Got an email yesterday from a good mate, got mugged in a car park in Spain, everything stolen including cards and money. Embassy unable to help etc. Hotel demanding payment before letting them go, threatening with police and flight due. Replied saying I was not in a position to help but got a probable electronic response asking for the money I'd kindly offered via Western Union - blah, blah. Got in touch with others who my mate knows and it's a scam, someone has got hold of address book. Just be aware of this one if it has started up again. I was alerted by the mention of Western Union because it's been used in other scams. Be aware folks.

Western unioun should be shut down.

Eh don't say that, WU is awesome. Virtual accounts/cc's, anon payments.. invaulable when you need to send/receive payments online.

Paypal accounts are way too much trouble to set up and have way too many restrictions attached.

Each to their own myfriend

FFS, it's a scam alert not a post to start a nark.

Didn't start any nark, I was merely expressing my reasons for liking WU. I'll let you get back to advising stupid people not to part with their money because some random person on the internet asks them to do so. What would we do without these scam alerts?!

Doh! When I got the first email it looked like a genuine plea from a buddy of long standing. Unfortunately I was not in a position to help him and replied to that effect, it was only then that the electronic reply came back with info about Western Union and I was able to find out what the score was. There are gullible people out there who are compassionate enough to fall for things like this so a warning is a reasonable reaction. Being compassionate and wanting to help is not being stupid, far from. Anyway, that's my last on this one.

Do you mind if we discuss it then?

Fill yer boots Ste.

I'd rather be alerted to a potential scam, be it genuine or "not that old one again".

It`s "not that old chestnut".

Wasn't there a similar case where the parents of a young lad backpacking supposedly emailed them asking to be sent money via a friend he'd "met" over there?

Glad you didn't get fleeced by it Bandy

Sorry Ste. It IS that old chestnut again. The same sketch, dressed up in various forms, has appeared a few times in the past. It pops up time after time on other forums too.

A highly reliable Nigerian Prince that has befriended me has told me this is a Grade A scam! Whilst exchanging bank details, he told me to be very careful.

Gee, it's great to have real friends eh ????????

Lol sorry pinz wasn't having a pop there.

Thanks for alerting everyone bandy old chap.

Good show

Okey dokey Ste. No probs.

i got one such email from, wait for it, a mr christopher divine. im currently getting smoke blown up my arse from him, after responding to his emails he wants my fone number so im gunna see how far i can take it. ill update you to how they do it and what they want so people are aware

Take him for the ride of a lifetime Dave.

I used to get them a lot when I advertised in the loot or quids in.

Needless to say I don't by or advertise with them anymore.

mate, i intend to smash him

See this is the kind of stuff that bugs me. People going along with it as a 'public service' to the rest of the morons that get duped by people asking for your money online.

There's a blanket way to avoid getting scammed: don't give people money when they ask for it over the internet. This is not a difficult concept. That avoids all these threads warning about scams that are all over a decade old. They don't ever leave circulation, there's just so many variations it seems like they do. Imo if you find these threads helpful, you need to get scammed. Just once, not for a lot of cash, but one time getting scammed and you'll be set for life. You won't fall for this stupid shit ever again. It's the equivalent of making a new thread every time a new road is opened saying 'look out for cars before you cross this road' ..

if it bugs you, dont read and dont comment, simple

Whutever dude. Have fun getting trolled by some pitiful email scammer that's probably having the same conversation with a hundred other people at the same time.

im easily amused dude

http://www.419eater.com/index.php

Note: I posted the above link for entertainment only; some of the stuff is hilarious. If you fancy trying it yourself, be aware of the dangers; there's plenty of advice on that forum.

dave, have a read of this... CLICKY CLICK

you can have some great fun with them

lmao!!

Haha!!

Here is one i just received:

U.S Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control

(OFAC)U.S Treasury Department's

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20220


Attn:

This email is to notify you about the release of your outstanding payment which is truly $15.500.000.00 USD. The New Prime Minister ( UK) scheduled a time frame to settle all foreign debts which includes Contract/Inheritance/ Gambling/ Lottery(Sponsored by Microsoft and National Lottery) and other international loans.News had it that over the past,numerous individual (s) who happen to be impostors (claiming to be individuals, banks and organizations) are claiming to release numerous sums of fund via numerous ways.



With the help of the (OFAC)U.S Treasury Department's and with the FBI we have noticed that people have being asked to pay outrageous amount of money by these impostors for the transfer of their funds to them. We want you to stop all communication that has to do with these fraudsters who have been requesting unreasonable sums of money from you to release your funds which they do not have access to.



We have received a mandate and instructions from the (OFAC)U.S Treasury Department's to commence the immediate release of your funds through one of the following payment options stated below depending on your choice:



1. Payment via Automatic Teller Machine (ATM card): This is where you will be sent an Automatic Teller Machine card with Pin also known as ATM card (A Master Card would be issued). Upon receipt of your custom ATM card you will be allowed to withdraw $10,000 per day by default and you are given the option to transfer funds from your ATM card to your bank account.



2. Certified Cashiers Check or Bank Draft: In this case you will be sent a certified bank draft or check signed in your favor which you will deposit in any bank for it to be cleared within 3 to 5 working days at most depending on your bank.



3. Online Banking ( Bank To Bank Transfer) to enable you process this operation, $185 Dollars is Required for opening for an online banking operation, that will enable you get access to your account Online.



Below are few list of tracking numbers you can track from FedEx and UPS website to confirm people like you whom have successfully received their payment safely.





Name : Mrs. Jeannie Michael: FedEx Tracking Number: 794588016471 (www.fedex.com/Tracking?cntry_code=us)%3cbr>

Name : Mrs. Vista Rayne Arnold: FedEx Tracking Number: 796925954101 (www.fedex.com/Tracking?cntry_code=us)%3cbr>



You are advised to select one out of the three options on how you wish to receive your $15.500.000.00 USD, Your Online Banking Acess or ATM card or Check/Bank Draft will be shipped via Courier Shipping Company and would get to you within 2 working days at most.



For international shipping as stated by our company We had to sign contract with Courier for bulk shipping which makes the fees reduce from the actual $320.99 to $150.99 nothing more and no hidden fees of any sort.



You are advised to contact the Department's Officer responsible for the shipping of your Check or ATM card with the following information for shipping of your payment Check or ATM card.





Department's Officer: Ms. Terri Bradson

Email- [email protected]





And provide her with the following information:



Your full Name................

Your Address:................

Occupation:................

Home/Cell Phone:.................

AGe.......................

BAnkACCoUNt NuM..................

SOrtCoDe.........................

The Department's Officer Christine Louise Sermon will provide you with instructions on how you are to make payment of the $150.99 only for the shipping of your ATM card or Cashiers Check.



You are to adhere strictly to the instructions above for more information contact the Department's Officer.



Remember that you are not paying any fees extra no matter what. Once again note that the actual Courier Retail Price: $320.99 Your Price (Because of our contract signed): is now $150.99 ( $170.00 Savings!).



Thanks,

Ms. Terri BradsonU.S Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control

(OFAC)U.S Treasury Department's

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20220

LMFAO

Like anyone would fall for that!

Am going to email them and string them along.

Just replied to them.

imagine if any of the scames were actually real in life and our brothers in africa are holding onto our dollars for us

I just put a post on about a phone call along similar lines but talking smaller values, I had not noticed this. They try anything.

thick as fook, sent him a telephone number of a certain band of merry men and told him not to use my real name but to ask for the iceman, he replied to my email address which if my real name, please this is not a joke i need my real name! need i say more? yes, i ripped him a new arsehole... end of dit fellas

Am rich again:

Compliment,

I appeal to you to exercise a little patient and read through my letter, I wish to contact you personally for a long term relationship and investment assistance in your Country, i will really like to have a good relationship with you and I have a special reason why I decided to contact you.

My name is Mr Gabriel Zoure I am in the Office of Auditing and Accounting File Manager with Bank of Africa Ouagadougou Burkina Faso. In my department i discovered an abandoned sum of (US$10M DOLLARS) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer (MR. RICHARD BURSON from Florida, U.S.A) who died along with his entire family on November 1999 in a plane crash.

I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($10M USD) to your account within 7banking days, while every necessary arrangement should commence after I have hear from you.

This money has been dormant for years in our Bank without claim, and I don't want the money to go into the Reserve Bank of Burkina Faso (RBBF), as an abandoned fund. So this is the reason why I contacted you so that the bank can release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer.

Please I would like you to keep this transfer as a top secret between me and you alone ok.

I promise you that i will direct you on how this transfer will go successfully if only you can abide to my instruction.
Upon receipt of your reply i will give you full details on how the business will be executed.

Kindly send me this information below to have trust in you that you would betray me.

(1) Your full name...
(2) Your address...
(3) Country..
(4) Age...
(5) Occupation.......
(6) Private telephone number
(7) Sex.
(8) Bank account number and sortcode
l will send you my details of this transaction as soon as I hear from you thanks, trusting to hear from you immediately with your contact information


My Regards.

Mr Gabriel Zoure

how thick do these people think we are Willo that is awful . They probably play on people of a certain greedy nature ,too greedy to be realistic about what`s actually going on .lol

send the money or they will be upsettings...

lol dave_g

Well apparently they think people are thick enough to make a profit from which is why they keep sending these emails. People are stupid, make no mistake about it.

People that send these use mass mailers and buy email address lists (there's loads of places online where you can buy a thousand for as little as 10cents) and just load up a few hundred thousand into a script and hit send. They easily make their money back from the cost of the emails. (Assuming they don't harvest the emails themselves.)

Worth noting that the perception people have that it's only african countries that send these kinds of emails is way off. There's organised crime that raise funds through this method, europe, america, south america, and a huge amount in Russia too. I have a friend from antichat.ru that lives off the money he makes from these kinds of emails and he's in Ukraine. It amazes me that these sort of things ever make money