Sunday Beauty XXI (and some great spam)
Folks, this is a Wikimedia “featured photo”.
- Great Egret (Ardea alba) nest with three chicks at the Morro Bay Heron Rookery
Photo by Mike Baird, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (Click on image to see more from this artist.)
I have cautioned you, Dear Reader, that we are smack-dab in the middle of Prime Cybercrime Season, and to be on the lookout for online con artists and thieves. (Be sure to read, Beware “The Twelve Scams of Christmas”, if you haven’t already.) Some of their methods are quite subtle, others are .. well, rather lame.
We are in the year 2010 (for just a few more days) and yet there are still people *naive* enough and *curious* enough to Open the attached “file”.. and frankly, any sympathy I may have had for them has worn mighty thin. I cannot believe I still have to say – Do Not Open Email From Strangers. (And certainly not strangers in Mongolia [the “.mn”] ha!)
No good can come of it.
“Robert Mueller” decided to send me another email that same day…
WARNING!!!STOP ALL SCAM PAYMENT TO ANY INDIVIDUAL OR SCAM BANK!!!
From: “Robert Mueller” <server@cugroup.com>
To: undisclosed-recipientsDear Beneficiary,
I hope that this correspondence is received with the urgency and expediency required. It has come to the notice of the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK,NEW YORK of some fraudulent act on some of our citizens and non-citizens of the United States and non-United States Citizens, because of this act we decided to report the case to the FBI and IMF.Due to our reports to this top organisation,there was an intervention and our financial consultants(RICHARD GLISTER & ASSOCIATES)was send to intervene concerning your funds and funds belonging to some other people who as gone through the same scam/hoax you have gone through.
OUR FINDINGS: We found out that the former GOVERNOR of CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA/OFFICIALS/SCAM BANK in Nigeria was behind all this scams collecting money from beneficiary of Inheritance/Contract just to frustrate them on loosing hope to get their Funds. After the intervention of our consultants, the GOVERNOR of the Central Bank of Nigeria was impeached from office for his fraudulent act and will face the wrath in court very soon.
Successfully, we now found out in their files that 16 Americans and 28 Non-Americans were victims of this scams, As a matter of fact we ordered the CBN Nigeria to calculate all funds in their possession belonging to Inheritance/contract/lottery payment and send it to a suspense account of the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK,NEW YORK and that as been done since 3 weeks ago. Although our financial consultants are still there to secure the TELEX CONFIRMATION CODE on your behalf to enable this office release your fund to any account you wish anywhere in the world.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are in contact with anyone who claims he his an official of Central bank of Nigeria, attorney or anyone who claims he has your funds in their possession, please beware of them all because its a big scam. Your fund as been moved out of Nigeria to a suspense account at the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK and will be released to you in due course as soon as our financial consultants headed by DR.RICHARD GLISTER finish up with their meeting with the President of the FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA. All will be concluded in their meeting today.
Also Note: If anyone tells you that your fund is in London, Spain or anywhere in the world count it as a big lie and a big scam.You are to contact DR RICHARD GLISTER on this email address: richardglister007@gmail.com
You are to give him your Contact Address and phone number so that he could contact you as soon as he could secure the TELEX CONFIRMATION CODE that will enable us the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK,NEW YORK Transfer your fund to you.
send your response to: richardglister007@gmail.com
You might think there’s no one *naive* enough to respond to this “Beware Of The Scam” scam.. and there really shouldn’t be, but… they walk among us.
And here’s one I just know is a fake…
.. ‘cuz no one “adores me”… sniff, sniff, wwwaaaa! (at least, hopefully no one named “mr.mufthi”)
Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
Cute chicks in the photo.
What they’re doing? Chirping for food probably…? Or may be chatting about christmas holiday scams…? He he.. Just a little geeky humour…
And now the spam, didn’t know that there’s a branch of FBI in Mongolia (.mn) lol…
I see that your quite attentive to such minute details, Paul. Nice.
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Ranjan,
Nice to see your name here again. I hope your Finals are over, and you have a great holiday season.
(You mentioned Finals to me a while back.. I’m just remembering.)
… No, I did not deliberately choose birds (with bird brains) to go with today’s spam.. It really is tody’s Featured Foto on Wikimedia…
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i really hate when some jackass sends me this stuff in my email
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demarco,
I see you are a fellow tech.. and you feel about these *people* much as I do.
Some of them make me chuckle..
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Tech Paul;
For several weeks I’ve been keeping-up with your blog. Recently, I have been given some ‘devastating’ news and I turn to you for help. For many months I have been corresponding with business-people by emails. The incoming emails arrive directly to my ‘inbox’ not spam. The emails sent to me have ‘official’ government and bank ‘logos and tradmarks’. The emails also have ‘official’ government ‘seals’ and pictures of prominent leaders. Also received are ‘signatures’ and business ‘duty stamped seals of approval’. To say the least those emails look very sophisticated. The corresponce went on for months with the exchange of emails and telephone calls. Then all of a sudden the communication suddenly stopped. Without warning. Now, and most recently, when telephoning the other party; their phones are ‘disconnected’. When sending emails, my emails are returned to me ‘unanswered’. Needless to say I did send monetary payments (within a ‘time-limit’). Can you please tell me how one can ‘verify’ the legitimacy of an email? Is there any way to determine the ligitimacy of an email-address? I do enjoy reading your blog. However, the emails I receive leave me baffled, bewildered and perplexed. You have to see the emails for yourself. They look very professional and very sophisticated. They look genuine and authentic. And yet, when it comes to money payments; how can you tell if they are ‘fake’ or ‘real’? Your response is appreciated.
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It is rather easy to obtain, and paste in, official looking images…
But, without getting into your particular situation, and focusing in on what I understand your particular question to be — Is there any way to determine the legitimacy of an email?
The short version is “sort of” but, no not really. You can look at the header (by viewing details) and see a more accurate picture of the Sender, but those can be faked (“spoofed“) or proxies used. Your real and true friends can have their machines get infected and used as spam bots, and mail from their machines can be sent by criminals, and so on and so forth. Email without stringent controls in place (such as in a corporate setting) is a very insecure medium.
While we have invented “filters” which try to catch scams and spam, it is incumbent upon us – ourselves – to determine if an email is “legit”. Since the earliest days of the Internet, people have been told the basic Email rules:
1) Do not open mail from strangers
2) If they ask for personal information and/or money, it’s a scam
3) Write as if the whole world can read your words (or, “write like your mother will read it.”)
4) Don’t click links, open attachments, or “trust” email.
If you unsure about the legitimacy of an email, what you can do is look up the phone number ELSEWHERE. Like, in the phone book. And call THAT number, not the number in the email, and you ask the supposed sender, “did you send me a email?“
(But.. if you follow Rule #1, you don’t (usually) ever get that far..)
These scammers sometimes set up websites, phones, mailboxes, print up stationary, and more to help pull off their cons. And they laugh at their victims, and surely don’t loose any sleep.
… Since the FBI was nice enough to let me *borrow* their logo, I’m going to refer you to an excellent webpage they have; FBI.gov: New E-Scams & Warnings, as well as a link to the FBI’s IC3 internet crime complaint site, http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
Here’s some tips on avoiding becoming a victim, http://www.artscams.com/. (The Internet is filled with such advice..)
If you believe you have been scammed out of money, and therefore are the victim of fraud, there are many resources available to you.. (such as the one I discuss here, The World’s Largest Online Safety and Help Group) but I would start by talking with the local police. They can guide you as to your best course of action.
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Very beautiful chicks, giving … sharing… good choice (variation) of photos.
Gaia
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Gaia,
I don’t know if they are ‘sharing’.. or.. ‘pecking at each other’ (as siblings sometimes do) but, this image did strike me as a “there’s something you don’t see every day.”
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Oh so you remembered about my finals… thanks for your concern, Paul.
And NO, i didn’t mean to hurt your intentions by commenting that joke on the photo. It was just a.. a…. Ughhh… Nevermind. Sorry.
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Ranjan,
I was joking around a little bit with that “bird brain” crack. Don’t worry so much! Your input is always welcome here!
Have a great holiday!
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Thank you and you too have a great holiday, Paul.
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Thank you!
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