Come and say hello here.

Hey everyone!

I need to change my name and I would like it to be "Christina!"

Thanks!

Welcome, Christina.

HELLO I AM VILAS-FROM INDIA
HAVE BEEN INCONTACT WITH ONE FEMALE{!} SCAMMER
HAVE COLLECTED MORE THAN TEN-SOME YOU DO NOT HAVE-PHOTOGRAPHS & ONE CONTACT NUMBER
HOW DO I PASS TO YOU---SO IT MAY BE HELPFUL
VILAS

Welcome here Vilasvaghode.
I hope you didn't get scammed out of your money. It would sure be helpfull if you post all the information about the scammer here. Please read this first: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219 There is all the information about posting photos on this forum. You may post the photos you have from the scammer in the fake documents & photo section, and post the emails from the scammer in the romance scam section here: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13 You can find some information about romance scammers here: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25 If you have any more questions, or need help, please post it here or send a personal message (PM) to one of the support team members.

As Dr. Nick from The Simpsons would say, "Hi everybody!"

I had some problems getting my account straightened out, but thanks to the wonderfulness of Jillian, here I am.

I've never been a scam victim, but I can certainly empathize - I checked out the site at 419eaters, and learned of a man who has lost everything he had, and still believed the scam was legitimate, so I can imagine how good some of these guys must be.

My own interest is simple, but let me preface that by saying that everytime you sign up for ANYthing on the I'net, you wind up on somebody's list, and no matter how reputable the company may be, there will almost invariably be someone within it, who knows he can supplement his income by selling your info to someone! Check it out - sign up for something free, wait a few days, and watch, you'll suddenly be inundated with spam offers for related products - not scams necessarily, but spam nevertheless. SpamScammers have access to these lists too, in fact, there's likely a secondary market for them. Don't misunderstand and think you should never sign up for anything - the I'net is supposed to be entertainment and you can't allow your life to be dictated by the avarice of scammers - continue what you're doing, enjoy, and let your email spam filter take care of the problem - just be aware that the problem exists.

I got tired of deleting spam - that's how it started - finally, I got so tired, I started playing with the scammer's heads. For example, I have two "US Sargents" in Iraq, who have come across incredible amounts of money and want me to hold it for them - I criss-crossed their emails, forwarding one to the other. Silly? Sure. Fun? Sure!

Another email informed me that a mysterious Mrs. (we'll call her X) had appeared at the Central Bank of Nigeria, claiming I was dead and that she was the rightful benefactor of my estate and entitled to the 12+ millions of dollars on deposit for me there. I emailed back: "Mrs. X is correct, I am dead. Please give her the money." Hey, whaddaya gonna do --? Sure it's infantile, but so am I.

You should probably not reply to these guys, and you should NEVER open an attachment or click on a link in any of them, as you could be opening your computer to a virus attack, or a Phishing expedition at the very least.

If you'd like to go a little further than that, learn about IP addresses, how to find them within your email (usually in a pull-down under the heading, "Actions"), and once that's done, if you'd like to find out where these guys are really emailing you from, I have some sites with free services that might interest you:

http://www.opus1.com/
Opus1, in their words, "shows you the path from Opus One, hop by hop, towards your requested address. If you would like to learn more about using traceroute to track down spammers, please read this."
-- Point being, they're SpamTracker-friendly!

http://www.iana.org/
IANA coordinates the global IP and AS number space, and allocates these to Regional Internet Registries - this site is for the more sophisticated user.

http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/
Traces IP addresses and pinpoints their locations on a map so you can zoom in - I traced one to a sidewalk cafe in London, and using the satellite image, was able to see the actual tables! - They also offer a software for sale that will allow you to hide your own IP address.

And finally - and certainly my favorite - http://www.projecthoneypot.org/
The object of 419eaters is to bait scammers and waste their time - Project Honey Pot tracks them, catalogs them, cross-references them by IP address, and in many instances, assists in catching them! Unfortunately, their site went down late Saturday, but they've personally assured me it's due to the failure of a piece of equipment that is on its way, and once installed, they should be back up shortly, possibly even today.

What's the value of these? Simple - remember my Sargents in Iraq? The IP address of one of them showed he was emailing me from Hong Kong! That's quite a ways to go for shore leave --

Thanks for your time, and I'll leave you with two pieces of advice:
You can't win a lottery you didn't enter!
There's no such thing as a free lunch.

And for any Eaters out there:
Always be sincere, whether you mean it or not --

Welcome, MightyMouse! Glad to see you made it here. As you know, I'm happy to help if you need anything. Feel free to contact any of the active moderators or myself if you have questions.

Hi Doctor Nick

Hi Mighty Mouse and welcome.

That was quite an introduction, it's great to have you with us

Thank you Jillian and Ralph for the warm welcome!

If I may, I'd like to add a Post Script to what I said above about IP addresses - the 419Eater site maintains that SpamScammers are not the brightest bulbs on the tree and implies that they lack technical sophistication - while that may be true of most, it's certainly not of all.

Many of these guys know how to hide their IP addresses by means of "spoofing" - for a variety of information regarding spoofing, simply Google "spoofing IP addresses" and choose any of the many articles that match your own degree of technical sophistication.

Simply put - and I'm no techno-geek either - spoofing involves the SpamScammer tricking the email server - YAHOO!, MSN, AOL, whatever - into believing he's sending from a different IP address than the one assigned to his actual computer, so that you can't pin down his real location.

For example, I had one email me that he was an executive with a leading London bank (which he somehow neglected to name), in which he assured me I had $14 million in my account, yet his grasp of the English language was so poor, it was obvious no reputable bank would employ him to represent them and if they had - say, he had married the bank president's ugly daughter - they would certainly have given him a secretary to smooth out his sorely-lacking language skills in correspondence. I checked his IP address, and sure enough, it showed him emailing from the heart of London.

As I was grouchy that morning from getting up on the wrong side of the floor, and in no mood for his nonsense, I replied about his atrocious language skills. Suddenly, I got a return email - the facade of sophistication, such as it ever was, was gone:

"You also need to realized that there are also Grammatic error in the paragraph of your letter,Please you have to go back to School for proper learning,I really do not know how old you are,Remain sober for the rest of your life,You coward"

"Remain sober for the rest of your life" - now that's really asking a bit too much, I'm Scotch/Irish for cryin' out loud!

Yet this one, written in angry haste, didn't come from London at all, but rather a location in Northern California, USA - which, by the way, I traced through http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/ and using the Com-Sat image available there, I was able to zoom in to the actual point from which the message originated: a vacant parking space in an empty parking lot on the old Moffit Air Base that was closed years ago and taken over by NASA - even in his anger, he was able to hide his real location! I would have to agree that he likely lacked sophistication, but he may not have been working alone.

I also discovered that when you have wireless access and piggyback off of another's wireless signal, such as an unsuspecting neighbor (as I do) or an I'net cafe, your IP address shows up as that of the server of the signal you're using (the signal company's - not my unsuspecting neighbor's), and not your own. I used to worry these guys could track me, but I use one signal to access my own programs and switch only to email them. But realize, that they can do this too.

I also created a special email account just for this purpose - [email protected] - and if in disclosing this, I get Spam -- hey, bring it on, that's what I live for --

Well, that and pudding - I love pudding --

Take care and beware
MM!

Welcome vilasvaghode and Mighty Mouse.

Glad to have you and I have to say that you have joined a group of awesome people.

MM, I love pudding too!

Intersting posts MM! Good to have you aboard. Let me re-introduce myself, Sam (thanks Jillian!) is the name warning is the game. Knowing we cannot always right the wrongs gives us the chance to help those who have been wronged. This site also gives those who seek to check out "too good to be true" offers and people the ability to make sure they are not being taken to the cleaners.

If there is any way I can be of assistance, simply ask and I will see what I can do.

Welcome all!

Mightymouse,

It sounds like you have lots of energy that could really be put to use in the anti-scam cause

Did your California IP resolve to Sunnyvale or MountainView California? Those are yahoo's and google's headquarters, and it is not unusual to see them show up in headers. FYI--it requires no technical knowledge, and actually "spoofing" is not required for a scammer to show an IP outside of his country. It's incredibly simple--I won't go into detail, however, as I don't want to educate those who don't need to be. If the location doesn't make sense, sometimes you can find worthwhile information by actually googling the IP address.

For those of you who check IP's, please be aware that it is never a good idea to tell a scammer that you discovered he is lying through an IP address. Doing so will only teach the scammer to be more careful the next time and make it a little harder for a potential victim to identify him as a scammer.

I trust we won't be having any occasion to meet again under your official capacity. Seems like a good place to be, with a lot of good people. It's a shame we can't actually see most times, whether or not we're making a difference, but I shudder to think what it might be like if no one tried (I don't always shudder, but it does help me think!).

It's been a long day for me, so I think I'll log off and put it away, but until next time,

take care and beware,
MM!

Oh Sam, RE: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as lions."
I've also heard that a wet bird never flies at night, but that could just be an urban legend --

- or MountainView California?

Sorry Dottie, your post wasn't up when I was writing mine, and I almost missed you.

MountainView, actually.

And no, I wouldn't want you to reveal anything onsite that might be used by the unscrupulous. They know more than enough already.

That "lots of energy" you mention is Morning Energy - unfortunately, it's late afternoon, sooo - what was I saying again --?

As for the Googling idea, I'll try that, thanks!

Take care and beware --
MM!

Good luck, MM!

Hi Gang!

Just a quick update on Project HoneyPot -- http://www.projecthoneypot.org/

"Update May 3, 2010: The replacement hardware has been installed and fully configured. Project Honey Pot is in the process of reloading the master database. We currently expect to have the site back online by May 5, 2010. Please check back for updates."

I'll keep you posted, as this is a very useful site for Warners and Eaters alike. (IMO!)

MM!