There was a local scam around here using our priests email, sent out to members of the parish asking for itune gift cards.
Unfortunately, some people fell for it.
Unfortunately, some people fell for it.
Yet Another Scam
- Thread starter mso489
- Start date
Yep. We had our local priest make an announcement after Mass that he would never ask for a gift card from anyone after several parish members asked him about the gift cards...
Our priest refuses to have an email account - I like my religion to be traditional and sometimes I think the Amish might be on to something by shunning modern technology. I always see them on the train when I take the sleeper car from NYC to Florida and boy can they rock a beard.
I think the Nigerian Prince has been released from prison; I had an email from him this morning!
Obviously I marked it junk and deleted my junk folder contents pronto; but I hadn't seen one of these for a good number of years. The others that have been mentioned in this thread - strange women, strange job offers, fishing scams from 'my' bank (never realised I had accounts with so many banks around the world!), gift card scams allegedly from major Australian retailers - I get all of those continuosly (but fortunately very few get through my junk/scam filters).
Obviously I marked it junk and deleted my junk folder contents pronto; but I hadn't seen one of these for a good number of years. The others that have been mentioned in this thread - strange women, strange job offers, fishing scams from 'my' bank (never realised I had accounts with so many banks around the world!), gift card scams allegedly from major Australian retailers - I get all of those continuosly (but fortunately very few get through my junk/scam filters).
That type of e-mail is known as 'phishing' ...they can be very sophisticated, I have seen some wild ones at my job. The best approach was to call your friend directly as you did.
Honestly, I use gmail and emClient on my PC. Between the two, they do a fantastic job of filtering spam/scam/phishing.
Everything I don't want gets moved to my junk folder and about twice yearly, I delete maybe 10 to 15 pieces of junk. Not bad IMO.
Everything I don't want gets moved to my junk folder and about twice yearly, I delete maybe 10 to 15 pieces of junk. Not bad IMO.
All I get in my junk folder are hundreds of emails a week from attractive woman who want to meet me and **** the hell out of me.
Don't be jealous!
I am sure not a single one of them exist, esp. "near you now; hot and horny!", anywhere but in electrons dispatched from some foreign country.
I am sure not a single one of them exist, esp. "near you now; hot and horny!", anywhere but in electrons dispatched from some foreign country.
My favorite is when I get a phone call from person with a middle-east accent claiming to be from the IRS threatening me that if I don't make a payment over the phone that my accounts will be seized. Then, there the scammers that state they can lower my credit card interest rate and want my card number. My standard response to them all is that they can kiss my a__!
The ones I'm getting are weird. Regular emails addressed with my first name asking to meet or just a greeting. No sexual hints or anything. Some are just: "[my name], hello!". Or: "[my name] can you meet me near xxx" I'm wondering what's the goal here? What are they trying to gain from this?
All are in English using generic female names like Kate etc. as the sender. Gmail doesn't recognize them as spam, so they look like normal emails in inbox.
Some of the worst!
About a month ago I got a robocall claiming I had won a prize from Publishers Clearing House. Last week, I got a call from a real person claiming the same thing, but they had spoofed a phone number from my town.
I was intrigued how businesslike the scammer was after pestering me with two emails, "Have you gotten the gift cards yet?" After two tries, he/she quit cold. This suggests a very businesslike approach, knowing how many prompts are needed before you know you've been busted, then wasting no time and moving on. It's more efficient and accurate than many online transactions, like with the cell phone corporations. These people are miserable crooks, but they are efficient.
I am somewhat surprised that there is almost no law enforcement on this at all. These scams cannot be tracked back to a source and prosecuted, or more likely, there is no cost effective way to do this.
I am somewhat surprised that there is almost no law enforcement on this at all. These scams cannot be tracked back to a source and prosecuted, or more likely, there is no cost effective way to do this.
Yeah I mean silver lining. You know it's shit and horrible but people being able to steal like that means less people get robbed in person and with weapons and with a direct chance of violence. In a weird way that's actually a form of progress. And people can blame themselves when they get mugged too. I've known people who somehow convinced themselves they shouldn't have been such a coward they didn't even know if the gun was loaded. Or they blame themselves because they knew they shouldn't have gone down that street.
Though you do bring up something that people get really wrong about scams. I hear and see people claiming all the time that you have to be stupid to fall for certain scam. Which isn't how it works. It's more accurate to say people get their particular buttons pressed. It's not stupidity for example that makes someone not think about it when a friend says they're in trouble.
The Australian version of that is calls claiming to come from the ATO (Aussie Tax Office) - now is tax time so it's getting to peak junk call. However their approach is to get you pay your 'fine' or 'penalty charge' or even 'tax bill' using gift cards! Yeah, right. Presumably some people must fall for it despite all the warnings every year from the ATO that they don't make calls like this and they certainly would ask you to a bill through a gift card!
Just to add to the fun and games, the callers often leave their messages in Chinese!
Double annoying when you are overseas and roaming charges apply (which is why I have my phone set to only through WiFi unless I urgently need to make a call whilst out and about).
the best one of those I got was on Facebook that sticks with me. She told me that she saw my profile pic and thought I had a sexy body. Well the only profile pic I had ever had on facebook at that point was this silly collage I made. It had this guys face glued over a dogs body. It was hilarious actually mainly because the guy is really excited and happy. But the point is the only way she looked at my profile pic is if she's openly into dogs.
tradition made a good point many posts ago, about why my PC didn't screen out this scam email, which reminded me, in fact, it did send it to spam. But when I found it there, with my friend's supposed email, I didn't have presence of mind to suspect it immediately. I have fished regular email out of the spam folder before. Now I will do so with great suspicion. Live and learn.