how do i know if a scam is a scam??

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 3

i mean when there is no obvious request for funds/details etc

i just got an email from this person who contacted me via Y!A, and i contacted that person back with my email address, i didnt add anything else other than my email address.

this person contacted me back, from the looks of it it looks like a scam, what do you think? what should I reply??

Hello My Dear.
How is everything? i know it's all good .i am excited to read from you today .My dear as i told you in my last mail ,My name is Gift Aliyu, an ivorien in West Africa.Presently I am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal,as a result of the Civil war going on in my country .I am a beautifully loving young girl of 23 years ,about 5'8" tall .Slim fit ,weighing about 61 kg.My father Dr Patric Aliyu was a successful business man,he deals on Gold and Diamond before the rebels attacked our house one evening and kill him with my mother and my only brother .I'm the only one alive from the family.By the grace of God I made my way to a near by country where I'm presently living as a refugee.My dear,I come in this site search for love and care which I have not gotten for a very long time since I lost my family members.I here by believe that time to come you will be my side and i will show you unreserved love respect through out my time.Dear ,I want to know more about you,your real name,Your real country,Your occupation,your age your hobbies and what you are doing presently .My hobbies are swimming ,dancing,singing,reading,watching movies and discussing politics .I have attached my pictures.In y next mail I will tell you more about my self.I waiting to your lovely reply with impatience.
Yours Forever in Love .
Gift

*she attached a picture too.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 13 May 2009 Posts: 56

Looks like a "lovers/dating" scam... those can be fun heheh

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 5:29 am

Quote:

,My name is Gift Aliyu, an ivorien in West Africa.Presently I am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal,as a result of the Civil war going on in my country .I am a beautifully loving young girl of 23 years ,about 5'8" tall .Slim fit ,weighing about 61 kg.My father Dr Patric Aliyu was a successful business man,he deals on Gold and Diamond before the rebels attacked our house one evening and kill him with my mother and my only brother .I'm the only one alive from the family.By the grace of God I made my way to a near by country where I'm presently living as a refugee.My dear,I come in this site search for love and care which I have not gotten for a very long time since I lost my family members.I here by believe that time to come you will be my side and i will show you unreserved love respect through out my time.Dear ,I want to know more about you,your real name,Your real country,Your occupation,your age your hobbies and what you are doing presently .My hobbies are swimming ,dancing,singing,reading,watching movies and discussing politics .I have attached my pictures.In y next mail I will tell you more about my self.I waiting to your lovely reply with impatience.

How do I know it's a scam???????

The whole letter is scammer garbage. I am willing to bet the pic is one you will find if you search pics in here, or Scamwarners. or better post the pic, and I'm sure someone will recognise it very quickly

There is no refugee camp, or there might be one, but I've never seen or been in one with internet acess.

They all have fathers who were incredibly rich, but rebels/family/bad men/army killed them

I won't put money on it, but within 3 or 4 emails, there will be a sick brother/sister/mother who needs a few dollars for medicine, then a few more dollars for an urgent operation for some dread disease that defiles all known science

I'd better stop now, I'm starting to sound like Craig

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 3

I stated in my Y!A profile that I'm a GIRL and here she is saying all that..

haha how should I reply??

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 5:32 am

Hi bubbybee and welcome to Eater!

It is a scam! Typically a refugee scam. How do I know? Well, I just googled the first part of the script,

Quote:

"How is everything? i know it's all good .i am excited to read from you today .My dear as i told you in my last mail ,My name is Gift Aliyu, an ivorien in West Africa.Presently I am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal,as a result of the Civil war going on in my country .I am a beautifully loving young girl of 23 years ,about 5'8" tall .Slim fit ,weighing about 61 kg.My father Dr Patric Aliyu was a successful business man,he deals on Gold and Diamond before the rebels attacked our house one evening and kill him with my mother and my only brother .I'm the only one alive from the family.By the grace of God I made my way to a near by country where I'm presently living as a refugee."

And this is the result: Long Linky

Yep, it's a scam. Wink

So feel free to bait 'her' (it is most likely a him) and have fun! Very Happy

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 5:40 am

That is a very typical scam format. Probably going for a love scam but if someone isn't interested in that then he has left room to later add that "she" is also in possession of a trunk box filled with cash. It will be in a security company. This will cost you to have it delivered. Not to mention you have to pay for affidavits and other nonsense.

The picture "she" sent you was lifted off of the Internet. I am willing to bet it in no way resembles a refugee.

Also, how likely do you think that a refugee who's family was recently murdered would turn to the Internet for love? Don't you think she would have more pressing matters to attend to?

Bait away Very Happy

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 6:00 am

I just started harvesting yesterday and have at least for VERY similar messages in my in box right now. It's a scam, have fun! Let us know how it turns out, from one newbie to the other Razz

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 7:03 am

You're right, it is a scam. It's part romance, part cash-based. 'She' will soon need your assistance (probably with the male 'pastor' who answers calls for her) in liberating her multi-zillion dollar fortune, whilst all the time falling unrealistically in love with you. It's like a badsitcom plotline that plays out in your very own inbox. Bait hard!

If you ever wonder if something like this is a scam, play along for a couple or few emails, the scammers true colours show through pretty soon. The moment they mention Western Union or MoneyGram, you know for sure...

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 7:09 am

if you have a catcher mail that you don't use and haven't published to anyone EXCEPT scammers, you won't get anyone EXCEPT scammers mailing that account Smile

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 2:02 pm

Hi, bubbybee, and welcome to Eater! Very Happy

Just to clarify - is this your REAL email addy? Because if it is, you don't want to use it for baiting. You can still bait the whatever out of the scammer - just not from that email address. Get a safe, IP-stripping email account that has none of your real details, answer "her" as if she had written to that addy (trust me, the lad won't know).

Have you done all the things we harp on here - read the stickies, get a mentor, make sure your baiting safe? If you have, then - happy baiting!

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 11:01 pm

Ignore any what-ifs. The lad wants your money and has never looked in your Y! profile. Bait as a girl and pretend to be ... into that sort of thing, i guess, or generate a male email address, copy the email and go at him as a fella.

Whatever you do don't bait using your own email address, and use Gmail or similar to strip your IP. have fun, keep your teeth sharp.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 3

hello guys!

thanks for all your tips and replies!

could i ask, how do i get an ip-stripping email addy? the one she emailed was my main gmail account. is gmail an ip-stripping email addy? in that case i would have to get another one.

can all my details be traced just by ip address?? Confused

this is her.

[/img]

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 4:03 am

bubbybee wrote:

Hello My Dear.
How is everything? i know it's all good .i am excited to read from you today .My dear as i told you in my last mail ,My name is Gift Aliyu, an ivorien in West Africa.Presently I am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal,as a result of the Civil war going on in my country .I am a beautifully loving young girl of 23 years ,about 5'8" tall .Slim fit ,weighing about 61 kg.My father Dr Patric Aliyu was a successful business man,he deals on Gold and Diamond before the rebels attacked our house one evening and kill him with my mother and my only brother .I'm the only one alive from the family.By the grace of God I made my way to a near by country where I'm presently living as a refugee.My dear,I come in this site search for love and care which I have not gotten for a very long time since I lost my family members.I here by believe that time to come you will be my side and i will show you unreserved love respect through out my time.Dear ,I want to know more about you,your real name,Your real country,Your occupation,your age your hobbies and what you are doing presently .My hobbies are swimming ,dancing,singing,reading,watching movies and discussing politics .I have attached my pictures.In y next mail I will tell you more about my self.I waiting to your lovely reply with impatience.
Yours Forever in Love .
Gift

Need I say more?

Elite Baiter Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 1006

Nice furniture they have at that refugee camp.

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 5:09 am

Hi bubbybee!

bubbybee wrote:

could i ask, how do i get an ip-stripping email addy? the one she emailed was my main gmail account. is gmail an ip-stripping email addy? in that case i would have to get another one.

Gmail strips your IP. You can check this out for yourself. Send yourself a test email. Then get the headers and copy and paste them all into here: http://headertool.apelord.com/ and see what it shows you. Gmail will replace your IP with theirs.

What do you mean 'main gmail account'? Do you mean your personal email account? One that you signed up for with your RL details? If that is the case, then you should just stop using that one and get yourself a nice new one; one that you sign up for with fake details. And then use that one to bait with. Wink

Quote:

can all my details be traced just by ip address?? Confused

If you use an email account that does not strip your IP, such as yahoo, then IF someone checked your IP, it would show where your ISP is located, not necessarily where YOU are located. For some people, that is hundreds of miles away from where they actually are. For others, it is the next town over. The only way for you to know is for you to check your IP yourself. You can click here and see where your IP is: http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/ Where does it show you? (You don't have to tell me! Laughing

)

Quote:

this is her.

You know that's not really 'her' right? Wink

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 5:20 am

Internet access at a refugee camp...

Sexy posed picture...

Hello My Dear...

You get the picture...

... oops, I made a funny...

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 10:05 am

bubbybee wrote:

it looks like a scam, what do you think?

i had an open mind about it

until i got beyond the word 'hello' Wink

i agree with those who think you will find that 'dr aliyu' has stashed some valuables in a trunk box,
and the girl will need a white knight to recover the trunk box for her.
she may not want money for herself, but whoever has the trunk box will need paying off

scam
she will go through the damsel in distress routine to push the victim into helping her, and this might look like a love scam,
but i suspect the victim will be told to pay money to the warehouse holding the trunk box.

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 3:14 pm

She looks like she is in a pretty swank refugee camp. Tell her you are unemployed and homeless and ask if there is room there for you.

419Eater is my life Joined: 31 Mar 2009 Posts: 327

You know, I got curious a while back about these "refugee camps"
Here's a web site to look at: www.buduburam.com
It's in Ghana. They have computer classes for them and there's even a chat room on there! I thought it was interesting.

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 4:24 pm

I had a Lad who claimed he was at that camp, and suffering and starving etc etc. He sent me that Link. I wrote back:

Quote:

I had a look at that website you sent the link for, and a few others. I was surprised at all the facilities there, market, supermarket, churches, mosques, basketball, the sites said its more like a town than a camp! But I read that one of the problems there is medical care, and I found that the Africa Aid organisation have a Buduburam Project running at the moment, so I sent them an online donation of £500 for it, I suppose its a drop in the ocean really, but maybe it'll make a little difference.

He wasn't a happy chappy.

Elite Baiter Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Posts: 1006

^^^^

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 8:43 pm

Jasper wrote:

Here's a web site to look at: www.buduburam.com
It's in Ghana. They have computer classes for them and there's even a chat room on there! I thought it was interesting.

Interesting find Jasper. This is from the website:

Quote:

As you know the knowledge of computers and technology is no longer optional. Regardless of your career choice, you must be computer literate to be successful. Hopefully not teaching scammingOur main goal at The Cyber Camp is to provide the necessary computer training our youth need to be leaders in this new millennium. or owners of a cybercafe...

The Cyber Camp was founded in 1998, in Brooklyn, NY and has grown to include locations in Jacksonville, Fl and Greensboro, NC. We are now developing a special program in Ghana. There are refugees there? Well, I guess there could be...We will service students from ages 4 and up. Our pilot program in Ghana will be on the Buduburam Camp and also in Okponglo.

We offer a robust curriculum that covers knowledge of hardware, software, and the Internet. Each age group has a different set of goals to accomplish. All students will be encouraged to strive for excellence and to display their own personal creativity at all times. Photoshop skills will improveEvery week there is a new skill to be mastered, both individual and using partners. Student work will be displayed for the review. Because of the importance of typing when using the Internet and other programs, all students are required to practice typing 15 minutes a day. I wonder if proper use of the caplock will be taught...

We will focus on using computers as a tool for academic reinforcement. Special computer programs will teach reading, writing, and math. There will be special computer games to enhance the memory and build critical thinking skills.It might be harder to safari these folks...

I know, I know I have made light of a serious program. I hope that their Cyber Camp will take a hard line on scamming... Evil or Very Mad

Back OT, If this "princess" is at one of these camps, I doubt that "she" will be hiding her trunk boxes very easily... .

I am also confident that scamming would be frowned on by real refugee camps, that have internet access... that are training leaders for the 21st century... Confused

419Eater is my life Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 351

Surely the 'acid test' is when you send them you're life savings and then never hear from them again... not recommended but a sure-fire method Wink

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 6:51 pm

how can such a logical answer be sooo wrong? Smile

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