Beware of These Email Scams Hitting Your Inboxes

Another weekend away from the office and when I arrive Monday morning, my email inbox is flooded with phishing emails. Phishing emails are emails that are intended to collect personal information about you such as account numbers, passwords, your social security numbers and your banking information. Most of them are poorly written and you can tell right away that they are email scams.

Now why do people send these messages? Because obviously they are working. There are people out there who are looking for the next big payday and making the easy buck, so they send these email senders their information. And what do they end up with? An empty bank account, a stolen identity, and usually a large sum of money that they are responsible for repaying.

The reason for this article is to help people recognize the email scams that are coming into your email inboxes and knowing what to look for and realize that they are just scams. Below you will see four examples of scam/phishing emails that I received in my inbox over the weekend. DO NOT FALL FOR THESE SCAMS. Take note that examples two and four seem to be from actual business entities that we've heard of. But don't fall for it, you can easily tell by the wording of the email message that it is a scam. Remember if it is too good to be true, then it usually is.

Example 1

SENDER: barr
SUBJECT: with the Compliment of the day,
BODY:

BROWN CHAMBERS & SOLICITORS
Holbrook House
Great Queen St,
London,

Compliment of the day,

I am Barr.James Brown from London,the attorney to late Mike Matsushita,A Vietnamese-American,I got your contact while i was conducting a research through the internet.
I am writing following an oppurtunity in my office that will be of imense benefit to both of us,I supposed to have carried this out before now,but i had an accident that kept me hospitalised for months.But i thank God i am in good health and very strong for this transaction now.

My client (late Mike Matsushita) who unfortunately lost his life in the London July 7 bomb blast which claimed fifty two lives and left hundreds injured, deposited the sum of 18million British pounds,in National Westminster Bank London.

Unfortunately my client died intestate so leaving nobody else with the knowledge of this fund behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and my colleague (an accountant with the bank) decided to make business with you and release the funds to you as the next of kin or beneficiary of this funds for safe keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody will come for it and we don't want this funds to go back into Government treasury as unclaimed bill.

The banking law and guidelines here stipulate that such funds should be transferred into banking treasury as unclaimed funds.

EMALL=barrryjamesbrown2008@myway.com

We agreed that 30% of this funds will be for you as foreign partner,and 20% will go to the orphanage while the balance will be for me .
I will visit your country for the disbursement according to the percentages indicated above, once this money gets into your account.

Please be honest to me and trust is our watch word in this transaction.
Nevertheless,this transaction is confidential and 100% risk free.

If you are ready to work with us please forward to me the required information below.
(1) Complete name and home address
(2) Your age,occupation, direct phone number and fax number

Once i recieve this informations, I will initiate the processing of the transfer and in about seven to nine banking days the money will be in your nominated bank account for us to share accordingly.
This transaction is guaranteed to succeed without any problem. If you agree to assist me by sending to me the above requested informations, I will give you my complete details, including phone/ fax etc and any further clarifications you may require.

We will discuss much in details when I do recieve your response.

Best regards,
Barr.James Brown

EXAMPLE 2

SENDER: robertsmuellers911@gmail.com
SUBJECT: FBI DIRECTOR'S OFFICE, FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS, ALRIGHT
BODY:

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
ROOM 4-230, KALANIANAOLE FOB
300 ALA MOANA BOULEVARD HONOLULU, HAWAII 96850-0053
EMAIL; robertsmuellers911@gmail.com

Dear Beneficiary.

We the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI Honolulu) United States Of America have discovered through our intelligent monitoring network that you have a transaction through AFRICA as either inheritance payment,Lottery or contract payment in a tone of Thousands or Millions of United States Dollars which have been approved but have not been settled.

This is to officially inform you that we have investigated your payments and your file after close monitoring and found out why you have not received your payment,both on your part and on the part of your debtors.

Secondly we have been informed that you are still dealing with the non officials in the bank and the agencies who are attempting to secure the release of your fund to you. We wish to advise you that this is illegal and you should stop further communication with them forthwith because such an illegal act like this can lead to cancellation of processing of your payment.

we have been having so many complains from people who have been scammed arround the world hence,after concluding in a meeting with members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN), we came to a conclusion that every payment will be made through one the African Banks., (OCEANIC BANK (International Plc). We also agreed on your behalf on the use of ELECTRONIC ATM PAYMENT SYSTEM as the only direct means to pay all beneficiaries.

By this method,your funds will be loaded in two batches into an ATM card, and sent to you, from this card you can withdraw a maximum of us$1500 per day from any ATM machine worldwide.

So if you would like to receive your funds by this method, We advise that you send the following information below to the paying bank.

1. Your full name
2. Address where you will like it to be sent.
3. Private phone and fax number
4. Your age.
5. Occupation / postion.
6. Attached / scanned copy of any identification of yours.

So, you are now directed to contact the (ATM card) payment department officer ( Dr. James Kally,) the Director who is in position and incharge to release your ATM master card, and also forward the above information to them for processing.

CONTACT PERSON; DR.JAMES KALLY,
HEAD OF OPERATIONS,ATM CARD PAYMENT OFFICER.
ATM SETTLEMENT DEPARTMENT.
(OCEANIC BANK (International Plc.)
EMAILS:infor_desk001@sunumail.sn
jamesk_zebaninfor96@inmail24.com
infor_desk001@mixmail.com

The DEBT SETTLEMENT DEPARTMENT has been mandated to issue out your payments for this fiscal year 2008. Also for your information, you have to stop any further communication with any other person(s) or office(s) who claim that to be established agents using it to defraud innocent people worldwide.This is to avoid any hitches in receiving your payment.

THANKS FOR LISTENING TO OUR ADVISE

Faithfully Yours,
MR.ROBERT MUELLER
FOR COROPORATE AFFAIRS
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI Honolulu))
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

EXAMPLE 3

SENDER: aibanycode08@personal.ro
SUBJECT: RESPONSE.
BODY:

Hello Friend,
This letter may come to you as a surprise due to the fact that we have
not yet met. I am contacting you to assist me, I have to say
that I have no intentions of causing you any pain as you read this.
I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone
will die someday. My name is Albany Code Jr., a merchant here in
London, presently taking medical treatment. Now, I have been diagnosed
with Prostate and Esophageala cancer that was discovered very late due
to my uncaring attitude for my health.
It has defiled all form of medicine and right now, I have only about a
few months to live according to medical experts. To be frank with you,
I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for
anyone not even myself but my business and money.
Though I am wealthy, I was never generous, I was always hostile to people
and only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for.
But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just
wanting to have or make all the money in the world.
I believe when God gives me a second chance to come to this world I would live
my life a different way from how I have lived it. Now that I know my time is almost up,
I have willed and given most of my properties and assets to my immediate
and extended family members and as well as a few close friends. I have
decided to give alms to charity organizations, as I want this to be
one of the last good deeds I do on earth.
So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations here in
UK, United Arab Emirates and Ireland. Now that my health has
deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this my self any more. I once asked
members of my family to close one of my accounts and donate the money
which I have there to some charity organizations in Bulgaria, they
refused and kept the money to themselves.Hence, I do not trust them anymore,
as they seem not to be content with what I have left for them.
The last of my money is the huge cash deposit (Ј16m) that I have with
a security firm abroad. I will want you to help me collect this
deposit and dispatched it to charity organizations and let them know
that it's I, Mr. Albany Code Jr that is making this generous
donation. I am writing this from my laptop computer in my hospital bed
where I wait for my time to come.
You can reply me through my safe private email address bellow:
aibanycode08@personal.ro
As soon as I receive your sincere response,
I will hence give you all the necessary details of how this can be done.
I pray that you will support and assist me with good heart so that I can be
able to achieve my goal. If you accept to help me do this, I promise you a reward of 30% of the (Ј16m).

Thank you for understanding and co-operation.

Mr. Albany Code Jr.
I own the underlisted companies
Albany and associates,London
Albany textile Inc. London
Ivanmoore marble and ceramics.Russia
Albany beauty lounge.Switzerland.

EXAMPLE 4

SENDER: info@nokia.com
SUBJECT: NOKIA COMMUNICATIONS
BODY:

NOKIA COMMUNICATIONS
1O4TH NOKIA DRIVE.
STAMFORD BRIDGE LONDON
SW1V 3DW UNITED KINGDOM.

THE NOKIA 2008 ONLINE LOTTERY PROMO

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the first online promotion
conducted by Nokia Communications, your email was among the 30 Lucky winners
who won £1,000,000(One Million Great Britain Pound Sterling) each on the NOKIA
CONNECTING PEOPLE PROMOTION.

You were entered as an independent candidate and your email was attached to
ticket number (7PWYZ2006) and ballot number (BT:12052006/20) The online draws
was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list
of 100,000,000 E-mail addresses of individuals and mobile phone users picked by
an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. However, no
tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket
numbers for representation and privacy.

The selection process was carried out through random selection in our
computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over
250,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.

This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by the
The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). This lottery is the
1st of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public.

In order to claim your £1,000,000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pound
Sterling) prize winning, which has been deposited in a designated bank.
However, You will have to fill the form below and send it to the Promotion
manager of NOKIA CONNECTING PEOPLE 2007 PROMO. for verification and then you
will be directed on how you can claim your winning funds.

NAME:................................
AGE:.................................
SEX:.................................
ADDRESS:.............................
PHONE:...............................
OCCUPATION:..........................
COMPANY:.............................
STATE................................
COUNTRY:.............................
NATIONALITY..........................
Winning Email Address:...............

Please you are advised to complete the form and send it immediately to our
Promotion manager through email for prompt collection of your fund.

(CONTACT PROMOTION MANAGER)

Name: Barr. Larry Williams
email: barrlarry.nokia1@hotmail.com

You are to keep all Nokia lottery information away from the general public
especially your ticket number and ballot number. (This is important as a case
of double claims will not be entertained)

NOTICE: Verification claims with error or any misinformation as regards filling
for claims payment will be dishonored and disqualified as abuse to our Policy
Terms and Services. This is in accordance with section 13(1) (n) of the
National Gambling Act as adopted in 1993 and amended on 3rd July 1996 by the
constitutional assembly. Be thus informed.

*Staff of Nokia Communications Worldwide are not to partake in this Lottery.

Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Gracey Anderson.
(Online Coordinator

As you can see, these emails are pretty ridiculous in wording and you have to say to yourself: "Who would ever fall for one of these scams?" But the people who send them wouldn't send them if they didn't work. Many people lose their life savings because they think that these emails are real. Do not fall for these tricks or ploys to get you to send your personal or business information.