Searching for clues on scam emails

[Ralph]

I phoned a woman a few days ago to warn her about a scam, as it turned out she was aware of it and did not lose any money, thankfully.


While talking to her I found out some time ealier she did lose money to a scam and since then has recieved many different scams in her inbox, many it would seem from the same scammer who had gotten money once before.

Scammers see past victims as an easy mark, the logic being that if they have payed once, they will pay again.

Unfortunately most of the correspondance was deleted, but thankfully, not before printing it out. A load of information was passed to me which I have done some research on.

I am posting here for 2 reasons;

I am hoping that what I have done will provide an insight on how we do searches and what types of things to search on

The other reason is to publicly list the details which could help prevent somebody from being scammed.

I have removed all personnal details of the person who passed on this information for her protection but I do thank her for taking the time to share

James Harper [email protected]
Foreign/Local Operations
Barclays Bank PLC
Office: +44-7045734811
Fax: +44-87-1715-3983

I did a search, (you could try this for yourself if you like, using google, search for (James Harper barclaysbank) and found some details showing it as a scam but it was not as obvious as I would like so I added some more information, Here is a link to what I have done

Adi Bruise- [email protected]

again, I did much the same thing with this one, search for (adi bruise lawyer) one of the hits is This bit of information you will notice the email used to scam victims using that name
It should be noted that the lawyer.com address is fairly easy and free to set up using mail.com, similiar email addresses are used by many scammers who are able to set up accounts with pretty much whatever they like, accountant.com, is another common one.

World Health Organization [email protected]

again, the world health organisation exists however members of that organisation do not use hotmail, you will see from this search result on the email address that that email address is used to commit fraud of many types, either that or the person using that email address has spent hundreds of years studying Click here

Sent by-: Hon. M Valentino
World Health Organization
907 Strand Street
London; WC2R OQS
Fax: +447092864759

Here is a search result on the fax number,the same number is used in many scams
Click here

Dr B Sadasivan; Chairman
clearance no: WHO1000909

a search on the unique clearance code http://www.google.com/search?

Attorney General's Clearance no: ATG64793

a search on this code gives this result

World Health Organization; Head Quaters
Avenue Appia 20, CH-1211 Geneva 27. Switzerland.

Amtrak Parcels LTD - Cargo Area; Jersey.
JE3 7BY UK
London; Heathrow
Contact Person-:Donald Jones
Ph: +447907979314
Fax:+447092864759
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]

Amtrak appears to be a legitimate business however they dont use yahoo for their email, scammers however will use the name of a legitimate company to make their scam seem more realistic, notice the fax number is the same for the person above. also note the amount of scam related hits a little down the first page of this search result

Stephen Ashley - Ashley Solisitors & Barristers
254 High Street; West Bromwich. West Midlands; Birmingham
Ph: 07935699754 Fax: 07040104435

This one I couldn't find any details, but I admit, I didn't look very hard either.

Tom Berth Smiths Flour Mills
[email protected]

No hit on the email addess but I did get a hit on (Tom Berth Smiths flour mills) Here is what i found



You can see by my searches how posting scammers information on public websites can help potential victims, unfortuinately in most cases it will not help those who do not do searches, if ever in doubt, you now know how to find some evidence,

Google is your friend

Thank you also to Shades (Peta Daniels) who helped with this warning

[Charles Fox]

Can I just add that anyone offering to give you a whole hill of money for no more than replying to a few emails is a liar and a fraud.

Life's just not like that.

[Ralph]

Good point and one that seems absolutely obvious to most people around here,

There are many variations to internet scams but the overall principle is that the scammer will convince you to send them money, in order to do this they will;

Tell you lies, scammers are professional liars
Use fake documents
Use real documents that have been stolen
Introduce you to other professional liars
Send fake documents to you including fake checks and fake money orders
Find new and fancyfull names for their never ending fees
Use religion to seem more realistsic
Use fake or real websites to seem more authentic
Send you expensive gifts (usually paid for with a stolen credit card) then ask you to forward good or cash to them

Scammers will not;

Send you real money, unless in return you need to send them or another scammer money but that is unusual
Have remorse when you are giving them your last cent
Give you the money they promise
Give up on you while you are sending money
Care in the slightest if it ruins your life

A few more signs that seem obvious to us but if it sounds like something you or sombody you know is experiencing, please let us prove that it's a scam or try some of those searches for yourself

[Holly Brown]

And may I add --

Don't feel like you've been mistrustful by doing the search. I do searches all the time now. It's amazing how much information is out there. A legitimate business, agency, or individual should not be angry with you for using the search engine. A fraud or scammer, however, will try to convince you to "trust" them.

This works with romance scammers as well as with "business opportunity" scams. Really, it can't be said too many times: Search engines are your friends.

[4X1X9]

Eve Edelson has the best FAQ list I've found to cover all the DYSTIAS (Do You Still Think It's A Scam) questions. Maybe it's just because I love sarcasm but I think it's great

http://www.scamorama.com/ladfaq.html