Sep 29 2011

The Fake Business Proposal

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 11:57 pm

Below is an example of a email scam.  This scam was recently received by a dear friend that wished to share the example with us.  It’s hard to deny that most email scams follow the same type of pattern.  An introduction, promise of money or other type of riches and request for you to follow up or provide your personal information is standard.

When you read this fake “business proposal” do your best to find the clues that give the scam away.  For those that are well-versed it’s not hard to see how the  hacker is trying to establish some type of relationship.  Of course, it wouldn’t take long for the request of your name, address, bank account information or other personal information.

Subject: Business Proposal

FROM:MR TAN WONG
tan083w@hotmail.com.hk

I am Mr.Tan Wong director of operations, Hang Seng Bank, Hong Kong.I have urgent and confidential business proposition involving transfer of $24,500,000.00 that will be of great benefit for both of us. I will give you more details as regards this transaction as soon as you notify me of your interest. Awaiting your urgent reply via my email address (tan083w@hotmail.com.hk) which is my confidential email address.

Kind Regards,
Mr.Tan Wong

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Jul 30 2011

Well, What Would You Do?

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 4:53 am

From the very first second that I saw this email I new she was hacked.  Why you ask?  Well, first of all a very similar situation happened to me.  I was hacked not to long ago and a message was sent to everyone on my contact list that featured a story much like the one you just read.  Second of all, I knew that my dear friend home since I spoke to her the day before and she did not desperately need my help.

This is a common form of an email scam you might see when a friend or collegue’s email account is hacked.  The scammer is hoping to that you respond quickly and offer some type of monetary assistance.  As always, beware! Even though the email appears to be from a friend it may not be!  If you do anything, avoid responding to the email and reach out to your friend directly via phone.

By doing this you can ensure your friend is safe and you can avoid any type of interaction with a potential scammer. Read each email with caution regardless of who the supposed sender is.  Today, more and more of us are getting hacked so we need to be aware.

Have a great weekend and have email scams!

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May 30 2011

The Transfer Request

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 9:08 pm

Another example of a classic Nigerian Email Scam.   Many scammers will mass email people looking for someone to help them “transfer” large amounts of money.

FROM FAMUS JOHNSON
MR MANAGER AUDIT AND RECORDS DEPT.
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL BANK OF GHANA
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GHANA,
+233546242652

My Dear Sir/Mada

I hope this may not constitute sort of embarrassment to you,My name is Mr. Famus Johnson,I am the regional Branch bank manager of the International Commercial Bank of Ghana I got your contact during my search for a reliable, honest and a trust worthy person to partner this huge transfer project with. I am a Ghanaian married with two kids. I am writing to solicit your assistance in the transfer of $ 7,500,000.00 (Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars ), i have crafted out of our banks profit books and records.

This fund is the excess of what my branch in which i am the manager of the audit and records department made as profit during the 2009 financial year. I have already submitted annual report for that year to our head office and i can assure you they do not know and will never know of this excess.I have since,lodged this amount of $ 7,500,000 Million United States dollars into a suspense Coded account without a beneficiary (anonymous) to avoid trace.

As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money thus I am compelled to request for your assistance to receive this money into your bank account on my behalf. I intend to part 40% of this fund to you while 60% shall be for me. I need to stress that there are practically no risk involved in this. It’s going to be a legal bank-to-bank transfer or a cash delivery arrangement.

To make this a reality, i need you to stand as the original depositor of this fund so that the fund can be transferred to your nominated account. If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your urgent response and endeavour to give me a phone call as to explain details , modalities and most importantly,for us to establish voice contacts.

With Regards,

Mr. Famus Johnson
+233546242652

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May 30 2011

A Brief Look at Nigerian Email Scams

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 8:52 pm
Below is an example of a classic Nigerian Email Scam.  Over the next few blogs we will take a look at some of the most common types of Nigerian Email Scams.

UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC
Head Office. U. B. A. House, 57, Marina, P. O. Box 2406, Lagos.
Email: unitedaffa@hotmail.com

Attention: Sir/Madam,

REF:- INSTRUCTION TO CREDIT YOUR ACCOUNT WITH THE SUM OF (US$17,000,000.00)

This is the second time we are notifying you about this said fund. After due vetting and evaluation of your Inheritance file which The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in conjunction with the Ministry Of Finance Of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Forwarded and contracted us to see to your immediate payment of the sum of US$17,000,000.00 from their Account with us.We were meant to understand from our findings that you have been going through hard ways by paying alot of charges to see to the release of your fund (US$17,000,000.00) which has been delayed and has been the handiwork of some miscreant elements from Nigeria We advice that you stop further communication with any correspondence from Nigeria because only this bank now has the legal right to pay Unclaimed fund. You don’t have to pay any charges to receive your Contract fund anymore as you have met up with the whole requirements,your representatives in Nigeria here will tell you to still go ahead with them but on your own risk.The only thing required from you is to obtain Non-Resident Clearance.

We will help you to see that you obtain the form so that our bank will effect immediate transfer of your Inheritance sum (US$17,000,000.00) into your designated bank account.Should you follow up our directives, your fund will reflect in your account within five Bank working days from the day you obtain this certificate. Do not go through anybody again but through this Bank if you really want your fund.Finally, you are advice to forward to this bank your receiving Account. Where you want this fund to be remitted.Please get back to me through this E-mail: unitedaffa@hotmail.com

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Phillips Oduoza (MD/CEO)
Corporate & Investment Banking & Wealth Management.

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Apr 13 2011

A Question Within Itself

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 4:43 am

Have you ever received an email from a friend (or friend of a friend) saying they heard about a recent scam? You must have!  I think it has happened to almost all of us at some point.  Think about it…

You open your email, see a message from your friend, click it, and get bombarded with a message that they discovered the most recent email scam and want to share it with you.  By now, this has got to seem familiar.  The only twist is that the “discovery” email did not come from a trusted source, but from a random name you have never heard of.  Now what?

Hit delete!  There is never a reason to open an email claiming to have heard about a scam from an untrusted source and there is definitely NEVER a reason to click on a link in an email from an untrusted source.  Links and downloads from untrusted senders is the prime vehicle for malware, spyware, or a virus to be sent.

Always be on the lookout and avoid any emails that seem suspicious or have random links.  One click can put your entire computer system and all of your personal information in jeopardy.

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Mar 31 2011

Are you Dead?

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 3:39 am

What do you think of the scam below.  Are you dead?!

Re: Payment Notification:

We are writhing to know if it’s true that you are DEAD? Because we received a notification from on MR. GERSHON SHAPIRO of USA stating that you are DEAD and that you have giving him the right to claim your funds. He stated you died on a CAR accident. He has been calling us regarding this issue, but we cannot proceed with him until we confirm this by not hearing from you after 7days.

Be advised that we have made all arrangements for you to receive and confirm your funds without anymore stress, and without any further delays.

All we need to confirm now is your been DEAD Or still Alive.

Because this MAN‘S message brought shock to our minds. And we just can’t proceed with him until we confirm if this is a reality OR not But if it happened we did not hear from you after 7days,

then we say: MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE” YOUR JOY AND SUCCESS REMAINS OUR GOAL.

May the peace of the Lord be with you wherever you may be now.

Your Faitfully,
Mrs Farida Waziri


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Mar 23 2011

Email User

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 1:53 am

Tell me, what do you think of this excerpt from a recent email scam a friend shared with us?  For us, the first thing that stood out was “Dear Email User.”  Apparently, the scammer didn’t want to have to figure out who they were sending this to. :)  Take a second to read below:

Dear Email User,


You’ve won $485,000 Cash and a Range Rover Sport. Please fill in the following informations:

Full names:
Address:
Country:
Phone Number:
Date of birth:
Occupation:
Income:
Marital Status:

congratulations,

Hard not to laugh?!  Well, the scammer is not only offering you a large sum of money, they are offering you a car.  And, not just any car.  A Range Rover!  The size of the scam does not matter.  Regardless of the amount of words on the page you have to avoid sharing your information with any one, especially a stranger.

It can be easiest to simply delete these types of emails and any other emails you feel may be a scam or spam.  Again, don’t share your information with any unestablished organizations and or individuals.  If you really won a contest from a reputable company or organization you would be contacted and informed in the appropriate fashion.

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Mar 19 2011

Take Note

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 1:24 am

I hope you took note of my last post.  Malware, spyware, and viruses can be just as big of a threat as email scams.  More often than not, email spam or scams can be combined with malware.

A perfect example of this hit our email only a few days ago.   The title of the email read, “[From Harrison].”   Brackets are always interesting in a subject title.  Personally, I never really know what to make of it or why they would use them.   The body of the email was simple and to the point.  It read, “View attached.”   Um, the red flag goes up.

The attachment was titled “Message.txt.”  So, here is the big question.  Why would I want to open this attachment from a person I don’t know?  Well, I wouldn’t!  To get back to my original point, an attachment can contain a virus or malware.  If you download and interact with the file you are potentially downloading malware.  For no other reason you should avoid attachments from unknown senders!

Regardless of their name or the reason they want you to open this attachment, you should not!  You really don’t need to see what is on the document and most likely you really don’t want to deal with the malware that could be inside.

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Jan 31 2011

Example of an Scam

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 10:15 pm

Below is an example of a email scam.

MRS. GHAYTH FAIZA.
23, Hawley Crescent,
Camden Town, London,
NW1 8NP, England.

Dear Beloved,

Here writes Mrs. Ghayth Faiza, suffering from cancerous ailment. I am married to Watson Ghayth an Arabian who is dead. My husband was into private practice all his life before his death. Our life together as man and wife lasted for three decades without a child. My husband died after a protracted illness. My husband and I made a vow to uplift the down-trodden and the less-privileged individuals as he had passion for persons who can not help themselves due to physical disability or financial predicament. I can adduce this to the fact that he needed a Child from this relationship, which never came.

When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of Two Million Great Britain Pound Sterling which were derived from his vast estates and investment in capital market with his bank here in UK. Presently, this money is still with the Bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the cancerous problems I am suffering from.

Though what bothers me most is the stroke that I have in addition to the cancer. With this hard reality that has befallen my family and I, I have decided to donate this fund to you and want you to use this gift which comes from my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows, widowers, orphans, destitute, the down-trodden, physically challenged children, barren-women and persons who prove to be genuinely handicapped financially.

It is often said that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I do not have any child that will inherit this money and my husband’s relatives are bourgeois and very wealthy persons and I do not want my husband’s hard earned money to be misused or invested into ill perceived ventures. I donot want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner, hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I know that I am going to be with the Almighty when I eventually pass on.

The Almighty will fight my case and I shall hold my peace. I do not need anytelephone communication in this regard due to my deteriorating health and because of the presence of my husband’s relatives around me, I do not want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Bank in UK. I will also issue you a Letter of Authority that will empower you as the original beneficiary of this fund. My happiness is that I lived a life worthy of emulation. Please always be prayerful all through your life.

Please assure me that you will act just as I have stated herein. Hope to hear from you soon and God bless you and members of your family.

Reply to my mail through my email address: mrs_faizawatson@hotmail.co.uk

Yours Faithfully in Christ,

Mrs. Ghayth Faiza.
mrs_faizawatson@hotmail.co.uk

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