Internet ScamBusters Subscribers Share Even More of Their Favorite Stories About Email Fraud
We want everyone to be aware of all the scams we've found on the Internet so check out these previous email scam winners. They might still be around!
Email Fraud 3
"I received this a while ago, and found it very disturbing. After doing a search on the Net, it seems a lot of other people have also had it. When I received it I immediately reported it to the postmasters of the system that had (apparently) sent it, and also took the precaution of warning my bank about it, just in case someone _had_ managed to get my credit card details (unlikely, but I didn't want to take any chances). It looks like it's a scam to get people to call the phone number which is probably a high-rate premium line. Nothing seems to have come of it, but it was very worrying (and annoying) at the time.
At "TIMENOW" Your order was received. This code b18919415 Is your authorization code for your credit card process.
FIRSTNAME, The order is for the following subscription or products:
ProductID a34587 1 adult video Quan 1 Price 49.95
ProductID F88834 1 adult video Quan 1 price 69.95 ProductID ADD019 1 adult video Quan 1 price 49.95 Total $169.85THE SHIPPING WILL BE AN ADDITIONAL 14.95.IN 48 HOURS YOUR CREDIT CARD WILL BE CHARGED $184.80
This is an automated response do not reply by e-mail as it will be discarded before reaching our office.
If we do not hear from you within 48 hours we will assume everything is correct and make the charge to your card.
If you have any questions about this order or want to make changes feel free to contact Bruce at:
1-941-xxx-xxxx
1-941-xxx-xxxx
1-941-xxx-xxxxThank You
Sincerely,
B. Hovland
Adrian B.
Editors Note: Unfortunately Mr. Hovland, himself, was a victim of this scam. Someone sent this email out of spite so please don't call Bruce and yell at him if you receive this email. It didn't originate from him. He's getting a tee-shirt too for being scammed.
"An e-mail arrives saying that you have won something and then giving a number to call to claim your prize. (Many of the people who have gotten this letter enter sweepstakes on the Web.)When the number is called what you have won is a smooth sales pitch and you've lost the cost of the call. Most people I've spoken with do call. The sweepers are very vulnerable to this and someone out there knows that."
Alana F., New Jersey
Subject: Your check will arrive Friday
Dear fellow computer user,
If you are like most of us, I know you have asked yourself: Is there a way for the average person to make serious money on the internet? Can someone without any special skills work from home part time and realistically make $1,000s a week with their computer?
The answer is ABSOLUTELY!!! With over 150,000 new users getting on the internet every single month, the potential is incredible!!! But the key to being successful is knowing what people want and are willing to spend money on.
If you are seriously interested in a PROVEN program that can start making you $1,000s a week right away, working just part time on your computer, this may be THE opportunity youíve been waiting for!!!
This is not for everyone. This is a legitimate opportunity and we are only offering this for a limited time. For complete details visit our web site RIGHT NOW!
- No special skills required
- No large start up capital
- No expensive equipment to buy
- No meetings to attend
- No telemarketing
- No outside selling
- No products to peddle
- No inventory to keep
Make a quick visit now http://www.********.com/m**
"The above was sent to 400+ members of a bicycle mailing list. Shame on him. I am not answering his mail but will report him to the FTC."
Editors Note: Good for you, Roger! Like we've mentioned before, "If it's too good to be true..."
Roger G.
"TAKE A CHANCE, I DID!
"Dear friend,
"The following income opportunity is one you may be interested in taking a look at. It can be started with VERY MINIMAL outlay and the income return is TREMENDOUS!
"When you order you will be given instructions of a conference call that will give you technical support, step by step how to e-mail your own email. This really works!
"You are about to make at least $50,000 -- In less than 90 days Read the enclosed program...THEN READ IT AGAIN!...
"The enclosed information is something I almost let slip through my fingers. Fortunately, sometime later I re-read everything and gave some thought and study to it."
This email goes on to ask you to send $5.00 each for reports from four people on a list. Your name will be added to the list. Sounds too good to be true? It is.
Allison H., Long Beach, CA
"Here's How To Get A $5,000 Offshore Credit Card, GUARANTEED...
"(We're So Sure That You'll Be Approved That We Pay YOU $500, PLUS Refund Your Application Fee If You Are Declined For Any Reason!!!!)
- 5.95% APR (Fixed!) Major Credit Card!
- Guaranteed Approval!
- No Reporting Of Card Activity to Credit Bureaus.
- No Credit Check.
- No Income Verification.
- No Social Security Number required.
- MLM With $25 Bonus For Everyone You Sign Up!
- 3 x 6 Forced Matrix That Could Fill Up In 30 to 60 Days!
"For FULL Information And Application, Reply To This Email Address With CREDIT CARD In The Subject Line.
"P. S. This Program Just Launched On April 26th! I'm Positioned Near The Top Of The Matrix, And We're Building Fast! Don't Lose Out On This! Check Out All The Info By Replying RIGHT NOW With CREDIT CARD In The Subject Line!"
Mike K., Tucson, AZ
"Well take a look at this one! My brother is a "get it for FREE" type of person so everyday I get emails from him telling me about some free offer on the net. I usually ignore it and click delete. But this time I didn't. It was an offer for free internet access but they charge $25 for the software package. Thinking my brother looked this over and already had the service I signed up and never received anything. So I called the 888 number and it was a recording instead of a live person like before. I tried to access the web site and it doesn't exist! I looked up the domain at Internic and the reply was "not found". Later I receive an email stating that the company had tradename disputes and had to change their name but my free internet access will be on the way soon. Then I received another email informing me that another company was going to give me the same service. I checked the comany's web site and they charge for internet service. And the last nail in the coffin was when I got my credit card bill. I was charged $45 not $25. The only reason they got $45 is because the card was close to the limit. I am lucky to have only $45 charged. Needless to say I have cancelled our credit card number. Watch out for this company named US ******* or whatever they are calling themselves now."
Clark J., Salt Lake City, UT
"Dear xxxxxxx
"You are owed money!
"Nine out of ten people over the age of 25 are owed money they didn't know they had, and you are one of them!
"There is over 400 billion dollars in unclaimed money in the United States, 400 billion! This money belongs to You, and millions of other Americans.
"You may have seen or heard about unclaimed funds on a talk show or news program. Oprah Winfrey recently devoted an entire program to unclaimed funds. Her purpose was to alert the public that every individual should check to see if they are owed money, since 90% of American adults have abandoned assets.
"Most people don't think they've ever lost money, but how do they really know unless they check? Abandoned money is money you don't know about, and that is precisely why you must check! 90% of Americans have lost money and because most don't bother to check, over 400 billion dollars has accumulated in national depositories. The average amount of money owed to an individual is approximately $2,200.00. FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR MONEY TODAY!
"Company XYZ Inc. helps individuals across North America discover these abandoned funds. To initiate a search for your money, please call our international information hotline at 1-809-414-xxx now. Company XYZ Inc. charges you no fees for a search. If funds are found in your name, you can then choose to recover the money yourself or let us help recover the money for you. We only charge a 15% fee of the amount found after the money has been recovered. There are no up-front costs to you.
"That's all there is to it. We want to build a relationship with you to help recover all your sources of abandoned money. Let us go to work for you. If you are not satisfied with our assistance, you are under no obligation whatsoever; Company XYZ Inc. cannot proceed without your consent. You have a 90% chance of being owed money, so take that first simple step and inquire about the money waiting for you! We are available to take your calls 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
"Remember, nine out of ten people are owed money! CALL 1-809-414-xxxx NOW!
"Yours truly,
"Company XYZ Inc."
Curt B.
"It's another in a string of well-meaning, convincing warnings ... this one about sinister kidney thieves that strike at traveling businessmen. Someone buys you a drink, the next thing, you're in a tub full of ice in a hotel room ... you call 911 and they tell you that WOW! your kidneys (both of 'em) have been removed.
"The story seems full of holes, but early "contributors" on the chain claim it happened to a friend/a relative/a friend-of-a-coworker ... and that 911 agencies/the military/law enforcement know all about it ... that it's been done in Las Vegas/New Orleans ... and of course, all of these people appear to be REAL PROFESSIONALS from trustworthy institutions."
Editors Note: Yes, folks, this is yet another urban legend going around the Net. It's not true. And we thank Bob for giving us a heads up on this info.
Bob L.
"Do you guys know about ******* Corporation? They have a software called zip folders '.ZIF' which evidently makes unzipping zip files easier.
"I saw their software listed on one of my downloads of the week e-mail subscriptions and downloaded it, as it made great promises of making unzipping zip files so easy.
"(They are) one of those companies that gives you a 30-day trial period, and it counts down each day, letting you know when your 30 days are up. Then it gives you another 10 days or so after the 30 days are up, warning you even further, that it'll be $30 to keep their software.
"Well, it took me about 2 seconds to realize that it was OK software, but not worth $30 to me, as I had no trouble unzipping zip files anyway, and though this .ZIF software eliminated a step, it just wasn't something I would keep after the expiration."
"WELL, Lo and Behold, once the trial period ends, ANYTHING that you've downloaded since you've had their .ZIF software will no longer OPEN, plus if you try to download anything new that is a zip file, they prevent you from being able to use it, saying since you didn't buy their software, you can't unzip this program.
"Thankfully we were able to remove this .ZIF software from our hard drive and reinstall all the zip files we had downloaded during the 6 weeks we had .ZIF. It was work and took a lot of time and seemed really wrong, but we made things work again. In any event, we thought Scambusters should know about this, as it is really tricky and nasty, too!"
Cathie Lynn L.
******** GERMANY presents
CDR-PACK with > 5.000 MB PC-WINDOWS Software on CD-Rom for only US$ 199.95. Sounds too good to be true for you, so please read the FAQ, Product INFO and Order INFO at the end of this email.
Our CDR-PACK contains :
Macromedia Freehand Graphics Studio !!SUPERWORTH!!
Macromedia Director Multimedia Studio !!SUPERWORTH!!
Macromedia Extreme 3D
Macromedia Soundedit 16
Macromedia Fontoghapher
Macromedia Freehand 5.0 and 7.0 !BRANDNEW!
Macromedia Director 5.0
Macromedia Backstage Desktop Studio !BRANDNEW!
Macromedia Authorware !!SUPERWORTH!!
Corel Draw 6 and 7 !!BRANDNEW!!
Corel Presents 6
Corel Photopaint 6
Editor's Note: The list goes on and on to cover every conceivable piece of software I personally have ever heard of. I printed it out and it took 7 pages!
You get CD-Rom's with more than 5000 MB PC-Software. To make it available to all of you, the price is less than 200 US$.
Sorry we can't respond all Questions individually. So please read this INFO:
A WORD ABOUT OUR PRODUCT
Every software title is complete with all Programs, Samples and Online-manual.
We attach additional easy installationscripts for all Titles with all needed Serial numbers and Passwords. All software is compressed and only on CD-Rom available. CDR-PACK contains only PC software, sorry no MAC........
Thank you Mike and Daniel for warning us of this software piracy scam.
"IMPORTANT NOTICE!
Dear Sirs,
It Has Recently Come To The Attention Of The Internet Registration Committee That Your Web-Site Has Not Been Properly Registered On The Internet Or On The World Wide Web.
This Could Result In Your Potential Customers Being Unable To Locate You Or Find Your Web-Site On The World Wide Web. Proper Web-Site Registration On The Internet Is Required In Order For Your Web-Site To Be Successful.
There Are Currently More Than 400 Hundred Internet Directories And Search Engines Operating On The Internet. It Will Be Necessary For You To Register Your Web-Site With The Majority Of These Directories And Search Engines In Order For Your Web-Site To Become Easily Located By Your Potential Customers.
If You Do Not Become Registered With A Large Number Of These Internet Directories, Your Web Site Could Become Impossible For Your Customers To Locate, Your Web-Site Will Become Inaccessable, Therefore Becoming Dormant, Unprofitable And Inactive.
In Order To Resolve This Situation, We Urge You To Contact Our On-Line Web-Site Registration Service At The Internet Address Below:
http://******/***.html
It Is Imperative That This Situation Be Resolved Immediately!
We Hope That We Can Help You To Resolve Your Registration Problem As Soon As Possible. "
Tabitha K. and Roy D., the contest entrants, were concerned that people unfamiliar with the registration process may be fooled by this spam, and rightly so!
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