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News & ArtsTuesday, September 28, 2010
Crime / Teh Internets A Helpful Hint for Scam Spam Authors
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 6:45 AM
These I-wuz-robbed-in-olde-London-towne email scams that I'm getting at the rate of two or three per day...
I'm sorry for this odd request because it might get to you too urgent but it's just because of the situation of things right now, i'm stuck in London, I came down here on vacation, i was robbed, worse of it is that bags, cash and cards and my cell phone was stolen at GUN POINT, it's such a crazy experience for me, I need help flying back home, the authorities are not being 100% supportive but the good thing is i still have my passport but don't have enough money to get my flight ticket back home, please i need you to loan me some money, will refund you as soon as i'm back home, i promise. Thank you.Shawn Maxey
...would be slightly more credible if the fictional armed robbers were armed with knives.
1
Ah, so easy to ignore an email, but what about when this happens in the parking lot of your local grocery, and a nicely dressed 50-something year old man tells you a sob story about how he and the wife (yes, that's how they talk here) had their car broken into, and their money was stolen! and they need to phone their moving company (can't borrow your mobile phone, of course, because the moving company's number is stored on their pay-as-you-go phone!) and could you possibly give them $20 to load up their phone so they can arrange to meet the moving van 2 hours north? You look into his eyes, and you know it's a scam, he knows it's a scam, your kid is sitting there watching...so you give him $10, on the very remote off chance that he is telling the truth, but more because you think, "how desperate would I have to be to approach people in parking lots? How bad would things have to be before I would do this?"
2
When I get these emails, I respond by telling them they've won the Nigerian Lottery, but just have to send me $100 to send them their winning ticket by special delivery.
4
One of my email accounts gets the "nigerian bank scam" spam on a regular basis. Another account gets regular cialis-levitra-viagra spam. And yet another account gets home refinancing spam regularly. Surprisingly, I get very little cross-posting of spam between those three accounts. Weird.
5
"Shawn" has no friends or family with email, and guns are just as common in England as they are in the US. Yeah right.
One question remains, though: where exactly did he keep his passport if they've managed to steal everything else?
One question remains, though: where exactly did he keep his passport if they've managed to steal everything else?
6
This would be a pretty good scam if it weren't coming via e-mail. If their cell phone and money were stolen, how are they sending an e-mail message?
One of the most creative scams I've heard about is someone calling up a bookstore and claiming to be a famous author on their way to a reading there. The "author" tells the bookstore employee that his or her car has broken down and asks them to forward some cash so he/she can get it fixed in time to get to the reading.
Not surprisingly the scam didn't work too well for those who tried it, but I've got to give them points for creativity.
One of the most creative scams I've heard about is someone calling up a bookstore and claiming to be a famous author on their way to a reading there. The "author" tells the bookstore employee that his or her car has broken down and asks them to forward some cash so he/she can get it fixed in time to get to the reading.
Not surprisingly the scam didn't work too well for those who tried it, but I've got to give them points for creativity.
7
I haven't gotten hit with this particular scam yet. How does the scammer explain his having your email address?
Canuck, I'm with you. I remember seeing a guy on the roadside at a busy intersection with a sign saying he was too broke to fly home for his grandmother's funeral--any amount would help. My very young and sweet daughter could read well enough to understand the sign but hadn't yet developed cynicism. She asked me why I hadn't stopped to help him, and I didn't want her introduction to the idea that people would lie in such elaborate ways or prey upon people's humanity to scrounge money (we live in an area that is well-populated by street people and she had seen straightforward panhandlers all her life, but they didn't pretend to need the money for any particular hard-luck reason). So, against my better judgment and to keep her six-year-old's faith in people, I doubled back and gave the guy $10.
The next week, when I saw him standing on the same corner with the same sign, I made sure to distract my daughter so she wouldn't see him . . .
Canuck, I'm with you. I remember seeing a guy on the roadside at a busy intersection with a sign saying he was too broke to fly home for his grandmother's funeral--any amount would help. My very young and sweet daughter could read well enough to understand the sign but hadn't yet developed cynicism. She asked me why I hadn't stopped to help him, and I didn't want her introduction to the idea that people would lie in such elaborate ways or prey upon people's humanity to scrounge money (we live in an area that is well-populated by street people and she had seen straightforward panhandlers all her life, but they didn't pretend to need the money for any particular hard-luck reason). So, against my better judgment and to keep her six-year-old's faith in people, I doubled back and gave the guy $10.
The next week, when I saw him standing on the same corner with the same sign, I made sure to distract my daughter so she wouldn't see him . . .
8
@ 6, hotels often have courtesy computers. They're generally used by older folks who don't have smart phones or travel with laptops.
@ Dan, criminals in England don't have guns? I think some do.
@ Dan, criminals in England don't have guns? I think some do.
9
This particular scam works because it uses real people's e-mail addresses. It happened to my cousin. Someone hacked into his account and sent a version of this e-mail message to all his contacts. Because it was signed with his real name and was coming from his real e-mail address, the sob story sounded like it could be genuine.
11
Here's a sweet spam sitting in my gmail spam folder:
-----
Hello, my name is Mrs. Weber Muller a dying woman who has decided to donate my life entitlement to you for Humanity services. My deposited Fund valued US$15.5 Million Dollars is with a FIRM here in Europe, i need your Assistance to receive the funds kindly contact me at (luiqq@netscape.net) at once to indicate your interest. I have few weeks to live the doctor said, i have faith and hope to make it, i need your assistance show in case.
Best regards,
Mrs. Weber Muller
-----
12
When people approach me in person with stories like this, I tell them, "That's terrible. I'll call 911 and have them send an officer to help you." They always beat a hasty retreat.
14
My Gmail and Facebook accounts were recently hacked by someone using an ISP in Nigeria using the "trapped in London" email scam - surprisingly, people who had seen me - in Seattle - literally a day or two previously were calling & texting me asking if I was okay, and should they send money?
15
@8: London has a knife problem. Street muggers are much more likely to have knives than guns, because guns are hard to come by.
16
If you are dumb enough to send him money you are dumb enough to not be aware of knifecrime island.
17
public service announcement: if you reply to these spam messages, you're telling the bot that this email address is active.
that is all.
that is all.
18
wouldnt you keep your plane ticket with your passport? And who doesnt buy a round trip ticket? And can't you just reprint a lost ticket?
24
@1,
I guess I'm a hard-hearted bitch because there's no way that guy would get more than a buck out of me, if anything at all. The thing that burns me about those scammers is how high they aim. Asking for five bucks is reasonable, twenty is insulting.
I guess I'm a hard-hearted bitch because there's no way that guy would get more than a buck out of me, if anything at all. The thing that burns me about those scammers is how high they aim. Asking for five bucks is reasonable, twenty is insulting.
25
@ 23, "not a lot" = "zero?" Um, yeah.
@ 24, I'll never forget the look on one guy's face. About 17 or 18 years ago, I'm driving down the alley toward my apt. when he flags me down, starts giving a long story about needing money for the bus from Denver to Boulder (about $2.50 in those days IIRC), so I gave him exactly what my near-minimum-wage-earning, college-attending ass had to spare - a quarter. He looks at me like I handed him some catshit from a litter box, turns away without a word of thanks - but keeps the quarter.
@ 24, I'll never forget the look on one guy's face. About 17 or 18 years ago, I'm driving down the alley toward my apt. when he flags me down, starts giving a long story about needing money for the bus from Denver to Boulder (about $2.50 in those days IIRC), so I gave him exactly what my near-minimum-wage-earning, college-attending ass had to spare - a quarter. He looks at me like I handed him some catshit from a litter box, turns away without a word of thanks - but keeps the quarter.
26
This is silly. To the average London criminal, your passport is worth more than the cash on you.
This makes me wonder what scams my generation will fall for when we become old?
This makes me wonder what scams my generation will fall for when we become old?
27
@1 - Old Broadway QFC parking lot, mid-90's, there was a guy that told the "empty gas can" version of that story daily. Here, it's BART tickets.
I know city life can fatigue even the biggest heart of gold, but it's more like being an educated consumer than a calloused human being.
I know city life can fatigue even the biggest heart of gold, but it's more like being an educated consumer than a calloused human being.
28
@25 - I'm sure someone, somewhere in London has a gun but they'd have to be a pretty massive idiot to go around mugging people with it. It'd generate waaaaaay too much attention.
29
In Seattle, the usual story is needing a ferry ride to Bremerton. The fare $6.50, so it's right in the begging sweet spot.
30
@ 29, when I first moved to Seattle in 1997 and took the 21 from West Seattle (the only place my then-unemployed self could rent an apartment) to downtown, there was always this one woman at the corner of Spokane and 1st Ave S. She had a sign that sometimes referenced her two kids, and other times referenced her three kids.
31
@30 Our neighbor the EMT/firefighter says the most vicious injury calls he takes are the results of fights that break out when one person tries to take over another's prime begging corner.
32
Guns are very common in Nigeria, where the police have been known to rent their government issue guns out to robbers for the evening.
My friend got hacked last month and the email said that She had "accidentally robbed" someone at gun point. Made for a funny image of my friend, but how inept would she have to be in order to accidentally rob someone only to lose her stuff!
Thank God for the poor colonial education system that allows for there to be something to laugh at!
My friend got hacked last month and the email said that She had "accidentally robbed" someone at gun point. Made for a funny image of my friend, but how inept would she have to be in order to accidentally rob someone only to lose her stuff!
Thank God for the poor colonial education system that allows for there to be something to laugh at!
33
I live in London, and muggings at gunpoint do very occasionally happen. It's easier and easier to get guns illegally these days. This said, most gun crime here is gang-related. It's certainly true that muggers are far more likely to be packing a knife, and most people who get murdered during a mugging are stabbed. The passport could have been at the hotel? I rarely walk around with mine on me when abroad.
This said, it's still very obviously a scam email. Dear random person whom I have never met, please help me with an urgent personal problem by giving me your credit card number, kthnksbai.
This said, it's still very obviously a scam email. Dear random person whom I have never met, please help me with an urgent personal problem by giving me your credit card number, kthnksbai.
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