I just received an email purporting to come from Amazon that had the following message:
Well, you would have thought that a scammer might at least have made some effort to write their message in proper English.
For example, what does 'We have recently determined that various computers connect to your Amazon account, password, and the present of chess more taient before the connection' mean?
Furthermore, the 'Click here.' hyperlink goes to a very dodgy looking URL that is just a lot of numbers.
Not the most convincing of scam emails, is it?
PS. If you think that it is, perhaps I could introduce you to my friend, who is the Oil Minister for Cordeguay ...
Well, you would have thought that a scammer might at least have made some effort to write their message in proper English.
For example, what does 'We have recently determined that various computers connect to your Amazon account, password, and the present of chess more taient before the connection' mean?
Furthermore, the 'Click here.' hyperlink goes to a very dodgy looking URL that is just a lot of numbers.
Not the most convincing of scam emails, is it?
PS. If you think that it is, perhaps I could introduce you to my friend, who is the Oil Minister for Cordeguay ...
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many people get suckered into that one?
Oil Minister for Cordeguay? Senor Huilio Petroleous by any chance?
All the best,
DC
David Crook,
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that anyone knew who he was! Have you met him?
A very convincing chap isn't he ... and so honest-looking?
All the best,
Bob
Bob
ReplyDeleteObviously there's no intelligence test for scammers,but you passed the test for potential targets! I got an equally brilliant request last week from the FBI using a hotmail account!
Cheers
PD
Peter Douglas,
ReplyDeleteYou mean that the FBI doesn't use Hotmail? OMG!
All the best,
Bob
So many scams are just so obviously wrong, aren't they?
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
Bluebear Jeff,
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is a good thing that most scammers are so inept, otherwise more people might get caught by them.
All the best,
Bob
Oil Minister for Cordeguay... Not looking for export markets in snake oil is he? He should try this country (New Zealand). The present administration seems keen to import a line of snake oil to purvey to the populace...
ReplyDeleteOil Minister for Cordeguay sounds like a character in a game we might develop someday....perhaps a rogue commander in an interwar scenario?...I might use that nom de guerre in a Spanish Civil War scenario..."Dom Cordeguay de Zaragossa" sounds like a fellow who could rally the troops!
ReplyDeleteArchduke Piccolo,
ReplyDeleteThe search for export markets is only matched in intensity by the search for some actual oil ... snake or otherwise.
But now we know of a possible bunch of ... customers ... it will encourage all Cordeguayans to look even harder.
All the best,
Bob
Littlejohn,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like an excellent idea.
The present Oil Minister's father - Manuel Antonio Urbano Sebastiano Evarado Roberto Fusil de Cordeguay - was reputed to have contacts with several armaments manufacturers during the 1930s.
All the best,
Bob
I'm no expert but my suspicion is that emails like that may download malware just by opening them rather than by following the dodgy links. I always delete stuff like this without opening.
ReplyDeletePS Did I hear you have a job going as Oil Minister?
Stryker,
ReplyDeleteI suspect that you may well be correct.
The position of Oil Minister has been filled ... but there is a vacancy for Assistant Deputy Oil Minister still available. For a small fee, it can be yours. Just send me your bank details and pin number ... and I will do the rest.
All the best,
Bob
I had heard the argument that there's no point in making scams convincing because you are only after really thick and gullible people.
ReplyDeleteAnybody else, even a level or two up, will drop out after they've come to their senses (so are a waste of time): the only people who are worth drawing in are the ones who are dumb enough to go the distance - and they self select by falling for transparently fake opening approaches.
That might be people over analysing, of course ...
The again, I'm sure advertising for 'easy controllable personal finance' (at rates no analytical mind would ever contemplate) works that way. Why bother trying to appeal to someone who can do sums?
:) Phil
SoA Shows North (Phil),
ReplyDeleteI suppose that badly constructed scams are a form of natural selection.
As to most people’s ability to do even simple arithmetic in their heads so that they can make the sort of judgement necessary in the situation you outlined ... well don’t blame me, because somebody else taught that!
All the best,
Bob
Phil,
ReplyDeleteI thought that you might enjoy my reply!
All the best,
Bob
Like everyone else I suppose, I get periodic emails from "a fine Christian gentleman from Nigeria" who wants to leave me $37,000,000. All I need to do is send them information such as my bank account number. Right!
ReplyDeleteI always respond by advising "him" that Jesus and I appreciate his generosity, but there is no need for me to send him any information, as I will soon be visiting Nigeria and can pick the money up personally. In the alternative, if they would please send me their bank account number I will arrange everything on my end.
Oddly enough, I have yet to hear anything further from any of these fine Christian gentlemen.
Chris
Chris,
ReplyDeleteThe good old Nigerian 419 scam! Still going strong in all its forms despite numerous warnings in the media.
I understand that there is a journalist who has written widely about scamming the scammers, and that his approach was similar to your own. Good luck ... and I hope that your system works.
All the best,
Bob
"and the present of chess more taient" would love to know what that meant, possibly something spoken in a thick accent and then typed by a thick typist...fantastically enigmatic. N
ReplyDelete