You are being scammed. Call the UK Security Agency

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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:42 pm

^^^
Indeed. Dr IB had the advantage of knowing it was genuine. Without that knowledge, it ticked too many boxes that said it was a scam.
1) Gmail address.
2) Tricking anti-phishing warnings.
3) Sent to at least one person who hadn't received or was about to receive a bogus check (still unexplained).
I now accept it was genuine, but make no apology for having believed otherwise.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 30 Aug 2008 Posts: 54

I just want to add one thing, then I'll shut up. To reply to Det. Fenton's question:

Quote:

How this could of been misconstrued as a scam is beyond me. At what time did I ever ask for anything??

I"m sure you know that a large number of scammers don't ask for anything....at first. In fact many OFFER something, such as a job, romantic relationship or whatever. Many want to get a dialogue going, or are seeking personal information to use. Links and attachments are often used to get this information.

Said links and attachments usually trigger virus warnings(attachments) or phishing warnings, as your link did.

Nearly all coming supposedly from law firms, universities, charitable orgs., banks and other major organizations almost always use addresses like Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail, as yours did.

A large number of scam emails I've received have lots of capitalization and subject lines with many ***** around the words "URGENT", "IMPORTANT" etc, as yours did.

I'll go back under my rock now.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Just to be clear, there is no problem with initially thinking it was a scam. Dr IB and myself have the advantage of having seen a fair number of real warnings, which tip the balance in the email's favour. Generally real warnings and recovery scams are instantly recognisable. But you have to have seen plenty of both for that to happen.

The only thing that annoys us is when newbies get told the email is genuine by long-time members and then go right on arguing. It's a little infuriating, but worry not; this is a very mild example compared to some threads I've seen.

Warners are never known by the people they are warning. The detective will have received intelligence that a certain list of people were to receive fake cheques. I have no idea how that came about, but it will not have been more than a list of names and addresses. This information may be ambiguous or inaccurate, or the lad may not yet have introduced you to the cheque he intends to send. Far better to send out a warning and run the risk of it being wrong than not warn people and have them fall victim.

A year or two ago I got a real letter from a real lawyer about a real inheritance. It asked for a copy of my passport and it was all in capitals. Real people do that sort of thing too.

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