I have had the same email address since 1994. That's quite a long stretch for some people to keep the same physical address, much less email address. At the time, I was actually using POL.COM (physicians online) as my Internet service provider, buzzing, clicking dial-up and all. Because I've had the same address so long, I think that I have ended up on every spam and Internet scam list possible. I'm pretty used to deleting about three quarters of my email. This week I got an email scam that was particularly odious. It was a variation of the Nigerian scheme. Here is the text:
"United States Marine in Iraq. We have some amount of Funds that we want to move out of the country. Can you receive this funds on our behalf? Once the funds get to you, you take your 30% out and keep our own 70%. Your own part of this deal is to find a safe place where the funds can be sent to. Regards, Sgt. Phillip Newman"
It didn't take long to discover that Sgt Phillip Newman was a British soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2007.
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/ColourSergeantPhillipNewmanPrivateBrianTunnicliffeKilledInAfghanistan.htm
From what I've learned on anti-fraud sites, it is common to use the names of military members in scams, this is just the first time I've seen it.
So be careful out there and don't get taken.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
That's odious. Very odious. I remember deleting this one - several times.
ReplyDeleteI've had my email for about as long as your's, give or take, and the scams never fail to amaze me. The fact that they use dead service men's names to carry out the scams is just...well, here's hoping Hell has a special place just for them.
Horrible.
ReplyDeleteFYI, once the book comes out ...or even now, you might want to have a separate gmail account just for that purpose and to keep it separate from everything else.