Nigerian Scams
Here are more examples of the Nigerian Scam, and as you can see, the stories are more and more varied with historical circumstances.
But the truth (or lack thereof rather) and modus operandi is the same.
More Games With A Nigerian
Here's another game I played with a Nigerian scam artist right after I got bored with the first one … he didn't threaten me like Kennimoro, but definitely did not read my emails very well …
Games With A Nigerian
These emails were an attempt to explore the scam, and at a certain point, I jumped out.
Notice that they must get endless responses from people, or have very bad English comprehension, or both, as they don't seem to read most of the responses in any detail. Maybe they should work in the Tech Support industry. 😛
Identity Theft Scam Examples
ONLY IN SCAMS does an email ask you to confirm account information for a bank or other account. Pretending to link to eBay or Citibank or wherever and having fake look-alike pages (that are sometimes pretty damn convincing) should always raise a flag.
If a legitamate company wants you to review your information, they will SHOW YOU your “current” information, proving they already have it, and will only ask you to log in the usual way at the site you usually go to. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Don't believe me? Next time you get such an email, put in a fake account username, password whatever, and it wont even notice …
Search Engine Scams
Here are some unrealistic promises to rank your site at the top of major search engines. Some are false advertising, but some are outright scams …
Nigerian Scams
Here are most of the Nigerian Scam emails I have received when it first started to become popular. Most are claiming to be from Africa (go figure), but as you will see, they are often pretending to be related to events in the news (9-11, plane crashes, wars, etc.) and have since grown to include posing as people from Iraq and any other country in the world it seems.
Reading these will be fun for some, frustratingly angering for others, or may even bore some to tears, but here they are … scamholes from around the world.
Embarrassed Aolers Need Email Alias!
Can anyone advise me how to help a friend who uses AOL as a primary email account? This user wants to send email from AOL, with an alias that is from another legitimate email account on a domain. The ISP can likely provide an alias that will allow all emails sent to the non-AOL address are forwarded, but when this user sends replies, the AOL address he sends from is what the receiver will get when “reply” is chosen. Further, can this AOL address be removed or prevented from being viewed in the header? By this I mean if a savvy user drills in to view header, will the AOL address be seen even after the solution that you may be prepared to propose?
Wacth This!
The funniest thing since sliced bread. :rolleyes: Check it out….
New Variant Of Sobig Virus
Getting a lot of bounces in my email. Seems to be a workstation at Erie Boces 1 that has an infected pc that is very active right now 15 bounces with my email address (must be in the address book of that workstation)
Anyone getting bounces from virus scanners look for this in the headers
Received: from [168.169.29.159]
or this in the headers
Received: from [168.169.29.159] (helo=HS_BERNARD)
if either appears forward to [email]mdziuba@erie1.wnyric.org[/email]
UPDATE YOU ANTIVIRUS!!!
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W32/Sobig.F-mm
Warning: dangerous new variant of “Sobig” family spreading
On 18th August 2003, MessageLabs the email security company intercepted several copies of a mass-mailing virus which were identified as W32/Sobig.F-mm. The initial copies all originated from the United States.
Name: W32/Sobig.F-mm
Number of copies intercepted so far: 1,124 (increasing rapidly)
Time & Date first Captured: 18 Aug 2003 21:04 GMT
Origin of first intercepted copy: United States
Most active country: United States (95%), Denmark (3%), Norway (1%)
Characteristics
Initial analysis would suggest that Sobig.F is a mass-emailing virus that is spreading very vigorously. Sobig.F appears to be polymorphic in nature and the email from: address is also spoofed and may not indicate the true identity of the sender. In earlier versions of the Sobig family, the file extension has sometimes been truncated. MessageLabs have not yet observed this with the Sobig.F strain.
The email may also comprise the following characteristics:
Subject: Re: Details
Text:
Please see the attached file for details.
Attachment names may include: your_document.pif, details.pif, your_details.pif, thank_you.pif, movie0045.pif, document_Fall.pif, application.pif, document_9446.pif
In an attempt to bypass local antivirus security, the file size varies on each generation reminiscent of Yaha by appending rubbish to the end of the file, but is on average around 74kb in size. The initial copies are packed using TELock, but there may be other variants in the wild packed using different packers.
Now detected by Symantec: »securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter..[?]
In Praise Of
Why I LOVE AOL
(And Not Just To Drive Ken CRAZY!!!)
Part One
Actually, Ken asked me to present a “dissenting” opinion, as someone whose opinion on such things he could tolerate.
Well, since the beginning of my internet tenure, many years ago, I've been an AOL subscriber, and have generally been quite pleased with all the different aspects of their service. And as I've grown more experienced, I really see no need to change servers. Do I like the fact that AOL is the most expensive ISP? No. But frankly, the ease and convenience of their services mitigates the cost. A good part of the full access monthly fee goes for dial-up; if you have your own, or connect through a different cable access company (like Adelphia), you can get AOL content and email service at a reduced price. I do a LOT of travelling in the US, and have only come across one state (MAINE), where I couldn't take my computer – not because AOL didn't have local access numbers, but because where we stayed didn't have local phone service, or even phones in the rooms.
Why did I start with AOL? Because back then, they might not have been the largest, but there were by far the easiest, and also one of the few available for the (pause for gasps and shudders of disbelief) MAC format. Yes, I was an evil MAC-er , too. Oh, the shame. Well, there were good reasons. Which don't really matter, now.
The point is, now, as then, AOL was and still is the easiest ISP to “configure,” both for WIN and the MAC. Sure, there is a great sense of accomplishment when you perfectly set up all the parameters of a browser and email client and dial-up from the spotty info that a cheap ISP may supply you with, but I'd much rather let AOL install and configure everything for me, and, if I'm a newbie, literally walk me through the set-up procedure. Sure, you can mess it up if you really try, and overthink the options, but if you go slowly and answer the questions simply, it does all the hard stuff for you, whether you're adding an exisiting account to a new computer or starting a whole new shebang.