17 replies to this topic

[Spider]

We've all received those Nigerian Scam emails at some time.

 

Some poor fools have even fallen for them.

 

But they have been at that for longer than most us us here may realise.

 

Back in 1995, pre-intenet days, in fact for me, pre-computer days, I received this through the ordinary mail;-

 

 

 

on opening it, a lovely letter, hand signed (note the date);-

 

 

 

I had a friend who worked in our 'Spy Factory' at the time, I sent it on to him for a Government follow up (it's likely still sitting in their In-tray),,,,,,,

 

 

Then a month later, I read this article in the Sunday Paper;-

 

 

 

Yes, they have been at this for quite some time,,,,,,,

[Retroman]

Surely with a name like Godspower he was trust worthy....

 

Never ceases to amaze me how gullible people can be

 

I once told the sales manager of a £10m company that gullible was not in the dictionary...she even checked hhahha

 

1st sign of madness; hairs on the palm of your hand, 2nd sign; looking for em

[xrocketengineer]

Well, did you get your 30% of the 40 million? 

[Spider]

Surely with a name like Godspower he was trust worthy....

 

Never ceases to amaze me how gullible people can be

 

 

Oh 10000% reliable and trustworthy.

 

Gullible. Hmmmm,,,, well,,, not me but some friends of my off-sider, well they fell for it.

 

But wait, stay on your chair for this next bit,,,

 

They fell for it twice !!!  Both times, loosing some 100's of 1000's,,,,,,  I once read (in fact, I think it was mentioned in that newspaper article) that the wealth (read: greedy), were far more likely to fall for these scams than the ordinary guy in the street.

 

Seems Greedy also makes Gullible. I wonder if that's a synonym ? Might have to look that up after shaving my hands,,,,,

 

 

Well, did you get your 30% of the 40 million? 

 

Well,, I haven't yet told the story of my early retirement,,,,

[panky]

Seems legit 

[greenwheels]

Your being caught twice story reminds me of a work colleague many years ago who went for his driving test and failed on the eyesight test. All you had to do was read a number plate from 25 yards before you got in the car to start the actual driving test.  A few weeks later he went for another test and failed again - yes - on the eyesight test! "Didn't you go to an optician to see if you needed glasses" we asked him. "No I didn't have time" was the answer. We tested him by asking if he could see certain things across the office. Turned out he was blind as a bat as well as stupid!!!

[Mini Manannán]

Gullible. Hmmmm,,,, well,,, not me but some friends of my off-sider, well they fell for it.

 

 

Off-sider?  Whassat then Chris? Some Ozzie lingo?

[xrocketengineer]

Over on this end, we haven't seen any Nigerian "offers" lately. However, we are getting emails of real businesses pointing to websites that do not look legit. The email address or the content looks weird. The daily routine is to delete all these emails. 

 

What is really driving us nuts are the scam phone calls. I don't even answer the phone unless I know who is calling. They are constantly "spoofing" the phone numbers and ID's trying to see if you fall for it and answer the phone.  It has gotten so bad, that the other day, I got a phone call from my own phone number and with my name. I would not answer that, that guy is not trustworthy! 

 

And what they had on the TV news the other day is even scarier. Some retired athlete was being interviewed about a phone call he got from his daughter's phone number by some guy claiming to have kidnapped his daughter and wanted a ransom. When the athlete demanded to talk to his daughter, she asked him if he was OK and then she was cut off. The kidnapper demanded the ransom in gift cards. It seemed strange to the athlete that his daughter asked "if he was OK" and that the ransom was in gift cards. He did not buy the gift cards and he texted his daughter and she was fine. However, she had been called too and she was told that her father had been kidnapped. When she asked to talk to him is when she asked him if he was OK. The daughter did pay the ransom, buying the cards and reading the numbers and codes of the cards over the phone to the "kidnapper". She got ripped off of several hundred dollars.         

Edited by xrocketengineer, 27 November 2018 - 04:15 PM.

[Spider]

 

Gullible. Hmmmm,,,, well,,, not me but some friends of my off-sider, well they fell for it.

 

 

Off-sider?  Whassat then Chris? Some Ozzie lingo?

 

 

Off-sider = work mate

 

 

Over on this end, we haven't seen any Nigerian "offers" lately. However, we are getting emails of real businesses pointing to websites that do not look legit. The email address or the content looks weird. The daily routine is to delete all these emails. 

 

What is really driving us nuts are the scam phone calls.        

 

Going back quite a few years now, I was getting anything fro 50 to 300 unsolicited emails per day for all manner of things. It wasted a lot of my day, going through deleting them as they would come in, only in the knowledge that I'd be doing the same again the following day. If I had a day or two away, it was murder,,,

 

Then I saw some software offered for stuff like this on a morning TV show, called 'Mailwasher'.

 

https://www.firetrus.../mailwasher-pro

 

Even a techno-gumby like me was able to install and set it up. It looks at your emails while on the ISP's server and then you can mark them as 'unfriendly' (which it remembers), then click 'Process Mail' and the unfriendly ones are bounced back in a way that makes it look like your email address is not a valid one.Likewise all the advertising rubbish that you need to sign up to when buying earphones for your Apple Phone and other junk.

 

Within a week, I went from the 50 - 300 per day to about 6 per week. Now, I so seldom receive them that I occasionally read them for the novelty value !

 

We also used to receive the scam phone calls on a semi-regular basis. Then we unlisted our phone number and that stopped almost over night. We haven't had one in over 12 years now. While it may look like something to concern yourself about that you don't have your number in the phone book, well, I figure it this way:- Those I who I want to have our number, have it and everyone else can just keep walking.

[Mini Manannán]

Off-sider = work mate

 

Well, that's a new wrinkle on my ass!

[Retroman]

Within a week, I went from the 50 - 300 per day to about 6 per week. Now, I so seldom receive them that I occasivalue !

 

We also used to receive the scam phone calls on a semi-regular basis. Then we unlisted our phone number and that stopped almost over night. We haven't had one in over 12 years now. While it may look like something to concern yourself about that you don't have your number in the phone book, well, I figure it this way:- Those I who I want to have our number, have it and everyone else can just keep walking.

 

 

Don't we just love Aussie lingo [off-sider and occasivalue] 

 

Gmail cured spam for me

 

The phone is a whole different issue, we have telephone preferencing service over here which is next to useless

 

Call centre chickens can put any random number up but they are supposedly banning cold calling, personally I let any call centre chicken talk to themselves, and some will for 20 seconds, they get the idea then. We now have phone with call blocker so they might do it once. BT used to do a caller ID thing which worked too.

[xrocketengineer]

The email issue is not a biggie, but the phone calls are a pain. My house phone number has been unlisted (and I have been paying for that) for over 30 years. The problem is with all these companies the you have done business with and they promise "not to sell your personal data". On top of that, the the administration of the "Great Orange One" has changed the privacy rules for the ISP's so that they can target you with advertisement (not allowed before) and sell your browsing information (and probably everything else) to third parties for them to do the same thing. All in the name of the almighty dollar.  

[DeadSquare]

I keep a referee's whistle by the phone.

 

For duff calls, I say "Hang on, I'll turn the radio off".  Human nature makes them strain to try and hear the radio in the back ground..............and then I give them a blast, followed by "You bastard child of a hoar, # u c k   o f f"

 

I almost enjoy getting them now.

Edited by DeadSquare, 21 December 2018 - 02:06 PM.

[MrBounce]

I once kept getting a silent call every evening at 6.15. Got really fed up with it so when they next rang I was ready for them. I fired an airhorn down the phone at them. Didn't see the cat for 6 hours but they never called back...

[Cooperman]

I keep a referee's whistle by the phone.

 

For duff calls, I say "Hang on, I'll turn the radio off".  Human nature makes them strain to try and hear the radio in the back ground..............and then I give them a blast, followed by "You bastard child of a hoar, # u c k   o f f"

 

It almost enjoy getting them now.

That is simply great. Well done!!