De-educated or is the lad really this dumb?

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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:51 pm

So, I just got an email from an orphaned refugee's bank using an interesting logo:

Do you think this is a product of de-education or do you think the lad is really that big of a dumbass? I'd like to think that a baiter has had a hand in this, to be honest Laughing

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 5:04 pm

FCE Bank does actually exist in the UK and it is part of Ford. It is what they use for their vehicle finance.

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:07 pm

Then he is a dumbass - as his email is for the deposit section of a bank holding the poor refugee's father's money. I knew that FCE wasn't a UK bank, but got a good laugh out of the Ford logo with the email content. That "should" be a red flag for any real victims.

As I don't drive a Ford, I've never gotten finance through Ford Wink

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:13 pm

^^^I'm not certain it would be a red flag any more than a Coca Cola or Microsoft lottery. Ford also has a finance arm in the US (with a better logo):

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:37 pm

In the US I would think it would be a red flag to most? I mean, I understand in other countries may be not so much (and even I forget sometimes that what sounds ridiculous in the US may not be so ridiculous to a foreigner and vice versa). But for instance, I'm in the US and as soon as I saw the Ford logo in a "bank" email having nothing to do with buying a Ford it was laughable to me. Would you think most would have the same reaction?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:46 pm

A lad will attach anything that he think looks "official" and then add any number of "codes" and the like to make it seem terribly important.

Chances are that he's just firing away a script that he hasn't even looked at.

I got this today tacked on to a script. Sure makes me think it's important:

Considering the constitution of The Government, it is the duty of The President and The Federal Executive Council (F.E.C) to oversee our norms, ethics and modus operandi here in this Ministry because we operate under the level of government. His Excellency (The Prime Minister of United State Of America), The Federal Executive Council (F.E.C) and the Paying Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of America we have collectively mandated that section (11) sub-section (5) paragraph 7 of the Settlement Edict Laws of this country of 1991 states that "there is a charge by a Bank or a financial institution to handle all local and international wire transfers". Officially and literally, this obligation is called an "Electronic Wire Charge (E.W.C)". The truth remains that a financial institution cannot render it's effective transfer services for free considering it's assured efficiency.

Ref: BNM/SGH/231/01
PAYMENT FILE NUMBER: A

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:55 pm

Yeah I know the lads do that. I've gotten use to what I see in the lottery scams and stuff like that where they'll tie in the BMW logo or Coca Cola logo. And sadly I do see victims fall for them.

But usually in the refugee scams the banks and lawyers will tie in all sorts of file numbers and reference numbers and things and use real bank names and logos to appear real. I'm guessing that maybe the lads hope that just by putting in any logo with a household name no matter what it is would be enough to convince a mark that they are legit?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 7:11 pm

It all depends how much you know about corporate finance. At their peaks, General Motors (GMAC) and General Electric (GE Capital) provided more loans than a lot of commercial banks.

I don't think it's de-education. It's not something that would be immediately apparent to an average consumer banker but, as bware said, it's no more ludicrous than a corporate sweepstakes.

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 7:42 pm

It might seem strange to someone in the USA or even the UK, but imagine you're in India or the Philippines and you receive that. You do a search for FCE Bank UK and you get a legitimate site with the Ford logo. If your language skills aren't good enoug to understand that its only purpose is to offer vehicle finance then it would look legitimate.

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 8:56 pm

^^^ Yes I get that. I guess this was one where I should have reminded myself of that point again.

I guess my point about the red flag was that if this was like a lottery scam or a loan scam or something like that, then it wouldn't be a blaring red flag. But in this particular scam, like I said, they're posing as a rich orphan's bank holding her father's millions. So that's what I found funny about it and in my American brain I'm thinking that would stand out.

I'll admit, there's some times I get the most ridiculous scripts and I chuckle and think "who would believe this" but I've spent enough time reading over at SW to know that even smarter people than myself fall for scams. I'm not naive about it, I just have to remind myself periodically that we're not all from the same country and what someone knows in the US someone may not know in Europe and the other way around. I've had to come to depend on Google to look up a lot of things with baits, too.

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:03 pm

Some victim send their money to princes in Nigeria that contact them from prison via email. I really doubt that a lot of victims are picking up on the Ford bank thing. These stories are so unbelievable that it takes a special kind of person to fall for them. Some are more believable than others. But afford bank isn't all that bad. As TLH said, GMAC at one time was one of the more popular financing companies in the country. It's part of General Motors.

If I were ever to D educate a lad I would have something like Bank of TWAT. In fact, I might write that one down in my diary.