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Started 1 year ago by Rockmastermike
Latest reply from murfmurphy

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scam

Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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Not a new scam by any means, but worth reminding people.

Received an email today purportedly from an acquaintance (email was forwarded to an email listserv that she belongs to) with the subject: "Worst Case Scenario (NEED HELP)". The email had inside information about several things, the name of her husband and other identifiers, to trick people into believing that my acquaintance had been mugged on vacation and needed people to REPLY (which tells me the email addy is compromised) and offer help.

I traced the email by header information to a web browser in...yep, you guessed it... Nigeria.

Please beware of any "HELP ME" emails you get like this, and either trace the source of the email or try to contact the person via other channels to verify it's authenticity.

Posted 1 year ago #
hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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But Mike, we really are stuck on vacation...in Nigeria.

Sssss....sssss.

I remember getting a similar request from an acquaintance several years ago (though this dealt with a business cash flow problem). I did not know the person well enough to give them that amount of money. I guess I never gave much thought to the possibility that it was a scam.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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hugh59 wrote >>
But Mike, we really are stuck on vacation...in Nigeria.
Sssss....sssss.
I remember getting a similar request from an acquaintance several years ago (though this dealt with a business cash flow problem). I did not know the person well enough to give them that amount of money. TI guess I never gave much thought to the possibility that it was a scam.

Frankly, it was the lack of punctuation that was my first hint.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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update: Got a phone call last night confirming that the gmail account used was indeed compromised.

It had a weak password that was easily guessed by matching personal information through google. A nigerian was then using this account in various ways to impersonate them and to attempt to scam money out of their friends and family and caused quite a bit of chaos for these people in the process.

Also, all information of any sensitive nature that was passed via email has now been compromised as well. All the email was read by the attacker, possibly over an extended period of time.

Protip: just because you don't think your email is that important doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a good solid password.

Posted 1 year ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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I just got a call from a blocked #, from Columbia Gas about some past due balance of over $3k with prompts to make automated payment.

I called Columbia Gas and my account is current and normal, $80 some bucks due 2/22.

Columbia Gas made no explanation of call.

Possible scam?

Posted 3 months ago #
rus

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Snarf said:

Possible scam?

Sounds like it.

Posted 3 months ago #
ChrisSunami
King-Lincoln District
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Snarf said:
I just got a call from a blocked #, from Columbia Gas about some past due balance of over $3k with prompts to make automated payment.

I called Columbia Gas and my account is current and normal, $80 some bucks due 2/22.

Columbia Gas made no explanation of call.

Possible scam?

No. Definite scam.

Posted 3 months ago #
murfmurphy
Westgate
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hugh59 said:
But Mike, we really are stuck on vacation...in Nigeria.

Sssss....sssss.

I remember getting a similar request from an acquaintance several years ago (though this dealt with a business cash flow problem). I did not know the person well enough to give them that amount of money. I guess I never gave much thought to the possibility that it was a scam.

I had this happen to a friend of mine last year. The scammer started talking to me on Google chat, while I was on the phone with my friend telling him that his Gmail had been hacked. We had a lot of fun for a while.

Posted 3 months ago #