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  • Interesting Nigerian scam

    From Grant Taylor@21:1/5 to Andreas Kohlbach on Thu Apr 29 12:02:23 2021
    On 4/29/21 11:42 AM, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
    First I wonder if people falling for this scam are smart enough to
    follow the procedure.

    I've found that some people that can't come up with an original thought
    of their own are acceptable at following directions, especially when
    motivated (e.g. by the promise of money) to do so.

    Secondly, I unfortunately don't own a phone. I'd love to try it out
    to see what happens.

    I question if this is actually a money grab or if it's some form of list washing.

    I say this because the directions don't indicate that they will be
    asking for any information other than to "verify your account name" and "confirm your bank information". Unless what's being verified /
    confirmed is blatantly wrong and there are options to correct the
    information, wherein the victim provides account information.

    Either way, verifying that a recipient of an email address will call and
    take actions to purportedly receive money would probably make those
    email addresses somewhat more valuable as confirmed suckers on the
    receiving end.

    Thirdly, why is that so complicated to talk with this scammer? Couldn't
    he just gave his number without codes?

    As it is written, the scammer could go through the motions themselves.
    I'm not actually seeing the need for a customer.

    Btw. the codes above show up all over the internet, thus is not a confirmation code for the scammer.

    Ya. This seems more like list washing with confirmation that a whopper
    is associated with the email address. (Presuming that there is some association with the email address during the call.)



    --
    Grant. . . .
    unix || die

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andreas Kohlbach@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 29 13:42:48 2021
    Today I found this in the spam folder:

    | This is to officially acknowledged an order from the World Bank
    | Switzerland. As COVID-19 Palliative package compensation of 750,000.00
    | (Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling) has been approved
    | for a long time now but we have no contact with you. Please call our
    | +1 641-715-3800, You will be asked to put in your Access Code which is
    | :89498 followed by the # Key, then Listen to the voice prompt and press
    | 1 to verify your account name with our Bank.

    | When asked for your Verification PIN, Put in 507 and then press 2 to
    | enter your account number which is : 6500760021, Listen and then press
    | 3 to put in your transfer code which is 7007 and press 9 to confirm
    | your Bank information for the transfer to be done.
    |
    | Please if you have any issue on the process, don't hesitate to contact us
    | immediately

    First I wonder if people falling for this scam are smart enough to follow
    the procedure.

    Secondly, I unfortunately don't own a phone. I'd love to try it out to see
    what happens.

    Thirdly, why is that so complicated to talk with this scammer? Couldn't
    he just gave his number without codes?

    Btw. the codes above show up all over the internet, thus is not a
    confirmation code for the scammer.
    --
    Andreas

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Winston@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 29 15:25:28 2021
    This is to officially acknowledged an order from the World Bank
    Switzerland. As COVID-19 Palliative package compensation of 750,000.00
    (Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling) has been approved
    for a long time now but we have no contact with you. Please call our
    +1 641-715-3800, ...

    +1 641-715-3800 appears to be used by republicoftheunitedstates.org.
    To join their conferences LIVE, they have a different number. The 641
    number is for playback of the conference later.

    It's not clear to me whether that 641 number is used exclusively by them
    or serves other people/organizations as well.

    Perhaps the original "scam" is an attempt to disrupt the organization?
    -WBE

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andreas Kohlbach@21:1/5 to Grant Taylor on Thu Apr 29 16:29:18 2021
    On Thu, 29 Apr 2021 12:02:23 -0600, Grant Taylor wrote:

    On 4/29/21 11:42 AM, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
    First I wonder if people falling for this scam are smart enough to
    follow the procedure.

    I've found that some people that can't come up with an original
    thought of their own are acceptable at following directions,
    especially when motivated (e.g. by the promise of money) to do so.

    Secondly, I unfortunately don't own a phone. I'd love to try it out
    to see what happens.

    I question if this is actually a money grab or if it's some form of
    list washing.

    I say this because the directions don't indicate that they will be
    asking for any information other than to "verify your account name"
    and "confirm your bank information". Unless what's being verified / confirmed is blatantly wrong and there are options to correct the information, wherein the victim provides account information.

    Would IMO also be interesting what happens when you enter other codes
    than instructed.

    May be it's a spammer haven. And then one should try to report that to
    the phone company involved (Indiana it appears from the are code) that
    they take it down. Could badly disrupt some scammy organizations.

    [...]

    Btw. the codes above show up all over the internet, thus is not a
    confirmation code for the scammer.

    Ya. This seems more like list washing with confirmation that a
    whopper is associated with the email address. (Presuming that there
    is some association with the email address during the call.)

    As I said, the numbers are identical in my spam and three sources I
    found. Thus I doubt it's a confirmation.
    --
    Andreas

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andreas Kohlbach@21:1/5 to Winston on Thu Apr 29 16:18:49 2021
    On Thu, 29 Apr 2021 15:25:28 -0400, Winston wrote:

    This is to officially acknowledged an order from the World Bank
    Switzerland. As COVID-19 Palliative package compensation of 750,000.00
    (Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling) has been approved
    for a long time now but we have no contact with you. Please call our
    +1 641-715-3800, ...

    +1 641-715-3800 appears to be used by republicoftheunitedstates.org.
    To join their conferences LIVE, they have a different number. The 641
    number is for playback of the conference later.

    It's not clear to me whether that 641 number is used exclusively by them
    or serves other people/organizations as well.

    It says indeed something about "playback". May be a legit number where
    people can pay them to put a message "on tape" others can listen to when dialing the appropriate code?

    I'd really like to know what's on it. May be just another number to call
    which isn't known at Google yet for the purpose to not appear scammy once
    used elsewhere?

    As I said, I don't have a phone. Anyone care to dial and listen? May be
    record it?
    --
    Andreas

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)