The Scamdex Email Scam Archive

Scamdex sorts it's huge archive of Email Scams into six classifications:

1. Advance Fee Fraud : A 'nominal' payment is required to 'release' some much larger amount which is held by a third party. Any transaction that promises a huge return for a relatively small fee is probably an Advance Fee Fraud, also known as 'Nigerian' or '419 Fraud'.
   There is no 'millions', Mrs Abacha doesnt have the money either.
2. Lottery Scams: Payment is required to get your huge unsolicited lottery winnings transferred into your country/bank account. If you are told you have won some random email lottery, or a lottery that you don't remember entering, you are probably being set up for a Lottery Scam. Microsoft, BMW, HP, Google etc. DO NOT DO LOTTERIES!
   There are no 'winnings' , except for the scammer!. NEW!! Check your Lottery at Scamalot.com
3. Phishing: Official-looking emails from banks, retailers and other online services, including Facebook, eBay, MySpace, PayPal, Chase Bank etc) which ask you to 'confirm' some details or which are warning you that your account needs some kind of immediate action. Once they have your login details, they can raid your bank, use online accounts as spam engines or hijack your good name for selling/buying. Often asks for credit card details. These are then used or sold on.

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4. Auction Scams: Simple scams using eBay or Craigslist to take either your money, your property or both. May use hijacked accounts with good customer feedback obtained by Phishing to give false confidence.. Watch out for 'Second Chance Offers' on auctions you did not win!
5. Employment Scams: Employment is usually offered processing international payments, promising to let you keep 10% as comission. You pay the (fake) checks into your bank and send them your good money. By the time the bank bounces the check, your money s gone - almost always demands Western Union payments!. The check turns out to be a fake or you get prosecuted for Money Laundering!.
   
6. Financial/Investment Scams: Including High Yield Investment Plans (HYIPs), Ponzi Schemes, Fake 'Affiliate' schemes and Molti-Level Marketing (MLM) scams. Basically offering huge unrealistic returns on investments which turn out to be fraudulent, illegal or non-existent. Solicitations almost always by Spam emails, often uses 'meta-cash' like e-Gold etc.
   The best advice is DYOR (Do Your Own Research).
   

There is crossover between these basic types, for example, most use counterfeit checks/cheques at some stage and one scam may morph into another or even present several types at one time. All have one thing in common though; to get you to part with your money or your property. Scamdex aims to inform, alert and educate the Internet-using public to help make sure that Crime does not Pay!

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The DNS Route to Scam Protection Online

When you type in 'www.ebay.com' on your browser, a computer somewhere translates it into a IP Address, a sequence of numbers and dots that all networked computers understand and which contains the path to the right server. Your ISP will have given you two numbers-separated-by-dots to type in to your Network Settings. These are the Domain Name Servers (DNS) that your computer will use whenever you ask to go to a domain name. There is a simple and free way to make that system protect you and your family. Read More

Scam Statistics from AOL

An AOL report in 2007 found that online frauds are becoming more sophisticated.

Of the 1% who had lost money through phishing, 53% were not compensated by their bank, the AOL survey found. A further 11% say they are still waiting for compensation.

Scam Email Archive Statistics

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Scamdex says...

DUTY OF CARE

Scamdex believes that organizations utilizing the Internet have a Duty of Care to their users, AND to those victimized by people who use those services for fraudulent means. "

DO YOU NEED TO USE WESTERN UNION?

If you need to send money to someone out of the country, think long and hard before you use Western Union. Especially if the person wants the money quickly, says he can't accept PayPal or other online payment methods, and especially if it's for a big ticket item. It's not such a great deal if the laptop never turns up and your money is gone!
See here: CraigsList and here: eBay and here: Western Union

What to do After your ID is Stolen

Assuming you've given out information about your bank or your credit card has been compromised or you just plain lost your wallet - What do you do now?

First, watch your bank/credit accounts very closely. Fraudulent transactions may not start showing up for 3-6 months afterwards. Often fraudsters will bundle credit card details and sell them off to those who then try to duplicate cards, or start trying to make purchases online.

Call your bank, CC companies, and have them issue new cards with new numbers, if a breach is involved they should do it for free . If fraudulent charges do start showing up, you will have to sign affidavits stating what purchases were legit and what were fraudulent.

If you believe your SSN# is involved, you can have the 3 credit reporting agencies put a 'stop' on your SSN to acquire any new credit in your name. This will be a pain for you next time you want to buy a car, or get a CC, but it keeps someone else from doing the same on your behalf. You won't be able to go a car lot and leave with a new car, but neither will anyone else, you will have to jump through hoops to acquire new credit. The 'Big Three'credit reporting agencies may do this for free, this is different from the 'credit monitoring' services they offer.

Scam-Baiting

Defined as: "... the practice of corresponding with scammers to waste their time and/or make them look foolish...."
Scammers are criminals and may live or have contacts in YOUR country. Scam-baiting can look a lot like simple racism too. Got a Scam email not in our repository? Send it to Scamdex.

LifeLock fraud protection services help keep people's identities safe

Avoiding Credit Card Fraud

During the last few years there has been a massive increase in global online fraud. Fraudsters use spam, illegal marketing techniques, (Phishing and Hacking) in their operations. Even though their net income per person is miniscule, it becomes significant when multiplied by hundreds of thousands or even millions. Other scammers around the world trawl the Internet for credit card and financial information to use for fraudulent purposes. Finally, identity thieves are reaping high rewards at the expense of both the target and the online retailer. Read More

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