The return of the Nigerian scams

[swee'pea99]

Is it just me or has there been a sudden rush of the old 'I've got $11milion and I want to share it with you' emails? I used to get them all the time, then they stopped - hadn't had one for months - then all of a sudden I've got half a dozen in a week. (I've also had three calls from people with very thick Indian accents and names like Brian and Emily promising to help me fix my Windows problems, but that's another story...)

 

[ianrauk]

Haven't noticed an increase.
And I so love talking to the phone scammers.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I was thinking of offering to re-write the e mails for them (at a price). Starting with the opening salutation (the chief investment consultant of an international bank opening with 'my dearest beloved' doesn't quite cut it) and moving on to basic spelling and grammar.

 

[Leaway2]

I haven't had one of those for a long time. I do get the you "your online bank account may have been compromised and has been frozen. Send us us your details and password to verify who you are" type messages. All from banks I don't have accounts with.

 

[Maz]

(I've also had three calls from people with very thick Indian accents and names like Brian and Emily promising to help me fix my Windows problems, but that's another story...)

And I know of a couple of white anglo-saxon English girls called India. Go figure.

 

[postman]

Spam at the moment are two or three e mails per day,suggesting i register to meet Russian girls.Don't they realise i am rushing towards 63.And my vodka days are well past me.

 

[PK99]

I haven't had one of those for a long time. I do get the you "your online bank account may have been compromised and has been frozen. Send us us your details and password to verify who you are" type messages. All from banks I don't have accounts with.

A mate of mine - an otherwise sane and sensible guy - fell for one of those. It took him months to unwind the mess.

 

[Moodyman]

I work for a bank and we get calls from customers everyday saying they don't recognise transactions. So we go through the questioning process and when the customer rewinds to last week or month they suddenly recall getting an email like above or a telephone call from a 'nice' Nigerian man.

I'm amazed at some people's lack of common sense. The old saying if something is too good to be true...[/quote]

 

[Over The Hill]

I changed my email address last year and seem to have given them the slip for a while.
I work from home and have about one call per day.
Tend to be-
Microsoft telling me I have a virus.
Insulation.
Cleaning companies
Replacement windows seem less than they were.
PPI claims.
And quite a few more that dont get as far as what it is for. They often have a few seconds before the caller comes on and I have hung up before they start.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I haven't had one of those for a long time. I do get the you "your online bank account may have been compromised and has been frozen. Send us us your details and password to verify who you are" type messages. All from banks I don't have accounts with.

I get the bank account compromised ones now and again, I haven't seen a Nigerian one for ages, or the Russian woman whose husband has died, can I borrow your bank account, I'll pay you ones.

 

[ianrauk]

Or the ones saying you have a parcel to collect.

 

[Leaway2]

Or the ones saying you have a parcel to collect.

Don't know that one.

 

[Mapster5]

We get the phone calls saying we have a serious problem with Microsoft I tell them we don't have a computer and they change it to problem with sky+ so I told him we don't have a tv so he changes it to our phone line so I told him we don't have one then they get confused. You can swear at them they don't seem to mind they just hang up

 

[brucers]

Here's food for thought, have you ever considered that the person you spoke to at the foreign call centre you got put through to when you (legitimately) rang you bank/utility company etc is the same person who tried to scam you or will in the future.

 

[brucers]

Haha, I like the no phone line bit of that. Can imagine the pidgin English speaker at the other end wondering what they've said wrong or misunderstood!

We get the phone calls saying we have a serious problem with Microsoft I tell them we don't have a computer and they change it to problem with sky+ so I told him we don't have a tv so he changes it to our phone line so I told him we don't have one then they get confused. You can swear at them they don't seem to mind they just hang up