Scamming People - The New Business Of The Year have you been scammed?

[mandla 0]

I have always been savvy when it comes to random emails in my mail box from unknown persons especially ones the read something likeToyota have been doing a promotion and your email was selected randomly as one of the 5 winners acros the planet. The random pick of your email means you have won a Toyota Landcruiser and 2,5 million British Pounds.The funds will be couriered to you as sooon as you ring this number 0044xxxxxxxxxxxx to claim your prize.FaithfullyYung Chi LiI always think yeah rite, why would toyota do that and even when out of curiousity I ring up to waste the Scammers time, I ususally get through to some Nigerian accented bloke claiming to be Mr Li. And cant even speak japanese. cause once I said Conishuwa probabaly I have spelt it wrong but thats basically how its pronounced and it means good morning in Japanese and to my Surprise Mr Yung Chi Li responded to me in English and asking me to speak in English please he also said he would rather do BUsiness in English than any other language because his Job description never forced him to stick to Japanese. LolAnyway they go to tell you on the phone that they can fedex the Money in CASH to you on receipt of a COURIER fee of 79 dollars and you recieve the money within 24hours. They give you a Name to use on WESTERN UNION or Moneygram and if you pay that you never hear from the scammers or recieve your prize money or get the courier fees back. Anyway The kind of scams are obvious to you and I but apparently so many people across the worl fall for such scams. As stupid as that sounds I believe this scam is actually one of the most sucessfull scams being pulled off around the world. EVen Legitimate companies rake in hundreds of thousands using the same tactic. In legitimate business they call them sweepstakes. You buy a magazine and there is a scratch card which has all these winning options get 3 of this win that get five of these win a million and just like clock work one set will always be a winner in every magazine. You always realise that its something amazing like 250 grand and then you have to ring a number to confirm the winning and of course give them your address so they can send the winnings or give them you bank account to deposit the winnings. All sounds cushty so far but when you see the telephone number its always a premium rate number which charges you 1,50 a minute and when you read the small print it tells you cost last about 15 minutes so basically you are setup from the moment you make the call. You will be placed on hold, or passed from one operator to another while you paying a premium rate number charge similar to calling a Sex line. Another option which I have seen prevail in England is false advertising where you get a letter in the post probably shortly after applying for a loan from some bogus company on the internet. I dont really know how many companies are then sold on your loan application but a few days after you receive a letter. The letter is usually relevant about your loan application and it actually tells you that you have been granted the loan. All you need to do is ring up a certain number obviously a premium rate number and they will process your application as there are a few more security details they need from you to process the application in whole.When you call the number they take their sweet time ensuring you are charged as much as they can for a lengthy call and eventlually they tell you that based on the information you provided, they will get you a loan from their sister company but there is a processing fee of 49,00 and they take this off a credit card. Normally you are suckered in by the prospect of getting a 20 000 loan for this little measley charge so you pay. In a few days you receive another letter from the sister company and they too want you to call and confirm using a premium rate number and the small print tells you the cost is 1.50 a minute calls last around 14 minutes so basically you paying another 20 on top of the 20 from last weeks call to their sister company and 49 for admin charges already you nearly at 100 pounds spending. If you foolishly apply for the loan you are charged a further processing fee of 49 again and if you complain are told that thats not a gurantee fee but a processing fee for the service its not a deposit to get the actually load but like a train ticket to get to the interview. It doesnt guarantee that you get the job and if you foolishly paid you are then processed and told unfortunately your credit score was too low and you cant get the loan but they will pass your details to their sister companies who may contact you if they will accept a lower credit score as each company rates the credit score differently. Sooner or later you you will get a letter from the so called sister company and the process begins all over again.Now I am looking at both scams and asking my self do people really fall for these scams. Dont you hear stories around youo and read the papers to know thta these get rich schemes are just too good to be true. Do we throw caution to the wind when we hear that we have a chance to win shed loads of cash. What Happened to people knowing that if something sounds too good to be true - It probably isnt true. warning BELLS Anyone.Have you ever been caught in a scam what have you encountered and how did you hadle it.

[anwiii 17]

What Happened to people knowing that if something sounds too good to be true - It probably isnt true.

how do you think the phrase originated? people get scammed and learn from the experience obviously. so knowing people are still getting scammed should not be too astonishing. most scams feed off peoples desperation. when you can make their desperation bigger than what they really know, then you got 'm. it's no mystery. i think most people get scammed at least once in their life and on different levels. i created a thread here about dish network being a scam because they allow their sales reps to lie just to get a commission. it's all over the place. sometimes it doesn't make people stupid or ignorant if they got scammed either. yea, some of the scams seem obvious....but i would also have to say, once in a while, something that looks too good to be true, is not a scam. i posted another thread in the freebies about certain companies like walmart who give away free samples. the next post was someone saying it was a scam. they can't believe in companies who give things away. so it can work both ways :angel: even though i posted something that was true, some people just didn't have it in them to believe in something as small as giving away free samples.

[sheepdog 10]

I really hate scammers. It's pretty pathetic when someone has to make a living by decieving and lying to other people and take advantage of others stupidity.Then on the other hand, sometimes I feel like anybody that is stupid enough to think they won the lottery when they never even bought a ticket may deserve what they get. It's a pretty tough call sometimes. :angel:

[nirvaman 1]

I have never been a vectim of scam my self , but i'm receiving constantly emails *Nigerian scammers* that tells shitt, But once i wanted to laugh on them , so i contacted them back and said that i'm willing to pay them 5000 $ on their bank account in the middle of nowhere , and they sent me about 10 emails , saying that they'll transfert money for me ...and so so , at the end i sent them BAD WORDS *coz i do know bad words and in different languages :angel:*.I just wanted to say that scammers cant lie to brilliant or intelligent people , most of the time their victims are teenagers , or idiots or greeds :PInternet is full of scammers , so you need to be smarter !

[mahesh2k 0]

I've covered some of the lessons i have got from online scamming. Lol. I don't want to repeat all over again for that, so maybe this thread will give you some good read for this topic. Thing is that these days we just carried away with few things in life and make mistake and get scammed. so have to be patient and strict while dealing with people. typical nigerian ways of scamming, or russian ways of yahoo/msn lottery are quite old and people and mail program do block them instantly so scammers are finding more ways to scam.

Also be aware of WSO and digital point forums scams, some warrior forum members often charge 67$ or sofor some instructional manual or material which is usually free for all on internet. also there are some short tricks sold for price of about 37$or higher. avoid those type of products and save yourself from scam.

[mandla 0]

wow I didnt realise that there was also a variation of the scan aka Russian ways of Yahoo how do those work?Then you mentioned the WSO and digital ones. I havent come across those but would love to get a heads up just in case they catch me off guard. You ever get like totally random mails from so called russian girls who claim they found your details on eharmony and stuff. cause I just got one from a girl in Russia who said she got my profile on e Harmony and to my surprise I have never every subscribed on eharmony. I eveen went onto eharmony to try and log in using the email she wrote me on to see if someoen else was using my email to signup to eharmony both the UK and American version resulted in a zero answer. I even tried going to the forgot password page and asking it to send the password retrieval to my email and lo and behold it said something like that email is not registered. This makes me wonder where she even got my email address from. Are these the scammers from Russia then?Do they rope you in by pretending to want marriage and love and a future with you then ask you to send money for a ticket which they will have inflated and money for visa's etc and even to the extent of coming to UK and getting married to get papers before they dump you for a better life or what. Wow I cant believe that the world has become so coniving and greedy lol. What happeened to people just wanting pen pals as they used to be called in the eighties and ninties. I remeber a time you would get pen pals and just write to each other and get to be friends ith someoen across the globe and with no evil intensions or thoughts of conning each other or using each other. But now you cant trust even the best of people if you meet them on line. So what are digital point Forum scams. So I can be weary of those to

[Бојан 0]

Big lol for this topic :angel: but sadly that's true. Most of the people are scamming the good people... Most of the scammers are sending fake email on email addresses, so watch out!

[mahesh2k 0]

wow I didnt realise that there was also a variation of the scan aka Russian ways of Yahoo how do those work?

yes there is if you join twitter or any social network. there are different types of spammers. everyday some weight loss trainer from russia or india, US, canada joins me on twitter and send me loads of ads on @replies.

Then you mentioned the WSO and digital ones. I havent come across those but would love to get a heads up just in case they catch me off guard.

Yes warrior forum is having load of scammers. they're selling some WSO for training like using wordpress, google analytics and google adwords for about 97$. some 10 page ebook reports that are just blog entries are sold for 7$. and there are no secrets in them but just word salad so be careful. and about digital point buyers, bl***y s***rs.. asking for 1.5$ for article of about 1000 words. wtf... the more you dig into those cheap black hat buyers more you'll be disappointed.

[mandla 0]

hahah

one thing I would never do is buy so called ebooks. Thanks for the headsup though.

Yeah I think I have seen the scam you refer to here. Theres the Facebook one where they hijack your account and use it to send this spam with links eg http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ I hate people who do that imaging login in to facebook and you find an email box with say 20 new ltters and they are from your friends you get excited open them only to find its a so called link to youtube yet on clicking it you are redirected to some stupid viral video.

Are there really people who spend their time tryna corrupt our lives with something so anoying or are these virals and spams just somethign they make by mistake and then find laughter in forwading to others. Cause Surely you wouldnt spend a whole day coding a virus or spam program would you? I guess they would judging from whats available on the net these days.

then theres the mst annoying ones which promise secrets to weight loss or mothers secret teeth whitening secret, I bet anything that on i just a load of bollocks too. I have seen a lot of that ad and have been tempted to buy it just to see what the fuss is all about but at the same time I dont wanna be a statistic o be counted as one of the success stories by the scammers. I do think about buying it but realise that the scammers have actually won if i do buy because their subtle tricks of spamming me so much i get curious and make excuses as to why i justify buying a scam product and the bottom line still remains - i been scammed if I buy the so called ebook. So I will be steering clear of that offer hehehe

[mahesh2k 0]

After lurking on some of the black hat forums i learned that these spammers and scammer use pre-made templates for scamming people. they just change format and attacks. Other than that they use bot software to get into social networks and be a friend to scam people. Using pics on facebooks/flickr they try to portray a good female or male profile. if there is any sober or hot girl pic is there on social network these guys pic it up and use it to attract people.

In case of virus and psyware/DDOS attacks, they're commercialized now. Once in thousand single hacker comes in who is real else all those viruses are commercial and not from people who are destructive.

And about ebooks, some so-called gursus and bloggers who want to earn from mailing list and blog membership program are asking people to buy their eboook. It's not easy to see through them cause some of the times they're loyal and good reputable bloggers, but in some cases there are just ripper ebook creators. more than 90% of such so-callled gurus prefer black hat ways of earning money by ducking people. For example, check this review for twitter vending, the person who is selling this is misguiding people for 19-25$ price. It simply not worth it in my opinion.

But there are some good products as well like keyword academy, pro blogger book, zen habits book. But that is rare in comparison to the rippers out there. it's just that we consumers are into trial and error which is sad thing in my opinion.

[mandla 0]

Yesterday I checked my email and found a letter from some person I never heard from before. Now wierdly enough when i read this I fell for it but then i was in for a rude awakening later today when I got another email. The ltter was froma Miss Grace Bello. It read -

 

Hello,

 

How are you I saw your profile and I was highly satisfied with it.

My name is Miss. Grace Bello, i am 24 years old from Durfur Region of Sudan and presently i am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal as a result of the killing of my family by the rebels last year, please don't be discouraged for hearing this.

 

My late father Engr.Ousman Bello, was the Chairman, Gruv-Melton Oil and Gas Company a private extracting oil firm in Durfur. The brutal killing of my mother and my father, one kid sister and kid brother took place one early morning as a result of the civil war that is going on until now in Sudan. It is only me that is alive now and I managed to make my way to the West African state called Senegal where i am leaving now in a refugee camp here in Oakam North, 12 km from the capital city of Dakar Senegal

 

I would like to know more about you. Your likes and dislikes,your hobbies and what you are doing presently. I will tell you more about myself in my next mail. Attached here are more of my pictures for you, and i will also like to see more of yours. I wait to hear from you soonest. Kiss

 

Yours gracebello

 

Attached to the email was her photograph and an Id Card seemingly from The refugee camp that she claimed to live in. Everything was looking coture and I had no reason to suspect because all the things she email when piced to gether did paint a geniuine looking picture.

 

Now I automatically had my guard down when I saw this because nothing about this letter says scam artists. It just sounds like someone who was in an unfortunate situation so I wrote back and was nice and understanding though I did ask what profile they got my email from as I was not signed up to any profile site using the private email they'd sent this too. Ususlly I have all public email and site email on one account and personal emails from close friends and family coming on a diferent email.

 

The response was sincerely that I wrote and I really felt sorry for this girl. I asked her how she was coping and told her if she ever needed someone to talk to I dont know her but I am willing to be a friend because of the extenuating circumstances she was in. I asked her to give me more information of how her parents had been fkilled and how she had managed to escape you know just out of curiousity I wanted to know t the full details so I understand it all better.

 

I said I wouldnt send any photos for now or ny personal infpr about me because I didnt know her that well but maybe with time and all that we would become better friends and maybe we'd exchange photos. Now A few minutes ago I checked and she had responded to my email

 

Good day my dear,

 

Thank you for your response to my mail and your pictures, (which I never sent out ) you are a very handsome man and i like you so much. As i told you earlier I am staying in a refugee camp. This Refugee Camp is headed by a Reverend Father Peter Ajai whom i used his office computer to send you this email and i only enter his office when he is less busy.

 

The Reverend father's e-mail address is (rev_peteraja@yahoo.com ) This is his telephone No. +221 76 85 45 382. You can as well reach me through his telephone number, when you call tell him that you want to speak with Grace Bello.

 

My father deposited the sum of US$2.5 Million (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) with Chase Financial Bank in London in which he used my name GRACE BELLO as Next of Kin to inherit the money if he eventually dies. Unfortunately now that he is dead and I have to inherit the money having lost all members of my family in the war in my country.

 

When I arrived Senegal I sent mail to the bank telling them that my father is dead. They demanded for Death Certificate confirming that my father was actually dead. Then I gave them the certificate as demanded. They also asked me if I have the original copy of the Deposit Certificate, I gave them with the account information my father used in opening the account with the bank. The bank confirmed the two documents that they are ok.

 

The bank now said since I do not have any traveling documents to come to London and even bank account where they can transfer the money that I should look for a reliable foreign partner who I trust to stand for me as a trustee to receive the money on my behalf. Which is why I contacted you to receive the money for me so that from the money you can send me part of the money to get my traveling documents to travel to meet you in your country to continue my education which is the most important to me.

 

Or in the alternative, if you can help me to get the Camp Clearance and Passport to come to join you then on my arrival i will apply directly to bank myself so that they will transfer the money in to your bank account.

 

It is now left for you to choose which option you prefer to help me. (1.) Either to agree to represent me at the bank so that I can give you the contact of the bank in London and all information for you to contact them directly so that they can transfer the money into your bank account. (2). Or to help me come over to your country so that on my arrival i will apply to the bank for the transfer of the money in to your bank account.

 

I promised to give you 25% of the total sum for your assistance, while you will help me to manage my own share of the money in any good investment in your country because i do not know much about business.

 

Honey these are the reason why i contacted you and the ways you can help me. Waiting for your positive response.

 

Yours faithfully

Grace

 

 

As soon as I saw this I thought WTF a 419 scam wow they have evolved havent thay. I still cant believe this and I am surprised how they are actually using such heart felt info to con people of their cash what dirty rotten scoundrels.

 

How far are they willing to go and to abuse peopels trust just to try and robus of our cash. And is it not obvious to them that we will definitley see thruough this.

 

 

Anyway I have written back and told her I am willing to help after all I wanna waste her time and drag this as long as I can make them work hard for nothing . That will teach the bastards

Edited April 13, 2010 by mandla (see edit history)

[AliciaBwDISH 0]

how do you think the phrase originated? people get scammed and learn from the experience obviously. so knowing people are still getting scammed should not be too astonishing. most scams feed off peoples desperation. when you can make their desperation bigger than what they really know, then you got 'm. it's no mystery. i think most people get scammed at least once in their life and on different levels. i created a thread here about dish network being a scam because they allow their sales reps to lie just to get a commission. it's all over the place. sometimes it doesn't make people stupid or ignorant if they got scammed either. yea, some of the scams seem obvious....but i would also have to say, once in a while, something that looks too good to be true, is not a scam. i posted another thread in the freebies about certain companies like walmart who give away free samples. the next post was someone saying it was a scam. they can't believe in companies who give things away. so it can work both ways :angel: even though i posted something that was true, some people just didn't have it in them to believe in something as small as giving away free samples.

Anwiii,

We do have 3rd party retailers that we allow to sell our services and we make every effort to ensure they are providing accurate and consistent information. There are some situations that may cause your bill to increase or change; promotions expiring, price increases, additional receivers, additional features, additional programming. We never require customers to use retailers, you can always call directly into DISH Network or visit our website Dishnetwork.com to sign up directly through us. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to contact me directly.

Alicia.Brink@Dishnetwork.com

[sheepdog 10]

While we are on the subject of scamming as a business, it seems these days that lots of people are finding ways to do basicly just that, scam people, and finding perfectly legal ways to do it. One that springs instantly to mind is this new Car Fax company. They spend lots of money on advertising on television trying to convince the general public that only "reputable" car dealers will give them a car fax report on a car that the company is trying to sell someone. They are simply gouging the car retailers for a chunk of cash, driving up costs of doing business, and for what? Do you all realize how WORTHLESS a car fax report is? The only information those reports have is if a car has had major work done in a AUTHORISED car dealership. Considering the millions of non authorized mechanic shops, the chances of actually having any information on a car you are considering is highly unlikely to show up on the car fax. It's nothing more than a big rip off.

[anwiii 17]

this alicia brink is stalking my threads now. i think she was thinking she was in the dish network scam thread i posted about heri company 2 years ago. they lie on the phone, and now they come to stalk you to lie over the internet. tooo funny! hahahaha they are desperate. DISH NETWORK IS A SCAM

[sheepdog 10]

Actually, we have Dish network now, had Direct Tv a few years ago. I actually like it better than Direct Tv, but there really isn't much difference. Both are too expensive for what they are. I hate that you have to pay in one of the higher packages to get the 2 channels that hubby and I both like. We really don't watch that many channels, and could get by with a lot less, but it's not set up that way, which really sucks. They can keep all those shopping channels, and amazingly enough the sports channels too. Would you believe I actually found a man that doesn't give a hoot about profesional sports???? I can't believe I got that lucky!