| We would like our ISL Visitors
to be aware of all the scams we've found on the Internet so check out these
previous email scams, and like most scams they are still floating around in
some form or another. Email Scams
"Hello, i have seen your car for sale on autotrader and i
would like to buy it. I see you want 10,500 for the car. I will send you
24,000, could you please send the balance by way of money order to my
partner nigel?
Jamal
"I have been getting email from several different
people that claim they have a dental plan that only costs "a couple of
dollars a week." I replied to one and gave them my phone number. A few weeks
later I got a call and they tried to get both my social security number and
credit card number to start my "policy." I told them that I would like to
see the details in writing before I signed up and the response was "we have
thousands of people signed up" and "we can't afford to send everyone written
material" about the plan. Needless to say, I hung up."
Stephen B.
Hello, my name is Tina Strongman and I work at a police
station, as a phone operator for 911. Lately, we've received many phone
calls pertaining to a new sort of problem that has arisen in the inner
cities, and is now working it's way to smaller towns.
It seems that a new form of gang initiation is to go find as many pay
phones as possible and put a mixture of LSD and Strychnine onto the
buttons. This mixture is deadly to the human touch, and apparently, this
has killed some people on the East Coast. Strychnine is a chemical used in
rat poison and is easily separated from the rest of the chemicals. When
mixed with LSD, it creates a substance that is easily absorbed into the
human flesh, and highly fatal.
Please be careful if you are using a pay phone anywhere. You may want to
wipe it off, or just not use one at all. If you have any questions, you
can contact me at the links listed below. Please be very careful.
Let your friends and family know about this potential hazard.
Janet G.
[ Editor's Note: This is a recent urban legend
making the rounds on the Net.
Dear All, I just received this mail from a friend of
mine in Illinois. Please respond to it. It will just mean employing a
little bit of time and won't cost you a penny. All it needs is the heart
for you to send this mail. PLEASE pass this mail on to everybody you know.
It is the request of a little girl who will soon leave this world as she
has been a victim of the terrible disease called CANCER. Thank you for
your effort, this isn't a chain letter, but a choice for all of us to save
a little girl that's dying of a serious and fatal form of cancer. Please
send this to everyone you know... or don't know. This little girl has 6
months left to live, and as her dying wish, she wanted to send a chain
letter telling everyone to live their life to the fullest, since she never
will. She'll never make it to prom, graduate from high school, or get
married and have a family of her own. By you sending this to as many
people as possible, you can give her and her family a little hope, because
with every name that this is sent to, The American Cancer Society will
donate 3 cents per name to her treatment and recovery plan. One guy sent
this to 500 people!!!! So, I know that we can send it to at least 5 or 6.
It's not even your money, just your time! PLEASE PASS ON!!!"
Melanie S.
[ Editor's Note: This is a very old urban legend
but apparently is still making the rounds on the Net.
"I feel like an idiot, but I fell for this scam. But
this story does come with a somewhat happy ending.
"This happened about 1 month ago when I was a new,
really naive marketer. It was a Friday night. I purchased 2500 names from a
person who claimed that the names were opt-in. (This should have been my
first clue that this was a scam. Opt in names can not be purchased.) I paid
with a check-by-fax (this site did not accept credit cards. Another small
clue that this guy was a con).
"He gave me a copy of the list and then told me that he
would send them in the morning. Guess what? On Saturday morning, he did not
send them. Now I was stuck with 2500 names. After 2-4 unanswered phone calls
and half a dozen emails, I decided to send them myself. (Another stupid
mistake. I was new to the Net and the vision of making money clouded my
better judgment.)
"On Sunday I received a lot of flames and complaints to
my ISP and webhost. I decided to check out this guy's site. It was no longer
there. This was the last slap in the face for me.
"Well, this story has a sort of happy ending. On the
Monday, I rushed to my bank and I tried to cancel the check. I was really
lucky! My bank was still in the process of checking this out when I came in
and I got the check canceled! I also did not get kicked off my ISP or
webhost after I explained to them what had happened to me. But I still feel
bad for spaming those people.
"Well, here is my story. I hope your readers will not
have to go through what I had to go through to find out some telltale signs
of an opt-in scam."
Anonymous in Canada
Dear Sir:
I have been requested by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company to
contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. The Nigerian National
Petroleum Company has recently concluded a large number of contracts for oil
exploration in the sub-Sahara region. The contracts have immediately
produced moneys equalling US$40,000,000. The Nigerian National Petroleum
Company is desirous of oil exploration in other parts of the world, however,
because of certain regulations of the Nigerian Government, it is unable to
move these funds to another region.
You assistance is requested as a non-Nigerian citizen to assist the
Nigerian National Petroleum Company, and also the Central Bank of Nigeria,
in moving these funds out of Nigeria. If the funds can be transferred to
your name, in your United States account, then you can forward the funds as
directed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. In exchange for your
accomodating services, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company would agree
to allow you to retain 10%, or US$4 million of this amount.
However, to be a legitimate transferee of these moneys according to
Nigerian law, you must presently be a depositor of at least US$100,000 in a
Nigerian bank which is regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
If it will be possible for you to assist us, we would be most
grateful. We suggest that you meet with us in person in Lagos, and that
during your visit I introduce you to the representatives of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Company, as well as with certain officials of the Central
Bank of Nigeria.
Please call me at your earliest convenience at [Phone Number]. Time
is of the essence in this matter; very quickly the Nigerian Government will
realize that the Central Bank is maintaining this amount on deposit, and
attempt to levy certain depository taxes on it.
Yours
truly, etc.
Ben
Ahore
"This scam says that Bill Gates of Microsoft and Disney
have hooked up to see how information moves through the net through tracing
the path of an email. Once this email goes through 13000 email addresses,
then 1300 of those will receive $5000 and the rest will receive an all
expense free vacation at Disney during the summer of 1999."
Everyone is to resend to 15 individuals. Please read and
forward to as many friends as possible... we've checked up on this and
this is no joke of a chain letter or something if this reaches 13,000
people... duplicate entries don't count, though... So, please help & pass
on... thank you, and here you go!!!
WALT DISNEY JR.GREETING
Hello Disney fans,
And thank you for signing up for Bill Gates' Beta Email Tracking. My name
is Walt Disney Jr.
Here at Disney we are working with Microsoft which has
just compiled an email tracing program that tracks everyone to whom this
message is forwarded to. It does this through a unique IP (Internet
Protocol) address log book database.
We are experimenting with this and need your help.
Forward this to everyone you know and if it reaches
13,000 people, 1,300 of the people on the list will receive $5,000, and
the rest will receive a free trip for two to Disney World for one week
during the summer of 1999 at our expense. Enjoy.
Note: Duplicate entries will not be counted. You will be
notified by email with further instructions once this email has reached
13,000 people.
Your friends, Walt Disney Jr., Disney, Bill Gates, & The
Microsoft Development Team
Would you like to send in a email scam horror story?
If so please email it to
scams@internetsafelist.com
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