Scams

'Zig-Zag' Bangkok Airport Scam: More Details Revealed

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:18:00 +0000

THE FOCUS on an extortion scam at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport broadened today as the BBC reported that instances of entrapment are more frequent than officials believe.

An honest scammer

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Man loses 35,000 dollars in 'marinaded money' scam

Tue, 13 May 2008 07:51:00 +0000

OSLO (AFP) - A Vietnamese man in Norway lost around 35,000 dollars after he was led to believe that mixing the cash with a special liquid would double its value, Norwegian media reported Saturday.

Accumulated family disasters = Botswana email scam

Tue, 06 May 2008 08:22:00 +0000

Respectable husband (member of the diplomatic corps this time, but could be lawyer, wealthy businessman, king of a non-existing country etc.) of African nationality dies in 4 days of a brief illness (maybe ebola?) and leaves a young child (of unknown sex; their gender will change based on your wishes) behind after 18 years of marriage with wife. They must be a late child... Wifey remains loyal to hubby's memory and decides "not to get a new child" (like in a supermarket). Husband deposits a huge sum of American dollars in a bank account in Ivory Coast (I could have guessed) which is worth less and less in today's economic situation.... What a tragedy! Wife develops cancer and is expected to live for 6 months only. She cannot rely on husband's family (she has no next of kin, of course...) as they don't like money(!) and it even turns out that they caused the husband's death (spreading ebola?). Therefore she turns to me (or you or whoever gets this spam) and asks to take care of her child and help them handling the fortune. Wife honestly admits that she has sent this email to multiple recipients, so I must be quick, 'cos 'the early bird gets the worm'.

Jobless man 'sells' The Ritz

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:56:00 +0000

A JOBLESS fraudster attempted to sell London’s famous Ritz Hotel to a businessman for £250million, a court heard today. Fraudster Tony Lee posed as a representative for the hotel’s owners – the reclusive Barclay brothers – taking a £1million deposit from unsuspecting Terry Collins.

Sierra Leone / Ivory Coast Scam

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:37:00 +0000

I should be a billionaire by now, having received so many unbeatable offers of quick fortune. Today's email is simple and "straightforward". It doesn't rely on my sympathy, even if the sender's father has been deceased, there is no mention of murder or drama... The addressing is a bit intimate, it supposes that I know the sender, Kingsley well. (Would he mind, if I called him "King" affectionately...?) He sounds so sweet as if he was courting me: "first i want to get to know you better". I'd like to trust "King "so much... But I'm so confused.... Why, oh why, can't we help our brothers and sisters out there without any prejudice? ;-)

The Angolan email scam

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:28:00 +0000

Sometimes the most interesting pieces of your mailbox lie in your junk mail folder. I encourage everyone to post the best picks and share a good laugh with us. This time a very likable sounding young girl, "Tessy" from Angola needs my help. I got her email "accidentally", of course.

Oregon Man's Property Ransacked after Craigslist Hoax

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:45:00 +0000

JACKSONVILLE, Ore. -- Police say belongings removed from a Southern Oregon man's property have begun slowly reappearing at his home, a day after a pair of hoax ads on Craigslist cost Robert Salisbury much of what he owned. And police said people who return the items voluntarily will not be prosecuted.

Fake fears over Ethiopia's gold

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:31:00 +0000

Ethiopia's national bank has been told to inspect all the gold in its vaults to determine its authenticity. It follows the discovery that some of the "gold" it had bought for millions of dollars was gold-plated steel. The first hint that something was wrong reportedly came when the Ethiopian central bank exported a consignment of gold bars to South Africa. The South Africans sent them back, complaining that they had been sold gilded steel.

Britons and Canadians among victims in possible wedding scam: Dominican officials

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:44:00 +0000

Investigators have uncovered what they suspect is a wedding scam involving more than 200 British and Canadian couples who paid hundreds of dollars for Dominican marriages that were never officially recorded.

Cyber-savvy town gets rich on eBay frauds

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:27:00 +0000

HUNDREDS of people in the poor Romanian town of Dragasani have grown rich by conning eBay online auction customers with deals that seem too good to be true - and often are. The scammers have even put the new town hall up for sale on eBay, the mayor admitted last week. “I mean, who would want it?” he asked.

Derren Brown: Russian Scam

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:45:00 +0000

Derren Brown manages to take someones wallet and house keys, simply by asking for them naturally. Apparently, it is an old Russian scam. Incredible how you don't realise you're being conned.

Wiis For Only $99

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:19:00 +0000

An Arkansas man(?) advertised Wii for $99 on www.wiifor99.com. According to Consumerist.com, the website has also been advertised on Facebook. Here are two screenshots taken before the site was suspended. Nice phishing attempt.

The Real Hustle - The Poker Scam

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:07:00 +0000

The hustlers are going to cheat in poker against 3 pros, using rigged decks.

Fake Craigslist post offered sex for cash

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:45:00 +0000

Men hungry for sex besieged a Brooklyn woman with phone calls after spotting a bogus ad on Craigslist that said she was looking to turn tricks to pay off Christmas debt.

How to make money out of Bhutto's death - SCAM ALERT

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:08:00 +0000

Today I got this letter from "Benazir Bhutto's lawyer" informing me that I had been chosen as Bhutto's next of kin and heir of her fortune. Needless to say that I'm not, so I was very pleasantly suprised ;-) Bhutto's lawyer is very generous, he offered me 40% of the assets. Read his email below. Hilarity ensures.

Scams targeting US troops and their families

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:10:00 +0000

A 3rd Infantry Division soldier deploying to Iraq is warning other servicemembers of the latest scam to target troops and their families. According to 1st Lt. David Cowan, in early December his 84-year-old grandmother received a phone call from a man calling himself J.D. Taylor. The man claimed that Cowan was on his way home on leave from Iraq for the holidays, but had gotten hung up and lost his wallet and military identification card.

Bartender Secrets and Scams

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:40:00 +0000

The Faebook Scam - Yes, That’s Faebook, Without A C

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:00:00 +0000

Stan Schroeder, Mashable writes: This is one weird scam. Someone registered the domain Faebook.com (Facebook without a C) and redirected it, using an iframe, to Amazon - of course, with his/her own Amazon referrals. It’s the good old tactics of using misspelled domain names for profit, but it’s uncommon to see such an obvious misspelling of a site as big as Faebook used like this.

Derren Brown's astrology readings

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:06:00 +0000

Derren Brown gives readings via "astrology." From "Trick of the Mind," S03E01. Astrology relies heavily on the Barnum and Forer effect, which are statements that can apply to anybody.