Wordout

350 Is The Upper Limit
"If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted... CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
Jim Hansen, NASA

Print This Post

Fake IRS Economic Stimulus Refund! EMail

My Readers Love You

I can only conclude that my readers love each other. One of you sent me a copy of the fake IRS email that’s being spammed around the country. She must care alot about you, whoever you are, to take the time to send it. So thank her for this one, not me.

I am certainly grateful to her. This is, by any measure, the best-written scam email I have ever seen. There is only One Error in the whole thing, and most people would miss it completely. In the text of the email, the word ‘Refund‘ is used, where the correct word should be ‘Rebate‘. I would add the caveat about Scam Flags being in BOLD, but there is only one, repeated several times, and you can’t miss it. It’s in BOLD.)
EDIT: Found another error: missing the word “the” in the 1st sentence. See how easy it is to miss this stuff?

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund!
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 17:47:22 -0400
From: Internal Revenue Service
Reply-To:

mpayne writes:’I believe this is the spam you were looking for…’ Jon says: Look how excited the IRS is about that Refund! with the exclamation mark!! in the subject line. Oh, yeah, the IRS is excited…

Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as part of President Bush program to jumpstart economy. Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund.
The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by direct deposit to your checking/savings account.
Please follow the link and fill out the form and submit before June 10th, 2008 to ensure that your refund will be processed as soon as possible.

Submitting your form on June 10th,2008 or later means that your refund will be delayed due to the volume of requests we anticipate for the Economic Stimulus Refund.

To access Economic Stimulus Refund, please click here.

Note: If you received this message in your SPAM/BULK folder, that is because of the large amount of e-mails we are sending out or because of the restrictions implemented by your ISP.

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.0.0/1489 - Release Date: 6/7/2008 11:17 AM

Still Not Sure? WHOIS

Except for that one word, this thing looks real. Maybe Jon is going off a bit half-cocked, you say? Maybe the IRS is just trying to save some trees by not printing checks and envelopes? After all, that is ‘dot gov’ in the address!

Well, then. Let’s take just one more step on the path to enlightenment. The return address is a do-not-reply, so that serves us no easy purpose. The only connection offered to us is a link. You may not know, but we don’t have to left click that link to find out where it goes. We can Right-Click the link, bringing up the contextual menu. Choose the option, COPY LINK LOCATION. Then open up NOTEPAD and PASTE it. This is what you’ll find:

http://211.32.47.11:443/irs_redi/

Then you copy just the part that is the IP address, ‘211.32.47.11′ and take it over to Arin and plug it into the search form there. Hit the button labeled ‘Search WHOIS‘ and you’ll get a result which includes the following information:

OrgName: Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
OrgID: APNIC
Address: PO Box 2131
City: Milton
StateProv: QLD
PostalCode: 4064
Country: AU

Comment: This IP address range is not registered in the ARIN database.
Comment: For details, refer to the APNIC Whois Database via
Comment: WHOIS.APNIC.NET or http://www.apnic.net/apnic-bin/whois2.pl
Comment: ** IMPORTANT NOTE: APNIC is the Regional Internet Registry
Comment: for the Asia Pacific region. APNIC does not operate networks
Comment: using this IP address range and is not able to investigate
Comment: spam or abuse reports relating to these addresses.

So, we’re not able to find out exactly who is behind the email. But we did find that whoever they are, their servers’ addresses are owned by APNIC.

Let me make this clear: The US IRS will not use the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre in Australia to host its websites. The US government originally built the internet. The IRS has its own servers.

Also, the IRS has said publicly that they NEVER send emails of this type to anyone. Don’t fall for it.

I am Jon, and I am absolutely certain this email is a scam.

Thanks again to mpayne for forwarding this along to me. Ironically, mpayne has been the most vocal opponent of publishing so many ‘Fake EMail’ posts here at Wordout. Luckily for us, she keeps an open mind and actually cares about the rest of us.
.

Get The Free RSS Feed! *OR* Get Wordout sent to your EMAIL!

**AND** Add to Technorati Favorites

June 7th, 2008 Posted by Jon | Fake EMails | Leave a Comment

Print This Post

Fake Barclays Bank EMail

Good Grief, Raymond Briggs

Sometimes these things are so cheesy that they make me smile. This one in particular is rather absurd. It’s the usual run-of-the-mill scammer email. Outrageous sums of cash involved. Dead guy, no kids or spouse, and he was an orphan. Need your help getting the cash out of the country. You know, the usual stuff.

But these guys threw in a couple of twists. First, the cash is in London, England and not some country you’ve never heard of in Africa or Asia. And second, there’s the bit about how in England, unclaimed cash must by law be used to fund the military. Read on, for a bit of a chuckle. As usual, Scam Flags in BOLD:

FROM THE OFFICE OF:BARCLAYS BANK PLC.
1ST FLOOR, 10, HATTON GARDE,
LONDON, EC1N 8DN,UNITED KINGDOM.

Dear friend,

I am Mr.Raymond Briggs, Senior Account Officer, Barclays Bank Plc,London - United Kingdom. I am writing following an opportunity in my office that will be of immense benefit to both of us. I am contacting you with respect to inherit a portfolio amounting to $35,520,000USD (Thirty Five Million, Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand United States Dollar) deposited by a German Merchant named Mr.Lan. Jaeger. On the 18th of October 2002, Mr. Jaeger deposited $12,000,000 USD(Twelve Million United States Dollars) under our portfolio management department for four years and the deposit matured on the 18th of October 2006 with over 196% growth which amounted to a total of $35,520,000 USD(Thirty Five Million, Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand United States Dollar).The account has been dormant and unclaimed due to unavailability of a next of kin/relation to claim his money.Mr. Lan Jaeger,

What’s this space doing here? I don’t know. It was here when I got the email. So far, we’ve seen missing spaces, the repetition of a huge amount of cash, bad punctuation. What’s next?

has since passed away without stating his next of kin because he deposited the funds in our establishment at a point he was finalizing divorcing his wife and had no kids coupled with the fact that he was an orphan, this funds has since mature and the roll-over on the funds has also expired. This sum of $35,520,000 USD (Thirty Five Million, Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand United States Dollar) is still in my possession in my Bank lifeless and unnoticed because there will never be a claim on the funds and all material and immaterial documents and certificates relating to the funds is also in my possession.According to the banking law and guidelines here in london, stipulates that at the expiration of six (6) years such funds will be revert to the ownership of the Government for financing military operations, such as purchasing of arms and ammunitions for the military. In order to avert this negative development.

Hey! Another space for no reason. At least this one was preceded by a period (in the middle of the sentence… I can see it now, Scammer 1 says to his buddy,”Can you proofread this for mistakes?” Scammer 2 says,”You have an empty space here! Put a period at the end of the paragraph.”

I will like to seek for your permission as a foreigner to stand as the next of kin to Mr. Lan Jaeger. so that the fruits of this old man’s labour will not be use for financing weapons which will further enhance the courses of war in the world in general. Since, It is not compulsory that the next-of-kin/relation must be a blood relation to the deceased. The money will be paid into your account for us to share in the ratio of 60% for me and 30% for you as gratification for assistance rendered and the balance of 5% for will be responsible for the major /trivial expenses incurred if any during the course of the transfer, while 5% will be given to any Orphanage home in your country. Thereafter, I will visit your country for sharing according to the percentage indicated. There is no risk at all as all the paper work for this project will be done by my attorney and with my position as the (Senior Account Officer, Barclays Bank Plc, London) guarantees the successful execution of this project. Upon your response, I shall then provide you with further information’s and modalities that will help you understand the transaction. You should observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this project would be most profitable for both parties because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country.Please, reply immediately with your full name and contact details on e-mail:,(mr.raymond_briggsxy@live.com)

Blah blah blah blah, the usual line of crud these guys try to feed you. The split, including a charity giveaway, the guarantee that nothing can go wrong, we’ve heard all this before.

Awaiting your urgent reply.

God Bless You,
Mr. Raymond Briggs.
Senior Account Officer,
Barclays Bank Plc
United Kingdom.

Once again, we find that there are just too many mistakes to be believed. Not to mention the original premise: A German guy deposits funds in a British management firm, dies, and now this guy wants our help stealing the money. Of course if we help him, not only do we become rich, but we keep all that cash out of the government’s hands. The government who, by law, must use that cash to fund war efforts. Good grief.

I am Jon, and God Bless You, Mr Briggs.

Get The Free RSS Feed! *OR* Get Wordout sent to your EMAIL!

**AND** Add to Technorati Favorites

June 3rd, 2008 Posted by Jon | Fake EMails | Leave a Comment

Print This Post

Fake United Nations International Monetary Fund EMail

A Pretty Face

Design is important. Whether we’re talking web sites or kitchens or cars or emails, the way something appears greatly influences our first impressions, and our expectations. This scam email gets that part right, but looking inside,past the fresh new face, we find the same mistakes, the same play on our assumed greed. Follow along, and remember, Scam Flags are in BOLD. I’ve broken it up into 3 sections, with my comments in between…

THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION
In Conjunction with the International Monetary Fund
OHCHR, Dalais Wilson, CH 1211 Geneva 10,Switzerland
Senior Human Rights Officer and international payment department

Date: 30 /05/08
Kind Attn: Beneficiary with African and European Countries

IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF YOUR PAYMENT WITH AFRICAN AND EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Sequel to the meeting we have with all the African country leaders regards to all the payment been owed by the Africa and Europe continents, the Chairman African Union (AU) with that of European Union (EU) have made it known to all the beneficiaries been owed by African and European countries via contract, inheritance, Lottery Winners, during There recent interview with British broadcasting co-operation (BBC) that all the debt been owed by the African and European countries should be paid to them via EU / AU account with the supervision of the International Monetary Fund Unit London UK, which you happened to be one of them.

Wow. That last paragraph is one long sentence. Any time I see that I know I’m dealing with a scammer. Not to mention all the little grammar errors tucked away in everything. From missing caps to misspelled words, these people haven’t got a clue how to write english.

You are advice to stop any further communication with anybdy and contact this office, The International Monetary Fund Unit London UK which the officer in-charge is
Mr. Anthony G. Leach
Email: unitednationorga@europemail.com
Tel +44 702 4099344
Fax: +44 870 9134316,
Your above fund has been deposited in your account stated below which was submitted to this office by your representative.
Some petitions we received made it known to us that some beneficiaries have loose all they have achieve in the life time due to the way African and European countries are asking them to pay one charge or the other in regards of their payment.

Be inform that your payment has been transfer into your account provided by your representative Mrs. Susan Wang below.

HSBC NINBO BRANCH CHINA
ACCOUNT NO 90887224091149
ACCOUNT NAME SUSAN WANG
ROUTING NO 64585783
SWIFT CODE: HSBC166349XT,

Here we find the typical strong advice to only talk to these guys about everything. I especially like the part about how some people are having to pay for the recovery of their lost cash, a direct reference to the tactics of many of these fake emails. And these guys seem to have a neat little twist: there’s evidently already an account set up by your agent with the money already transferred. All you have to do is claim it. I’m sure if you checked, they would tell you that yes, the cash is there and it’s all yours. All you have to do is contact this guy at the IMF who handles everything. The IMF, Monetary Fund for the Earth. But not enough money for this guy to use an IMF email address.

Please contact Mr. Anthony G. Leach immediately for the collection of your International Transfer Payment Advice (Payment Slip Or Telex Copy) to enable you confirm your payment in your account without further delay, he is the only authorized officer in International monitoring fund unit London UK to handle and witness your payment, any other further communication you have out side his office is at your own risk, and you are advice to stop making any further payment to any one without Mr Anthony G. Leach notice because he is the only authorize officer with International Monetary Fund unit London UK via African Union (AU) reserve account under united nations payment gazette .

We apologies to you and your company or family for what it might has cost you in the past without receiving your payment upon the charges and taxes you have paid before.
Get back to us immediately you confirmed your payment in your account to enable us close your payment file with us.
Best regards
Mr. Frej Fenniche,

Senior Human Rights Officer united nations Switzerlan
Email: uonf@mailpanda.com

And yet another epic length sentence. Here’s a hint: if you start feeling lost in the middle and starting over doesn’t help, the sentence is too long. But that’s not all. Besides being wrong about where the UN is located (not Switzerland), they even spelled it wrong. Other than that, more butchering of the english language, confusion with verbs, sentence structure and a completely different email address finish it out as a monumental failure. Still, I thought it needed to be published. Why?

The formatting was superb. There were 2 fonts used, both very common in business style communications. There were 3 font colors, which were used resonably well. The header was simple and effective, centered perfectly at the top. The entire email was presented very professionally, with bullet sized paragraphs, and even though the grammar was full of errors, the content was presented in an understandable way.

In other words, at least at some level, this thing worked. Don’t fall for it. Even if I found no holes in it grammatically, I would know it was a fake. How? Ask yourself: Who is Susan Wang? And why is there a Chinese bank involved in a joint venture between the AU and the EU? And since when did you actually lose anything to these scammers that anybody would ever repay you for? Do they really owe you any money?

I am Jon, and sometimes I just resort to common sense.

Get The Free RSS Feed! *OR* Get Wordout sent to your EMAIL!

**AND** Add to Technorati Favorites

June 2nd, 2008 Posted by Jon | Fake EMails | 5 comments

Best Viewed With Your Own Two Eyes!
Get The Free RSS Feed!
Spread The Word - Tell Your Friends

State of the web? Click above for more info.