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Chain Letters - scam?


ltsmadrid

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QUOTEMR.DAVID KHUMALOEmail:davekhumalo02@yahoo.co.ukPhone:+27-730819605Dear Sir/Madam,You may be surprised to receive this letter from me since you don't know Me personally. I am Mr.DAVID KHUMALO the son of Mr. FRANK KHUMALO, who was Recently murdered in the land dispute in Zimbabwe.My late father was among the few black Zimbabwean rich farmers murdered in cold blood by the agents of the ruling government of president Robert Mugabe, for his alleged support and sympathy for the Zimbabwean opposition party controlled by the white minority. Before his death he had taken to Johannesburg South Africa to deposit the sum of US$15 Million (FIFTEEN Million United States Dollars) with a Security and Finance Company as
Unfortunately this is no scam. It is downright mayor FRAUD. I used to receive several of these e-mails (and even phone calls... Especially from Angola) at my former job that had to do with foreign investments. I am not 100% sure how it works but the next step is to get a copy of your passport in order to "make the transaction". The transfer is somehow done in your name (but not to your bank account) and it’s a method used for "whitening money" (blanquear dinero). You OBVIOUSLY do not see a penny + can get into mayor problems.Anyhow, I agree with Jonas that the best thing to do with chain letters are to ERRASE THEM!!! also agree that the idea of tracking the e-mails is impossible and that the idea of AOL paying 5c / e-mail is absurd!
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These emails are usually referred to as "419" scams, after the police code in Nigeria that makes these illegal. Most of these people are real people, and they really are from the countries they say they are. The names obviously aren't always real, but they are real people sending these emails. I saw a statistic in the paper the other day that said the average amount that people lose when they fall for these is almost $7,000. The average loss for "you won the lottery" scams is almost $3,000. People are too gullible.But there's hope. If you have a minute, you can read this site, and laugh at what the "victims" of these scams actually got the scammers to do. There's nothing better then scamming a scammer:http://www.419eater.com/

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ltsmadrid: I used to receive several of these e-mails (and even phone calls... Especially from Angola) at my former job
You get phone calls too :) , thats even a step further to scam mails, but then you can trace them easily..... I guess most of those who fall for these scams have a [bad] intention to make some "easy money".
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If we're talking about scamming the scammer, we have to mention this:http://p-p-p-powerbook.com/

Wow that was some story, just a pity that we never saw the look on the scammers face :)
After Starbucks discovers that the site is registered to:
I found that interesting, after searching google i found a site that offers this, after punching in a couple of web addresses of undesclosed members i can see addresses :) Is that information not private and confidential? :)
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It is not private, web records are actually required to be both public and accurate. If you can prove that someone's information is not accurate, theoretically, the host or registrar should suspend that account. Not that it happens a lot, but theoretically..If I want to look that info up, I typically use whois.sc, which redirects to domaintools.com apparently:http://whois.domaintools.com/w3schools.com

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here's a chain letter from myspace i just foundsome, people just made up or found out, others are complete coincidencefreaky 9-11 facts!1) New York City has 11 letters2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.4) George W Bush has 11 letters.5) The two twin towers make an "11"This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:1) New York is the 11th state.2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number11.3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 114) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers.6+5 = 115) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 116) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911.9 + 1 + 1 = 11.Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. >2 + 5 + 4 = 11.2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year.Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towersincident.Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:Now this is where things get totally eerie:The most recognised symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamicholy book:"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran.Still uncovinced about all of this..?! Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:Open Microsoft Word and do the followingTRY THIS FOR REAL)1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the firstplane to hit one of the Twin Towers.2. Highlight the Q33 NY.3. Change the font size to 48.4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS 1scary huh??NOW REPOST THIS WITHIN 911 SECONDS WITH THE TITLE "Weird 9/11 facts " OR YOUR FAMILY'S NEXT PLANE TRIP WILL BE SHORTER THAN EXPECTED

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http://www.snopes.com/rumors/coincidence.aspI especially like the one about the Quran verse.
Regarding the purported Quran verse about the awakening of a fearsome eagle, our piece on that subject explains there is no such entry in that holy book, let alone one occuring in Chapter 9, Verse 11. As we note in our article about the result produced by rendering "Q33 NY" in Microsoft's Wingdings font, there was no flight "Q33NY" involved in the terrorist attack on New York City — the two flights used to assault the Twin Towers were American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175.
While it would appear there were a seemingly unusual number of elevens arising from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, it must be kept in mind that it is but human nature to search for patterns even where none exist. We attempt to impose a gestalt on randomness because chaos is impossible to comprehend, hence our fascination with recurrent themes. We feel something of great import is going on if a particular number comes up time and again, and we are unsettled by it.
Some people, anyway. Others just think it's silly.
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