Has someone offered you a huge sum of money or a valuable consignment? It's a 419 or advance fee fraud - find out how they work, and what to do to be safe.
#8258 by Ralph Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:16 am
The below email was sent to me by one of our members

I cant post the email address used because the email address had been compromised by a scammer who sent the below email to evrybody on the contacts list


It is a timely reminder to never ever put your password into a login page from an email, especially one supposedly from an email providsor who needs you to log in from a link in an email usually telling yo uyour email address is about to be suspended

This had to come in a haste and it left me in a catastrophic state. I am in a terrible situation and I'm really in need of your help urgently. Yesterday,I went to Africa for a program Titled "Strengthening of youth against racism, HIV / AIDS, poverty and lack of education, the program takes place in three major Africa country:Ghana,Togo and Nigeria. Am in a hurry writing you this note, Just wanted to seek your help on something very important, you are the only person I could reach that point and I hope you come to my aid. Because something terrible is happening to me now, I need a favor from you, It's a very sad and bad news condition, this condition that I found myself is very hard for me to explain. Right now,I am stranded in Nigeria because I forgot my little bag in a taxi where my money and passports were kept on my way to the Hotel were i stay, I have no money with me . I lost almost everything I have with me (which included my cash, diaries and credit cards). My cellphones were not brought along since I did not get to roam anybody before coming over. I am now owning an hotel bill of $1250 and they want me to pay the bills soon else they will have to seize my bag and hand me over to the Hotel Management,I do not want a scene to be made out of this,which is why I did not call the office or my house, this is very embarrassing. Please I need some help from you urgently to help me back home,and I need you to help me with the hotel bill and i will also need $1050 to feed and help myself back home so please can you help me with a sum of $2,300 to sort out this problems here. I need this help so much and on time because i am in a terrible and tight situation here,please understand how urgent i need your help.

I am sending you this e-mail from the city of lagos. I will appreciate what so ever you can afford to send me for now and I promise to pay back your money as soon as i return home.

I do not have access to phone communications because the phone in my hotel room had been disconnected due to too much bills imposed on me,my only means of communication is email,i am sending you this email from the city library where am sending you this email right now.

Hope to hear from you soon. The embassy here have already promised to give me a covering traveling papers that i will need to have my way back home, all i need right now is the money to settle the bills and leave here. You would need to transfer the money through Western Union, please email me back so that i can forward you the western union Information you would need in sending me funds,because that is the only way i could be able to obtain it quickly and leave here...

Thanks and get back to me soon.


And almost as if by magic, I get a password phishing email just in

This example apparently from Hotmail but the strange part is the email address it came from
Gozy James" <[email protected]

Yes, official (Fake) Hotmail emails always use Yahoo email addresses

The email comes with some logos and moving gifs to try to make it look legitimate
I will point out, there are far more authentic looking examples than this one :roll:

Dear Account User



CONFIRM YOUR WINDOWS LIVE ACCOUNT SERVICES. VERIFY YOUR FREE HOTMAIL ACCOUNT NOW !!!



Thank you for getting back to the Hotmail Team Customer Care. This Email is from Our Customer Care Unit.We are sending this mail to every Hotmail Account User for Safety measurement. We are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts, so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you are still interested in using this account. If you are still interested, Please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account. This is part of our capacity building.

Due to the congestion in all Hotmail users and removal of all unused Hotmail Accounts, Hotmail would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

* Username: ...............................
* Password: ................................
* Date of Birth: ............................
* Country Or Territory: .................

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.




Sincerely,
The Windows Live Hotmail Team


Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
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#8312 by Darlene Daniels Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:31 am
This is another example of an email to obtain your passwords. If you give that information it will also be followed by emails to everyone in your address book about being stranded in another country.

Account Alert

Dear Valued Member,

Due to the congestion in all Yahoo users and removal of all unused Yahoo Accounts,Yahoo would be shutting down all unused Accounts,You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Info below after clicking the reply bottom, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

UserName:...........................
Password:............................
Date of Birth:... ....................
Country Or Territory:....................

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconvenience.


Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account before two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

.

Warning code:.................VX2G99AAJ

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