Here’s guest blogger Dorothy Ann Skarles with a warning.
Be careful when you open those emails!
Welcome to the wonderful domain of emails and the evolution into technology.
As the trend grows for added texting and surfing, it enables the world to encroach even where not wanted.
The lesson is to be careful.
Today, I received an email saying it was from “Amin” in the subject line. I mistook it to mean it was from my email administration server.
If I’d been thinking straight, I would have pushed the delete when I spotted a 2007 copyright from under a Mrs. X signature.
The jest of this email is now paraphrased to honor their copyright and to save a lot of heart ache and trouble if you believe what is written.
It seems they had waited a long time for me to contact them, and they wanted me to know that I still had a confirmable bank money draft of half a million United States dollars waiting just for me.
Apparently, I had deleted a similar message before, and now they wanted to see if sending an email twice from West Africa would entice me, the second time around.
The email went on to say, the big bucks were safe and waiting just for me in the wings to collect. Then being typical about what one could expect, they added a small service fee of $190 US dollars to guarantee any further delay in sending my big wad of cash.
Mrs. X even magnanimously offered to pay the little bitty $190 US dollars herself, but “darn it,” the guys holding my money wouldn’t accept it. I was the one who had to do the paying.
Then to make sure all went well, this thoughtful woman wanted me to email her the minute I received my pot of gold making it sound like I would have a check to cash.
Goliath pools of “get rich schemes” are here to stay, and are growing bigger on the Internet.
As my Southern Daddy used to say, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Look at me—I was not seduced to send money, but I did think “Amin” meant Administration and opened an e-mail for a get rich scheme.
A new subject for Dash Off A Memory.
Warn family members to pay attention. Be cautious, not sorry.
So dash off a memory…
- Have you ever been scammed? In what way? What happened?
- Did someone steal your credit card? How? Did you know the person?
- What should you do if someone does steal a credit card?
- How long did it take to straighten out your problem?
daskarles©2011
Hi Dorothy,
Yes, be careful with unsolicited emails. I've been in a hurry and opened up one from a legitimate contact, and it was a virus. After a hefty repair bill at my friendly computer store, and at least six trips back and forth, when all the virus wasn't cleaned out the first time, I'm up and running. Everyone be careful! It is a nightmare when accidentl opening unsolicited emails lead to major computer problems, as well as the chance of losing all your data.
Thanks for warning us Dorothy! bernadine
Hi Bernadine, I do feel for you and the computer problems. Sometimes it is hard to know if you should open an e-mail or not. Good luck in the future.
Hi Dorothy. Today I received the following email message from a FB friend. (FB friend's name) sent you a message.
April 1, 2011 at 12:52am
I saw this in the paper this morning. I though you might want to see it.
(FB friend's name)
I decided not to follow the link because I've been scammed through a similar message via FB in the past. This FB friend has never contacted me before and I would think he'd be more specific in his message. I'll at least wait it out a few days to see what happens. Too bad we have to be so cautious.
And Bernidine. I've been planning to share four FREE sites that remove viruses, spyware, etc., from your computer that I downloaded at the suggestion of a friend who works for government security. So far, they've cleared up my problems. The only disadvantage, I've heard, is that all these programs constantly doing virus checks on you computer can slow it down.
Wow, Dorothy this is a huge problem and it's amazing how many people fall for it. I got one not long ago, telling me I had millions waiting from a inheritance from Ireland. Yes, I'm Irish, yes, I have family there. But-when my family left those green shores, they were penniless. Not a pot to piss in. Of course I laughed and deleted it.
When someone does commit to this, and pays the money there is little that can be done. It can be reported, and that's about it. There was a woman in Seattle who feel for it, and drained her life savings, and kept giving money in hopes of finding a relative. Not one could convince her to stop, until her husband left her, because of it.
Great post.
Hi Margaret & Dorothy too,
Yes, I would certainly be intrested in getting the links to the 'free virus scans'. I don't care if my computer runs a little bit slower, I want to be virus free after the previous fiasco. Margaret please share those sites with us. thanks. bernadine
Hi Bernadine. I will devote a Wednesday post to this soon, hopefully on April 13. I want to do something comprehensive, but might just have to put the addesses of the sites out there without a lot of explanation. Depends on the amount of time I have to devote to it.
Thanks Margaret. I will be looking forward to it. bernadine
Hi LA. It is so easy to click a key on the computer because you think you know the person and "You've had it!" You got a virus. These people are so smart, you would think they would do something that was worth while for others and help the world to be better. Thanks for the input.
Margaret, I hope your friend will be safe, and Bernadine, I am sure Margaret will get back to you soon. We have to help each other to out wit the bad guys.
There was a fake Pay Pal email that looked real enough for me to open it. The email sent me a link where I was supposed to fill in my SS#, my credit card #, age, name, address…..
!!!!!!!!!
I reported them, but I never heard back.
Hi Alison, a few years back, their used to be e-mail address' (like the FBI) that you could send the scam to, and they would make them stop. Now, I don't know where that help has disappeared.
Thanks for the reminder. I'm very careful about opening emails and especially about clicking on links. So far so good, but good reminder!
Hi Rosi, thanks for coming on. I will also be careful. No more Amin, and thinking it meant administration. I didn't even notice that the "D" was missing.
They get so clever about it now. My son had a job offer where they sent him a cashier's check to spend on some interview material and he was instructed to use what he needed and send a check for what remained. Ha! By the time he found out the cashier's check was bogus, I guess they figured they'd have his money. We outsmarted the thief by calling on the cashier's check, but that was pretty clever.
That one is particularly awful, preying on desperate unemployed people.
Sometimes people are so desperate and need help just to put food on the table and an e-mail comes offering that help, they want to believe it is true. I do hope, I have helped them to see "money is not free" for anyone You always have to work for it in someway. I am glad your son was smart enough to know what to do. Thanks for writing.