Bloody Spam Emails Page 2

A sort of spam............

10 years ago, I had a couple of emails back and forth about a Tony Hancock query, which was resolved pleasantly for all concerned, then out of the blue, this appeared in my Inbox:-

"How are you? I hope this email finds you well, can I ask something from you please?"

ME "Well, it's been 10 years (!!), but go ahead."

"Good to hear from you, I'm sorry for bothering you with this, I need to get a Google Play voucher card for my niece who had a heart operation some days ago , It's her birthday today but I can't do this now because I'm currently out of town and I tried purchasing online but unfortunately no luck with that. Can you help me get it at any Supermarket, Sainsbury's, Tesco & store close to you? Or purchase online for me? Am only looking to spend £200, I promise to pay back as soon as i get back. Kindly let me know if you can handle it online or at the store.
Await your kind response."

ME "Goodbye"

First bell rings at 'gift cards, eh.

Bloody cheek, thinking I'd just fell off the top of a Christmas tree.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 18th August 2022, 9:28 AM

A sort of spam............

10 years ago, I had a couple of emails back and forth about a Tony Hancock query, which was resolved pleasantly for all concerned, then out of the blue, this appeared in my Inbox:-

"How are you? I hope this email finds you well, can I ask something from you please?"

ME "Well, it's been 10 years (!!), but go ahead."

"Good to hear from you, I'm sorry for bothering you with this, I need to get a Google Play voucher card for my niece who had a heart operation some days ago , It's her birthday today but I can't do this now because I'm currently out of town and I tried purchasing online but unfortunately no luck with that. Can you help me get it at any Supermarket, Sainsbury's, Tesco & store close to you? Or purchase online for me? Am only looking to spend £200, I promise to pay back as soon as i get back. Kindly let me know if you can handle it online or at the store.
Await your kind response."

ME "Goodbye"

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That scam seems to be having a resurgence.

Maybe, but it hadn't happened before to me, and I can't get over how the original innocent contact i[]10 years ago[/i] turned into a scam - very odd. Not unless he was just trying it on with everyone in his address book

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 18th August 2022, 11:43 PM

Maybe, but it hadn't happened before to me, and I can't get over how the original innocent contact i[]10 years ago[/i] turned into a scam - very odd. Not unless he was just trying it on with everyone in his address book

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Probably a hacker broke into a commercial site on which you registered an account many years ago and has gleaned all the email addresses on their internal lists and the hacker has sold copies of the list to spammers & scammers.

Ah, that explains a lot. What I still don't understand is WHY people STILL fall for something that is blatantly a begging letter!?!?!

Quote: billwill @ 18th August 2022, 11:58 PM

Probably a hacker broke into a commercial site on which you registered an account many years ago and has gleaned all the email addresses on their internal lists and the hacker has sold copies of the list to spammers & scammers.

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Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 19th August 2022, 8:52 AM

Ah, that explains a lot. What I still don't understand is WHY people STILL fall for something that is blatantly a begging letter!?!?!

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This is why some computer magazines advocate going thorough any records you have (including browser passwords remembered) of old accounts and then re-visiting the site to delete the account. I use a different system, my emails addresses have a portion (in front of the @ sign) which is ignored by the email systems. When I register an account I put an identifier of the account's company in there. Later if I get non-relevant emails to that email address, I know who has 'leaked' and if necessary I can block or divert such emails.

You can do this if you have a gmail address because anything between a fullstop (I think) and the @ sign is ignored by gmail. So it you have no other method you can create a gmail account just for this purpose and keep your main email address for trusted correspondents. You can test this gmail facility by sending emails to yourself at gmail with stuuf between the fullstop and @ sign.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 19th August 2022, 8:52 AM

Ah, that explains a lot. What I still don't understand is WHY people STILL fall for something that is blatantly a begging letter!?!?!

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If they send a 100,000 emails - all done automatically - and manage to trick just one person it's an instant win.

Quote: Ben @ 21st August 2022, 2:52 PM

If they send a 100,000 emails - all done automatically - and manage to trick just one person it's an instant win.

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I understand that (have done for many a year), but what I don't understand, is WHY, with all the publicity over this, for many, many years, on all sorts of media, people are STILL falling for it.

There was a case in point only last week on Rip Off Britain, where this woman believed NO ONE, except the male voices telling her on the phone that they were a bank security team investigating the branch where she banks, and that she had to transfer all her money into a new account.

They were being "wise" by telling her that her bank would deny everything because everyone at her branch was in on this massive fraud they were investigating and she was not to take any notice of what they tell her, re she was being conned.

When the bank could see she didn't believe them, and she kept mum on the fraud operation, the bank called in the police TWICE and she thought they were in on this massive fraud too, by being paid off by the bank.

She lost £545,000

It beggars' belief.

Unfortunately there will always be dumbasses in this world

That's why they do it

Quote: lofthouse @ 21st August 2022, 3:59 PM

Unfortunately there will always be dumbasses in this world

That's why they do it

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This. Some goon will always fall for it.

I'm fact, I have it on good authority that several of the old codgers on this very forum regularly fall for these scams.

Well this old codger hasn't, and is never going to!!

Quote: lofthouse @ 21st August 2022, 3:59 PM

Unfortunately there will always be dumbasses in this world

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Early stages of dementia/Alzheimer's and general frailty in the elderly can play a big role in such scams.

Also, recently bereaved, depressed, people in financial difficulties, or just very lonely...
There's a ton of reasons why people let their guard down.
That's what these bastards rely on - it's a numbers game.