How blatant can a phishing scam be?

Talk about the Nigerian 4-1-9 scam in all its many variations, such as bogus checks sent from Nigeria to purchase used cars in the U.S. and many other variations of this scam.
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How blatant can a phishing scam be?

Post by Unidyne »

(Sorry for not being active on this board as of late. My mother passed away in January, and I've been busy with many related things.)

A friend of mine forwarded this article to me. Yet another 419 phishing scam, but the author wasn't even trying. Besides the bad English, generic greeting, and a request that the reply be sent through a free e-mail service (Yandex) and not Bank of America's own domain, the text was sent in Comic Sans font.

Yes. Comic Sans. :roll:

Read and enjoy.

https://blog.malwarebytes.org/phishing/ ... ium=social
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Re: How blatant can a phishing scam be?

Post by Pottapaug1938 »

I'n not one for 4-1-9 phishing scams or chain letters; but here is one I'd like to see....

Dear Mr. Esteemed Sir,

I am pleased to have the honour of making your acquaintance. My name is William B. Coatesworth, and I am the managing director of a brewery which makes the most renowned beer in all of Europe. I humbly beg your leave to solicit your assistance in gaining a resolution of a problem which has befallen my brewery.

We recently commenced the secret production of a beer which has impressed noted American beer connoisseurs as being superior to the renowned Pliny the Elder and Heady Topper. The finished product has joyfully exceeded our expectations, however we made too much of it and cannot now dispose of it with ease. We are therefore soliciting your assistance.

As a token of your willingness to assist us in this endeavor, we ask you to obtain one case of the highest quality craft beer in your vicinity, and to send it to the person whose name appears at the top of this list. Upon doing so, please notify us of your shipment, and then strike out this name and subscribe your own name to the bottom of the list. When the person whose name appears before yours notifies us of the receipt of his beer, we will undertake to ship one case of our prize beer to you.

We warn you not to omit your cooperation. Others of our acquaintance have failed to ship any beer or have shipped inferior beer; and when their name came to the top of the list, they received not our prize beer, but beverages such as Budweiser Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, and El Presidente.

We beg of you to respond at once, so that you can savor the best in craft beer, which only we can provide to you. We await your instant reply.

Sincerely,

William B. Coatesworth
Managing Director

Mailing list

Mike Untree Tisofthee, Bethlehem, PA
Sally Port, Ft. Meade, MD
Amanda B. Reckendwith, Berlin, NH
“Red” Rover, El Paso, TX
Herb Eehynd, Taos, NM
Prince N. De Pauppa, Calais, ME
Buster Chopps, Nome, AK
Polly Wannacracca, Port Townsend, WA
Una Sykill, Wichita, KS
Stu Pott, Knoxville, TN
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Re: How blatant can a phishing scam be?

Post by Arthur Rubin »

Pottapaug1938 wrote:I'n not one for 4-1-9 phishing scams or chain letters; but here is one I'd like to see....

Dear Mr. Esteemed Sir,

I am pleased to have the honour of making your acquaintance. My name is William B. Coatesworth, and I am the managing director of a brewery which makes the most renowned beer in all of Europe....
Burnaby?
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Re: How blatant can a phishing scam be?

Post by Burnaby49 »

Arthur Rubin wrote:
Pottapaug1938 wrote:I'n not one for 4-1-9 phishing scams or chain letters; but here is one I'd like to see....

Dear Mr. Esteemed Sir,

I am pleased to have the honour of making your acquaintance. My name is William B. Coatesworth, and I am the managing director of a brewery which makes the most renowned beer in all of Europe....
Burnaby?
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Re: How blatant can a phishing scam be?

Post by noblepa »

Back to the original post...

I don't know what the escheat laws are in Washington, DC, but here in Ohio, that account would have gone to the state 23 years ago.

Any account with no external activity (deposit or withdrawal; posting interest doesn't count) for five years triggers the escheat process. The bank attempts to contact the owner via the last known mailing address. I believe they publish lists in the local newspapers. Failing that, the money goes to the state, along with all the customer information. If the rightful owner or his/her heirs find out about it, they can apply to the state and receive the funds, after providing sufficient proof of identity.

Of course, I don't expect that the targets of these scams are aware of this.

I've always been amazed that executives at large international banks, or the director of the FBI, use Yahoo or gmain email accounts. Or that they can't spell. Or that they're offering me millions of dollars, but they don't even know my name.