has any one gotten?

I just got an email using my full name (how they got this i have no idea) and telling me my online banking account was compromised and therefore frozen. They gave a link for me to use (the only tip off that it was a scam) but also stated that I should go to the banks main website if i had any questions or call their fraud number. Both the website addy and bank fraud number were the real ones. That would lull you into thinking the email was real and to use the link. So they are getting more sophisticated, I think.

[sug123]

Last year I got $4800 in bad money orders for one puppy!!! So I thought it was a scam. But as soon as the money orders arrived I started getting non stop phone calls from these foreign men wanting me to send them the extra money so their "trainer" could come and pick up the dog. So I took the money orders to the Post Master in my town and he confirmed they were bad and said to tell the callers to get lost because they were no good. This very intellegent and very well spoken man called me with the most charming voice you ever heard and was telling me all this non sense about how he was the trainer and he wanted to come and meet me. I told him it was a scam and to get lost and they never called again. But I found out if I divert all my e-mail to Google's Gmail.com it filters out all this non sense! Send me an e-mail if you would like to join them. I love using GMail instead of Outlook just because of the filters! Any way, don't get caught by these creeps!!!!

[River Rat]

Artists get these sorts of scam mails all the time, too: people supposedly wanting to buy several paintings from their sites to decorate their home in Nigeria or wherever. I've also gotten the Nigerian scams, and just send them on to Earthlink's fraud abuse address. These people are successful often enough that it keeps them trying/

Here's a link to a funny payback that a horse owner worked on with a scammer like this:

http://web.archive.org/web/200705180715 ... cam12.html

I had remembered reading something like this years ago but had to go to the web archives to find it. This isn't the one I saw, but it's similar. Enjoy!

Leslie

[River Rat]

Originally Posted by sug123

But I found out if I divert all my e-mail to Google's Gmail.com it filters out all this non sense! Send me an e-mail if you would like to join them. I love using GMail instead of Outlook just because of the filters! Any way, don't get caught by these creeps!!!!

By the way, how do you filter your email through gmail? Do you keep your original address or did you have to change it? I've had the same email address for fourteen years now and don't want to lose it, so I've stayed with the same ISP because of that.

Leslie

[MaxandMe]

Ok there is another scam going on ....
it's where you are called about your credit and/or debit card


http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/creditcard.asp
is a site that tells you of scams

another scam that even a Person you may know
which is horrible

someone has a business check they want to sign over to YOU and
have you deposit and while it's clearing have you give them a check,
money order or even cash ie: $500 while it clears.
ANYTIME there is a business name along with personal names
do NOT do it!!!!
Luckily my bank refused and explained why....this is a person whom i've known for years and thought i could trust till recently!!!

For me being a single mom i am always skeptical and was burned way back by close family friends.
if your GUT says something doesn't feel right, say NO and/or run to your bank where they'll let you know immediately

other thing Paypal, there have been instances where they get their goods and then dispute it and you are left with no payment

Lastly if any of YOU go thru a Broker for investments....always make sure you are in control of you money and READ all fine print and papers
Otherwise you may inadvertenly sign a piece of paper that lets a Broker have full reign over your investments.
This happened to a family member with a friend of 20yrs+

[gracielou]

What happened to all the good people in the world?

[Tink]

I worked at a small town bank until last March and we saw several of these scam checks coming in. We (thank God) never allowed any of our customers to cash them, but OH did a few get ornery while we explained that they were being scammed!

One of our branches DID cash a bogus money order for $3000 and had to later turn around and bill the person who had gotten the bogus MO for that amount. The person had lousy credit, would normally have never gotten a loan at ANY bank, but had to be given one at that bank just so he could pay it back. It was awful for all concerned. That one had been placed on an 11 day reg cc hold too but didn't come back as bogus till after that.

So be careful, 'cause if you get scammed you will have to pay... fair or not.

[sug123]

Hi you all: That was such a funny post about the pay back to the scammers. They deserve everything they get! Leslie I am going to try to explain how the Google e-mail works and I hope this makes sense! I'm not too good at explainig how I did this. Any way, as for using the Google e-mail I just had my e-mail forwarded to my new address at Google. I did have to open a new e-mail account with Google but I still have my old account and address. I had a computer melt down last year and couldn't access all my e-mail accounts for a few days until my new part came so I started forwarding all e-mail to Google and was pleasently suprised to see that they filter out all the spam! I love it. You can access you e-mail from any computer all you need is your address and your pass word. You could keep your old address and have everything forwarded and then slowly change every one over to your new address. I'm assuming you are using it for business and maybe have it on business cards and such. I hope this helps.

[River Rat]

Sue, I'm still not sure how I would forward my current address to a new one. But I'd want to keep the old address for sentimental reasons as well as convenience, because the original ISP was an environmental activitist's foundation. I'm not sure whether anyone would still recognize it because it's been out of the email business for so long, but I like having it. Also, having used the same one for so many years, it's nice to know that people can contact me out of the blue even if I haven't "chatted" online with them for a very long time. I just got an invitation to a party from a Mac user group that I haven't belonged to for almost as long as I've had that address! The sender's computer had crashed and he had to revive an ancient address list - and I was on it!

Does gmail ever filter out mail that's not really spam? Sometimes the filters aren't that selective.

Glad you liked the "playing with the scammers" site. The original one I saw was even funnier and rather subtler than this one, but I couldn't find it! The page that the one I sent comes from had a tally of how much the "player" had cost the scammers in various fees, and it was satisfying to see that!

Leslie

[sug123]

Leslie, since I started using Gmail I did find one of my customers in the spam box. I check the spam box now just in case but haven't found any others. If you do find one in there just mark it as not spam and they will not put it in there again and the same for spam. Once in a while some spam gets into my in box so I just mark it spam and the sysytem filters it out. As for keeping your old address you could still keep it and just open a new address for new business and slowly switch everyone over. Just send an e-mail to my web site and I will send you an invatation to join gmial. You could try it and see if you like it and still keep your old one as well.

[JonathonD]

Okay - I became inspired by the website Leslie posted. I decided to, um, mess with the scammer a bit. I emailed him again (even though I told him to get lost) and he responded and still "wanted puppy".

I responded with this - THIS IS ALL UNTRUE, OBVIOUSLY:
Great - What information do you need? I am very happy to know that the puppy will be going to a good home. Which one did you want again?

Are you okay if the puppies hair is falling out when it arrives? They have come down with a rare disease and the medication is making their hair fall out. The puppy will be okay and healthy, but the hair may not come back. I may give you a small discount for a bald puppy.

Let me know!


I'll keep you all posted if he responds.

[JonathonD]

Oh, I wanted to say I agree with all the gmail stuff. I think gmail is fantastic and it does do an amazing job with filtering the spam.

[River Rat]

I'd be surprised if you hear from them again, but do let us know if you do!

Leslie