Sunday Musing and Scammers are Slamming

Sunday morning is bright, sunny and cool. No indication of the previous bad weather we had, but in Atlanta the damage is numerous and widespread along with news of deaths in the storms that have long since passed. About 50 were injured, and damage estimates are topping $200 Million Dollars, with $100 Million alone in damage to the World Congress Center. The place looks like it was bombed, with massive gaping holes in concrete above and below inside the massive building. The deaths in the storms took place further to the east in the more rural areas away from Atlanta. Further to our south, Savannah, Georgia in the midst of its Saint Patrick’s celebration also took hits from storms passing through causing havoc.

I must say have been putting my time on Kaneva to good use as I work to build my virtual hangout coffee shop from scratch. I enjoy putting puzzles together and it is no exception with Kaneva if you start with a “green acres” deed and start from scratch one can have lots of fun, even building a green friendly design to see if it would work in the virtual world. The hard part is aligning the walls and other stuff that will have to come together. This weekend it has been a bit of fun with all the employees of Kaneva being turned into leprechauns. First time I came across one they were a very tiny portion of themselves, usually the advisor who got shrunk is much taller than my avatar; however at best he came up to my virtual knees. I cracked a joke and left before he would kick me in my shins.

As I was doing some computer work on Sunday morning while waiting for the laundry to complete before I washed the next load, my computer inexplicably shut down cold and hard with no warning. I at first thought that I had experienced a power failure but the lights were still on and I had no audible alarm from the old Belkin UPS. I was shocked to discover that the Belkin had abruptly shut down taking with it the computer and all the hardware. I was not amused after this discovery and plugging the computer to the outlet directly I discovered a good deal on a new UPS at Best Buy. After returning with the new supply that I got for $96 USD I happily continued what I was doing after installing the control software for the Geek Squad Branded UPS.

Turning my attention to my e-mail I have discovered a rash of e-mails from work at home and take the money order and checks for us to the usual, “You have won the Lottery” crap. So here we go with this weekend’s scams:

The Take Payment for Us Scam

From: Emerson Electric Co dr.robertcook@yahoo.com

To: Left Blank

Subject: Employment Opportunity Online……Apply today!

Emerson Electric Co
Career Opportunities

Interested Applicant:

Would you like to work from your home, and get paid weekly?

We are currently seeking 24 part or full time employees for our
ever-growing Accounts Receivable Department.  Through extensive
demographic research, we have discovered a wealth of untapped human
resources that, for one reason or another, need the freedom to work from
home.  If this sounds like you, please read on, and consider becoming part
of our company family.

Emerson Electric Co is a leading $3.2 billion global automotive supplier
that has grown from our original 5 North American manufacturing facilities
since our founding in 1994, to 27 global locations serving over 100
customers in 12 countries.

Due to our wide and varied interest, as well as ever increasing overhead,
we have found it necessary to have our clients prepay for orders, whether
in part, or full.  Since the majority of our clients are overseas, most of
our cash flow comes in the form of certified checks or money orders,
payable in US Funds.

The position of Accounts Receivable officer entails the following duties:
coordinate payments from our clients, receive payments, process payments
at your local bank, and forward 90% of funds received to the proper branch
office, as instructed.  The remaining 10% is your compensation.  Since
this position is need-based, you will have plenty of free time while
enjoying a good income.

If interested, please reply with full name, full residential address,
phone numbers, and email address, so that one of our Human Resource
Managers can contact you through email with an approval letter if the
management decides youre a successful candidate.  Please specify the best
way to contact you in your reply email.

We appreciate your interest in Emerson Electric Co!

Robert Cook,
Human resources manager,

Emerson Electric Co
8000 W Florissant Ave,
St Louis MO 63136

Please do not fall for this scam as there are professional companies who do this kind of things with their eyes closed and never breaking a sweat. Another clue is the e-mail address, and if this was a valid US company one would think they would use a more professional e-mail address. (I have no doubt the company might actually exist; however they will have no knowledge of this job offer.

The next is another lottery scam of course, and it is another UK lottery winners e-mail. Geeze I could have been a chillionair by now with all the offers that I have received:

To: info@britishpromo.org

From: UK LOTTERY INT cedm8450@bellnet.ca

Subject: Dear Email Owner :Ref: BTL/101OXI/02&#8207

Your email account have just won yourself 250,000 G.B.P your e-mail address emerged as one of four winners in the category “A”
Contact the processing Consultant
Agents Name: Terry White
Email: terrywhitedepptt@yahoo.co.uk

Yours faithfully,
Dr. Richard PHILLIP
ONLINE CO ORDINATOR

Add to Contacts

If one ever truly a winner notification would come by certified mail, and so since this scam is so tired and used so much I wonder why the scammers still use it. The answer is of course that there is a sucker born every minute.

Next one is an investment scam proposal:

From:  Usman Lama l_ama20@yahoo.ca

To: l_ama20@yahoo.com

Subject: HELLO DEAR,

(Wonder how they know if I am a Dear or Not?)

Hello Dear,  

My name is Mr.Usman Lama,  Please kindly permit me of my desire to inform you about this deal which I have been wrapping up for years now. Although this proposal may come to you as a suprise, but I would want you to understand that this deal is 100% legal and risk free, though it requires confidentiality. What I need from you is trust and your honest coperation for us to execute this project, get back to me.

 Upon your acceptance of this proposal we shall discuss the modality of the success of this investment..

 I await your urgent response.

 Yours faithfully,
Mr Usman Lama

Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail

Save yourself some time and don’t reply. (Too bad Yahoo did not recognize it as spam.)

Next is a investment and fraud scam where a banker purports to be in charge of a large fund that belongs to a dead guy who died in an <Insert Nature of Accident Here> and wants you ti invest all the funds. Of course there are no real funds, so put the idiot on ignore and send his junk to the spam killer.

From: WILLIAMS J DOUGLAS irdsbl.sa@sify.com

To: Left Blank

Subject: URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL.

International Remittance
Department

Standard Bank Limited

Ghana.

Dear Sir,

URGENT
BUSINESS PROPOSAL

First I must solicit your confidence in this
transaction; this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly
confidential and top secret. Though I know that a transaction of this
magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but

I am
assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. I have decided
to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction.

I would
like to start by introducing myself as Dr.Williams.J.Douglas, the
Assistant Director of the above-mentioned department in the Standard
Bank of Ghana. I have been directed to contact you urgently on a very
important confidential deal, which needs immediate attention. The
decision to contact you was based on the fact that we trust your
capability to receive on our behalf a sum of US$23,500, 000.00 (Twenty
Three Million Five hundred Thousand United States Dollars).

This
sum in question was a credit balance of a Foreigner, an oil
Merchant/Contractor, a Geologist by profession and a Miner at KRUGER
GOLD COMPANY LTD who died since AUGUST 6, 1997 in [Korean Air Flight
801] with the whole passengers onboard. And for your perusal you can
view this web site:
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/06/guam.passenger.list. This credit was
held with our banks here in Ghana and the Director of Account/Operations
approached us since he cannot transfer this fund alone without going
through us (i.e. The International Remittance Department).

With our
position and experience, we have worked out the modalities in such a way
that the transaction will take seven bank working days to accomplish. On
the receipt of your approvals, I will be in a very good position to give
you details on the agreed sharing ratio.

This may come as a
surprise to you but as we progress, We will be able to explain to you
how We got your contact. Meanwhile, we are 100% positive that you can
handle this therefore, contact me on my E-mail:wj.douglas@yahoo.co.nz
or call +233 2494 839 66, as soon as you receive this urgent message.

The above mail is scam and thought the aircraft crash is real, the subject who purportedly owns this huge bank account has never existed. So save your wallet and some grief and never provide them information.

Have a great week.

Stephen E Sauls

Chamblee, GA USA