Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Behold The Army Of Scammers


I can guarantee you that whenever I open my email these days, there'll be at least five different notices in the junk email. Yes, the spammers are back, and being busy, spamming all sorts of nonsense. Things that I don't need, want, or care less about. I don't care about hip reflexors or building sheds. And it doesn't matter how many times you block an junk email address, another one offering the same crap will just show up three days later.

And of course there are the internet scammers, such as this one, whose message got dumped where it belonged, in the junk email, and who had an internet email address suggesting she, he, or it is associated with a school organization in Houston. 


Hello,

I have a personal Project in which i need your support I would like to

be sure of your willingness and commitment to execute this

transaction with me. I seek your partnership in receiving this fund

worth (Twenty five million United States Dollars). If interested, reply

immediately for detailed information.

Regards,

Sgt. Britta Lopez.


Well, here we have some of the tell-tale signs of a classic internet scammer, while others are absent. True, we don't have the sob story of the widow/ daughter/ secretary/ concubine/ personal assistant to the late general/ reverend/ Cabinet Minister/ seething warlord of some distant corner of the world. It's shorter than most of those letters, but there are hints- capitalized words such as Project or Twenty that don't require capitals, or issues with punctuation.

This one, instead of using the standard general or colonel of a distant land, goes with a sergeant. With a name that probably wouldn't be out of place in the United States. But it doesn't seem to occur to this individual that while those of the senior non commissioned ranks are the backbone of any military force (at least one that shouldn't be messed with), comparatively speaking they're not that high in the ranks. So using logic (something that doesn't occur to scammers), a sergeant would not have access to twenty five million dollars.


No, a real sergeant (something you are not, Miss Lopez, or whatever the hell your real name is) is the sort out there screaming at new recruits, putting them in shape and making them wonder if they should have made it easier on themselves and signed up for the Coast Guard (note to the recruits: the Coasties don't have it easy). They're busy wondering if that new lieutenant fresh out of officer training is ever going to get their act together. They don't have the time to be sending out mass scam email like you do. 

I had a look online. It seems if you google Sgt. Britta Lopez, there are already several warnings out there about this scammer, with generally the same message. Whoever they are, and whatever their actual email is (because let's face it, that Houston introductory email is just the first in a long chain of emails that will eventually lead to some distant hellhole), they've never actually been in any military. Though they are part of an army. An army of the infernal wastes. The scammers, each of them hoping that the next email they send lands a few suckers who'll be easily parted with their money.

We need to gather all those scammers together on some remote island somewhere... and drop a few bunker buster bombs on them.

13 comments:

  1. They almost got me this week when one called me on my cell saying he's from Microsoft headquarters and I have serious issues with my desktop. After entering remotely, he showed me some problems and said I needed to pay him by debit card if I wanted to use my computer. He wouldn't take a credit card which tipped me off but I was afraid it might be too late. I asked him what will happen if I do nothing and he said my computer will become unusable.He changed a few things on the desktop and I reported it when I hung up. So far I am okay but now I'm worried because I had many personal contracts with shortcuts on my desktop page. Thanks for writing this because people need to be aware of how prevalent this problem is becoming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A good idea to change all passwords and follow up with Microsoft to make sure.

      Delete
  2. No cancer stricken widow? Clearly it's a scam! They can't have that amount of money without having cancer. It's impossible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm expecting the cancer stricken widow letter any day soon.

      Delete
  3. I haven't received an email like that in years. I guess they don't consider me rich enough. When the people (at least once a month) call and say they are from Micro Soft and my computer has issues, I tell them they should be ashamed trying to scam an elderly woman. They hang up on me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Seems lots of folks are still susceptible to that Microsoft scam. Sure hope that first person who left a comment learns never to continue a conversation with these scummers. We used to get those calls as well and know that the real Microsoft folks will never call people. If you want to be entertained by someone who repkys to spam emails, watch James Veitch on you tube.

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  5. Like Norma I get a call every two months tell me my Windows or some such thing is about the stop or some such garbage and I need to renew !
    Oh yeah, like I am going to do that. Plus it has been 4 months and my computer is just fine.
    People (?) have no shame, work ethic or honor gimmy money so I can sit on my ass and drink beer. Shum !

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Every once in awhile someone is gullible enough to buy it.

      Delete
    2. When the "windows" call comes in. They usually say something like, "it's time to replace your Windows", my reply is always, "no, I just replaced my windows 4 months ago w/ new thermal ones. Quite expensive, but I do save on my electric bill now". Stumps them every time...then I laugh and hang up the phone.

      Delete
  6. I ignore them. My superpower is that I recognize a con when I see one.

    Which is why I didn't vote for Trump.

    ReplyDelete

Comments and opinions always welcome. If you're a spammer, your messages aren't going to last long here, even if they do make it past the spam filters. Keep it up with the spam, and I'll send Dick Cheney after you.