Friday, March 30, 2007

Another Internet Scam

I'm used to the pleas from zillionaire African lawyers who are desperate to move zillions from their defunct client's bank accounts into mine (for a small fee...) and e-mails from my bank asking me to quickly log into my account and redo all my bank information because they lost it, or PayPal jinxes that want me to remind them of my credit card number...
But today I got a new one - an e-mail from e-bay asking me to log in in order to access a message from a seller. The thing is, I just bought something for my aunt, so I clicked on the letter without deleting it. But I didn't click on the link to log on. There were too many warning bells. For one thing, it didn't list the name of the seller -it just gave an ID number. (and I don't memorize those) Then there was the URL - it didn't look legit. I decided to log on and see where it went. It went to a log-in page that mimicked the e-bay site perfectly, and there were real links to e-bay on the page - but the log in and password page was bogus. I didn't log in there, but went to e-bay from my favorites pages, logged in, and checked my messages. Nothing. No message from the seller in Belgium, nothing. It was a scam to get my e-bay log in name and password.
I was pissed, thinking of the hundreds of people who would get scammed, and would find their accounts high-jacked by the scammers. Scammers really Peeve me.
Anyway - this was just a note to let you know there it's better to be safe than sorry. Don't log in anywhere from an e-mail. Don't click on embedded links from e-mails. Don't ever give your banking information out to anyone online or over the phone.

This, by the way, drives the people in the phone company 'Neuf Telecom' over here nuts. They called me in order to propose a new phone contract (they're a company in competition with France Telecom.) That's fine by me, I'm all for competition driving prices down. So I told the person on the line I'd love to see the info, to send it to me e-mail or by post, and I'd look it all over and compare. Well, that wasn't good enough for him - he thought maybe I didn't trust him and passed me to his 'superior'. She gave me the same spiel. I told her I was interested in her offer, but I had to look it over. I wasn't deciding anything on the phone. She then demanded my bank coordinates so she could make sure I didn't have a bad credit record. I told her I'd give her my bank coordinants if I accepted the offer, not before. She said she couldn't make the offer without verifying my account. I told her that I would never give out that information by phone. We argued for ten minutes, then, exasperated, she hung up on me.
I didn't accept their offer. LOL.

I just got another message from some lawyer in London this time. His clients died in a horrendous car accident and left over 42 million dollars in his bank account. The money is dirty, I suppose, because he has to get rid of it, quick. He wants to split it with me 40% - 60%. Aren't I lucky?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so freaking lucky I can barely type for the envy...
kathie at http://housewifecafe.com

Anonymous said...

YOU ARE A LUCKY WOMAN!!!

~~artistQ : )

Daisy Martin said...

I was jealous at your luck until I looked in my email account and found an email from a woman in India who has a check she needs me to cash over here for her. I just send her 2500 and get to keep $72500 for myself. What a deal, eh? I'll send her that casiers check she is wanting right away.

Sam said...

LOL!
Yes, I'm so lucky.
To have friends like you guys!
Anyhow, I decided that, money being the root af all evil, I was not going to accept the lawyer's generous offer...

On the plus side it's not raining today for the first time in Weeks - I may even get to go for a walk!

Bernita said...

Those show up here, too.
The ebay ones are particularly annoying. I do not have ( never have had, will not have) an ebay account, yet I alternately get notifications that my "account" has been suspended, immediately followed by a message I'm a superseller or something.

Anonymous said...

Hey Sam, thanks for stopping at my site. I love your graphics on your blog...hope your weekend's good.

Stacia said...

Woo-hoo you're rich! Why don't I ever get chances like that?!

I just constantly get offers to buy cheap software or Viagra.


And I know what you mean about the info and the phone...BT calls us all the time asking for info like that and we refuse to give it. No wonder identity theft is such a problem over here.

Anonymous said...

I haven't gotten anything from ebay paypal or anyone wanting to give me money! And since we have cell phones I never get calls from people trying to sell me things.

I feel so neglected.

Erin the Innocent said...

Damn scammers.