It has been ages since I received a good spam email...

[IndigoLake]

It has been ages since I received a good spam email. Here's one I've just received today:

Attn: Beneficiary,

I am Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, the chairman Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), an anti-corruption agency which has primary assignment of fighting crime and fraudulent activities in West African sub-region and other concerned nations.

EFCC as noted above in alliance with Economic community of West African states (ECOWAS) have in patriotic and humanitarian efforts been working very hard to eradicate fraudulent acts, scam, corruption and crime in entire Africa and its environs.

So far, in this serious and most must-win battle, we received aid and support from United Nations and have been able to track down so many of these scam artists and criminal minded people in various parts of west African countries which include Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Abidjan and so many other places.
The credible record so far, is that apart from adequate punishment they are facing in prisons, we have been able to recover of millions of dollars from these scam artists.

The Council of African Heads of States in their recent Meeting held in Abuja Nigeria, agreed unanimously that all funds recovered from these Scammers should be shared with immediate effect among 100 available people who are the victims of scam.
This mail is directed to you on the reason that your email address is one of those found in our comprehensive list after we carried out an in-depth research. We are therefore, please to inform you that you are short listed for immediate payment of $3.500, 000.00 as a compensation.
We have already deposited the said amount to Ecobank plc, Benin Republic. Consequently, you need to contact Dr. Cheikh Travaly ,The Executive Director of Ecobank plc, Benin on E-mail: ecobnkplc.online@outlook.com, Phone no:+229 99 805573 by reconfirm your full details such as follows:
Your full name:
Phone and fax number:
Address:
Your age and current occupation:
A copy of your identity:

Upon the recipient of the above-named information, the management of Ecobank plc will effect your payment immediately as they have already agreed to make the payment as soon as you contact the bank. Note also that your serial number is EFCC-034 which you must indicate to them as necessary pre-requisite for the payment.

Yours faithfully,
Ibrahim Lamorde, Chairman, EFCC

$3.5mil?! What should I spend it all on?! I reckon I should send it to Burnley FC to boost our transfer budget

[Claret&Green]

I can honestly say that in 20yrs of having a email address I have never received any of these scammails, and when reading them by people that post them, or the media I find it extremely sad to believe that this country has anyone living here that is stupid enough to fall for them.

[IndigoLake]

I can honestly say that in 20yrs of having a email address I have never received any of these scammails, and when reading them by people that post them, or the media I find it extremely sad to believe that this country has anyone living here that is stupid enough to fall for them.

I very rarely receive them now. Perhaps once a year or so. I would imagine that the decline in the number of these spam emails (at least in my case) must be in part down to less people falling for them.

[fatboy47]

sounds kosher enough to me. worth a go surely ?

[IndigoLake]

sounds kosher enough to me. worth a go surely ?

Yeah, what's the worst that could happen? I could pay Lampard's wages for a few months.

[Rodleydave]

And yet plenty of people fall for the great Talk Talk scam when they phone you up. I always respond my my best Punjabi voice and within 2 seconds they hang up.

[PWBFC]

You often hear people say 'but why don't these scammers make it slightly more believable'.

The whole point is to make these things as ludicrous as possible. If it was half way credible, they would draw in a huge amount of responses, most of whom would smell a rat before handing anything over.

Only the monumentally stupid respond so the scammer has a better chance of seeing it through and not wasting their own time.

[Paul Waine]

You often hear people say 'but why don't these scammers make it slightly more believable'.

The whole point is to make these things as ludicrous as possible. If it was half way credible, they would draw in a huge amount of responses, most of whom would smell a rat before handing anything over.

Only the monumentally stupid respond so the scammer has a better chance of seeing it through and not wasting their own time.

Back in the 1990s - when internet and email had hardly got started - senior guy in the firm I was with received a letter, addressed to him in his name, but job title said "managing director" (he was a senior legal guy). My colleague believed the letter was genuine and was all ready to respond, provide the required bank details and the firm would collect the US$ 5 million share (or whatever was being offered). He needed my assistance in providing some of the details. He was sceptical (and disappointed) when I explained the scam...

In those days the police were keen to receive the hard copy letter, so we sent it to them and got an acknowledgement, but didn't hear any more.

[Paul Waine]

It has been ages since I received a good spam email. Here's one I've just received today:

Attn: Beneficiary,

I am Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, the chairman Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), an anti-corruption agency which has primary assignment of fighting crime and fraudulent activities in West African sub-region and other concerned nations.

Yours faithfully,
Ibrahim Lamorde, Chairman, EFCC

Nice change of style - no longer "surplus funds... that I need your assistance to steal...."

I got a fake HMRC "tax refund" email earlier this week. At one level it looked "kind of" plausible...

But, the tax refund they offered me was much lower than the one that I'd already received two weeks earlier from the genuine HMRC.

**********************
Subject: 2017 Taxes


HM Revenue & Customs: H623456233

Hello (my email address....)

New Tax Calculation
We have received your tax calculation which shows you due a tax repayment of 134.65 GBP.
We have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 134.65 GBP.
Please submit the tax refund request

Please Click Refund (I've "killed" the link) and submit the tax refund request.
Note : A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.

For more information about refund and payments, or to get in touch, go to our help pages.


HMRC FoI Act Team
Room D3/634
184 Parliament Street
London
LKJ 49D

[Paul Waine]

I very rarely receive them now. Perhaps once a year or so. I would imagine that the decline in the number of these spam emails (at least in my case) must be in part down to less people falling for them.

I also get the occasional "paypal" email - even though I've never used paypal.

This one rec'd earlier this week.


PayPal Transaction ID: O-6PJ56132282837533
Dear (my email address)
You submitted an order amounting to 15.00 GBP to Clarks

Thanks for using PayPal making your online transactions. Your account will be charged when the merchant processes your payment. You may receive multiple emails as the merchant processes your order.
If you aren't sure about this transaction or you didn't make this purchase please review the transaction bellow
If it was you that made this purchase you can safely ignore and delete this email
Review Transaction

Your funds will be transferred when the merchant processes your payment. Any money in your PayPal account at that time will be used before any other payment source.

To see the full transaction details, log in to your PayPal account.

[Guitargeorge]

I had a call this week from a woman telling me that Citizens Advice had been in touch with her because I was in trouble, credit wise. I told her that was rubbish and please take my name from the database. Her retort "You *******!!"

[HatfieldClaret]

**********************
Subject: 2017 Taxes


HM Revenue & Customs: H623456233

Hello (my email address....)

New Tax Calculation
We have received your tax calculation which shows you due a tax repayment of 134.65 GBP.
We have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 134.65 GBP.
Please submit the tax refund request

Please Click Refund (I've "killed" the link) and submit the tax refund request.
Note : A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.

For more information about refund and payments, or to get in touch, go to our help pages.


HMRC FoI Act Team
Room D3/634
184 Parliament Street
London
LKJ 49D

I got that one last week. The e-mail from "HMRC" wanted my credit card account details to pay into, as well as my security code number...

Someone will fall for it. Was only for £142.34. They obviously think I'm worth more that you

[bfcjg]

Oh bugger...there not legit.? aaargh

[Paul Waine]

I got that one last week. The e-mail from "HMRC" wanted my credit card account details to pay into, as well as my security code number...

Someone will fall for it. Was only for £142.34. They obviously think I'm worth more that you

So, you are buying the drinks when we meet Hatfield. You will be nearly £8 better off.

UTC