A new variant of the Nigeria scam

[davidbfpo]

For the last six weeks I've been getting on a work email address a steady flow of scam email offers, starting with Nigerians and now ostensibly Chinese emails. Plus the odd appeal for an email penfriend. If only they used a spellchecker and were not so implausible.

davidbfpo

[Stan]

For the last six weeks I've been getting on a work email address a steady flow of scam email offers, starting with Nigerians and now ostensibly Chinese emails. Plus the odd appeal for an email penfriend. If only they used a spellchecker and were not so implausible.

davidbfpo

Ooh, David...It gets much better here:

Whilst on a business trip in China, a man wanted to buy some cheap electrical gifts for his children.

He quickly discovered what looked like a suitable shop and found a pair of iPods at a great price.

Natuarally concerned that they may be cheap in more ways than one, he asked the shopkeeper what would happened if they did not work.

The shopkeeper excitedly pointed at what was the only sign in the shop that was written in English.

It said, ‘GUARANTEE NO SPOILT’.

The businessman was glad of the reassurance and duly paid for two iPods before returning to his hotel.

As soon as he reached his room he tried testing both of them.

Unfortunately, neither would even so much as switch on.

The businessman quickly returned to the shop and asked for either a refund or an exchange.

The shopkeeper laughed and refused both requests, pointing to the only sign written in English.

In broken English the shopkeeper said, ‘In case you forgot, we read from right to left in China.’

[Ron Humphrey]

Ooh, David...It gets much better here:

What is TLIOPS ON EETNARAUG supposed to mean to someone who speaks english

[Stan]

What is TLIOPS ON EETNARAUG supposed to mean to someone who speaks english

Actually Ron, it's Spoilt No Guarantee - reading each word right to left...
...like they do in China

[Ratzel]

You would think that these people could find someone who knows how to write with American colloquialisms?

Who actually says:
" I am John England from the hospitality state (Mississippi)"

But this one takes the cake:
"The reason why I am explaining my findings to you is to seek for your assistance to enable you contribute immensely to the actualization of my dream."
Mr. England, we just met, go easy on the theatrics.

"Work has been risky no doubt and challenging as sometimes we are faced head on with armed insurgents where we lose some soldiers during confrontation."
You're faced "HEAD ON with armed insurgents!!" Man, that sounds pretty bad?

I guess the strategy here is to first, gain your trust, as no one from the "hospitality state" would ever rip you off. Next, gain your sympathy, since he "had his own share of losses as he lost a very good friend also an army contractor whom he had known for 12 years." After that, instill a sense of urgency, "since Iraq is getting unsafe and dangerous everyday." And last, show legitimacy, which is why he says he'll "intend to include his picture as well as his I.D.s for you to confirm the personality with whom you are dealing."

[jonSlack]

The Atlantic - How To Trick an Online Scammer Into Carving a Computer Out of Wood

A vicious and intriguing cyber-war has broken out in the Spamosphere, or more specifically in what I’d call the “Scamosphere.”

I’m speaking of the emergence of “scam-baiters,” the avengers of the Scamosphere, who’ve arisen to take on “419” con artists, the scammers who pose in spam e-mails as agents for the widows of deposed finance ministers of Dubai or vice chairmen of the Ivory Coast Cocoa Trading Board. The ones who promise you a share of a multimillion-dollar “inheritance” stashed in a Swiss bank account in return for your help in getting access to it by posing as the legal beneficiary. The ones who then try to persuade you (and it’s amazing how many are blinded enough by greed to believe the pitch) to fork over one “advance fee” after another to “estate attorneys,” “private bank managers,” and other fictional “facilitators”—until you awaken to the fact that you’ve been taken or are broke. (The name 419 comes from the number of the section of the Nigerian criminal code that applies to fraud, though the advance-fee fraud is actually a variation on the centuries-old “Spanish Prisoner” ploy.)