Scammers are f*ckin' stupid.

[DucHead]

I just received an email from the "Internal Revenue Service," the first paragraph of which reads,

"After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive
a tax refund under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Tax refund value is $189.60.  Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to IWP the data received.
If u don't receive your refund within 9 business days from the original IRS mailing date shown, you can start a refund trace online."

Among other things, the "If u..." tipped me off.    The rest of the message contained similar grammatical and spelling errors:

"If you distribute funds to other organization, your records must show wether
they are exempt under section 497 (c) (15). In cases where the recipient org.
is not exempt under section 497 (c) (15), you must have evidence the funds will
be used for section 497 (c) (15) purposes.

If you distribute fund to individuals, you should keep case histories showing
the recipient's name and address; the purpose of the award; the maner of
section; and the realtionship of the recipient to any of your officers, directors,
trustees, members, or major contributors."

[ducatiz]

Trace the email, I am sure it will go right back to Lagos.

Reply to the email and say something like "Mr Mugu, me no like ur email well, please to tell the me how to get monies, God be praised,"etc etc.

Gotta throw in Mugu.  That is Nigerian for Idiot.

[roy-nexus-6]

I once had a Nigerian Scammer emailing me every two days for 3 months... it was hard, hard work keeping him baited for that long, but very, very entertaining! 

[A.duc.H.duc.]

I know people are stupid... seriously I am amazed everyday to find more idiots... to the point that I almost feel everyone is an idiot, but I just can't comprehend how anyone would fall for these scams...

[DY]

I am currently in a correspondence with a scammer.  He/She goes by the name of Amy Hanning/Simpson.  Claimed to be recently divorced and selling her ex's bike.  Would rather use Ebay for a funds transfer than cash for "safety and insurance purposes" 

So yesterday the scammer sent me an email invoice that looks very real.  Its supposedly from Ebay-motors and I'm supposed to send a money order to ebay via their Financing Center Agent.  Ebay would hold on to the funds while i inspected the bike and upon my acceptance of the bike, they would transfer the money to Amy.  What immediately threw me off was the linvoice was sent from a Craigslist address (aw-confirm@craigslist.org).  And also the request for Money Orders ONLY sent to an address in Toronto, Canada. 

I can see how someone who is a little naive and not so computer literate could easily fall for this scam... Now time to play that role of the victim, i have nothing better to do anyways!  roy-nexus, any advice???

[MendoDave]

It was a scam that made me end up buying my monster. I was looking at a 998 on Ebay and the deal just kept getting weirder and weirder. Gave up on that..... So I saw a listing for a monster near me, made contact, saw in person, paid cash and drove off with the bike.

[ryandalling]

Scammers suck. I constantly get the widow needing funds to collect millions... then will share it with me.

[ducatiz]

I am currently in a correspondence with a scammer.  He/She goes by the name of Amy Hanning/Simpson.  Claimed to be recently divorced and selling her ex's bike.  Would rather use Ebay for a funds transfer than cash for "safety and insurance purposes" 

So yesterday the scammer sent me an email invoice that looks very real.  Its supposedly from Ebay-motors and I'm supposed to send a money order to ebay via their Financing Center Agent.  Ebay would hold on to the funds while i inspected the bike and upon my acceptance of the bike, they would transfer the money to Amy.  What immediately threw me off was the linvoice was sent from a Craigslist address (aw-confirm@craigslist.org).  And also the request for Money Orders ONLY sent to an address in Toronto, Canada. 

I can see how someone who is a little naive and not so computer literate could easily fall for this scam... Now time to play that role of the victim, i have nothing better to do anyways!  roy-nexus, any advice???

Find a specimen money order and get a high-res copy of it, make it out to her, etc and mail it, but make sure to leave something on it that says "specimen" so it is not fraud.  Let it try to be cashed.

laugh.

[minkman]

What's absolutely terrifying is that the scammers make money because there are enough dumbasses out there.

[SacDuc]

What's absolutely terrifying is that the scammers make money because there are enough dumbasses out there.

A fool and his money . . .

Think of how stupid the average person. Now realize that half of them are dumber than that!

[ducatiz]

What's absolutely terrifying is that the scammers make money because there are enough dumbasses out there.

precisely why some people deserve to be poor.  make the beast with two backs em.

[herm]

Find a specimen money order and get a high-res copy of it, make it out to her, etc and mail it, but make sure to leave something on it that says "specimen" so it is not fraud.  Let it try to be cashed.

laugh.

sounds like a good way to get in trouble to me, "specimen" or not.

[zarn02]

sounds like a good way to get in trouble to me, "specimen" or not.

well, i guess you could always just mail 'em some print-outs of really, really disgusting porn.

put the return address of a county commissioner, or some other deserving public figure on it.

*shrugs*

[gnostic203]

Unreal how many scams have popped up with the digital age.  In the old days you only had to worry about the occasional solicitor phone call trying to sell you worthless crap.  Now a days they have URL hijackers that take you to a pirate page when you type in ebay.com.

Last year I was bored too and started playing around with the idiot emails trying to scam me.  One of my wise friends said if you play with fire you'll get burned.  I decided to let well enough be, he was right as tempting as it was.

[Smiling End]

Have you guys ever heard/read about the p-p-p-powerbook?  If not I suggest you read this story.  Awesome tail of "revenge" against a phishing scam.

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/