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Fraud Museum Showcases Web Scams
mashy writes "CNN is running a story about AdCops, an internet ad fraud patrol group, who recently opened a museum of internet scams. Its mission is to educate its members of the latest scams, but its $99 membership fee may make it an unpopular choice with so many similar services already available for free." By the way, if anyone needs to MAKE MONEY FAST, just lemme know I have tons of easy ways to do it in my spam folder ;)
Pay $99 and you learn all about not giving away your money to web scams?
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Je t'aime Stéphanie
I hope they can handle recursion or the site won't be complete.
"Okay, mister, I'll look. Here's $99."
"Thank you, son, you won't regret it. Step right through that door."
Inside is a mirror with a sign above it that says: "SUCKER!"
...or maybe not.
The mission of AdCops is to keep our members informed about the latest tricks and tactics used by Internet scammers.
Lesson #1: Beware of groups asking outrageous membership prices for services other groups offer for free. For example, you paid $99 to joing AdBusters. You are a sucker.
Lesson #2: Bitter experience is the best teacher.
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We want some answers and all that we get
Some kind of shit about a terrorist threat
- Ministry
Additionally, I would say that fraud is an essential part of any economy. It makes for a healthy economic ecology. I like having the option of the illegal path - even if it is only an option, it is best if we all have it.
Temptation is something that is hard to resist of course, so I suppose that is bad. My ex boyfriend gave into temptation, and I am glad that I am not the sort of person who does.
A healthy economy will always provide temptation and fraud, so lets not be too worried about fraud on the internet, but recohnise it as a sign of health, like a blooming rosebud.
--Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The
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Oh bother.
It sounds like a good idea to show people what to expect so they can learn to avoid it in advance instead of getting hooked themselves. That much is clear.
Most frauds aren't perpetrated by large-time crooks. The myth of the traveling trickster coming into town and selling the townsfolk on the idea of a highschool marching band hasn't been true since well before the days of Seventy-Six Trombones. Most frauds are perpetrated by small-time crooks who see an opportunity and take it. They're usually not so clever, but they're effective in their sheer numbers.
If you put all the effective crime schemes in one central repository, won't that make it easier for small-time crooks to find them and start inflicting suffering on society's weak and feeble? Won't this also increase the number of copycat crimes?
There's a common misconception about fraud victims: that they somewhow deserved what they got, because they were themselves greedy and bought an idea that was too good to be true. But that's just false. No victim is responsible for his own suffering. We all owe each other a duty to prevent victimhood whenever and wherever we find it.
Fraud victims are usually poor and hopeless. They're the same type who play state-sanctioned lotteries (why we tolerate those, I'll never understand) because they have no other source of hope. They're trying to scrape themselves a living, and along comes a wolf who fleeces them. That's a bad thing. That much is clear.
Anything that increases the frequency of fraud is a bad thing in my book. Whatever else the benefits may be, I don't think we should tolerate it.
Read the rest of this comment...
www.scambusters.org
The ones I really like are the fraud spams by people claiming to represent some government agency in Africa, who just need assistance in transferring money out of the country. The great thing about this is the appearance of truth (Africa is unstable), the appeal to greed (the finder's fee), and the whiff of illegality to keep you from passing it on to your local SEC office.
Me, I just redirect them to the SEC, knowing that not only do they frequently arrest these scoundrels, they use the fines to pay off the national debt.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
Translation: only a seriously defective mind would actually pay us $99 for this rubbish.
We've all seen lots of those email warnings and virus alerts, but this one tops them all. So I've decided to pass along this little story I justed concocted - err, I mean just received from a credible source, for your edification. This is not a chain letter! This is not a joke! This is absolutely true! (Yeah, right...)
--- WARNING, DANGER! ---
I know this guy whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering from the trauma of his friend's aunt who took her kids to a Burger King restaurant in a major city and they all got bit by snakes in the ball pit. Anyway, he decided to forget his troubles by having a few stiff drinks at Mulligans, and the the next thing he awoke in a hotel bathtub full of ice and he was sore all over. When he got out of the tub he saw a note on the mirror saying that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN by Bill Gates, and he could only get them back by dialing 9-0-# and forwarding 5000 emails to a dying girl at Disney World.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE!!! My uncle's friend heard this story from his neighbor who got it from a guy named Craig Shergold who used to work for the American Cancer Society in a major city.
Well the poor guy immediately tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his missing kidneys, but upon reaching into the coin-return slot he got jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped a note that said, "JOIN THE CREW". He was so distraught at this point that he went into the nearest theater and bought a ticket. It was then that he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder blade. The people behind him got up laughing and tossed a wadded-up paper ball at him as they ran out. When he uncrumpled the paper, it said "WIN A HOLIDAY" and was signed by Jessica Mydek.
THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!! I have a friend who works next door to the police department of a major city and he heard it from his elderly aunt.
The poor man, having no kidkeys and infected with a dread disease, stumbled into a nearby Neiman Marcus cafe and ordered a plate of cookies. He asked for the recipe and was told that it would cost "two fifty". When he received his bill, there was a charge for 250 dollars. Furious, he fired up his laptop and sent an email to his lawyer. It was then that he noticed his Palm Pilot was infected by the Budweiser screen saver virus. A "flashing IM" sppeared on his AOL screen, and without thinking, he clicked on it. Instantly, hackers stole his password and began downloading salacious photos of Nina Tottenberg onto his hard drive.
So anyway the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but on the way he noticed another car driving along without its lights on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights at him and was promptly shot as part of a gang initiation in a major city. His arm was bleeding badly, but he was able to make it into the mall parking lot. Just at that moment, he saw two guys with black hoods stuffing his wife into a van. Apparently they had told the woman there was a dying baby in the parking lot and asked for her help.
THIS IS NOT A CHAIN LETTER!!! Please forward this urgent message to every one you can, and spread the news that the Take-A-Bath Foundation will donate a pair of Nike sneakers to everyone at Disney World, but only if you send it to 1000 people. Don't be a thoughtless jerk - it only takes a minute of your time to spread this chain letter, and it could be true!
Have a great new year, everyone. Feel free to pass this story (including this paragraph) along to a few friends, and be sure to tell them to sign up for the free TOURBUS newsletter. You can find the REAL story about all of these hoaxes in the TOURBUS archives at http://www.tourbus.com/ . This story is by Bob Rankin Copyright (c) January 1999
This sig is xenon coated, and will glow red when in the presence of aliens
I hope they can handle recursion or the site won't be complete.
This is the "Nigerian 419 scam", or the "419 scam". Any keyword search will tell you what you need to know.
The short version: Report it to the US Secret Service - it's their bailiwick under the auspices of the US Treasury. It's a popular scam among organized criminals - so popular that the Government of Nigeria periodically takes out full-page ads in financial dailies to warn people.
419 scam victims have been killed on occasion. Not "lost their account", not "busted and wound up in a nice American jail". Just killed.