the transaction at any time when they discover the check was stolen or fraudulent – even up to a year after they “cleared” it. But you did not know this, and nobody ever tells anyone this.

If you are not willing to seek legal advice, the only advice I can personally provide to you is to print out all the emails you received and the emails you sent, print out that page from the Federal Trade Commission and keep it somewhere safe for if/when the police eventually turn up on your doorstep.

but be aware –

and I want to make this very clear –

You will have to pay this money back to the bank eventually. The sooner you make arrangements to do this, the better.

Please Leave A Comment

If you have been in contact with these scammers, telling others about your experience, so that they can know they are not alone.

Every single day, several people are finding this post by searching for the text, email addresses, phone numbers, or company name contained within this post. If you are one of these people, please comment to let us know what you searched for and what led you here.

If you need further advice, please leave a comment on this post, or use the contact form to get in touch with me.

fake checks, Internet Safety, scam victims are not stupid, scambaiting, scams

And now you can listen to me!

One benefit of being an audio scam baiter is over time I have learned to take out a lot of the “um” and “err” type stuff that tends to happen when you’re talking to people on the phone. Listening back to this I sound remarkably together but I can guarantee you when I do these interviews I have the sweaty palms. :)

Listen to the radio interview

I do hear a few ums in there but a *lot* less than there would have been a few years ago when I began baiting.

Don’t forget to scroll down and read yesterdays post where there are links to my scambaits and audio baiting files, as well as links to more info on scams..

scambaiting, scams

More on scams and scam baiting

On Wednesday morning I’ll be doing an interview on ABC North West WA (update – the interview has aired and you can listen to it here), and some listeners may venture over to my blog looking for more information on scams, scambaiting, and check fraud. So here’s some linkage to posts I have written which may be helpful. This might also be a chance for regular readers to catch up on some of the stuff they may have missed reading. So without further ado – Linkage!

Information About Scams –

Please Help! What You Can Do To Stop Internet Scammers NOW. – How you can help stop internet scams.

Snoskred made 5 MILLION DOLLARS online this year! – In fake checks, that is. Unfortunately that doesn’t help me financially, but it does help me get the word out about fake check scams.

Snoskred on fake check scams and scambaiting – a guest post I did with a fake check bait from start to finish – just a quick one but gives you an idea how little it can take to get a check. An interesting read.

This could be a problem – Scammers are using the bank details of charities in order to make fake checks.

Internet Scams – How I Make A Difference – A bit more info on what I do.

Spam – Never Unsubscribe, Never Reply – this is how scammers and spammers know your email is being read by a human.

Scambaiting –

The top 5 funny things scammers say – These funny things may come to you as a surprise if you are not a scambaiter.

An original scammer.. Or not. – We baiters get threatened regularly and here’s a funny one – but is it original?

What will a scammer do for money? – Virtually anything, it seems.

We cannot talk about sex before money! – You know they are serious about their scamming when an extremely pretty girl fails to tempt them..

Possible Offensive Language – A scammer is a little upset with me.

Aww Poor Scammer – automatic baiting is fun!

Sephyroth – Baiting – My scambaiting partner in crime, Sephyroth.

Learn to scambait –

The following forums all offer “mentor” or “student/teacher” programs where you can learn to scambait safely. If you want to try scambaiting I highly recommend you do it with a mentor or teacher as there is a lot to know.

theScamBaiter
419 Eater

If you want to know more about me, you can always click on the About page.

Over To You –

Got something to say about scammers, scambaiting, or fake checks? Have you ever been scammed? The comments section is open. First time comments are moderated, if your comment does not appear right away apologies but I might not be near the computer.

scambaiting, scams

Possible Offensive Language

This just in from one of my scammer friends – apologies if anyone is offended. However he did spell all the swear words incorrectly, so probably it’ll make you laugh instead. I know it put a big grin on my face. ;)


Don’t you have any cense in that dik head of your that you do not talk to people like that, if you are sure you have made any payment idiot go to the bank and demand a payment slip and a tracer for your payment, you always have the time to send emails and talk sheet but you do not have the time to go to the bank,I noticed you are an Ashole your self and must be a big Fool to call me an ashole dik head, just get to the bank and make the payment slip available stupid.I gave you a specific instruction and you can not follow up, so when the contract sum gets to your account you will start talking sheet from your sheet hole, dic head. Pay out the money and stop making a fool of your self.

Your Grandmother can rout for all I care, this a our deal and you must do as I say, or I put a trace on your sorry ass.

Usman Bello


Well, why wait to start talking sheet? ;) Personally I like 500 count Egyptian cotton, but flannelette is good in winter. And let us not get into satin!

So let’s talk sheet! What is your personal favourite?

funny, scambaiting

The Top 5 Funny Things Scammers Say.

5. The modalities have been finalized.

What a lovely word modalities is. It was essentially never used for the most part until the scammers brought it back into vogue – at least within the scambaiting community, we just plain love the word.. It means “The ceremonial forms, protocols, or conditions that surround formal agreements or negotiations”.

4. As you read this, I don’t want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone will die someday.

This one is used a lot by the scammers. It will often be combined with a tale about cancer that has “defiled all forms of medicine”. Considering that the definition of defiled is – morally blemished; stained or impure I’ve got a sneaking suspicion they have absolutely no idea what the majority of words in the emails they send out actually mean. Other than of course money, and Western Union and Moneygram, which in their dictionary = money anyway.

3. Be rest assured that this business is 100% risk free.

Is there anything in life that is 100% risk free? I think not. But once you know this statement is used to convince people to take part in something slightly dodgy, you will start to see the words risk free jump out at you from the most unexpected places. I’ve even seen it in brochures from banks. My advice is, when you see the words risk free, be afraid very afraid!

2. Message received, content well noted.

This statement is usually an enormous lie, because the chances of a Nigerian Scammer actually reading an email that you send is fairly low. In fact my previous email to them might have been full of curses and insults and they will still say this. If they had noted the content, I think they might be a bit upset with me and they might have something to say about the names I called them. Wink

1. I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise.

This sentence has spawned much hilarity among the scambaiters. If one scambaiter calls another scambaiter, the likelihood of the answering scambaiter saying “This call comes to me as a surprise” is about 99%. In fact the temptation to make the title of every post on my blog a variation of this is quite high. ;)

funny, scambaiting, scams

Gossip Girl.

Being a female scambaiter is not easy at the best of times but when you’re a strong person who has strong opinions the difficulty level shoots up a few thousand levels. ;) I’ve gone through a lot during my time as a scambaiter. I’ve written about it a few times here on the blog. The worst part about me is I was capable of getting a lot done in a short amount of time. Ask Sephy, he’ll tell you I can be positively frightening when there’s something to be done and I want to get it done five minutes ago.

Strong is ok on its own. Opinionated is ok on its own. Capable is ok on its own. Female is ok on its own. Add these together and some people literally quake at the knees. They fear you are going to make them look bad. When you get so much done so quickly some people fear that it makes their efforts look pathetic.

The truth is, generally those kinds of people are too busy gossiping and badmouthing others to get much done at all. One of the biggest mouths in the business who loves badmouthing and gossiping hasn’t scambaited a scammer in *years*. It makes me wonder why they call themselves a scambaiter!

My journey as a scambaiter has taught me some of the most important and valuable lessons in my life. The one I consider the most important of all is to stop worrying what other people are saying about you. It is something I have struggled with since high school.

I used to feel an insane need to get the truth out there, to make sure people knew what was being said was wrong, to show them that I wasn’t the person they said I was. I used to yell and scream about it. I used to sometimes force my truth down other peoples throats when it wouldn’t have mattered if I had video camera footage of my truth, they would still not have believed it. There are some people who just want to believe the worst. That is their loss, not mine.

The people I value are those who would hear the story and then come to me and ask me for my version. I would give it to them plain and simple. They would then make up their own minds. They would base it not just on what I told them but on having the full story from both sides, and knowing the past behaviour of both myself and the other side.

So what is the secret to letting the gossip go when everyone around you is determined to tell you all about it? And believe me, everyone was determined to let me know who said what about me. They’d even send me emails or text chats they’d had with people where I was the main topic of conversation.

I soon found the best thing to do was cut them off quickly, and focus on what is important. What person one said to person two about you is probably the least important thing in the world, when you take into account the things in the world. Instead of worrying about that, worry about doing what you do do best. That is one way I get so much done. ;) They can say what they want while you go out there and get shiznit done!

This post was a Hump Day Hmmm – you can take part too! The topic this week was The Gossip Game. All you need to do is write a post on the topic, and drop over to Julie Pippert’s blog and follow the instructions.

Gossip, people talking about you, scambaiting

This Could Be A Problem.

As many of you know I am a scambaiter. I bait the Nigerian 419 scammers who try to steal money from people. One of the things I collect is fake checks. There’s more info on what I do and how I do it in this post – Snoskred Made 5 Million Dollars Online This Year.

I regularly check the PO box where the scammers send their checks to me, and I contact the companies who appear on the checks to let them know their bank account information is being used by scammers. Sometimes this is no easy task. I prefer to send them an email if possible but many companies don’t get back to me and I want to make sure they received the warning so I have to get on the telephone to speak to someone – and that is not the easiest task either. Especially given that I am in Australia and I receive checks with company names from many countries. I use Skype to make the calls, it is fairly cheap but the calls do add up.

How do the scammers get the bank information of these companies? They simply call and ask for it, claiming they have to make a payment. Most companies give out their bank information far too easily. But you know who gives out their banking information much more easily than a business? A charity.

I have feared this day was coming for a while now. Look what I just received.

The Check

Yes, this is supposedly a check from the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Only I know that it hasn’t come from them at all. I baited the scammer and they sent me this check. And guess where the scammer wanted me to send money to? And how they wanted me to send the money? No really, go on and guess. I bet you’ll never get it right! Here’s an email from the scammer who sent me this check.


Dearest Chloe,This is to inform you that you will be receiving a cheque for $35,000 via fed ex today. As soon as you have received the package, you are required to send within 24 hours the sum of $2500 via western union money transfer to my supplier in west africa with the information below;

Name: Steve Thompson
Address: Lagos Nigeria

Ensure the transfer information of the western union is sent to me such as, sender’s name and address, 10 digits money transfer control numbers and security test question and answer.

I look forward to your positive response as soon as possible

Regards,
Michael Brown


You’ll note I have edited out all the bank information on the check. That is because any scammer could create a counterfeit check with just a printer, some paper, and your bank account information – the stuff that appears along the bottom of your checks is all they need – and those counterfeit checks WILL BE CASHED if you have money in your account.This causes a problem for companies and charities because in general they do have money in their account – and some companies and charities do not have someone like an accountant in house watching the outgoing money.

Michael is apparently very unhappy with Chloe. He sent the check via Fedex, and that means he can see when it has been collected. ;)


Dear Chloe,I am miserable to learn from you that you didn’t receive the package that was sent to you via fedex, whose tracking number indicates that it has been delivered to you. I called fedex and I was told the package has been delivered to you, so I can’t figure out what exactly you are talking about.

I will sincerely appreciate you call the local fedex outlet around you with the tracking number I previousely gave to you and find out the through position of the payment that was sent to you.

Please ensure you do so and get back to me with a positive response.

But mind you, should anything happens to my money, you will have yourself to blame for it because you will have the FBI to face.

Regards,

Michael Brown


Those scammers just love to threaten their victims with the FBI. They will steal money from anyone they possibly can. It is a pity there is no FBI in their country who might actually arrest them. The police in Nigeria are terribly corrupt. :(

fake checks, scambaiting, scams

An Original Scammer.. Or Not..

I notice there’s a lot of new readers on the feed, and also a lot of new visitors to the site. Welcome to Life In The Country – please feel free to comment and de-lurk and let me know where I can find your blog to check you out.

Those of you new to the blog probably won’t be aware of this but for the past month I have been a part of a campaign run by a small group of scambaiters to collect scammer bank account information which is then passed along to the police. You can read more about the campaign if you like – A Journey Along The Road To Stopping Online Scammers – so far we have collected thousands of bank accounts many of which have already been passed along to the authorities.

Once we send them the initial email the scammers are baited by the *computer for as long as the scammer will keep sending emails, which can be a lot of emails. We don’t have to worry about what they’re saying, and any bank account information is automatically put aside by the computer. Yep, it’s a smart computer!

Today one of the baiters responsible for passing the bank account information on to the police contacted me on Skype. He let me know he was baiting one of the scammers manually now, after seeing an email the scammer had been sending to us because it was quite well written and he thought the scammer might turn out to be a fun bait. The email went like this –

I sent this directly to you via The Curse Of The Wicked Soul. Cradling the powers of the Orunmila to Wizard Of Ingoni, I have unleashed an army of seventy-two spirits and demons. The Eiye Efe will gaze from above as the summons of the spirits appear before your eyes.

My cosmic powers have grown from the fears of deception and will reek havoc and spill the blood of the guilt. I have carved marks of evil into your conscience and your spiritual blindness will direct you to fall into the hands of proper authorities. The curse will begin when I attach this written segment of your soul “hope you are Christian, in the name of the almight God. help me thanks”.

For you have only made me wiser. Money is just paper in which I used to buy your soul. If you would like it returned unharmed, you must make ammends to the deception you have brought amongst yourself. If you do not, you will live for eternity in the firey pits of hell and in fear of Bytor, Light of Darkness,
Centurion Of Evil, Devil’s Prince.

The Police and the FBI will be on this case if the funds are not sent back to my friend who gave us loan by today. Did you think you’ll eat somebody’s money? and walk away with it.
“Wizard” Waskowiak Owner of Your Soul

One wonders – if he has “the powers of the Orunmila to Wizard Of Ingoni” and he has “unleashed an army of seventy-two spirits and demons” then precisely why does he need the Police and the FBI?

However, a visit to Scrooglelater and the truth was revealed – this scammer stole this threat from somewhere else and just modified it to suit his purpose.

I checked to see if he had written any more emails to the computer and it turns out he did send one more –
Hello,
You have to listen carefully,i am not here to play with you if you don’t send the pay slip to show my bank as an evidence that you have made the transfer to the account then i promise you that my actions will start today if you do not harken to my voice, So be it.To aviod the wrath that will follow suit you have to go immediately to the bank to collect the pay slip, scan and send it to my email, so that all these botherings will stop

It seems he’s not quite as literary with his threats when he has to make them up on his own rather than steal them from elsewhere.

It’s funny because I haven’t noticed any botherings but now that my soul is owned and my conscience is smarting from the carving of marks of evil into it, perhaps I just didn’t notice the botherings?

I already had a fair idea I would be spending eternity in the firey pits of hell. It’s nice to have it confirmed for sure though – because there is no way I am sending him any money! ;)

Sometimes as a baiter you will get these scammers frothing at the mouth and threatening all kinds of unusual things. It is champagne comedy. However it is even more fun when you get them on the telephone. I don’t know if this lad sent a phone number but if he did I’ve got some Skype credit burning a hole in my pocket. I might give him a call.

*Note – these aren’t computer tools that regular humans can get access to – this is something only long time scambaiters can use. So if you want to use it, get into baiting – when the time is right you’ll be given access.

scambaiting, scams