The criminals behind this scam are using a "reputable" server in an attempt to avoid the anti-spam measures meant to automatically direct rubbish like this to the spam or junk folder in your email account. The server in this case belongs to bluestatedigital.com This website has an "invite" function that is meant to be used as a method to send a recommendation of the website to friends, family or colleagues. This "invite" function has been abused by scammers in their multitudes since at least December 2008. The scammers simply copy and paste their script into the invite and direct victims to contact them using a different email address. The people behind the domain bluestatedigital.com have been advised of this on more than one occassion but their website is still being used by these fraudsters.
Notice the Subject line "A recommendation from a friend". This is a preset email subject line as part of the bluestatedigital.com invite. If you receive any email with this subject line, be very wary.
The IP's in the email header details tell a story. The scammer is located in Ghana (IP 196.29.120.110) but the IP 70.42.57.95 belongs to bluestatedigital.com and hence points to the USA. It's a good idea to pay attention to all the IP's contained in the email header details of any email that you find suspicious.
The scammer tries to allay suspicions that his story could be fraudulent. Basically he is saying "This is not a scam, because I say so." If you receive an email from a complete stranger offering to hand over a fortune and it all sounds so easy then it will be a scam every time.
Notice the Subject line "A recommendation from a friend". This is a preset email subject line as part of the bluestatedigital.com invite. If you receive any email with this subject line, be very wary.
The IP's in the email header details tell a story. The scammer is located in Ghana (IP 196.29.120.110) but the IP 70.42.57.95 belongs to bluestatedigital.com and hence points to the USA. It's a good idea to pay attention to all the IP's contained in the email header details of any email that you find suspicious.
The scammer tries to allay suspicions that his story could be fraudulent. Basically he is saying "This is not a scam, because I say so." If you receive an email from a complete stranger offering to hand over a fortune and it all sounds so easy then it will be a scam every time.
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from web17.bluestatedigital.com ([70.42.57.95]) <- IP points to Washington, USA
Received: from phpmailer ([196.29.120.110]) <- IP points to Ghana
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 18:46:19 -0400
To: *****@gmail.com
From: PHILIP UKULELE <[email protected]>
Subject: A recommendation from a friend
Good day,
I am sure this letter will come to you as a surprise because myself who is the writer have not in any way come in close contact with you except that my search for a good and reliable person I could confined on to carry out successfully a little business I have at hand.
However, scam mails which people send to various individuals and companies on the internet have also made it so impossible for one to do business reliably with other internet users all over the world. I solicit and hope that this letter will not be considered of treated like one of those letters.
I work with the national Security Warehouse in Accra Ghana .This is where the 124 security companies in Ghana keep their abandoned consignments. In all today we have more than 12,678 consignments abandoned here in the warehouse.
From my close study of the files, I found out that most of them were abandoned as a result of the inability of the owners to pay for their shipment. This is why most of these consignments that contain quite huge amounts of cash are abandoned.
Now I am compiling the shipment of some 423 consignments cleared by the Ghana Government for delivery to Europe and America. I want to include one consignment which I know that it contains some $3.3m cash .It belongs to a Liberian war Lord who has been confirmed dead.
I only want to use you as a receiver of the consignment .I and you will take care of the charges for shipment from Ghana which is not much because I can accommodate it in the list of consignment already cleared by the Government. We are using the Air Courier Company based in here.
If you are interested, confirm so that I will tell u the information needed for the Shipment documents. I need absolute trust and confidence. I am waiting for your response.
Thanks,
Mr. Philip Ukulele
