Hi All, had an amazing piece of luck today when I received a letter
informing me I'd won £24, 000. Best of it is, it's for a competition I've
never even entered! All I have to do to claim is send my bank details to a
PO box number in Holland and they'll credit my account with the winnings.
How the hell do these clowns afford the postage to send this crap out or are
people really that gullible? And is there some way of getting the promoters
nicked? If they were UK based I'd imagine they'd be neck deep in trouble -
are the laws in Holland so much slacker? [rant mode off] Richard

"Frisket" wrote in message
...
Hi All, had an amazing piece of luck today when I received a letter
informing me I'd won £24, 000. Best of it is, it's for a competition I've
never even entered! All I have to do to claim is send my bank details to a
PO box number in Holland and they'll credit my account with the winnings.
How the hell do these clowns afford the postage to send this crap out or
are
people really that gullible? And is there some way of getting the
promoters
nicked? If they were UK based I'd imagine they'd be neck deep in trouble -
are the laws in Holland so much slacker? [rant mode off] Richard


I've "won" holidays - where all I have to do is take time off work, travel
60 miles the following Thursday morning, spend 2 hours in a "tour" and a
"presentation", then collect my tickets. Who do they think they're kidding?

Peter.

In article , Snowman
writes

"Frisket" wrote in message
...
Hi All, had an amazing piece of luck today when I received a letter
informing me I'd won £24, 000. Best of it is, it's for a competition I've
never even entered! All I have to do to claim is send my bank details to a
PO box number in Holland and they'll credit my account with the winnings.
How the hell do these clowns afford the postage to send this crap out or
are
people really that gullible? And is there some way of getting the
promoters
nicked? If they were UK based I'd imagine they'd be neck deep in trouble -
are the laws in Holland so much slacker? [rant mode off] Richard


I've "won" holidays - where all I have to do is take time off work, travel
60 miles the following Thursday morning, spend 2 hours in a "tour" and a
"presentation", then collect my tickets. Who do they think they're kidding?

This morning I received a personal letter telling me I'd won some great
prize or other, just ring this premium rate number. Oh and "some prizes
require activation at 15 pounds per month".

Your local Trading Standards office is the place to start if you want to
follow up your letter. They will take it further, if they are able.
--
Tim Mitchell

In article ,
"Snowman" wrote:

I've "won" holidays - where all I have to do is take time off work, travel
60 miles the following Thursday morning, spend 2 hours in a "tour" and a
"presentation", then collect my tickets. Who do they think they're kidding?

Ditto, the more we looked into it (attempt to market timeshares), the
more expensive the 'free' holiday became. And that was before we essayed
airport transfers at the other end. We did not bother going to the
presentation, even though ours was at the weekend and in an agreeable
part of Perthshire.

Peter

--
Peter Ashby
School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland
To assume that I speak for the University of Dundee is to be deluded.
Reverse the Spam and remove to email me.

nightjar wrote:
You only have to send
your bank details, which they say is needed to get the money past
currency controls, and that gives them enough information to empty
your account.

But your bank's address and your account name, number and sort code appears
on every cheque you write - it's hardly secret. Surely you need more than
that to empty someone's account.
--
Laurie R

Frisket wrote:

Hi All, had an amazing piece of luck today when I received a letter
informing me I'd won £24, 000. Best of it is, it's for a competition I've
never even entered! All I have to do to claim is send my bank details to a
PO box number in Holland and they'll credit my account with the winnings.
How the hell do these clowns afford the postage to send this crap out or are
people really that gullible? And is there some way of getting the promoters

I think many people really are that gullible. The promise of large sums
of money is irresistable. Why do you think that the Readers Digest Prize
Draw (which is, of course, legit and above board) is still running
after, what, 30 years? It must still increase the sale of RD's books
(which, IMO, are good enough to sell on their own merit).

The worldwide Nigerian 419 e-mail scam still nets hundreds of millions
of dollars each year in the US alone.

nicked? If they were UK based I'd imagine they'd be neck deep in trouble -
are the laws in Holland so much slacker? [rant mode off] Richard



Surely EU law prevails for cross-border crime.

Laurie R wrote:

nightjar wrote:
You only have to send
your bank details, which they say is needed to get the money past
currency controls, and that gives them enough information to empty
your account.

But your bank's address and your account name, number and sort code appears
on every cheque you write - it's hardly secret. Surely you need more than
that to empty someone's account.

But those perpetrating the scam wouldn't know what they are and would
need a valid combination of name, number, and sort code.

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 15:02:47 +0000, parish parish_AT_ntlworld.com
wrote:

The worldwide Nigerian 419 e-mail scam still nets hundreds of millions
of dollars each year in the US alone.

If you get a 419 then the fraud squad are always pleased to receive a
copy, complete with all email headers. Their email address is:



It is also worth reading their web site on the 419's, basically if you
get involved it can result in you finding out how hard a baseball bat
is as it dings off your head, and people have been murdered by trying
to meet these people:

http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm

Andrew

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our
web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk

"Laurie R" wrote in message
...
nightjar wrote:
You only have to send
your bank details, which they say is needed to get the money past
currency controls, and that gives them enough information to empty
your account.

But your bank's address and your account name, number and sort code
appears
on every cheque you write - it's hardly secret. Surely you need more than
that to empty someone's account.

You wouldn't normally have sent a cheque to these people, so they wouldn't
have that information. The only other thing needed, besides your bank
details, is a copy of your signature. The early Nigerian scams used to ask
you to send a blank, signed, sheet of paper, but that did tend to make
people suspicious. However, most people will obligingly sign the letter in
which they send the details, so it only needs a modest skill in forgery to
create a letter of authority to transfer funds out of your account.

Colin Bignell

parish parish_AT_ntlworld.com wrote in message t...

Surely EU law prevails for cross-border crime.

Getting blood out of a stone and getting help from a Swiss bank are
generally considered quite difficult. But they pale against Caribbian
bank controls. They may have branches in Holland, or near by
Switzerland but that is all you will ever know.

I rather believe these fools deserve gulling as they sound like the
kind of morons that think a local beauty spot is the natural dumping
ground for old fridges.

nightjar wrote:

You wouldn't normally have sent a cheque to these people, so they wouldn't
have that information. The only other thing needed, besides your bank
details, is a copy of your signature. The early Nigerian scams used to ask
you to send a blank, signed, sheet of paper, but that did tend to make
people suspicious. However, most people will obligingly sign the letter in
which they send the details, so it only needs a modest skill in forgery to
create a letter of authority to transfer funds out of your account.

alot of these seem to be so called "advance fee" scams. Where you end up
being asked to pay some fee for bank clearance / customs / bribes
whatever to get at "your" money. Neeless to say its this advance fee
that vanishes....

There was a nice case recently where a chap at a computer dealer
actually managed to turn the tables, and scam the scammers out of some
money by the same trick:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/51/31270.html




--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Andrew McKay wrote:

snip

If you get a 419 then the fraud squad are always pleased to receive a
copy, complete with all email headers. Their email address is:


Erm, from the same site,
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419whattodoif.htm ,


"Unless your letter/e-mail contains details of the fraudsters bank
accounts/addresses/telephone numbers please do not forward them to us."

:-)

In message ,
lid writes

"Frisket" wrote in message
...
Hi All, had an amazing piece of luck today when I received a letter
informing me I'd won £24, 000. Best of it is, it's for a competition I've
never even entered! All I have to do to claim is send my bank details to a
PO box number in Holland and they'll credit my account with the winnings.
How the hell do these clowns afford the postage to send this crap out or
are
people really that gullible?

This sounds like a variant of the Nigerian scam -


No, this one's been around much longer than the Nigerian scam


and how much do the phone calls cost to the premium rate number?
--
geoff

John Rumm wrote:

nightjar wrote:

You wouldn't normally have sent a cheque to these people, so they wouldn't
have that information. The only other thing needed, besides your bank
details, is a copy of your signature. The early Nigerian scams used to ask
you to send a blank, signed, sheet of paper, but that did tend to make
people suspicious. However, most people will obligingly sign the letter in
which they send the details, so it only needs a modest skill in forgery to
create a letter of authority to transfer funds out of your account.

alot of these seem to be so called "advance fee" scams. Where you end up
being asked to pay some fee for bank clearance / customs / bribes
whatever to get at "your" money. Neeless to say its this advance fee
that vanishes....

There was a nice case recently where a chap at a computer dealer
actually managed to turn the tables, and scam the scammers out of some
money by the same trick:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/51/31270.html


ROFLMAO. I like it :-)

Andrew McKay wrote:

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 15:02:47 +0000, parish parish_AT_ntlworld.com
wrote:

The worldwide Nigerian 419 e-mail scam still nets hundreds of millions
of dollars each year in the US alone.

If you get a 419 then the fraud squad are always pleased to receive a
copy, complete with all email headers. Their email address is:


Not *all* e-mails. Their website (thanks for the link BTW) states,

"Unless your letter/e-mail contains details of the fraudsters bank
accounts/addresses/telephone numbers please do not forward them to us."



It is also worth reading their web site on the 419's, basically if you
get involved it can result in you finding out how hard a baseball bat
is as it dings off your head, and people have been murdered by trying
to meet these people:

http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm

Andrew

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our
web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk

Peter Ashby wrote:

In article ,
parish parish_AT_ntlworld.com wrote:

I think many people really are that gullible. The promise of large sums
of money is irresistable. Why do you think that the Readers Digest Prize
Draw (which is, of course, legit and above board) is still running
after, what, 30 years? It must still increase the sale of RD's books
(which, IMO, are good enough to sell on their own merit).

You are of course entitled to your own opinion, but the problem with RD
is that once they know your address they are relentless, it can take

Not true. Register your address with the Mailing Preference Service,
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk, and their mailings will stop. RD are, in
fact, *over* zealous in their respect for those who register with MPS.
Under the scheme, any company with which you've done business in the
past can continue to send you mail-shots as it is not considered
unsolicited. From the MPS website:

"/Advertising from companies with which consumers have done business or
charities to which they have donated in the past will continue to be
delivered. If this mail is not wanted any more, it can only be stopped
by contacting the individual company or charity directly./"

We have bought books from RD for the last 15 years or so. About 6 months
ago I registered our address with the MPS. Almost immediately all mail
from RD ceased. Only last Friday I 'phoned RD's Customer Service,
explained the situation, and requested to be re-added to their mailing
lists. Once I had given the lady my address she confirmed that their
mailings had stopped due to us registering with the MPS. I pointed out
to her that, having bought books from them in the past, that we were
existing customers and so they were not required to remove us from their
lists.


them 18months from moving to them catching up with you, though we fooled
them for longer by a 6month move in the middle. They will find you in
the end though. My father used to buy their stuff and if a book is good
enough in full then I will read it in full (Wilbur Smith et al
excepted). As for their magazine, i wouldn't be surprised if they don't
have links to the Project for the New American Century.

Peter

nightjar wrote:
"Laurie R" wrote in message
...
nightjar wrote:
You only have to send
your bank details, which they say is needed to get the money past
currency controls, and that gives them enough information to empty
your account.

But your bank's address and your account name, number and sort code
appears on every cheque you write - it's hardly secret. Surely you
need more than that to empty someone's account.

You wouldn't normally have sent a cheque to these people, so they
wouldn't have that information. The only other thing needed, besides
your bank details, is a copy of your signature. The early Nigerian
scams used to ask you to send a blank, signed, sheet of paper, but
that did tend to make people suspicious. However, most people will
obligingly sign the letter in which they send the details, so it only
needs a modest skill in forgery to create a letter of authority to
transfer funds out of your account.

Colin Bignell

It would be much easier to set up a (semi!) legitimate Ebay business - DIY
tools for example - taking cheques only. That would give you account name,
number, sort code and a signature.
--
Laurie R

"parish" parish_AT_ntlworld.com wrote in message
...
John Rumm wrote:

nightjar wrote:

You wouldn't normally have sent a cheque to these people, so they
wouldn't
have that information. The only other thing needed, besides your bank
details, is a copy of your signature. The early Nigerian scams used to
ask
you to send a blank, signed, sheet of paper, but that did tend to make
people suspicious. However, most people will obligingly sign the letter
in
which they send the details, so it only needs a modest skill in forgery
to
create a letter of authority to transfer funds out of your account.

alot of these seem to be so called "advance fee" scams. Where you end up
being asked to pay some fee for bank clearance / customs / bribes
whatever to get at "your" money. Neeless to say its this advance fee
that vanishes....

There was a nice case recently where a chap at a computer dealer
actually managed to turn the tables, and scam the scammers out of some
money by the same trick:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/51/31270.html


ROFLMAO. I like it :-)

I got this one...I was so sad when reading it. The poor souls!!!!
Anyone being ripped off by this is really naive. They must email millions of
people. They only the odd one though...

To:
Subject: PLEASE GET IN TOUCH
From: "James Konan Bedie"
Date: + Thursday, 17 Jul 2003 4:49:49 PM0100


From : James Konan Bedie


Attn:


I got your contact through the International Brochure (I.B).I decided
to contact you on a mutual business relationship. My name is Mr. James Konan
Bedie the son of former president Henri Konan Bedie of cote D´Ivoire, who
was unfortunately toppled in a military coup in Dec. 1999 by General Robert
Guei.

As at when the military junta struck,and took over the elected
government of my father,i was co-ordinating his special businesses, and was
also in charge of all his deposit account with different financial
instituions in Europe.

To this,Luxemburg Goverment have already responded by exposing many of
my family´s bank account in their country. It is based on this development
that i have the mandate of my father to contact you and request you
specifically to assist my family, by helping us to secure this deposit we
have with a Holding company in Europe, which amounts to US$15 million
(fifteen million US dollars). This will make it impossible for the new
Goverment in power in my country, to have acess to this fund.

It is base on the fact that i am requesting you to assist us in
putting this sum of money in safe keeping by accepting to receive it from
the Holding company on our behalf by changing the name and signatory of the
account into yours so that it will not have any link to my family and for
that reason, my country will not discover it.

I will furnish you with the details of this transaction if you accept
to assist. For your efforts we will discuss what remuneration i will give
you when you reply.

Because of the urgency this issue requires. you should reach me on the
above e-mail addresses. Do not forget to include your telephone and fax
numbers while replying to this message.

I await your quick response.

Best regards.

James Konan Bedie.






---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.488 / Virus Database: 287 - Release Date: 05/06/2003

"Andrew McKay" wrote :
On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 00:19:50 +0000, parish parish_AT_ntlworld.com
wrote:

There was a nice case recently where a chap at a computer dealer
actually managed to turn the tables, and scam the scammers out of some
money by the same trick:

ROFLMAO. I like it :-)

I'm not sure I'd want to be playing these games with the people who
perpetrate the crimes. Lots of stories of victims who try to follow up
to get their money back being met with physical harm, some deaths.

After all, the 419ers most likely have your name and domain name from
your email address. From that, should they be interested in doing so,
they can probably find you physically.

Andrew

Don't think that retribution is nearly as common as the fear of
retribution - for someone to fly in, hunt you down, bash you over the head,
risk being caught, lengthy prison sentence, etc, you'd have to be a serious
thorn in their side, or pretty unlucky.

The death mentioned was recorded as being the result of a meeting in South
Africa. Wonder where that meeting was arranged - some dark corner of
Johannesburg, perhaps? Immediately alarm bells start ringing with that
one....

cheers
Richard

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

"Peter Ashby" wrote in message
news
In article ,

Ditto, the more we looked into it (attempt to market timeshares), the
more expensive the 'free' holiday became. And that was before we essayed
airport transfers at the other end. We did not bother going to the
presentation, even though ours was at the weekend and in an agreeable
part of Perthshire.



I'd be more concerned that while I was 60 miles away, someone would be
breaking into my house.

--
/Slugsie

From the chaotic regions of the Cryptosphere, "Colin M"
wrote on Tue, 22 Jul 2003 00:09:00
+0100:

Sorry to change the subject, but this guy seems to have the right idea for
tackling the 419 scammers:

www.quatloos.com/brad_christensen.htm

Excellent stuff! This page has been book marked for when I need a
good laugh.
--
Hugo Nebula
"You know, I'd rather see this on TV,
Tones it down" - Laurie Anderson

"Colin M" wrote in message
...
Sorry to change the subject, but this guy seems to have the right idea for
tackling the 419 scammers:

www.quatloos.com/brad_christensen.htm

Colin



And, whilst we're on the subject...

http://j-walk.com/other/conf/index.htm





--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk