Spam & Hoaxes - They just don't give up.

[Mark Mc]

Sigh.....I have a fairly new email for a small business, and I just got my very first bit of spam. Not just the usual spam for viagra & everything else...it's one of the African hoaxes. Shall I play along a bit and see if I get a nibble? Here it is:

-----------------------------------------
It is a pleasure to communicate with you.First permit me to introduce myself as Pete Asam, an employee with a local bank here in Mauritius. I sincerely hope my letter does not come as an embarrassment to you since we have not met each other before now but I am constrained to write to you because of a development here in 1999 when I opened a safe deposit
acoount for a foreign customer Mr Arthur Peever who made an initial deposit of USD 17.5m [Seventeen million,five hundred thousand U.S dollars] in a safe deposit box number ...50718. Afterwards he never showed up again since then. However investigations carried out lately have revealed that Mr Peever met his untimely death in the 1999 Egypt Air 990 crash off the coast of Nantucket Island shortly after leaving John F.Kennedy International airport
in New York. Since October 1999 when this incident took place till date,nobody has come forth to claim
the deposit since he did not name any beneficiary in his
records with the bank. I want you to stand in as the deceased's next of kin to become beneficiary
so that we claim this money and for your role,I am
prepared to give you fifteen percent of the total
sum at the end of this transaction as soon as this money is secured with you in your country. I assure you that there are no risks involved on your side as I will use my
privileged position as insider to ensure a smooth
transaction. As I await to hear from you at asampete@myway.com, your absolute trust and confidence is highly solicited.
Regards,Pete

[Don Becker]

Wouldn't you just like to get ahold of a few of these idiots . . . . . 'proof positive that it does NOT "take all kinds." Don

[wayout]

Click. Delete!!!

[TheCamel]

My brother got one when he posted a vehicle for sale online.

I sent the hoaxer an e-mail that read "we know who you are, and where you live. Our personnel will be arriving soon to pay you a visit".

We never heard back from the hoaxer again, and I hope we put a little bit of nervousness in his life.

[Jennie@ifish]

I still say the best way is to not respond at all. If you do, they'll know they have a live one and sell the address to yet another spammer as live.

Jen

[STGRule]

Here you go, Don:

419 Eater

This guy does something about it.

[Striper Club]

I don't see what all the fuss is about--this is a great way to make 23.6 million dollars and at the same time helping out those in need. :smile:

Want to know where this spam/scam starts? Pretty simple really--ya know all those funny/patriotic/heartwarming/sad emails that go around? 100% of them are simply chain letters with the sole purpose of gathering email addresses.

"Send this to people that you love." - Works about 90% of the time. Even recognition of said chain letter often is not a deterrant--"Oh, I know it is a chain letter, but it was funny/heartwarming/patriotic!!!"

That said, I know someone in Angola that has a fund transfer issue and needs my immediate assistance. bbiab

[Last Cast King]

I still haven't gotten any of the nigerian scam emails, but I got my first paypal one yesterday. The funny thing there is that I don't even have a paypal account. Personally I think that nigeria should be cut off from internet access if they can't get their act together and stop these scammers.

[STGRule]

That would work just about as well as cutting off everybody in America until the government cracked down on illegal downloads.

[eat, sleep, fish]

Here you go, Don:

419 Eater

This guy does something about it.