My heart is breaking

September 22, 2014 • 4:59 am

It used to be penis-enlargement devices, then Nigerian money scams, and now this:

from tgraffga [tgraffga@aol.com]

I’m writing this with tears in my eyes, my family and I came down here to  Kiev, Ukraine  for a short vacation,unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed all cash,credit card and mobile phone were stolen off us but luckily we still have our passports with us.

We’ve been to the Embassy and the Police here but they’re not helping issues at all the bad news is our flight will be leaving in less than 8-hrs from now but we’re having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won’t let us leave until we settle the bills.

I’ll need your help (LOAN) financially of $2,500. I promise to make the refund once we get back home. Please let me know if i can count on you and i need you to keep checking your email because it’s the only way i can reach you.
Tom

Does anybody actually fall for this, especially because such requests come from strangers?! Sometimes I have the desire just to play along with these people up to the moment when I have to surrender financial information.

As far as I know, you have to be an aol.com user to report this kind of stuff to aol.

 

75 thoughts on “My heart is breaking”

  3. Often this particular scam is more sophisticated, plundering a name and address from the victim’s own address book so it *is* someone they know, and with a salutation addressing the recipient by name and a sign-off with the name of the supposed sender. In examples I’ve seen the amount of money asked for is also a bit more modest, and a more exact amount, again to increase credibility.

      1. I’ve gotten one supposedly from my dad and my dad’s gotten one supposedly from me. Just took quick phone calls to verity that we were each ok and had not recently been anywhere near where the email had us saying we were.

    2. I have received e-mails like this “from” a woman I know on two separate occasions–only she had supposedly been mugged in England. I just called her and she told me that her account had been hacked.

      I also once got an e-mail from a British law firm telling me that an unnamed relative in London had died and left me his money. I could tell it was genuine because it said “We reckon you are the heir.” The writer must have learned English by watching Westerns.

      1. I had a similar experience last week when I got a phone call from someone supposedly in the legal office at the US treasury department. Apparently the IRS were taking action against me and initially I was actually quite worried. But what really convinced me that it was a scam was when the man said “Don’t get clever with me Mr Price – it will only make things worse for you”!!

        It was like a line from a gangster movie.

        I have no time for scammers but I have often been struck by how a cleverly contrived scam falls apart over one badly constructed sentence.

        1. I cant find the article right now but there was an interesting piece in the tech press about how the poor language in some of the scam emails actually helps the scammers.
          Logic behind it was if you sent out a well crafted spam email then you might get 10% of people responding as opposed to 1% with poor language (figures completely made up).
          However its at this stage they need to start spending time on each individual victim and the likelihood is most of that 10% will grow suspicious and end the discussion.
          Which means a lot of lost time. Whereas by effectively prefiltering with the poor spam they get a much better success rate for the part of the scam they need to put time into.

          1. I’ve read the same thing. The scams are obvious in order to limit the initial responses from people who might actually be fooled and to (rather ironically) not waste the spammer’s time. Thus, while many of us think the same thing as Jerry – I’ll reply and waste their time, few of us actually do that

        2. Did they try to make you an offer you couldn’t refuse?

          I get called all the time by people trying to fix my Windows, which I haven’t had for years,and to lower the interest rates on my credit card (on which I don’t owe anything).

    3. Yes! I received a very nearly convincing plea for help in the name of a member of the physics department whom I know slightly. It sounded like something this guy would write and I actually called the physics department to see if the professor was indeed stranded in London.

      1. About a year ago I foolishly clicked on the attachment to what appeared to be an email from Yahoo. It wasn’t! My contact list was hijacked and then deleted from my computer; everyone on it was sent an email exactly like the one Jerry quotes; and my Yahoo Sent box was emptied. I subsequently learned that if I had contacted Yahoo immediately they could have restored my system; but I left it too late.

        Result: I no longer use Yahoo (no great hardship); and I am more careful to check the provenance of doubtful email before I open it.

        1. Hotmail addresses were hijacked too. I have received the London airport ones from relatives and business clients.

    5. Sometimes generic is enough, claiming to be a grand child or cousin or other relation that an elderly person thinks they must have forgotten. Since these are sent out en masse via botnets the cost per email is near zero, so they need very few people to fall for it to make a profit.

  5. A bot mostly likely casts a wide net for the scammer increasing the chance of at least one victim taking the bait if not the full bait, perhaps, an amount smaller than the one asked will be toss into the net instead.

  6. Oh yes. I’ve known one person who actually fell for a Nigerian scam. She still hasn’t recovered her money.

    1. “She still hasn’t recovered her money.”

      I thought you were going to say – She still hasn’t recovered her sanity.

      1. Years ago I was followed on the interstate by a con man who conned me when I stopped at a McDonalds in the middle of nowhere. He followed me down the main street and back again as I checked out the tiny town, then followed me into the restaurant and dropped the hook. I took the hook which was about a problem he said he saw with my car. He spent 1.5 hrs. “fixing” it in the parking lot and then I volunteered to pay him (he never specifically asked for money but kept telling me how much it would cost in an auto shop). I didn’t know it was a con for several days, and two wks. later when my mechanic tried to call the bogus phone number he’d given me to ask him about the alleged problems (which turned out to be made-up phrases), it was clear I had been conned. I was ripe pickings (woman traveling alone, out of state plates, no cell phone, no confidence in old car). I’ve never had confidence in my own abilities anymore. Add to that lots of people who try to take advantage of me in my business (strangers and even acquaintances crying poormouth even tho they are wealthy, people giving bad checks, asking for things for free, not identifying themselves or being able to express themselves properly when attempting a business transaction, etc.), and it makes a person wonder about sanity, on both sides.

      2. I’d like to apologize for my rather odd reply to your comment that I made (at 10:22am). The scam-email post topic pushed one of my buttons but I re-read it and I think it was off-topic 🙂 Sorry.

  7. If you really want to, you can file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (http://www.ic3.gov). I’ve never done, so I don’t know how involved it is, or what types of results to expect.

  8. A widower I knew got onto assorted single sites looking for love. Many of the sites originated in the Ukraine. He sent a lot of money, got scammed, kept going back, scammed again. At one point he was writing to a soldier in Iraq. She was available to chat at all hours of the day. She sent wonderful pictures of herself in uniform in Iraq. However, someone had lifted the photos from another source. Facebook? The newspaper?

    Finally the money pitch came so she could come “home” for leave and meet him. Uhoh. He checked whitepages for such a woman and found the real person in another state. She told him she had been in Iraq a few years before and was a married mother of two.

    So yes, people are out there who fall for this stuff.

    1. I had a friend who tried using Craigslist for dating and got similar stuff, only he kept getting emails with nude pictures, then telling me he didn’t understand why they were sending him this stuff. It took a very long time to convince him that such emails were from adult websites that were trying to get him to visit them (despite the links they provided) or from scammers who were trying to get his money.

  10. Yes, if I were going on vacation right now, Kiev is where I’d head. What’s the matter–they couldn’t get into Syria?

  11. Google 419baiter for a few laughs at the scammers expense.

    Yes, it is astonishing that anyone would fall for it, but like spam, it’s a numbers game. If you can contact enough people at no expense, you’re almost certain to find someone who either allows their greed or their kind-heartedness to overcome their common sense.

  12. Compare it to a genetic mutagenesis screen, where you induce random mutations in thousand or millions of individual organisms. This may be a productive method provided you have a way of selecting out an interesting mutant. In contrast, if you had to handle organisms one by one, a random approach would be absurd.

    Here, Mr. tgraffga sends his mail to perhaps 10 million potential victims. If 1 out of 100,000 “mutants” are stupid enough (I am an optimist), he receives $250,000. (But of course, he pays it all back.)

    Approaching people individually would considerably less efficient.

  13. In answer to Jerry’s question, it probably won’t surprise you to know that, yes, people do fall for this. The elderly mother of one of my co-workers sent money in response to an email that had purportedly come from one of her grandsons who had been “mugged” while traveling in Europe. I have received several emails like this from friends and even my kids’ school teachers whose address books had been hacked. Frankly, I find it incredibly depressing to think about the enormous number of scumbags around the world working ceaselessly to screw decent folks out of their hard-earned money.

    1. The Nigerians manage to justify it to themselves as reparations for slavery. I recall one scammer having the brass neck to whine about his scam being interfered with by a third party. His line was something like “why do you stop me from reaping what I’ve sown?”

      Funniest appeal I’ve ever seen was a request for donations to help retrieve a Nigerian astronaut stranded on the moon. I think that one was from scambaiters who seed the internet with ludicrous scam letters in the hope that they’ll get picked up by the scammers.

  14. Last year I got one using the name of someone I knew. They’d gotten into this person’s email and sent the same money request to everyone on their address list.
    The story was they’d been robbed in London and needed an urgent western union transfer. I called the person immediately and found out it wasn’t true, but I can see someone falling for a story like that.

    1. I received one of these emails about a year ago and figured out it was a scam right away.

      However, the most shocking thing about it all was learning that my friend was still on AOL!

      Seriously, in 2013!

  15. I’ve answered pitches like this using phony names and phony credit card numbers.

    I never received a complaint back.

    1. Oh–and when the wife got her first Nigerian e-mail, I told her that, as far as the Internet went, she had finally “arrived.”

  16. I have mixed feelings about Google, but in four years of using gmail, I’ve gotten maybe three spam emails.

    I have also installed and configured Exchange servers. My first test is to send an email to a gmail account. If anything about the configuration is amiss, gmail will reject it.

    Last time, I screwed up the domain name, an gmail got my server blacklisted almost immediately.

    The large email providers are getting better at filtering this crap.

  17. I once responded to one saying, in French, that I didn’t speak English. I got a reply back in French, so I explained in German that I didn’t speak French. I got an answer in German. I then decided to reply in gobbledygook and didn’t hear back.

  19. They left out, “We are good Christian people and need your help.”

    That would have completed the con with a lot of people. After all, good Christian people wouldn’t lie, would they?

  20. Does anybody actually fall for this, especially because such requests come from strangers?

    It seems that there are millions of people credulous enough to believe that a Honolulu newspaper birth announcement in 1961 was somehow “faked” in a conspiracy to put a Manchurian Kenyan candidate in the White House – so, yes, I imagine there are people who fall for this.

  21. I got my first Nigerian scam letter in the form of an actual letter. I use to write fanmail to comic books back in the 70s and it was the thing to get these letters based on that. I wrote back and only stopped writing when the request for money to come to the US came. They would also write to the companies asking for free comic books.

    1. I’ve experienced a new twist on this recently. “Paypal” is sending me e-mails telling me to collect money from some person – just click on a link in te e-mail. The person’s message to me is “Thanks for the barstools!” If never owned any barstools, of course.

      1. I’ve only ever ordered something (small) once with PayPal, which is supposed to be so safe, and about 6 months later got 3 or 4 charges which added up to $3000+ for computer components from China. M/C finally sorted it out and I didn’t have to pay. These people had my street address correct but in another nearby town. My bf got charged for phone calls to Romania or somewhere like that, which he also got cancelled.

      2. That sounds like a scam that targets the greedy rather than the naive. I’m guessing the scammer’s preferred prey is people who know they didn’t sell anyone any barstools, but want to click for the money anyway.

  23. I got involved with a 419er some years ago. He wanted 50% of the millions of dollars to be realised but I insisted that he should have only 40%. He refused to budge so after a few weeks I capitulated. As a result he got his full 50% of nothing rather than the 40% of nothing I was originally willing to settle for.

  24. “My heart is breaking…Does anybody actually fall for this, especially because such requests come from strangers?! ”

    Sometimes people dismiss scammers as merely preying on the greedy. This scam is one of may examples that disproves that false belief. Scammers prey on all sorts of human emotions, including empathy and compassion, and their victims are victims, not merely “suckers.”

    1. I remember years ago The Atlantic Monthly had a little ad in the back just saying “Send $1” and an address. They later had a small article saying that this ad had brought in a hugh amount of $$. I think the ad was place by a psychologist as an experiment. Yup, suckers…

    2. Yes on the emotion issue.
      There are lots of cutesy or sad or empathetic or political internet passalongs and chain letters that people (ladies, mostly) forward on to others, spreading email addresses and usually asking the receiver to click on a link which goes god-knows-where.
      Those email chain letters usually prey on emotions, which is why some people feel the uncontrollable urge to pass them on.
      I am not sure if many people in the academic community get these types of emails let alone send them on to others, but they are common in some circles.

  25. Actually it can be worse. It can mean a highjack of the account of a friend contacting you with about the same story, but asking for discretion as the partner does not know of that trip.

  26. If I remember correctly (several friends have had their emails “borrowed” for this purpose), incidents like this should be reported to the consumer fraud division of the federal government (I don’t recall the agency.)

  28. Just a few months ago, I got a scam phone call. A payment was late. It actually was, by 2-3 days but it didn’t make sense that it was already in the hands of a collection agency. The man who called had a tough guy attitude. He wanted the date written and number of the check and the account number. I told him I had paid previous bills from this account and the company would have the account number. I refused to give it to him. If I wouldn’t give him that, I could instead pay by credit card, he said. Told him the truth, I don’t have a credit card. Since this wasn’t getting my bill paid, the case would be turned over to their attorneys. I got that firm name, address and phone number and if I didn’t call them by 11AM, this would be taken to court. This was a serious matter. I also got his firm’s name and number.

    When I finished with Mr. Tough Guy, I called the company he was handling collections for, although I was told it would do no good to call since the account had been turned over. They’d never heard of those collectors or law firm. The young woman I spoke with warned me to not call the supposed collectors back, or the law firm. I didn’t, but used the net to check on the law firm. Turns out they have a reputaton for assisting scammers.

    The next day, I got a letter from that law firm and a couple of emails, which I didn’t open.

    I wrote this all out and sent it to my local newspaper’s consumer protection columnist, including a copy of the letter. I also sent a copy to the company I supposedly owed. That was after I blocked those two numbers on my phone.

    Haven’t heard from them since.

    1. Just now got an email from a bank I no longer have an acct with saying that a wrong password has been used 3 times. Just ignored it.

      1. Oh yes, I _keep_ getting urgent messages from banks I don’t have an account with and Internet providers I don’t use requesting me to click on the link to go and enter all my details into their system or my account will be terminated…

  29. My fiancée once answered to an add on a well established site to take pictures of French architecture. She spent two months roaming the French Riviera to offer a diverse portfolio to the “employer”. Her remuneration was to be 400 euros, but instead she received a bank check for 3400. Something was fishy so we made some researches for these types of scams. The guy told her she had to cash the check and send him the difference (3000 euros). From what we gathered, the check would be credited to our account by the bank, then rejected a few days after the demanded transfer of extra money, which would have left us at minus 3000 euros. Most French banks know about these scams (the teller told us these types of checks need a few days to be processed) but they let it pass because they get interests on accounts bellow zero. Of course, we didn’t cash the check and instead handed it to the police, along with all the email exchanges. Nothing came out of it, except for Ali wasting two months doing what she liked in the hope of getting paid for it.

    It broke my heart, and I have zero sympathy for those scambags.

    1. This sort of scam is not uncommon.

      There is a similar scam where the con-men want to buy something from a small vendor and will send a
      (bad) check in excess to cover any extra shipping. The vendor has to be careful not
      to ship the item or refund any shipping overcharges too soon, because the check is
      bad and all the scammer wanted was any change that would be sent to him. The
      merchandise is often discarded; it is the money they want. The vendor loses the merchandise plus any shipping expenses and other expenses he had. In addition, banks in the U.S. often charge a fee for
      cashing/depositing a foreign check. It can take up to two months to find out the
      check was bad. You used to be able to call a bank where the check was drawn and ask if there was sufficient
      funds to cover a check; now the banks claim it’s invasion of privacy so they won’t
      tell the vendor.

      It’s a minefield out there.

  30. Also, don’t forget that valid email addresses are worth some small value these days, valid emails in bulk can be sold as a list of leads for people trying to sell something. So even by responding, you confirm that a live human being is active on the other side of the email account.

  31. I keep getting emails from unattached young Russian women, this is the latest:
    “Hello cr! I am looking for a man, i’m 21 y.o. let’s talk? My name is Svetlana, I’m from Ukraine.” (Okay, Ukrainian, Russian, what’s the difference? 😉

    Sadly, my wife has forbidden me from answering them. 🙁 If anyone here wishes to take Svetlana up on her kind request, I’ll forward her email address. Which ends with .jp. So, a Ukrainian lass in Japan wants me. I’m flattered…

  32. LOL! I didn’t see this until now because my spam filter threw it in the Junk folder. 😀

  34. I think I’m losing my marbles. In the last two days I’ve got seven (yes seven, I counted ’em) emails that say “hello cr, do you remember me? You know where to buy all necessary meds ( incl. VIAgr….. you know it 🙂 ) with 65% discount?”

    But I can’t remember any of those people. Not one. And if I was going through that much Viagr** I must have had a truly spectacular sex life. Which I also, tragically, can’t remember. Ain’t life a bitch?

    1. It must be that you have an alternate personality that isn’t letting you in on the details of all the fun you’re having. It can’t be that it’s spam because that sounds too simple. 🙂

  35. There’s a Microsoft Research paper from Cormac Herley that uses signal detection theory in an attempt to explain this very thing. His conclusion is that making the attack emails deliberately ludicrous is actually an optimizing strategy that minimizes false positives (which waste time and effort) and maximizes self-selected responses from people with a high conversion rate (i.e. the gullible, who will give their money a much greater percentage of the time).

    Check out the paper here: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=167713

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