Official "419 Scam-Mail" Thread

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by LaurV

this idiot is claiming that he has a video with me

I have seen one of those come in to my work e-mail. My work machine does not have a camera. My co-workers might have an issue if this was anywhere near true.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by retina

Ask for a screenshot from the video as proof.
Of course he can't make one, so it would be interesting to see how he responds.

Can't. The email really looked like sent from me to myself (same sender and receiver address, not much routing info, some SMTP servers can purge those headers) and I already deleted it. Funny, as it was received at work, just few minutes ago I got a spam alert from out IT dept, saying more or less the following "if you receive email like this... (sample follows, same as my quote) please ignore it, blah blah, we are working hard to make our spam filters better". Which they do, no question, but the funny thing is, first, more people in our organization got it, and second, the bitcoin wallet was the same for all, this guy even didn't bother to generate unique numbers. AKA, he is indeed really stupid, sending the same address to gullible guy who would fall for it, and to some geek who will try to track him down. He should try to keep the two separated, so the one who would try to track him down would find an empty account, never used, and would not know about the other guy who "contributed". If some scared/gullible guy "contributes", then the freak tries to get the money out during the other guy, the geek, is tracking, then... knock knock, who's there, FBI, raise your hands in the air and open the door, he will be in impossibility to open the door with his hands in the air ...

If you send the same account to few hundreds of people, you will almost sure find one who is silly enough to give you some money, and another one who is clever enough to track you down, so you will never be able to cash those bitcoins or buy anything in real life with them, without the perspective of going behind bars. If you are blackmailer, be a clever one, generate unique accounts for each possible victim, so they don't know about each-other. But of course, that is a lot more work, not for any badass kid.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by LaurV

just few minutes ago I got a spam alert from out IT dept, saying more or less the following "if you receive email like this... (sample follows, same as my quote) please ignore it, blah blah, we are working hard to make our spam filters better".

Recently at work there was an e-mail that looked a little bit off. It was about required Cyber-security training. It had graphics and such that made it look sort of ok. But, while it purported to be from work, it came from a third party. This was not the third party training as last year. Apparently a bunch of well trained employees flagged it as potential phishing. I noticed that it 'looked' off, but likely wasn't, so I just waited. Sure enough, there came an e-mail from a valid internal e-mail address that said to effect: "That e-mail you got a few days ago, yeah that is legit. Please do the cyber security training and don't share the link, as it is unique to you." I chuckled inside, well trained employees acted like they should have.

[LaurV]

The alert from IT was legit. They have specific format, I know the guy who sent it, and they really try to do their job. But spammers get cleverer day by day...
But I got your message, thieves can disguise themselves like legit too.

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by LaurV

One guy sends me the following email message which appears to be sent from my own work email address to myself. ... claiming that he has a video with me blah blah blah, .. and I have to pay $1100 in bitcoins

I've probably received close to 100 of these in the past 5 years.

They are persistent.

They didn't get 1 Baht-Coin from me; but they probably made good money selling email lists including mine to others.

[paulunderwood]

Like a fool I answered my phone. "This is your service provider, your router has been hacked and I am here to fix it", said the woman with an Indian accent. Step-by-step instructions to install TeamViewer onto my mobile ensued. When I said that there is no way I am installing TeamViewer, it was "goodbye sir, have a nice day".

[drkirkby]

About 10 years ago I put a "wanted" ad on an amateur radio related forum, looking for a Kenwood AT-230 antenna tuning unit (ATU). Someone emailed me, said he was from Canada, he had one, and wanted my phone number. I gave it to him. Then he rang and said he wanted paying via Western Union. I smelt a rat as we say in England, so did not bother.



Next I contacted him using a fake name, saying I understand he was a dealer, and would he be able to quoor some very expensive item. Naturally he could. I then said I was from a radio club, and wanted multiple items. I think we got up to about $50,000.



I sent up a "personal" telephone number (0701) in the UK, which costs a fortune to ring. I could then redirect it to my my mobile. Negotiations were then made with him ringing this number. Very often he got cut off, and when I asked why, he said he had run out of credit on the phone. My fictitious radio club needs documents FAXed. He said one FAX cost him $50.



It was fun for several months. I documented it on the 419-Easter website.

https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=230851

[drkirkby]

Originally Posted by paulunderwood

Like a fool I answered my phone. "This is your service provider, your router has been hacked and I am here to fix it", said the woman with an Indian accent. Step-by-step instructions to install TeamViewer onto my mobile ensued. When I said that there is no way I am installing TeamViewer, it was "goodbye sir, have a nice day".

I have installed teamviewer for one. I needed to give him the number, so I said letters, insted of number
"eff you sea kay oh eff eff". I said that multiple times but he still kept telling me it was a number. Eventually I gave him the number, and let him hack into my virtual machine. Once he was in, I said I knew what he was up to, but wish I had played it along a bit longer, perhaps pulling the internet cable out a few times.


I need to set up another virtual machine with lots of bank accounts logins and passwords plastered over the desktop. If you don't mind wasting time, and consider it fun, virtual machines are good for scammers, but so far I have only hooked the one.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by drkirkby

It was fun for several months. I documented it on the 419-Easter website.

https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=230851

I shall read this and have already pre-warned myself that I shan't drink whilst so doing.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by drkirkby

It was fun for several months. I documented it on the 419-Easter website.

https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=230851

Please read that documentation, it is hilarious.


My favourite snip from that site: "Dolly Parton our Asset Manager". Well, if you want someone to handle your assets, pick someone who has them in abundance...

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by xilman

Please read that documentation, it is hilarious.

For those who don't like reading... Or just enjoy a good bit of TED stand-up comedy as a mid-day break...

This is what happens when you reply to spam email | James Veitch