Email - How to know if it is a scam

**evilfantasy** · #41 25th Feb 2009, 12:52

No harm done. We would have never figured it out without seeing what you saw.

Cool. It was something to do with the IRCA rating label.

IRCA - Internet Content Rating Association

**hopthwoks** · #42 25th Feb 2009, 13:37

Glad I could help for a change. And sorry for making you a little hot under the collar.
So I take it , it is a good idea that I am using that blocker .
Now I can get back to the post that I will be placing here . And there will bo no liks in the post.

**evilfantasy** · #43 25th Feb 2009, 13:41

I wasn't mad. I do malware removal. My patience is very strong!

If I get mad I just go away for a while and return when I calm down

Which isn't very often.

**hopthwoks** · #44 25th Feb 2009, 15:50

here is the post I said I was writting for here . If there is a problem just delete this .

Her is an email that most people will sometime in there life get. The reason I am showing this email is to explain what is wrong and what can happen.
Now how many readers will just hit the delete button and not open an email that has a subject FBI.
Will with most of us the first thing is that gotta be a mistake and open it. I will not be adding the address for it is not important .

ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONITORY CRIMES DIVISION
FBI HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING

Now what is wrong with this .
I would say if they find you about 8-15 years in jail for Identity Theft of a Federal Agent. Just the time you need to think of your next big scam.

You will be hereby placed under arrest in the next 48 hours for violating code 23245 decree 3, section 7 under section 12 of the FBI/U.S.A constitution, act of terrorism and money laundering, you are thereby advice to provide us with the F.B.I Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer to certify that your funds that is about to be wired to you is free from terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering activities.
When I first saw This I had to read it a second time to make sure I understood what they were saying.
Well first of all I could use a vacation. But you will never get a letter that tells you have 48 hours or you will be under arrest . By that time you would be jet set and gone.
And I never heard of Diplomatic Immunity for the common person. You see by taken each line in these types of emails you begin to see the real scam. This person feels that if they place fear in you will do what they are asking. If you look close at the above you will see that they start with You and end with activities. There is no stopping and sterting of new sentences everything is ran together,
Note: That failure for you to provide us with the requested document in the next 48 hours, would result to us taking legal actions by arresting and detaining you, justificated and if found guilty, you will be jailed. As terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering is a serious problem in our community today.
Spoken like a real pro . Yes it is a problem but so is there spelling look at justificated now what word would fit better? This is something I find in most spam and scams there are words misspelled . Now I know we all do it . But I don’t think if this came from the F.B.I there would be any words spelled wrong.
The F.B.I will not stop at any length in tracking down and persecuting criminals like you who indulge in this criminal act.
The reason for this line is to fool you in thinking it is from the F.B.I. But I would think you would be reading this line from jail.
Around here it would be called look at the pot calling the kettle black.
Do not say we did not warn you; we will take on you by surprise you are to contact the ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC) Nigeria to obtain the above required document, find below their contact information's:

Now here we are again “we will take on you by” were do they go to school.
Now why would I wont to contact Nigeria that there is a good sign of a scam.
We all know if you try to contact them you will end up with someone in a different country.
And what is up with the (‘s) at the end of information.
You see by not jumping at the clam they are placing here and by having it reported there will be less of these going around.
If you do and most likely will get something like this do as I did above don’t let fear be the first thing you see. Read it and then read it again if you open it by mistake and look close at how it is spelled . Look to see if they know how to write a letter. Using the proper punctuation marks. Oh by the way this did not come from the USA that may be the reason for the errors.
Contact
Email:
Office Address: 72 western avenue victoria Island Lagos Nigeria..
WARNING: THE F.B.I WILL NOT STOP AT ANY LENGTH IN TRACKING DOWN AND PERSECUTING ANY CRIMINAL WHO INDULIGE IN THIS CRIMINAL ACT LIKE YOU.
Faithfully Your's
FBI Director
Robert S. Mueller, III
Right here is where the Identity Theft comes in.
Now I am going to let this part go . For you to find all the mistakes.
Have fun .
As for the contact and email I removed them.

**hopthwoks** · #45 2nd Mar 2009, 21:46

Boy it is bad when you can not go on line and not see one of those credit card ads. I hope that most of you know that many of the so called free credit report wed sits have a catch to then it is not free. In most cases the first report is free after that you will be charged for the report.
And yes there are many places that with a little help from google or yahoo you can get one report free each year.
Due to the way things are now going with many out of jobs you will get many offers to check you credit score.
If you find an email in your spam folder that saids check your credit score for free now. Look at the return address see if it is a company . Almost all company will not use a yahoo,gmail,aol.hotmail account to send you an email.
You can even look up the domain name to be sure it is from a credit reporting company.
Lets face it times are hard and scamer will try anything to get money out of you.
If you see an address like creditreport dot com type it in your browser and see if it is a real company.
For once a spamer gets your credit card number you will have some explaning to do to your credit card company that you did not place all the charges on the card.
There is one thing you can do contact your credit card company and some do this some do not . See if you can set a limit on the card . Exp, say $500.00 . So if some one gets your card and tries to charge more then a 500.00 sale on the card, your credit card company will call you for a code . Other wise the sale will not got through. If your credit card company dose not do this ask them why not.

ComputerWorld · #46 3rd Mar 2009, 13:06

U can tell when most emails are a scam because of the email address. If they say they are a certain comany then you could read the email address to see if it is real or not. It is clear. Also you can tell by the message content.

Most spam will go in your junk folder anyway.

**hopthwoks** · #47 3rd Mar 2009, 14:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComputerWorld

U can tell when most emails are a scam because of the email address. If they say they are a certain comany then you could read the email address to see if it is real or not. It is clear. Also you can tell by the message content.

Most spam will go in your junk folder anyway.

Sometimes this is true and some time not . One of the lagrest companys that seem to have scams from is Bank of America. In an email That a person who is scaming you will do this drop one letter something like this bankofamrica as you cane see I drop the e in America . Anyone getting this would thing it is from the bank.
As for most spam going to spam folders with the example above it would be missed.

**serverguy** · #48 3rd Mar 2009, 16:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by hopthwoks

Sometimes this is true and some time not . One of the lagrest companys that seem to have scams from is Bank of America. In an email That a person who is scaming you will do this drop one letter something like this bankofamrica as you cane see I drop the e in America . Anyone getting this would thing it is from the bank.
As for most spam going to spam folders with the example above it would be missed.

Yeah I know what you mean. I had to read that 3 times before I realised what letter was missing.

**hopthwoks** · #49 3rd Mar 2009, 16:17

Ok so that one was not that hard but you can see the point .
maybe this would be better bankofamerica at bankfoamerica ,

**hopthwoks** · #50 16th Mar 2009, 13:43

I dont know about anyone over seas having this problem but it is getting to be a pain in the butt. There is a new scam going around this time it is on cell phones . So far I have gotten about 10 calls from this same number . At first I was answering the call now I just let it ring. The calls are comming from a number the leads nowhere 1 866 000 0000.
I have done some checking on line and found a web page with over 125 pages of different 866 numbers.
It seem at first someone would call and say they have bad news you need to give them personal information.
Now they are in to running up high rate phone charges.
This first started in the south and is now moving its way all over the place.
I even have a freind that is getting it on his home phone (land line) .
As I find out more I willl pass it alone here.