Submitted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Ronny g
North hollywood
USA
I get those and similar scams all the time..kind of annoying...
What I do is google the FBI...find their phone number (it will be either on the front page..or click on "contact").
Then I reply to the email address they leave with something like this...
"Thank you so much. I was praying for money and this must be a sign..God Bless" Please call me as soon as you can so we can discuss the details..call me please at XXX-XXX-XXXX (insert FBI phone #).This is my direct number...thank you again.
Submitted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Stacey
Dallas
U.S.A.
and make sure you hit spam when they email you
I get at least 10 of these a day
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
John
Rhinelander
U.S.A.
It's just a 419 scammer, just delete them, don't respond.
John
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
sylver8248
murfreesboro
U.S.A.
It's a scam. These folks in nigeria get a hold of thousands of email addresses, and send bulk emails hoping to hook someone into sending them money. They aren't going to stop sending them because you reply. Best to just delete them as they come in, or if its from the same email address, put them on autodelete.
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
sylver8248
murfreesboro
U.S.A.
It's a scam. These folks in nigeria get a hold of thousands of email addresses, and send bulk emails hoping to hook someone into sending them money. They aren't going to stop sending them because you reply. Best to just delete them as they come in, or if its from the same email address, put them on autodelete.
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Ronny g
North hollywood
USA
I know everyone means well...but the intent of this post
is to notify us it's a scam. So telling the OP it is a scam is redundant..but well intended.
When you email the scammer back...use the email address they request you respond with the info. Do not just hit reply.
They will call because they think they have a "live" one. When they figure out they are talking to the FBI...you are crossed off their "sucker" list fast.
Since you apparently are on some kind of mailing list they have..ignoring it will not make it go away any faster...you are on a list regardless. Most of these do end up in my spam folder...but I reply with the FBI trick anyhow...kind of gives me a cheap thrill..and maybe one of the scammers will be stupid enough to try to tell someone at the FBI they need to send money in order to collect the 10.5 million.
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Ronny g
North hollywood
USA
I got this one confused with a similar post. Seems the OP in this case is asking what this is..not just how to prevent the emails from coming in.
I hope the OP is aware this is 100% scam..and a popular one. I stated how I handle it..and it works for me..there is nothing wrong with anyone else's advice. It is just annoying. The sad part is we know some people fall for this. End up wiring all kinds of money..and there is nothing you can do after that..no recourse possible. Unless you can get the news media or a Government agency to set up a sting, which has been done before..and yet this scam continues.
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Flynrider
Phoeix
U.S.A.
Just delete the emails. Use your email program's features to send any further emails from that sender to the "junk" bin.
These emails are sent out to huge "spam" email address lists. By replying to the first one, you let them know that your email address was valid. Anytime you reply to spam emails, your address gets flagged as a good address that has a real person behind it. This pretty much ensures that you will receive more of these types of emails in the future. Going forward, just delete these things without replying.
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Edgeman
Chico
U.S.A.
Deleting the emails is the best thing that you can do. The only thing that could possibly come of this is that you will be scammed out of your money by sending it to someone via Western Union or MoneyGram.
They'll give up after a while.
Submitted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Posted: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Robert
Irvine
U.S.A.
That this is 100% SCAM.
In fact the only thing that you did by e-mailing them to tell them to stop was to confirm that they sent it to a valid e-mail address. Don't be surprised if you have just multiplied the number of scam e-mails you are going to get by a factor of 10.
The best thing you can do is just delete these e-mails when you get them. Or if you have any SPAM filtering software to set that up to just get rid of these for you.
Submitted: Thursday, November 05, 2009
Posted: Thursday, November 05, 2009
Robert
Buffalo
USA
Of course this is an email scam.
The best thing to do is to NEVER, EVER respond to scam or unsolicited commercial email. When you respond to the scammer or spammer you have just VALIDATED your email address as being "live," which makes your email address MORE VALUABLE. The scammer/spammer will then SELL your email address to others.
By responding with such nonsense as a number for an FBI office, you've just guaranteed that the scammer/spammer will get a higher price for selling your email address.
One thing that does work, at least temporarily, is to report the scammer/spammer to the ISP that is being used. All reputable ISPs will cutoff the offending account of a scammer/spammer. This is a temporary shut down of their operations because these bonzos simply switch to another ISP with a new account. Unfortunately, there are some ISPs that seem to support this type of operation and will not shut them down. If the ISP is based in china and a few other places, don't expect anything to be done about them.
Simply delete them or set your email client to filter them out, but NEVER RESPOND to such emails.
Submitted: Friday, November 06, 2009
Posted: Friday, November 06, 2009
Ronny g
North hollywood
USA
Because since I started sending them the FBI #..I have seen a decrease. As a matter of FACT....it went from getting several a day...to several a week..to several a month..and I have not seen any emailed to me in a while.
Strange how some advice actually works.
When you are on one of these "lists"..ignoring it does not make it stop. It's not like there is some moderator crossing names of non responders off a list..it all in computer banks and sold in bulk. Now most of them did go into my spam folder..but it was still annoying since I check every spam anyhow just in case. I find good mail ends up there as well. And the way some of these scammers address it..you can't always tell until you read it..and at that point they have wasted MY time..so I take action.
Now if you respond to them asking questions and acting serious...of course you will get more emails...you are a potential sucker and they will be relentless.
Same thing with Craigslist. I had it happen to me all the time...I did the FBI # trick..and not one single scammer has contacted me since..and I do a lot of selling on Craigs.