Monday, October 29, 2012

Scam Email: Jonathan Takyi

This scammer basically references three different email addresses and never mentions the products they are interested in, and famously their address is in a foreign country, Ghana in this case. These are the initial red flags that categorize this as a scam for me. I don't even need to the reply to see if they then bring up their shipping company angle and the certified check crap.

From: Jonathan Takyi (hbthurn@cantv.net)
Reply To: jontakyi@yahoo.com
Return Path: (hbthurn@cantv.net)
Subject: Interested in your product

Dear Sir

I am a direct buyer private consultant and I have a client that is interested in your products, so kindly give me your full product list and prices to enable us place an order with you.

Regards
Mr. Jonathan Takyi
RZMFG Integrated Consulting
28 Bwaleshi Road
East Legon, Accra
Ghana.
Email: info@rzmfginc.com

Monday, October 8, 2012

Craigslist Scammer: Merry Jack

Well, I get to go through the whole scammer thing on Craigslist because I have a few items to sell. One item I think attracted the scammers because it is a kiln for $500. Scammer like those big numbers because they can rip their victims off for more money.

Fortunately for me, I saw it was a scam immediately, even though his first didn't say much. And I knew I wanted to blog about the whole back and forth and put him on the Internet so here goes... I'll keep adding to this until he realizes I know and moves on to greener scam pastures.

Notice how he put this weird thing at the bottom of his email to make it look like it was contacting me from his DROID, but then the phone number wasn't even properly falsified. Gads. Scammers are dumb. And they STILL make so much money. Baffles the mind.

First Email from my scammer:
Reply-To: roberyfourty@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2012 13:42:02 -0400
From: wallinsino02@gmail.com
To: wzdwx-3332982329@sale.craigslist.org
Subject: Evenheat GT-14-6 120volt Kiln - $500 (marina / cow hollow)

Hello

is the above item still for sale?


Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
(267) 607-924
I noticed the FROM and the REPLY-TO were different emails. Also a sign of a scammer. Just for grins, because I like to mess with them, I replied to both email addresses and in the body of the email (and the subject line), I removed all references to what the item was and will see what the scammer does with that.

Oh, they reply to *thousands* of sellers on Craigslist so they may just move on, but I had to see.

Second Reply (of course he ignored that he had no idea which item I am selling):
Subject: Re: Craigslist posting 
From: Merry Jack [roberyfourty@gmail.com]

Hello,
Thanks you for the response, I'm  okay with condition  on the Craigslist.
 I am ready to make instant purchase. My mode of payment would be in
 Certified Check  and i will arrange for a local pick up as soon as you
 get the payment, . I really wish to be there to check out the item but
due to my work frame i can not be able to get there , am very busy
 woman (Nurse) and i don't mind adding an extra $50 dollars for you to
take the advert down from Craigslist, so that i can be rest assured
that am in hand of  it. More so  my husband  will process your  payment
as soon as you provide your infor,and i promise everything  will go smoothly,
Concerning the pick up, i will arrange for it after you  receive the payment
and it clears... Pls get back to me with below info  so that i can proceed with
 the payment  immediately if you are selling to me.

 Name:
 Physical Address:
 City:
State:
 Postal Code:
 Phone Number:

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be process
tomorrow  and i will let you know when its mailed out. Thanks and i
hope we handle this in good faith.Additional $50 will be added for
remove the item from the list.I will happy if you can sell the item for me.
although this is first time in Craigslist, So please be honest with  me, thanks
for understanding, looking forward to hear back from you ..God Bless you

Regards.....
Merry Jack
So I wrote back and told him he would need to overnight the check (I want him to lose a little money at least) but then I didn't provide him my address. I want to waste more of his time first.

To be continued....

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Internet Scam: Fake Tax Refund Email

In these scams, the scammers send the email to everyone, but their target would be those people who are in the UK and would think (or hope) they are due a text refund.

The scammer is less worried about you replying, so the return address is not a disposable account - because their goal is more that you open the attachment to see the refund information. But it is really a script to download something malicious to your computer.

In these cases, never click on anything in the email, including the attachment. Open a new window browser and go to the website and see if you can find the information independently. If not, look up their informational phone number and call them. Better to find out it is a scam than to have something terrible downloaded to your computer.

Reply-To: [annual.tax@hmrc.gov.uk]
From: [annual.tax@hmrc.gov.uk]
Subject: Submit Your Payment Refund

Dear Applicant:

An Income Tax repayment is a refund of tax that you’ve overpaid.
So, if you’ve paid too much tax for example through your job or pension this year or in previous years HMRC will send you a repayment.
You’ll get the repayment by bank transfer directly to your credit or debit card.

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible
to receive a tax refund of 384.77 GBP.

Due to the high volume of refunds due you must complete the online application
In oder to process your refund you will need to complete the application form attached to this email.
Your refund may take up to 1 - 2 days to process please make sure you complete the form correctly.

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a web browser. Once opened, you will be provided with steps to refund your money as soon as possible.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Best Regards,
HM Revenue & Customs
London , HA7 2LD

File attached: Refund.html