Possible email scam?

[Stytooner]

Hey guys and gals. Just a heads up. I received this email this am twice. I researched the source and t apparently bounced around quite a bit. It looks to me like on of those Western Union scams. If not, the my apologies to the Rev. Please resend with a more direct question.

MY NAME IS REV.JOHN KELVIN I AM SENDING THIS EMAIL REGARDING AN ORDER ACTUALLY I AM SENDING THEM TO ONE OF MY NEW COMPANY IN WEST AFRICA I WILL LIKE TO KNOW IF YOU DO CARRY Powermatic INSTOCK IF YOU DO CARRY THEM I WILL LIKE YOU TO REPLY ME BCK SO THAT I CAN LET YOU KNOW THE SIZE AND THE QUALITY THAT I WANT BUT I WILL HANDLE THE FREIGHT CHARGES ONCES AGAIN WHAT METHOD OF PAYMENT DO YOU ACCEPT LOOKING FOWARD TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON
BEST REGARD
REV,JOHN KELVIN

[BobSch]

Sounds like an advanced payment scam to me. Reverend? Reverend of what, the church of gimme-your-cash?

[Uncle Cracker]

Oh yeah... It's a scam... The wording in the area where "Powermatic" is found is very generic, and designed with a "insert your name here" kind of look...

[ejs1097]

Let's see:
1) All Caps
2) Powermatic not Caps
3) Poor English/misspelled words
4) Doesn't mention Company name
5) West Africa refers to a region not a location (such as country/town)
6) Size and Quality of a power tool?
7) Not addressed to certain person or company

Or maybe you are just really popular and the good rev wants some sharkgaurds to protect his people while using POWERMATIC or any size and quality.

[williamr]

Hey guys and gals. Just a heads up. I received this email this am twice. I researched the source and t apparently bounced around quite a bit. It looks to me like on of those Western Union scams. If not, the my apologies to the Rev. Please resend with a more direct question.

MY NAME IS REV.JOHN KELVIN I AM SENDING THIS EMAIL REGARDING AN ORDER ACTUALLY I AM SENDING THEM TO ONE OF MY NEW COMPANY IN WEST AFRICA I WILL LIKE TO KNOW IF YOU DO CARRY Powermatic INSTOCK IF YOU DO CARRY THEM I WILL LIKE YOU TO REPLY ME BCK SO THAT I CAN LET YOU KNOW THE SIZE AND THE QUALITY THAT I WANT BUT I WILL HANDLE THE FREIGHT CHARGES ONCES AGAIN WHAT METHOD OF PAYMENT DO YOU ACCEPT LOOKING FOWARD TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON
BEST REGARD
REV,JOHN KELVIN

Nigerian Scam, 419 scam take your pick of names.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...19&btnG=Search

The Busted Up Cowgirl scam link doesn't work any -- too bad it was good.

http://pmccl.com/security/emailsecurity.html
http://pmccl.com/security/security.html

But there is enough stuff to amuse you.

---
will

[Ed62]

Any time I receive e-mails from someone I don't know, I don't even open it. It goes right to "Spam".

Ed

[Anna]

For entertainment purposes, try 419eaters.com. They get their jollies in scamming the scammers.

Then there's the whole p-p-powerbook adventure. A guy was selling a powerbook on ebay when he was contacted by a scammer. The seller decided to "bite" and hilarity ensued. They sent the scammer a package containing a fake computer, and the scammer even had to pay something like $360 for import tax. For the shipping fee, members of the forum this guy belonged to (can't remember which one right now) chipped in to pay for it. Some of the forum members who lived in the same city as the scammer (it was in England) even staked out the mailing address and took pictures of the guy picking up his package.

And of course they went through all the trouble of creating the p-p-powerbook. (more pictures at the original link)

This story was a big hit on the web a few years ago, and it was pretty amazing to watch (actually, read the forum where the scheme was hatched) as the counterscam unfolded. I don't think this has ever been topped yet.











P.S. I wasn't sure about the proper protocol for linking pictures. I seem to remember someone saying that linking to an external server is unfair to the owner because he gets hit with the bandwidth. Not sure about hosting the pictures in the BT3Central server either. Let me know if I overstepped anywhere.

[jhart]

Anna, the 419eaters is a great site. Was rolling over laughing a a couple of them. Have wanted to do that to them myself, but never have. Very creative minds!!!

[L. D. Jeffries]

Just for "gits and shiggles" I have been keeping track of all the "money" I am due to receive over the past 2 month! Look out guys I'm gonna buy out Delta/Ryobi/Sears/Festool/SteelCity and several other tool makers and then sell everything to BT3'ers for $10 per tool. Hows that?
I always read these scams after I put them in Apples trash box. What a giggle!! Sad part is that probably some poor jerk somewhere will answer them.