Email Scam Study | FBI Scam Warnings

Understanding the best practical ways to keep from becoming a victim.

1. Be wise and be careful

Take caution when you open email attachments, if you don't know the sender, google search or internet search the sending email address first. You can also search for the title of the attachment if one is attached. The best idea is that if it's in your junk folder and you do not know the sender, delete it!

2. Choose who you respond to carefully

Never respond to emails that make outrageous promises or claims that seem outlandish or extreme. Only respond to emails from senders you know.

3. Keep personal information out of your emails

Signatures, phone numbers, email addresses, home and business addresses should never be attached to your email. Your name alone can be enough sometimes. Your best bet is to keep your information our of others hands.

4. Google is your friend

Any references to a company, email addresses, name, phone numbers, or even the heading introduction can be searched. If in doubt check it out, and call the business to make sure you are dealing with them and not a scammer!

FBI Internet Tips

Reporting Scam Emails

Reporting Nigerian Scams









The Scam: Spoof eBay Email

Scenario:
Fraudsters frequently forge "email from eBay", and ask recipients to click on a link to update their ID info. Some time after, the scammed eBayer finds his/her account hijacked, or his credit card used.

Protection:
NEVER click on a link in an email message that supposedly takes you to an eBay ID page. eBay never asks for sensitive information in an email! If you want to go to that page, MANUALLY enter the address into your browser.

If you see one of these emails
FORWARD the email, with full headers, to spoof@ebay.com

Click on eBay's official info on Spoof emails for information about emails similar to yours.

If you think someone has stolen your eBay ID or password, read this pages for valuable information: eBay's Identity Theft Page



After thousands of email scams from countless places being emailed to my dozen email accounts over the last 3 years. I have come to one simple conclusion. Email scams never stop. After many many addresses and hits from Nigeria showing up on a several blogger sites in my stat logs, tell me they even take the time to study who is posting what where.

I've read the emails, and some change slightly, so stay exactly the same, minus the email address that they come from, scam emails are all the same. Some actually seem to come from a paste copy email data base. They are exactly composed the same way, just small variations give away their pasted copies. Names change, the email address changes, the ending, who it's from and the closure change, but basically the body of the email is exactly the same.

Many of the emails are encrypted, for instance there is code behind the actually body, that I have encountered dozens of times when I attempt to post here with these types of emails. The html proof shows when the html reader on blogger see's it and refuses to allow me to post. Basically it's form htlm for the body of the email, but then there were times I actually had to re-write the post, word for word because it was hacked.

Malicious codes are one thing, but deadly websites are another. One in 20 so far have been loaded with click able links, that if clicked, take you to some pretty nerve racking attack sites, that attempt to fool you into clicking a down loader, or malicious codes are injected into cookies, or it attempts to steal information, ect.

Email scams are developing slowly. Often more times than not, the emails are harmless, minus their fake content and shallow pleas..

The criminals obtain the names of potential victims from a variety of sources including trade journals, professional directories, newspapers, websites and commercial libraries, but they mainly use the scattergun approach of massive spam email dumps. Often these are generated by 'bots', people's computers that have been compromised, turning them into spam dissemination machines.

The sender declares that he is a senior civil servant in one of the Nigerian Ministries, usually the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The letters refer to investigations of previous contracts awarded by prior regimes alleging that many contracts were over invoiced. Rather than return the money to the government, they desire to transfer the money to a foreign account. The sums to be transferred average between $10,000,000 to $60,000,000 and the recipient is usually offered a commission up to 30 percent for assisting in the transfer.

Initially, the intended victim is instructed to provide company letterheads and pro forma invoicing that will be used to show completion of the contract. One of the reasons is to use the victim's letterhead to forge letters of recommendation to other victim companies and to seek out a travel visa from the American Embassy in Lagos. The victim is told that the completed contracts will be submitted for approval to the Central Bank of Nigeria. Upon approval, the funds will be remitted to an account supplied by the intended victim.

The goal of the criminal is to delude the target into thinking that he is being drawn into a very lucrative, albeit questionable, arrangement. The intended victim must be reassured and confident of the potential success of the deal. He will become the primary supporter of the scheme and willingly contribute a large amount of money when the deal is threatened. The term "when" is used because the con-within-the-con is the scheme will be threatened in order to persuade the victim to provide a large sum of money to save the venture. The letter, while appearing transparent and even ridiculous to most, unfortunately is growing in its effectiveness. It sets the stage and is the opening round of a two-layered scheme or scheme within a scheme. The fraudster will eventually reach someone who, while skeptical, desperately wants the deal to be genuine. Victims are almost always requested to travel to Nigeria or a border country to complete a transaction. Individuals are often told that a visa will not be necessary to enter the country. 

The Nigerian con artists may then bribe airport officials to pass the victims through Immigration and Customs. Because it is a serious offense in Nigeria to enter without a valid visa, the victim's illegal entry may be used by the fraudsters as leverage to coerce the victims into releasing funds. Violence and threats of physical harm may be employed to further pressure victims.
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The fraudster may establish the credibility of his contacts, and thereby his influence, by arranging a meeting between the victim and "government officials" in real or fake government offices. In the next stage some alleged problem concerning the "inside man" will suddenly arise. An official will demand an up-front bribe or an unforeseen tax or fee to the Nigerian government will have to be paid before the money can be transferred. These can include licensing fees, registration fees, and various forms of taxes and attorney fees.

Normally each fee paid is described as the very last fee required. Invariably, oversights and errors in the deal are discovered by the Nigerians, necessitating additional payments and allowing the scheme to be stretched out over many months. Several reasons have been submitted why Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud has undergone a dramatic increase in recent years. The explanations are as diverse as the types of schemes. The Nigerian Government blames the growing problem on mass unemployment, extended family systems, a get rich quick syndrome, and, especially, the greed of foreigners.

Indications are that Advance Fee Fraud grosses hundreds of millions of dollars annually and the losses are continuing to escalate. In all likelihood, there are victims who do not report their losses to authorities due to either fear or embarrassment.

Nigerian/AFF/419 Scam Resources
Nigeria - The 419 Coalition Website
A Textual Analysis of the 419 Scammers letters
Snopes Urban Myths on Nigerian Scams

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The US State Department Advice on 419 Scams
... Their advice on working with or travelling to Nigeria

Dangerous Business
In June of 1995, an American was murdered in Lagos, Nigeria, while pursuing a 4-1-9 scam, and numerous other foreign nationals have been reported as missing. Victims are often convinced of the authenticity of Advance Fee Fraud schemes by the forged or false documents bearing apparently official Nigerian government letterhead, seals, as well as false letters of credit, payment schedules and bank drafts.

How to recognize phishing e-mails or links

A few clues can help you spot fraudulent e-mail messages or links within them.
What does a phishing e-mail look like?

Phishing e-mail messages are designed to steal your identity. They ask for personal data, or direct you to Web sites or phone numbers to call where they ask you to provide personal data.

Phishing e-mail messages take a number of forms:

* They might appear to come from your bank or financial institution, a company you regularly do business with, such as Microsoft, or from your social networking site.
* They might appear to be from someone you know. Spear phishing is a targeted form of phishing in which an e-mail message might look like it comes from your employer, or from a colleague who might send an e-mail message to everyone in the company, such as the head of human resources or IT.
* They might ask you to make a phone call. Phone phishing scams direct you to call a customer support phone number. A person or an audio response unit waits to take your account number, personal identification number, password, or other valuable personal data. The phone phisher might claim that your account will be closed or other problems could occur if you don't respond.
* They might include official-looking logos and other identifying information taken directly from legitimate Web sites, and they might include convincing details about your personal information that scammers found on your social networking pages.
* They might include links to spoofed Web sites where you are asked to enter personal information.

Here is an example of what a phishing scam in an e-mail message might look like.

Example of what a phishing scam in an email message might look like.

Example of a phishing e-mail message, which includes a deceptive Web address that links to a scam Web site.

To make these phishing e-mail messages look even more legitimate, the scam artists may place a link in them that appears to go to the legitimate Web site (1), but actually takes you to a phony scam site (2) or possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site.

Here are a few phrases to look for if you think an e-mail message is a phishing scam.

"Verify your account."

Businesses should not ask you to send passwords, login names, Social Security numbers, or other personal information through e-mail.

If you receive an e-mail message from Microsoft asking you to update your credit card information, do not respond: this is a phishing scam.

"You have won the lottery."

The lottery scam is a common phishing scam known as advanced fee fraud. One of the most common forms of advanced fee fraud is a message that claims that you have won a large sum of money, or that a person will pay you a large sum of money for little or no work on your part. The lottery scam often includes references to big companies, such as Microsoft. There is no Microsoft lottery.

"If you don't respond within 48 hours, your account will be closed."

These messages convey a sense of urgency so that you'll respond immediately without thinking. A phishing e-mail message might even claim that your response is required because your account might have been compromised.
What does a phishing link look like?

Sometimes phishing e-mails direct you to spoofed web sites. Here’s an example of the kind of phrase you might see in an e-mail message that directs you to a phishing Web site:

"Click the link below to gain access to your account."

HTML-formatted messages can contain links or forms that you can fill out just as you’d fill out a form on a Web site.

Phishing links that you are urged to click in e-mail messages, on Web sites, or even in instant messages may contain all or part of a real company’s name and are usually masked, meaning that the link you see does not take you to that address but somewhere different, usually an illegitimate Web site.

Notice in the following example that resting (but not clicking) the mouse pointer on the link reveals the real Web address, as shown in the box with the yellow background. The string of cryptic numbers looks nothing like the company's Web address, which is a suspicious sign.

example of a masked Web address

Example of a masked Web address

Con artists also use Web addresses that resemble the name of a well-known company but are slightly altered by adding, omitting, or transposing letters. For example, the address "www.microsoft.com" could appear instead as:

* www.micosoft.com
* www.mircosoft.com
* www.verify-microsoft.com