Scams

Every blue moon I check my Yahoo email to see if anyone important doesn’t know that my yahoo email has a miscellany of junkmail, therefore I have a new one and no longer use it. Well it never fails that I have a trillion scam emails in my inbox that will remain their indefinitely because I won’t take the time out of my hectic day to delete worthless emails from spammers.

But I do have a question…

Who actually falls for this crap? I mean seriously who gets an email that says that they have won a million dollar sweepstakes, that they didn’t even enter; and now they only need to send in a check of $1000 to claim their prize. I mean seriously, who falls for bullcrap like that?

Here is the latest of the scams that I received. This one was quite funny being that I just blogged recently about the stimulus checks and how some people were claiming they the amount they received in 08 was now being deducted from their 2008 tax return. Well in this email they are claiming that they can give me a stimulus check! Isn’t that great! lol

The email goes something like this; Dear U.S. citizen

For a limited time we can get you a U.S. stimulus check to spend on household expenses, put in your savings or put away for retirement.

The email then goes on to give me options on the amount of stimulus money that I would like to receive.

Now most of us who have common sense and use it know right off that this is a scam and we wouldn’t dare click any of the links in this email or be foolish enough to try and receive these funds, mainly because as I stated earlier, we have common sense and we use it. We are aware of these scams and hoaxes and know that they are all fraudulent and are set up to take your money. So when we receive these kinds of emails we delete them or have them marked as SPAM.

So with everyone knowing that these scams are out there, why did this woman lose $400,000 after she fell for one of these scams? The woman says that she was in no way a sucker or an easy mark and that she decided to be a part of this offer because the email stated that she would be helping a long lost relative and in return she would receive $20.5 million dollars.

Let’s stop there….

Why would someone need money from you, if they can in return give you millions of dollars? Does that make any sense?

Of course it doesn’t, but not making sense didn’t deter this man from falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book; the pigeon drop. I didn’t know people were still pulling pigeon drops, nonetheless that people were still crazy enough to fall for one. My uncle fell for one in the late 70’s and the story has been told in my family over 20 years, so I have known not to fall for a pigeon drop since I was about four years old.

And even though I can’t say I can fully understand these people falling for scams, I can say that they are more susceptible to these scams due to their age and their lack of knowledge that these things exist. So when these elderly people fell for an over the phone money wire transfer scam, it was more understandable than some who is computer literate and should know better.

Maybe those people should have read this.  Or checked out what the FBI had to say about internet fraud. Then they would have been fully aware of the fact that when you win something you don’t have to pay. Now that may seem like common sense, but far too many people are falling for these scams for common sense to be in use.

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Here is just a bit of advice from me to you. If you receive any emails, phone calls or solicitations that start with the following wording or any variation of it, please know that it is a scam. Feel free to delete it and avoid being scammed.

<<<SCAM>>>

Dear Sir

First we must solicit your confidence in this issue. This is by virtue as being utterly confidential and “top secret”.

<<<SCAM>>>

Lagos, Nigeria.
Attention: The President/CEO

Dear Sir,

Confidential Business Proposal

Having consulted with my colleagues and based on the information gathered from the Nigerian Chambers Of Commerce And Industry, I have the privilege to request your assistance to transfer the sum of $47,500,000.00 (forty seven million, five hundred thousand United States dollars) into your accounts.<<<SCAM>>>

 

Hello

“It is my pleasure to share with you a business opportunity, in which I would like to transfer a sum of money from a bank in (Japan/Nigeria/any of the 50 states/hell any damn where it’s still a scam) where I worked. If you are interested in this business opportunity, please kindly reply

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***Please remember that if it seems too good to be true, 99% of the time it is too good to be true. The other 1% will never happen to you anyway so take them all for what they are SCAMS!