Skype has gone mainstream

How do I know Skype is now a mainstream product that reaches beyond the early adopters? The 419 Scammers have arrived.

Today, I got this random instant message through Skype. And of course, if it's not obvious yet, whether this comes through email, snail mail, text message, or Skype instant message, THIS IS A SCAM

[8/15/2009 5:00:00 PM] barr Morris williams: MORRIS WILLIAMS
LAW CHAMMBER,
#124 Churchill Place, London , E18 7HP,
United Kingdom
Email:morris.williams.law@gmail.com
Tel:+447035974179


Good day,

I am Barr. Morris Williams, a solicitor at law, I am the personal attorney to Engineer Frank Shaikh a national of your country, who worked with Shevron Development Company here in London United Kingdom hereinafter referred to as my client. On the 21st of April 2007, my client, his wife and their children were involved in a plane crash while arriving from Easter Holiday to Soctland. All occupants unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate any of my client's extended relatives but this has proved unsuccessful.

I came across your name and contact on internet, while I was searching for Frank 's relations. Since my search was unsuccessful, I decided to contact you for this project. I am contacting you to assist in repatriating the money and properties left behind by my client before the Government and the Finance House where these funds were deposited confiscate or declare it unserviceable. Particularly, the finance house where the deceased deposited as family treasure, a consignment valued USD12 Million, earlie this year issued me a 12 months notice to provide the Next of Kin or have the fund consignment confiscated, and this ultimatum expires by next month.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over two years now, I seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin so that the proceed of this deposit valued at USD12 Million can be released to you and then you and I can share the money, 40% for me 40% for you, and the remaining 20% will be
for expenses and tax. He made the money in one of his Pan Euro- African Oil Development deals he had with one of the Pan Euro- African Oil Development Marchant. I also have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this business through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

As we proceed you will begin to realise that it is risk free.Only i have to instruct you on what and what to do at everytime.

Get in touch with me on my private e-mail address (morris.williams.law@gmail.com) so we can proceed.

Sincerely yours,
Barr. Morris Williams

Trusting my instincts

The other night at dinner I was reading my book, when the lady at the table across from me asked about my Jambalaya. I gave a pleasant, positive review and went back to reading, while she went back to talking to the guy she was dining with.

Later on, there was some police activity in the parking lot. Apparently 18 motorists had called 911 about a drunk driver on the road. Seven police cars showed up and pulled him over in the parking lot. The couple starts chatting with the waitress about this and conversation turns to the off duty cop the restaurant often has on site (note to self: choose a different restaurant next time). That cop mainly deals with disorderly drunks or people skipping out on their checks. The three folks joke about making customers wash dishes.

The waitress brings their check later and then steps away. The male then gets my attention, explains that they are over the road truck drivers who get paid the following day, and they are short on the bill today. He asks me for $15 to cover them.

I say, "Sorry," and turn back to my book. This does not sound like the kind of thing I want to get involved with. After all, everyone's running scam, right? If you know you don't have the money because payday is the next day, why go out to dinner?

I sit there reading and thinking about this. Maybe I'm letting my inner New Yorker get the better of me. Maybe these folks really did miscalculate their costs and are in a spot. I began to wonder if I did the right thing. I didn't seriously consider changing my mind, but I felt a little guilty to have just dismissed them.

After a couple minutes, I heard the woman tell the man, "Well, I'll just put it on the debit card." And he came up with dollar coins for the tip.

So, obviously, they had the money.

And now I'm torn.

On the one hand, my well honed sense of cynicism made the right call. So that make me smile.

On the other, this situation is even more disgusting than if they had no money and went out to eat planning to skip out on the check. They actually had the money, but they weren't willing to spend theirs. They thought the better solution was to beg some stranger at another table with a made up story.

Regardless, they paid and left. And everyone was happier, despite feeling a little dirtier, at the way the evening turned out.

New IRS Scam Email

I got this email today. I imagine others have too. It allegedly comes from "refunds@irs.gov."But beware. THIS IS A SCAM!

Tax Refund Notification

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 1527.29 USD. Please submit the tax refund request and allow 6-9 days in order to process it.

Click Here to submit you tax refund request

Note : A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.

Yours Sincerely
Internal Revenue Service.

The was a hyperlink that would go to at eecu.net.

Again, if you get one of these, it is a scam.

How can I tell it's a scam?

First of all, the IRS will never contact you by email to offer you a refund. They will use regular mail.

Second, while the mail is mostly grammatically correct, The lack of a dollar sign on the amount is suspicious.

Third, the link goes someplace other than Irs.Gov

If you would like more information about phishing attempts and scam emails pretending to be from the IRS, please visit this page on the IRS web site.

Or if I've scared you away from clicking links, go directly to the IRS websites at IRS.gov. You'll see a link called "Report Phishing" in the upper right hand corner. There's some great information there.

If you receive a scam email purporting to be from the IRS, forward it to phishing@irs.gov

More Phishing Scams

When you receive and email "from your bank" asking you to click on a link, the experts recomend you do not do it. It is probably a scam.

A few years ago, these fake emails were easy to spot. They often had apalling grammar. It was obvious they were not professionally done. However, they've gotten better. I'm including one below that I just received. Again, THIS IS A SCAM

FROM: Chase Online [service@chase.server1.com ]
SUBJECT: Alert: Account Locked!

Account Locked !

Dear Chase Member,

Due to the number of incorrect login attempts, your Chase Account has been locked for your security. This has been done to secure your accounts and to protect your private information in case the login attempts were not done by you.. At Chase Bank we care about your security so, for your protection we are proactively notifying you of this activity. If you did not trigger this lockout, follow this link to Log on to your Chase Online Account :
Click here to unlock your account
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you for using Chase!

There are a couple of red flags here. First, you financial institution will probably never ask you do do anything by clicking a link in the email. If get an email like this, and think it might be legit, open a new browser window and type the address for your financial institution. Do not follow the link.

If you click on the link above, it will take you to Google. In the original email, though, it would take you to this address:


ht_tp://_ww_w.chase.accountlocked.com_/colappmgr/colportal/prospect.php?_nfpb=change_form

I added some extra underscores so to break the link.

It looks like a chase link. But it doesn't take you to a chase site. Chase may operate at www.chase.com, but this takes you to a chase page on the site accountlocked.com. That is not chase.

You can see more information about this site by visitin www.whois.net

Here is the link to the registration information for the page:

http://whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=accountlocked.com

It looks like some guy in Colorado registered this address on 2006-09-23. I do not know if the owner of the address is the one attempting this fraud, or if the owner himself has been hacked. Regardless, it's certainly not owned by chase.

The email address should send up a similar flag. It doesn't come from chase.com. It comes from server1.com, which, according to www.whois.net is registered to a company in the Cayman Islands.

The Internet is a powerful tool, but like the real world, it pays to be careful out there.

The Beauty of the Internet

At a time of increasing world hostility and confict, where world leaders argue over name calling and back massages, it's nice to see people sharing their skills and talents across the internet.

Back in March, I commented on how the Nigerians had exported their unique technical skills to the Iraqis:

The Nigerians have become Iraqis

Now, they have taken their mission to Europe, and now the Nigerians have even become the British.

Make no mistake about, though -- THIS IS A SCAM. Do not send them money or bank info. Do not click on their links. Do not visit their sites. Do not call them. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

Again -- THIS IS A SCAM

From Johnny Powell Chambers
Johnny Powell & Associates

13 Dale House

LondonSE162PT

United Kingdom

Your kind Attention,

I am Johnny Powell an attorney to Christian Eicht Mason, a deceased Immigrant. property magnate who was based in the U.K., Also referred to as my client.On the 25th of July 2000, my client, his wife and their two Children died in the Air France concord plane crash bound for New York in their plan for a world cruise,http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

Since then I have been managing his properties here in the U.K. and some of his properties, which he put out for sale. Which I monitored the payment as his attorney, has been bought and paid for. Now the money paid was deposited into his Local account here. I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by his bank.

Particularly, the bank has issued me a notice to provide any of his next of kin or have the account confiscated within a short time.My late client has an account valued at 15.5 million dollars. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for some time now, and with the bank giving me deadline, I now seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased, so that the proceeds of this account valued at 15.5 million dollars can be paid to you and then you, and I can share the money. 50% to me and 40%for you and 10% for miscellaneous expenses that might arise. I have all necessary information that can be used to back up any Claim we may make.
All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Trust me, as his attorney, this is a risk-free relationship.Please get in touch with me by alternative my email johnnypowell_147@yahoo.co.uk and send me your full names and address,telephone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further about this transaction.

Best regards,
Johnny Powell