Scam Alert Revealed

Virus Warning!!

2006-05-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

I just received this.

WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING!

URGENT - HOAX WARNING FOR ALL MEMBERS

Warning READ AS SOON AS POSSIBLE Get this sent around to your contacts ASAP...
we don't need this spreading around.....

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:

You should be alert during the next days: Do not open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it, It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it. If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend,do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND! IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US.

Thought I would pass this on to my members.
Would not want this to happen to you.

your friend,

Mary

Avoiding the Nigerian Letter Scam

2006-05-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Be very careful with individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.

Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation.

Guard your account information carefully. Don't give out any personal information!

"Scams, Schemes and Bad Ideas" Part 2

2006-05-25T10:16:00.001-07:00

Bad Idea:

Mystery Shoppers - Forget about it! Mystery shopping is not a real opportunity. Or at least the odds are against you. Many of the Mystery Shopper websites will give you a list of department stores for a ridiculous fee (some even require you to buy merchandise...).

There may be the acceptation to the rule. But make sure you do your home work. As a general rule of thumb, dealing with anything on the internet, no legitimate employer will charge you a fee to hire you. What your paying for with mystery shopping sites is a service.

With things like Mystery Shopping or Online Surveys, they'll charge you a one time fee. It should never be more than this. And I would never pay more the $35.00...

The only reason I would support someone doing either one of these is the company is going to save you time and effort. Your time is money. You could go and find online surveys and mystery shopping jobs on your own for free. What these services do is compile a database for you saving you time finding these places. They also may provide a lot of help and ideas since they understand this particular job market.

Just know who you're dealing with, make sure their a reputable source, and never pay more than a one time fee.

There is a chance, the list you get will be worthless. There are only so many Mystery Jobs on the planet. It probably would be cheaper or easier to just call around your area from store to store and ask if they are hiring!

I am not saying the opportunity doesn't exist at all, but they're tough to find...

For more information about go to:

FTC.gov
vandruff.com/mlm
Fraud - Pyramid Scams - Fraud Prevention, Information and News about Fraud Online

Even More Information on Scams, Schemes and Fraud:

FTC.gov - The FTC has put together a nice area highlighting many of the high tech, internet, dot com scams you may run in to.

FBI.gov - The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C)

www.ScamBusters.org - Another very good site highlighting many of the scams and schemes online and offline.

NetScams.com/ - A good set of information about protecting yourself online... "Netscams has been established to empower individuals to become more knowledgeable about the use of the Internet, protecting personal interests and fostering satisfaction through increased levels of awareness"... in their words. I can't put it better than that!

And if you're really serious, here are a Few More Recommended Resources regarding online fraud and prevention...

Identity Theft Resource Center
San Diego, Calif.
www.idtheftcenter.org

Anti-Phishing Working Group
www.anti-phishing.org

PayPal Security Center
www.paypal.com/security

eBay Security Center
www.ebay.com/securitycenter

U.S. Postal Service
www.usps.com

Federal Trade Commission ID theft resource page
www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

Google News - Internet Scams - Get Scam alerts in your inbox!

Good Luck,
Mary & Alex

www.Dont-Get-Scammed-Again.blogspot.com

"Scams, Schemes and Bad Ideas" Part 1

2006-05-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

An example of a bad idea:

Job Posting Disclaimer (found on www.Monster.com)

"Although Monster.com has reference to job placements this offering is for a Work at Home business opportunity and is in no way to be construed as a job offering. Serious people can go to our web site and purchase a decision package for 39.95 that will explain our business in detail. There is 3 hours of information to review to help you decide if this is the right opportunity for you. The incomes presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and are not a guarantee of your income nor are they typical. Each individuals success will be determined by his or her desire, dedication, effort, ability to follow directions and personal talent."

OK, Did they just say, "Purchase a decision package" and "The incomes presented are not a guarantee of your income nor are they typical."!!??

Warning, warning!! The opportunity is probably unrealistic and you'll never make any money. The only people making money are the ones selling decision packages for $39.95.....

I sometimes wish I didn't have a conscious. Obviously people do very well taking advantage of other people... legal yes, bad idea YES.

How to protect yourself from fraud...

2006-05-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Types to be aware of:
Internet Auction Fraud
Non-Delivery of Merchandise
Credit Card Fraud
Investment Fraud
Business Fraud

Some of the things you can do to protect yourself or be aware of; Know who you're dealing with.
Make sure you are dealing with a reputable source. Do your homework!

Learn everything you can about a seller or company before doing business with them.
If it's an auction, examine the feedback on that seller.

If you are going to take part in an auction, understand how the auction works.

Auctions:

Remember, there is no reason to give your social security number or drivers license number to the seller!

Make sure you get the sellers address and phone number.
Call the phone number to verify it's accurate.
Also verify the e-mail address in this way.
Check with the Better Business Bureau in the sellers area.
Do a few searches on the company to see if anything pops up. Google Groups is a great place to look. See if anyone's talking about them!
Be even more careful with individuals or businesses outside your country. Many times the laws are different and it could be difficult to pursue legal action...
The best and safest way to purchase items on the internet is with a credit card. You can dispute the charges and you have the credit card company to back you.
Make sure the site your dealing with is secure and again reputable. As an example: Verisign.com is a way many online merchants provide secure transactions. It is pricey for them so you may only find them on larger sites... you will see a Verisign Symbol somewhere on the site. For the smaller merchants (like myself) Paypal.com or PayLoadz.com give them security. The buyer is sent to Paypal.com's secure website to purchase the product or service.

Sites can vanish without a trace! This is especially prevalent in the investment area. They take your money and disappear. Make sure they are reputable.

Be careful with special offers... especially if they came from unsolicited e-mail.
Inquire on Terms and Conditions when dealing with things like investments.
And always remember that old saying, if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is!

Internet Fraud Complaint Center: The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

PayPal.com Fraud Prevention Tips for Buyers

"Scams, Schemes and Bad Ideas" continued....

2006-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Internet Scams are everywhere.

Any click could lure you into a scheme; you most likely won't even be aware of it until it's to late. There are other traps that maybe we can't label as a scam, but you will probably be out some money in the end... bad ideas.

I have put this area of my website together to inform you so you are prepared when one of these jokers come your way. Many scams have the origins from the offline world. Others were created just for this unique environment called the World Wide Web...

Never give your personal information out by e-mail or online without confirming the legitimacy of the source request. Even if it looks real, call the source, go to the physical address, or ignore it. Banks especially still use the mail service for such things, not e-mails...

Google Alerts - You can customize a news alert to a topic or query.

Click Here and Create an alert about Internet Scams!

Hidden Truths About Legitimate Scams

2006-05-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

A legitimate scam delivers the product or service it promises but the customer is still left with nothing! Following are some examples. Maybe you'll recognize some of these scams.

Federal Jobs

Don't pay for this information. You can easily find this information in your local library.

Earn Money Reading Newspapers

This legitimate scam involves being in the middle of a real estate deal. You locate properties for sale by owner and hook them up with buyers (and charge a nice profit for your services.)

College Degrees by Mail

The degrees you'll get are imitation degrees for novelty purposes. They cost around $50-$100. Many companies sell them through ads in the back of national magazines.

Remember, no one gives you something for nothing! Avoid scams. Save your money and put it towards a legitimate business.

Scams The Truth about scams

Envelope Stuffing Scams

2006-05-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Why would companies pay you to stuff envelopes when they can get an envelope stuffing machine that will automate the envelope stuffing for a few hundred dollars?

Here's why envelope stuffing is a scam

You pay a registration fee. This is how the scam operator makes money.
The scam operator will then send you a copy of the ad you originally responded to. You have to place ads telling people they can make money stuffing envelopes, and ask them to send a self-addressed stamped envelope for information.

When you receive someone's self-addressed stamped envelope, you send them a copy of the ad.
You have just "stuffed an envelope." If this person sends in the registration fee to the operator (like you did), the operator will send you $1 (or other amount that was promised in the ad) for "stuffing the envelope."

You advertise for the operator for very low pay. You should expect a response rate of 1/4% to 1/2%. This means that if you get 200 responses from your ad, you'll make $1. Not a good way to make money!

The other envelope scams works like this

You send the registration fee, and the operator sends you a package containing the components of the operator's mailings. You must assemble, fold, and stuff the envelopes according to the operator's exact instructions.

Then, you send the stuffed envelopes back to the operator. You will be paid for each stuffed envelope that "meets their standards." None of the envelopes you stuffed will meet their standards. They will always find a reason not to pay you.

Don't fall for envelope stuffing scams. Save your money and put it towards a legitimate business.

Avoid Typing Scams Promising Typing Work At Home

2006-05-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

Don't fall for ads mentioning they will give you a list of companies looking for typists, word processors, or secretaries to work from home.

The advertisement implies that the company will provide you with typing jobs. These listings are usually scams. When you get the package, you'll find out that the company does NOT provide typing jobs. All you'll get is a listing of companies with addresses and phone numbers in your state. Most of the companies don't even know they are listed on those lists.

The problem

The advertising implies that the company will provide you with typing jobs but they don't.
The company claims that the companies on the list have typing jobs available but they don't. The advertising is misleading because the company does not provide you with typing work as the advertisement implies.

You have to contact those companies and solicit typing work.
The company providing the list has no connection to the companies listed on the list.
If you'll contact the companies on the list, you'll find that they don't know anything about this list and they are not hiring typists. There are no guarantees that the contacted company needs typing services from outside contractors like you.

The list covers the whole state. Most of the typing work will come from companies within a 5 mile radius. You don't want to target your whole state.

Here are better ways to finding typing work

You can find better prospects for typing work in your local Yellow Pages. If you compile your own listing, you can target it to those kinds of businesses you want to work with.

Most libraries will provide you with a current, computerized database you can target by industry, income, number of employees, and other criteria.

The package doesn't provide a name, address, or phone number making it difficult to get a refund.

Instead of spending your money on a scam like this, get information about starting a typing business that will really help you.

Here's the good news. You CAN make $500 a week typing at home. I you have typing skills, the best way to get typing jobs from home is by starting a secretarial business. A secretarial service is a legitimate business.

OnLine Scams... Companies to avoid (listings)

2006-04-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

There is a LONG list that I found In TWAHMS LIST

The below list are companies that either HAVE litigations against them, WILL have litigations against them soon (pending), have had many complaints filed against them, or are suspect companies to be aware of. C&D stands for Cease & Desist Order. Companies Issued Cease & Desist Orders

"If you are skeptical about whether a company or website is a scam try the following technique:

Send an email to them asking a general question.
Let them know you are interested but you wish to obtain more information before deciding whether to purchase through them. Keep the email short, and wait for their response.

Of course you are going to get a reply. Most likely, you'll get one right away as they want to get you while you're "hot". Now, once you get a response, email them again. Ask THREE more detailed questions. Ones that aren't so easy to answer or may take time. Wait for a response.If you don't get one, obviously they don't feel you are worth the time and you should move on. If you DO get one, do NOT sign up/pay into it just yet.

Send one more email asking even more questions and DO NOT include the fact that it will be your "last" email and then you will sign up. Don't EVER let them know how close you are to giving in or buying into the offer. Always appear to be cautious and skeptical. This doesn't mean that you should tell them you've been scammed before, or that you are skeptical.

Letting a potential scammer know you've been a victim of someone else's before is never a good idea."

SCAMS UPDATES

Click and go to the botton

** This was the advise I myself read. It is exactly what I did with one of the scams I will list below. I sent this man five emails asking questions and after the fifth email I never heard from him again. So the advice that Catherine Valerie gives (the author of the above article) is very true. I had this man stumped on the questions I was asking him, so he gave up because he knew he would not make the sale with me.

If it sounds to good to be true, then it's a scam! You may want to consider signing up for the newsletter and updates at Scam Busters yourself, it is well worth it! If you have been scammed online, or even suspect a scam submit your complaint to Scam Busters immediately. Help put a stop to these scammers ripping people off.Work At Home Directories, Guides, Listings?

If you have seen one you have seen them all. 90% of them are free ads you yourself can obtain of the www. Best advice? Don't waste your money. I wasted money on two so called directories out there.
Envelope Stuffing ?

One of the biggest and oldest scams going.

Ad Placing Programs?

Stuffing envelopes
Assemble Products
Stapling Booklets
Name Compilers

Your paid:$0.25 for each ad typed. ( the ads you type are for the cruddy membership you just bought)

Refer Others & Get Paid BIG MONEY?
Ok! Now I sure hope we all know better then this.And The List Can Go On!

If you were defrauded or received a email or web scam let us know about your expirence ?

2006-04-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

It's not just viruses that threaten us in email.
Common Internet and email scams include: phishing scams, lottery winning scams, Nigerian 419 scams, and even charitable donation scams. It pays to be paranoid. Familiarize yourself with the tactics used so...Go Here

Post a email/scam that you are aware of:

This Scam letter came in my mail - box today

Dear Sir/madam

I was checking through an economic mailing list belonging to a group of personal and business gazette magazine. I was really amazed and fascinated to have noticed that the new updated database has increased with new interesting members.

Since, you have been listed in the database; I will make the first initiative by introducing myself to you. My name is Dr Tomas Bjorn Svesson, a retired chief economist and also financial adviser of various world and business leaders in the field of project management, account management etc. During my years as chief economist and a consultant, I have made sure to bring up the best of me in my field of play.

My last contract was with the just passed away Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr Rafik Hariri, who passed away in early days of February. During my association with him, we did undertake a lot of projects which I was the main pillar behind the facilitation and was also responsible for all the design works in all projects that, I did initiate were successfully completed beyond schedule. But there was one project left behind completion which was the Mineral Exploration project for a grant to foreign investor, which his Excellency and I was the only individual who new about the existence of the projects.

This was a project to attract and encourage new business opportunity for employment and growth in the country. Before the beginning of the project, his Excellency allocated funds needed for the completion of the project from start to finish and was located in an account which I and his Excellency were the only had full control access to the funds in the account.

As you know from what was said about Mr. Hariri, he was a very wealthy businessman and did what was needed of him as a father, leader and citizen of Lebanon. As a matter of fact, since the death of his Excellency the project has come to a halt and the funds are still in the custody of the bank, which my intention is to get these funds out of the said bank account. All attempts, I have done to reimbursed the money in the account of the family have proved futile because knowing my involvement with his Excellency and the project would involve me and as such we need an independent person to apply for the loan (Note that this grant is not repayable).

At this moment, the funds are located in another account in Europe, where after been approved the payment would be made from European. But what I need from you now is that, if you owe a company or you are an investor willing to invest in Lebanon with a bank account that can allow large transfer, and then these funds can be directed to your account as a grant.

The most interesting thing about this, is that the bank would contact me to approve the grant I must stress that, I am a very busy man and would not tolerate only unserious and reliable person to take up this proposal,

Thanks.
Dr James Woodman,

On ALL of these Scams YOUR TASK are;

1. Receive payment from Customers

2. Cash Payment at your Bank

3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed

4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to. (Payment is to be forwarded either by Money Gramme or Western Union Money Transfer). www.westernunion.com

Have any one been scammed before?

2006-04-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

Where and How???

===> Check my Story Out

If you been Scammed before or know of a Scammer PLEASE post it.

So everyone could take a note on that.

2006-04-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

What Is Spam?

Electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings.Some people define spam even more generally as any unsolicited e-mail.

However, if a long-lost brother finds your e-mail address and sends you a message, this could hardly be called spam, even though it's unsolicited.

Real spam is generally e-mail advertising for some product sent to a mailing list or newsgroup.In addition to wasting people's time with unwanted e-mail, spam also eats up a lot of network bandwidth.
Consequently, there are many organizations, as well as individuals, who have taken it upon themselves to fight spam with a variety of techniques.But because the Internet is public, there is really little that can be done to prevent spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail.

However, some online services have instituted policies to prevent spammers from spamming their subscribers.There is some debate about the source of the term, but the generally accepted version is that it comes from the Monty Python song, "Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam…" Like the song, spam is an endless repetition of worthless text.Another school of thought maintains that it comes from the computer group lab at the University of Southern California who gave it the name because it has many of the same characteristics as the lunchmeat Spam:

Nobody wants it or ever asks for it.
No one ever eats it; it is the first item to be pushed to the side when eating the entree.
Sometimes it is actually tasty, like 1% of junk mail that is really useful to some people.Also see spim.Also see Getting Rid of Spam in the Did You Know section of Webopedia.

Be AWARE fake banks, lotteries and companies

2006-04-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Please be aware that the fake banks, lotteries and companies on this list are used by dangerous criminals. We don't encourage anyone to engage in any form of communications with them. If you chose to communicate with them, for whatever reasons, you will be doing so at your own risk.

Click Here

ANTI-SCAMMERS

2006-04-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

POINTERS FOR SCAM BAITERS

419 EATER ARTISTS AGAINST 419

ANTI-SCAMMER MESSAGE BOARD

419ers NIGHTMARE MESSAGE BOARD

FOREIGN OFFICE SPECIAL OPS DEPT

NIGERIAN ANTI-SCAM NETWORK

SCAM PATROL

Don't Join A Company....

2006-04-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

After a year of looking for a REAL home based business I got scamed so many times but I did learn this:

1. Never click an ad that states you'll be succesfull Guarantee!It's a lie

2.Working a couple of hours a week, or your computer will do the workyou'll earn thousands.Scam

3. Don't join a company for there compensation only but join the company first for the product ask your self this questions:

A. Are the products expensive?

B. Are there any money back guarantee?

C.Are they worth buying?

D.Will I benefit In purchasing the product?

E.Do they have a variety of products or just only a couple

4.Let's say you join the company for the compensation plan Great!

but how you're going to make people join If the products you're ofering dosen't make sense here an example that happened to me last yearI join this company *****and the yearly membership fee was $100.00 oh good but they had a pack;look at this for $1,500 dollars and If you sell the product (If your business partner purchased It) you'll earn $1,200.00 dollars

Awesome!What product I'm selling?... books & cd's of business develpment for $1,500 who would buy that ***** nobody I could go online and get It for FREE. Now did you understand my point.

When you join a home based business you need to believe In the product, If you sell a product let Itbe products YOU usually buy not products we rarely use or did'nt carefor It.

P.S: The company I worked for has great affordable products, benefits and a great compensation plan.If you want more Info just e-mail me at momsopportunity@verizon.net

Work at Home Scams!

2006-04-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

If you are more interested in a work from home "business" this may require some investment or start up costs.
If you do decide to spend money to start a business make sure it is spent wisely.

A work from home "job" should not require any fees or out of pocket costs. And just as with any other type of job, you should be getting paid for training.

I found this information searching the internet, I hope It's usefull for moms looking to earn $$$ honestly

Work At Home Scams

Many times there are ads in the paper listing "work from home typing" or "become a mystery shopper" or any other sort of work from home ad and then it will list a 1800 number for you to call. When you call you get a sales pitch to buy what is basically a book. It is usually a very expensive book costing $30 or $40 promising to teach you to be a typist from home or whatever the ad in the paper was for.

From what I hear these books don't have any more information, in fact usually less, than you will find searching on the internet or at a library yourself.
Chain letters that make any promise of a "monetary gain" are ILLEGAL. Many of these try to get you to send money to the top name on a list promising that eventually your name will be on the top of that list and the money will come rolling in.

I have not yet come across a legitimate stuffing envelopes from home job. Most I have heard of send you a package and have you put an ad in your paper exactly like the one you replied to, asking people to send money to find out how they can get paid to stuff envelopes.

Be leary of any GET RICH QUICK schemes. If every one of these worked, wouldn't we all be rich by now? Any ad that promises tons of money with "no experience required" and with very little effort basically sounding too good to be true, is probably exactly that-TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE . If you receive an email you perceive to be fraudulent the FTC has free publications about recognizing fraudulent unsolicited commercial e-mail and other internet related subjects.

Contact the FTC at 202-FTC-HELP or

write:
Consumer Response Center,
Federal Trade Commission,
Washington, D.C. 20580

The AARP and FTC have some great information about common work from home scams Be sure to check the BBB before signing up with any company If you think you have been the target of a fraudulent work from home scam try contactingFTC(at phone # or address given above) State Attorney Generals Office in the state where you reside and where the company is headquartered The National Fraud Information Center at 1-800-876-7060

Your local Beter Business Bureau (BBB) Your local Postmaster (they investigate fraudulent mail practices)

A WAH company that disappeared

2006-04-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

I was looking the ads http://www.worldwideadtypist.com/ here and there for about 1 year. They had many franchisees in India too. I took it to be an old and reliable company. Joined it in Sept. last year, sent them the joining amount $85, but never got the confirmation of the payment made. They never replied the mails for enquiry.

For 1-2 months the site was visible after that it disappeared. One can do nothing on the intenet. The owner must have terminated the old site keeping all the money and started any other to decieve more people.

The address on the site was

Worldwideadtypist.com
P.O. Box 35256, Tucson Arizona
62890 United States

Devistating Scam Going International?

2006-04-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

Check this out...Look what happen to Cheryl

I am trying to contact as many people as I can to bring light to my story and many others here in Canada.However this is an INTERNATIONAL ISSUE:

Please watch this video - available with a single click, to see who we are trying to stop. CTV W-Five has covered the story: http://www.beyondextremes.com/video...w-five/001.html

You will see Duane and Myself (Cheryl) featured in the show, and hear our story that we have yet to recover from.A group of us have banded together through the internet.

What do we have in common? – we are all victims of Curtis Malinowski. And we want to stop him from hurting more people.

This known fraud / con artist has discussed and started setting up ‘shop’ in the Following Countries:
(may be incomplete)United States
– with main focus in Florida – regarding hurricane rebuildingAustraliaGermanyRussiaKenyaUnited KingdomIt has also recently been learned that he may be starting the following new scams:

WiFi Hotspots and Wireless Internet Leading technology for the masses worldwide.

International Banking Banking and Financial Services

Law Firm Comprehensive

Legal Services Accounting

Services Business Accounting and Tax Services

Food Services Feature Restaurants Pharmaceuticals

Innovative Medicine

- Active Lives I have prepared this petetion to try to get increased penalties for fraud.
Sign Our Petetion ** Please Email me for the link - this forum is cencoring part of the word in the url = Pe***ion so it wont go through

...Please show your support in a very small – yet HUGE way! Sign our petetion that we will then forward to the Canadian Government along with all our stories to stop this man from entering new countries and preying on new victims.Please forward this message to anyone you feel would like to show their support on such a devastating crime.

Cheryl Reynen & Duane Holub
1-866-221-7836
cheryl@life-xtreme.com
duane@life-xtreme.com
Box 18, Site 1, RR#1Sundre,
AlbertaTOM 1X0 Canada

(ps. had to spell pe***ion wrong so the censor would allow the link to work)

Scammers are not only online, they could be your next door neighbor... "WOW"

Research First!!

2006-04-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

I use the Better Business Bureau for doing research on companies for all of my needs.

But here's a real good site that gives you consumers complaints

419 Legal.org Is the place to go! Here's my Story...

2006-04-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

419 Legal is owned and managed by the Johannesburg Commercial Branch of the South African Police Services.

It has 3 main aims:

-1) To educate the public about internet fraud by publicising the methods used by scammers to defraud members of the internet community as well as maintaining publicly accessible lists of fraudulent sites.

2) To assist the public in identifying and dealing with specific instances of internet fraud through its public forums.

3) Through its specialist forums, to collect information and intelligence on the activities of internet scammers. Although primarily interested in the activities of the fraudsters resident in South Africa, it is recognised that many criminals operate internationally and any information received on scammers operating in other jurisdictions will be passed onto the appropriate Law Enforcement Agency in the country concerned.

~~~~Here's my story~~~~

Been Burned, Scammed, Taken for a Ride ...

Well don't worry, we have all been there. I doubt there is a single network marketer or homeworker out there who hasn't at some point in their career fallen for an envelope stuffing scheme, been talked into selling potions and pills, tried chain letters etc. But the important thing is to learn from your mistakes and take something from every experience.

My first venture into working from home came when I answered an advertisement in a local paper which stated I could be earning $500-2000 a week part time, with HUD Refunds all I had to do was call.

Then I decided to try It, so I send a money order for $49.99 a couple of weeks later a package came with some brochures and a some information on testimonials in how they maked $20,ooo a month and that I need to invest for that book and a mailing. "But I didn't "

Then I paid a fee to join this company that will pay you $1.00 -$7.00 to Stuff Envelopes, like the others all scam.

This one was the scariest of all:

This happend on oct-11-05 My husband was looking for another job because were he was working It wasn't paying him enough so he applied at monster.com, career builder and others looking for a real job to make real $$$.

So one day he received a e-mail from Adams Smith and he was from the states but he's now living In the UK and that he wanted my husband to partner with him, that he had a textiles company and he had alot of american paying him with money orders and...

It wasn't easy for him to change It that the customers will send the money to us with our name and then we keep a 10% and then send It to him, to put the story short I send him a email If he have a actual website; he did send me one ok so It's real.

It sounded to good to be true (~RED FLAG~), easy money, he has a real website with his contact information, "Oh Great" this Is real.

Then 3 days later he send us a fed ex pkg but from france and there It clicked to me from france with 5 money orders from Walmart I told my husband these look fake my husband said no he sound like a honest guy "yeah" so I went and did my own research and found 419 legal website and told my husband he said: Noooo .... that the guy been calling him and calling him.

My husband had friends in the Sun National Bank and gave it to them they said: they just received a similar one but this one looks real, he went to another bank they said the same thing. So It made me think, but something inside of me was telling me this is Fraud. Like he send us his Textiles & Company website, I told my husband to call and ask for Adam Smith the President and CEO, he did surprise, they never heard of a Adam Smith working for them another ~RED FLAG~

I told my husband don't do It, then he said: Your right there fake. The guy was calling and calling all day that were is his money....Like he was insisting I said look like is from Walmart lets go and ask them that you don't want to change them but you want to know If there real 10 min pass by 30 min.

There they were police officers passed by and my husband said there fake "oh lord" were going to jail, and I had my baby with me, they came asking us were we got those checks that this is Fraud, and we are in BIG Trouble I fricked out. Then they came back and told us to get the emails from Adam Smith so we made a copy of the emails and gave it to them but they follow us like criminals so thank god we didn't go to jail or pay a ticket. What a Horrible Experience, and It was in Walmart everybody was starring at us .

When something is to good to be true and you see those RED FLAGS you know is fraud, and the GUY keeped calling I was scared... ever since I been receiving so many emails like those, so I post them on their website NEVER EVER give somebody your personal information like licence, social they could use It and at monster and career builder they have a policy about that. So I hope my story and website Is usefull for all you guys and be alert.

P.S: So don't give up, from every bad experience you will learn something, be it a new skill, what to avoid next time, what advertising works or doesn't and so on... Like life home based business, especially on the internet, is a learning experience which you must embrace.

Do Your HomeWork

2006-04-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

You may not always be able to detect a scam but one thing is for sure,spending just a few minutes time can save you a lot of time in the longrun and probably save your money too.

Things to look for :-

Is there a name on the site?

-Is there owners and founders info on site?

-Is there a contact email address?

-Is there a phone number?

-Where are they located?

-Is their email address a yahoo or hotmail email address?

-Is their site professional?

-Are there photos of the owners on site?

-Do they state bio's about themselves?

-What company is hosting their site?

-How long have they owned the domain?

-How fast do they respond to a question you send them by email?

-Are there terms and policies on site?-Is there a guarantee?

-What is the guarantee?

-Do they offer refunds?

-What is their refund policy?

-Are there testimonials?

-Have you contacted 2 members to get their opinions?

-How long have they been online?

All of the above, truly only takes minutes and can save you a world of headaches.It never ceases to amaze me the people that join and purchase things one day to see they have lost the next day simply because they did not take a few minutes to READ and look for the things as stated above.

IF all that info is not available, it does NOT mean its a scam.IF all that info is available, it does NOT mean its not a scam.

What it does mean is, you have at least did some research and probably lowered your risk considerably.

WARNING!!! Paypal & Chase Bank

2006-04-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

SCAM WARNING!

Beware of Fake PayPal and eBay Emails

No no no, don't touch that link! (Sigh) The crooks are at it again. Sending fake but official-looking email notices directing us to "update" our accounts within 24 hours or else.
If we don't, "failure to update your records will result in account termination.

" We got these from both PayPal and eBay today. The PayPal version gives us a handy-dandy "Click here to activate your account." We are instructed to enter our login information after that. Yeah right. Do NOT touch that link! Oh, and they give us the alternative of "logging into your PayPal account" at a phony address that is as cleverly disguised as the fraudulent email itself. Do NOT go there!

We've seen similar fakes before but none as well done as this one. You can see a complete picture of it at http://www.millerbridges.com/pp_spoof.htm

The eBay version goes "We regret to inform you that your eBay account could be suspended if you don't re-update your account information. To resolve this problem visit the link below and re-enter your account information." "RE-update?" C'mon. Gimme a break.

And on an on about the "problem" and the devastatingly fearsome prospect of not only having your eBay account "suspended." You would also be "prohibited" from ever again using eBay "in any way." Horrors! Are you scaired to death yet?

Do NOT touch that link either! Be especially careful with this phoney eBay email. The WHOLE email is one graphic that is hot-linked to a phoney site. Don't click anywhere on that phoney eBay email. It's hot! What to do: Get rid of these emails and tell your friends.

It happend to me already and It had a virus

Justin Wrote..... There are unfortunately many versions of these 'phishing' scams where by spammers send fraudulent e-mails looking to capture personal information from unsuspecting recipients. I've seen one purporting to be from Chase Bank making the rounds lately and have seen many posing to be other financial institutions.

It only takes a tiny percentage of people responding to the fraud to make it profitable for the spammer.As you point out, someone receiving an e-mail purporting to be from a financial institution should never click on any link and/or type anything into form fields. If the e-mail seems to come from a financial institution you do business with, close the e-mail and instead go directly to their web site using your web browser.

Cut & Paste into Email - Send to Everyone!

2006-04-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

I am posting this for everyone to cut and paste into an email and send to as

many people as you can.

*****Fight back by informing those who dont know they are about to be a victim.******

Email Subject Title:
Avoid Being Scammed!
*Good Spam - with Real Meat*

This is not a sales pitch. Read it and pass it on to as many people as you can (but be assured you won’t be harmed if you don’t pass it on to ten people within the next 72 hours).

I am drafting this email to inform as many people as possible of the various scams you can expect to see in your inbox. Most of you have probably been sent some sort of email in the past from a person who is attempting to steal your money. If you are so inclined, forward this email off to as many people as you can.
The theory is, if we can’t draw people to the anti-scam websites which help victims identify a scam before they become victims, the next best thing is to send out an email to counter those sent out by the scammers.
With any luck this will turn into a “spam” email people want to read!There are many different ways scammers attempt to lure their victims. However, I will outline the most prevalent email methods and then add some links to various anti-scam sites which can offer much more information and greater detail....

419 Scams: Also known as “Nigerian” scams – fact is this is happening all over the world, and It happened to me last year not just originating in Nigeria.

The “419” refers to the code the Nigerian government established to make this practice illegal. These scams come in many forms, but the general idea is the scammer needs to move a large amount of money because otherwise they could lose it. There is typically a threat of loss and the potential for enormous gain.
The hook, as always, is greed. Your desire to profit for little or no effort is the key. Once locked in, with the carrot dangling (usually millions of dollars), they will extort you of thousands by asking to pay for court fees, or a bank release, authorization fees, etc.Fred Oboko, George Ubmbuka, or whatever the name of the latest Nigerian Securities and Fuel Efficiencies Committee is not in exile and attempting to transfer a large sum of money out of the country.
They do not need your help in transferring the money; they want to scam you out of yours!

Next of Kin Scams:

Your long lost cousin, nephew, brother, mother, did not die in a car accident (or a plane accident for that matter!). This relates to the "next of kin" or "inheritance" scam. You will not be collecting millions of dollars because someone shares the same last name. These scammers will always ask for money to pay for this document or that permit for funds release, etc etc.

Dont be fooled, it is a scam!

Lottery Scams:

Of late, these have caused me the most heartache. I cannot begin to tell you how many people have contacted me about this scam. In one way that is good, people doing their research. However, I am afraid the number of people who have fallen victim is much larger. Yes, there are legitimate ways to gamble your money online (offshore casinos, lottery sites). These sites will not contact you by email unless you have asked to be contacted or are advertising for their business.

There is no such thing as winning the lottery through your email address. Email addresses are not drawn randomly. If you receive an email saying you were selected through email or told for any other reason you have won a lottery, it is a scam! Do not reply. No matter how tempting it is, please dont respond. It is for your own good!

Phishing Scams:

Scammers pretending to be legitimate businesses, organizations, institutions, etc. Often a victim will receive an email appearing to look like a "must respond" notice or at times a request to update a password or other information for an account you may hold with a legitimate business.

The links in the email are spoofed and when you enter your secret information you are actually sending it right to the scammers. Dont get caught! A legitimate business will never ask you for your password or private information via email. Always access those sites through your web browser directly, do not use links in an email!Lastly, for you online vendors - If you are selling an item online, do not accept a check and wire money back in return.

The check will bounce and you will be out the money you sent plus the amount the check bounces. If the deal looks too good to be true, it likely is a scam.Much of this information can be found at www.scams.net

Here are other reputable anti-scam sites worth looking at:

www.ftc.gov
www.scambusters.org
www.quatloos.com
www.crimes-of-persuasion.com
www.scam.com
www.nigerianscams.org
www.antiphishing.org

There are many, many, more but now it is up to you to do the research before you make a foolish transaction. Don’t let greed get the better of you, even if it looks like a good cause, be sure it is legitimate! *If you run an anti-scam type website or know of a good one, please feel free to add your link below the links above.

*Be careful

Why Do Spammers Bother?

2006-04-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is really starting to piss me off, I spent about an hour yesterday clearing out this spam and today, I've got another 11 posts! In less than 12 hrs! How do I block these jerks?!?

Most of us have had the following experience: you set up your anti-spam software or the junk mail filters in your email program to block a certain domain, sender address or keywords, only to have the same message come through from a different address or using tricks (such as putting periods between the letters of words) to get through.

There no logical way to stop spam, It just keep coming

Several sites on the web will help in tracing spam

2006-04-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

1. Sam Bretheim's list of traceroute gateways http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4273/gateways.html

To find traceroute gateways in any country, visit here.
http://www.traceroute.org/

2. Allwhois.com gates to whois on any domain world-wide
http://www.allwhois.com/

3. A list of whois servers, collected by Matt Power
ftp://sipb.mit.edu/pub/whois/whois-servers.list

4. Alldomains.com site - links to NICs worldwide.
http://www.alldomains.com/

A similar page can be found at
http://www.forumnett.no/domreg.html

5. The Coalition Against Usolicited Commerical E-mail.
http://www.cauce.org/
The European CAUCE.
http://www.euro.cauce.org/en/index.html

The Coalition Against Unsolicited Bulk Email, Australia.
http://www.caube.org.au/

The Russian Anti-Spam organization.
http://www.antispam.ru/

No More Spam - ISP Spam-Blocking Interferes With Business
http://www.byte.com/columns/digitalbiz/1999/04/0405coombs.html

Removing the Spam By Geoff Mulligan Published by O'Reilly ISBN 0-201-37957-0 A good book about handling spam. Legal resources :

1. FTC Consumer Alert -
FTC Names Its Dirty Dozen: 12 Scams Most Likely to Arrive Via Bulk email http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/doznalrt.htm

2. Report to the Federal Trade Commision of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Unsolicited Commercial Mail.
http://www.cdt.org/spam/

3. Pyramid Schemes, Ponzi Schemes, and Related Frauds http://www.impulse.net/~thebob/Pyramid.html

4. The AOL vs. Cyberpromo case
http://legal.web.aol.com/decisions/dljunk/cyber.html

The AOL vs. the Christian Brothers (the apricot seeds as a cancer cure spammers) case. http://www.andovernews.com/cgi-bin/news_story.pl?97775/topstories

5. "Intel scores in email suit", by Jim Hu, CNET News.com. http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,29574,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh

By hacking into sites

2006-04-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've heard rumours that sites that supply free email addresses were hacked in order to get the list of email addresses, somewhat like e-commerce sites being hacked to get a list of credit cards. If your address was harvested and you get spammed, the following pages could assist you in tracking the spammer down :

1. MindSpring's page explaining how to get an email's headers http://help.mindspring.com/features/emailheaders/extended.htm

2. The spam FAQ, maintained by Ken Hollis.
http://digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/net-abuse-faq/spam-faq.html

3. The Reporting Spam page, an excellent resource.
http://www.ao.net/waytosuccess/

4. Reading Mail headers.
http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers/headers.html

5. Julian Haight's Spam Cop page.
http://spamcop.net/

6. Chris Hibbert's Junk Mail FAQ.
http://www.fortnet.org/WidowNet/faqs/junkmail.htm

7. UXN Spam Combat page.
http://www.ultradesign.com/engineering/uxn/

8. Sam Spade, Spam hunter.
http://samspade.org/t/

9. Penn's Page of Spam.
http://home.att.net/~penn/spam.htm

A. WD Baseley's Address Munging FAQ
http://members.aol.com/emailfaq/mungfaq.html

B. Fight Spam on the Internet site
http://spam.abuse.net/

C. The Spam Recycling Center
http://www.spamrecycle.com/

D.The Junk Busters Site
http://www.junkbusters.com/

E. The Junk Email site
http://www.junkemail.org/

F. BCP 30: Anti-Spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/bcp/bcp30.txt

G. FYI 28: Netiquette Guidelines
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/fyi/fyi28.txt

FYI 35: DON'T SPEW
A Set of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited Mailings and Postings
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/fyi/fyi35.txt

Buying lists from others

2006-04-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

This one covers two types of trades.

The first type consists of buying a list of email addresses (often on CD) that were harvested via other methods, e.g. someone harvesting email addresses from UseNet and sells the list either to a company that wishes to advertise via email (sometimes passing off the list as that of people who opted-in for emailed advertisements) or to others who resell the list.

The second type consists of a company who got the email addresses legitimately (e.g. a magazine that asks subscribers for their email in order to keep in touch over the Internet) and sells the list for the extra income.

This extends to selling of email addresses a company got via other means, people who just emailed the company with inquiries in any context.

social engineering

2006-04-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

This method means the spammer uses a hoax to convince people into giving him valid E-mail addresses. A good example is Richard Douche's "Free CD's" chain letter.

The letter promises a free CD for every person to whom the letter is forwarded to as long as it is CC'ed to Richard. Richard claimed to be associated with Amazon and Music blvd, among other companies, who authorized him to make this offer. Yet he supplied no references to web pages and used a free E-mail address. All Richard wanted was to get people to send him valid E-mail addresses in order to build a list of addresses to spam and/or sell.

white & yellow pages

2006-04-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

There are various sites that serve as white pages, sometimes named people finders web sites. Yellow pages now have an email directory on the web.

Those white/yellow pages contain addresses from various sources, e.g. from UseNet, but sometimes your E-mail address will be registered for you.

Example - HotMail will add E-mail addresses to BigFoot by default, making new addresses available to the public.

Spammers go through those directories in order to get email addresses.
Most directories prohibit email address harvesting by spammers, but as those databases have a large databases of email addresses + names, it's a tempting target for spammers

guessing & cleaning

2006-04-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Some spammers guess email addresses, send a test message (or a real spam) to a list which includes the guessed addresses. Then they wait for either an error message to return by email, indicating that the email address is correct, or for a confirmation.

A confirmation could be solicited by inserting non-standard but commonly used mail headers requesting that the delivery system and/or mail client send a confirmation of delivery or reading. No news are, of coures, good news for the spammer.

domain contact points

2006-04-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

Every domain has one to three contact points - administration, technical, and billing.

The contact point includes the email address of the contact person. As the contact points are freely available, e.g. using the 'whois' command, spammers harvest the email addresses from the contact points for lists of domains (the list of domain is usually made available to the public by the domain registries). This is a tempting methods for spammers, as those email addresses are most usually valid and mail sent to it is being read regularily.

AOL profiles

2006-04-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

Spammers harvest AOL names from user profiles lists, as it allows them to 'target' their mailing lists.

Also, AOL has a name being the choice ISP of newbies, who might not know how to recognize scams or know how to handle spam.

Tricks Spammers Use!

2006-04-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

Some sites use various tricks to extract a surfer's email address from the web browser, sometimes without the surfer noticing it.

Those techniques include :

1. Making the browser fetch one of the page's images through an anonymous FTP connection to the site. Some browsers would give the email address the user has configured into the browser as the password for the anonymous FTP account.

A surfer not aware of this technique will not notice that the email address has leaked.

2. Using JavaScript to make the browser send an email to a chosen email address with the email address configured into the browser. Some browsers would allow email to be sent when the mouse passes over some part of a page. Unless the browser is properly configured, no warning will be issued.

3. Using the HTTP_FROM header that browsers send to the server.
Some browsers pass a header with your email address to every webserver you visit.
To check if your browser simply gives your email address to everybody this way, visit http://www.privacy.net/analyze/ It's worth noting here that when one reads E-mail with a browser (or any mail reader that understands HTML), the reader should be aware of active content (Java applets, Javascript, VB, etc) as well as web bugs.

An E-mail containing HTML may contain a script that upon being read (or even the subject being highlighted) automatically sends E-mail to any E-mail addresses.

Example http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-99-04-Melissa-Macro-Virus.html
A web bugs FAQ by Richard M. Smith can be read at http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/wbfaq.htm

How do spammers get people's email addresses ?

2006-04-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our question is how did they get my e-mail?

Well There are many ways in which spammers can get your email address.

The ones I know of are :

1. From posts to Use Net with your email address.

Spammers regularily scan UseNet for email address, using ready made programs designed to do so. Some programs just look at articles headers which contain email address
(From:, Reply-To:, etc), while other programs check the articles' bodies, starting with programs that look at signatures, through programs that take everything that contain a '@' character and attempt to demunge munged email addresses.

There have been reports of spammers demunging email addresses on occasions, ranging from demunging a single address for purposes of revenge spamming to automatic methods that try to unmunge email addresses that were munged in some common ways, e.g. remove such strings as 'nospam' from email addresses. As people who where spammed frequently report that spam frequency to their mailbox dropped sharply after a period in which they did not post to UseNet, as well as evidence to spammers' chase after 'fresh' and 'live' addresses, this technique seems to be the primary source of email addresses for spammers.

2. From mailing lists.

Spammers regularily attempt to get the lists of subscribers to mailing lists [some mail servers will give those upon request], knowing that the email addresses are unmunged and that only a few of the addresses are invalid.

When mail servers are configured to refuse such requests, another trick might be used - spammers might send an email to the mailing list with the headers
Return-Receipt-To: or X-Confirm-Reading-To: .

Those headers would cause some mail transfer agents and reading programs to send email back to the saying that the email was delivered to / read at a given email address, divulging it to spammers.

A different technique used by spammers is to request a mailing lists server to give him the list of all mailing lists it carries (an option implemented by some mailing list servers for the convenience of legitimate users), and then send the spam to the mailing list's address, leaving the server to do the hard work of forwarding a copy to each subscribed email address.

[I know spammers use this trick from bad experience - some spammer used this trick.

3. From web pages.

Spammers have programs which spider through web pages, looking for email addresses, e.g. email addresses contained in mail to: HTML tags [those you can click on and get a mail window opened] Some spammers even target their mail based on web pages.

I've discovered a web page of mine appeared in Yahoo as some spammer harvested email addresses from each new page appearing in Yahoo and sent me a spam regarding that web page.

4. From various web and paper forms.

Some sites request various details via forms, e.g. guest books & registrations forms. Spammers can get email addresses from those either because the form becomes available on the world wide web, or because the site sells / gives the emails list to others. Some companies would sell / give email lists filled in on paper forms, e.g. organizers of conventions would make a list of participants' email addresses, and sell it when it's no longer needed. Some spammers would actually type E-mail addresses from printed material, e.g. professional directories & conference proceedings.

Domain name registration forms are a favourite as well - addresses are most usually correct and updated, and people read the emails sent to them expecting important messages.

5. Via an Ident daemon.

Many unix computers run a daemon (a program which runs in the background, initiated by the system administrator), intended to allow other computers to identify people who connect to them. When a person surfs from such a computer connects to a web site or news server, the site or server can connect the person's computer back and ask that daemon's for the person's email address. Some chat clients on PCs behave similarily, so using IRC can cause an email address to be given out to spammers.

Hello fellow Marketers!!

2006-04-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hello!!

Welcome to my Space, I'm Just an average mom working at home with a year old baby girl and a wondeful husband. . I'll be writing about what we all HATE those spammers annoying spam we receive every single day...there online, you get a bunch in your e-mail, in the mail...Did I forget!! EVERYWERE

Were and how? To detect, were to go on filling a complain. NEXT.

Guess what! I'm a newbie too and on my research and surfing the web and personal experience I decided to bring this blog to life.For newbies, wahm's or for those needing a little help, this blog is design for you.

So check my blog out and before you leave PLEASE leave a comment or a suggestion.

Thanks,

Mary