The sender of this email was a partner in the FIRST COMMERCIAL ISP in
Canada, Wimsey.com.
He sends along a valid warning. It is a two part scam. - Nothing too
much or too suspicious in the first part. The catch is in the second
part.
His reference to the Kelowna Advisor was a recent Bankruptcy Case. The
TD ban tried to exempt a Nigerian Loss. A Kelowna Financial Advior with
the Investors Group declared bankruptcy because he sent $80,000 off in
a Nigerian email scam. I have included the whole "StockWatch" story
at the bottom of Richard's warning --- It could happen to us.
Richard Pitt wrote:
Hi David
As you know I keep a fairly close eye on the internet for various scams
and such as part of my business. The following one caught my eye and I
thought you might be interested in passing it on to your e-mail lists.
In light of what was reported earlier this week about a financial
adviser in Kelowna being stung for over $80,000 - even professionals can
be scammed sometimes so foreknowledge is worth a lot.
The SANS Internet Storm Center is reporting the details of a scam that
involves the recipient of an e-mail purporting to come from the IRS
offering $80.00 if they will fill in a survey:
http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=3316&rss
---------------- details from scam e-mail -----------------------
From: Internal Revenue Service [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 5:23 AM
Subject: IRS Survey : $80.00 to your account - Just for your time!
Importance: High
Congratulations!
Dear Customer,
You’ve been selected to take part in our quick and easy 8 questions
survey In return we will credit 80.00 to your account - Just for your
time!
Please spare two minutes or your time and take part in our online survey
so we can improve our services.
Don’t miss this chance to change something.
To continue click on the link below:
htm://www.irs.gov/login.asp=survey
© Copyright © 2007 Internal Revenue Service U.SA
----------- end -----------
Note that the "real" e-mail uses HTML to hide the fact that what you see
as the URL (htm://www.irs.gov/login.asp=survey) is actually a completely
different computer - view the message "source" to see this if you
receive one.
The telephone call comes after the "survey" has been filled in - and the
caller then proceeds to use "social engineering" (use of some
information to get more information) to use some of the info used in the
survey to get things like the SSN and credit card/bank information "to
verify who you are and allow us to deposit the $80 into your account"
----------- telephone conversation example -------------------
“ Hello Mr I fell for-it, this is Tim from the IRS. Thank you for
filling out the survey, however you didn’t leave any details for us to
deposit the $80. If you provide me with some information now we can
arrange payment.â€
“uh, okâ€
“Let’s start with verifying some details, starting with your
social security number....â€
.....
--------- end -------------
This is just one of the many such scams being perpetrated by the crooks
who have expanded their illegal actions on the internet to the point
where it is a multi-billion dollar business every year.
richard
-
Richard C. Pitt Pacific Data Capture
[email protected] 604-644-9265
http://richard.pacdat.net http://blog.pacdat.net
PGP Fingerprint: FCEF 167D 151B 64C4 3333 57F0 4F18 AF98 9F59 DD73
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Stockwatch URL IS:
-----------
http://www.stockwatch.com/swnet/newsit/newsit_newsit.aspx?bid=Z-C:TD-1403689&symbol=TD&news_region=C-------
TD Bank loses Nigerian scam lawsuit
2007-08-24Â 14:00Â ET - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
Everyone
has seen the e-mails. A con artist in Nigeria needs help moving
millions of dollars out of his country. The messages, usually in broken
English, spell out bizarre circumstances in which the sender has
happened upon a large sum of money. An oil company was "double
invoiced," a "bequest" was left in a will or a "hidden cache of gold"
turned up.
The scammer promises generous commissions, usually
in
the millions, to any sucker who replies. This is commonly known as a
Nigerian scam (although the messages often originate from countries
other than Nigeria).
Who answers these dubious e-mails? Todd
Merenick, a former salesman with Investors Group in Kelowna, responded
to one, and it ultimately cost his bank $82,000. (All figures are in
U.S. dollars.)
Mr. Merenick's misfortune was made public in a
B.C. Supreme Court decision released on Tuesday, Aug. 21. The
Toronto-Dominion Bank sued Mr. Merenick after he deposited a
counterfeit $82,000 cheque from a Nigerian e-mail scammer.
By the
time the bank realized the cheque was phony, Mr. Merenick had wired the
$82,000 to an account in Hong Kong. The bank sued on the grounds that
Mr. Merenick did not disclose his communications with Nigerian scammers.
As
soon as he learned what happened, Mr. Merenick resigned from Investors
Group, reported the situation to police and declared bankruptcy. He
acknowledged that he owed the bank the full amount of the cheque.
At
trial, the bank had to show that Mr. Merenick made false statements
concerning the cheque or that his failure to alert the bank to the
"suspicious circumstances" surrounding it amounted to fraudulent
misrepresentation.
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