While checking the Email for “info@pc-armor.com” today, I came across what appears to be a Nigerian Scam.  Before I show you the body of the Email, I would like to quote a warning by the FTC that is posted on their website at:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/nigeralrt.shtm

 “If you’re tempted to respond to an offer, the FTC suggests you stop and ask yourself two important questions: Why would a perfect stranger pick you — also a perfect stranger — to share a fortune with, and why would you share your personal or business information, including your bank account numbers or your company letterhead, with someone you don’t know? And the U.S. Department of State cautions against traveling to the destination mentioned in the letters. According to State Department reports, people who have responded to these “advance-fee” solicitations have been beaten, subjected to threats and extortion, and in some cases, murdered.

If you receive an offer via email from someone claiming to need your help getting money out of Nigeria — or any other country, for that matter — forward it to the FTC at spam@uce.gov.

If you have lost money to one of these schemes, call your local Secret Service field office. Local field offices are listed in the Blue Pages of your telephone directory.”

Or course, the FTC site has more information about such scams, but I wanted you to see the important questions to ask yourself and what to do if you receive anything like the following example, which would be to forward the entire email to “spam@uce.gov” and then delete the message.  Now, let’s see what the body of one of these emails might look like…

Dear friend,

I know this will come to you as a surprise because you dont know me. I am (named removed for your protection) I work in the Citibank International Plc as the Head Of the Packaging and Courrier service Dept. During the air-lift of some Royal Luggages to Middle east, I decided to include additional Luggages Containing $15M(Fiftheen Million US Dollars)Only for my own Benefit though it was Labelled Security “Equipment” for security reasons.

I am Obliged to contact you to assist me in getting this luggage cleared and delivered to you from the agent as I have agreed on the Following terms.
1) Relevant Documents to claim this luggage will be procured in your name to enable the agent clear and deliver it to your mailing address.
2) That you will be entitled to a share of 30% of the total Money.
3) That 10% of the total money will be set aside for any expenses.
4) That 60% of the money will be for me.

If this business Transaction/Terms is ok by you, do Furnish me with your full names,Mailing Address,Your Personal Telephone/Fax Numbers for Communication and Onward Transfer to the agent in Middle East. You can reach me at my private email address: (Email address removed for your protection)

Note that this Business Transaction is 100% risk free as all relevant documents to back up the claim of the luggage will be provide for you hence we advice you to keep the entire transaction close to yourself until you must have received the luggage,for security reasons.Other modalities will be discussed as soon as you get back to me. Use this code when replying: (Secret Code Removed for your protection)/CitiBank.

Yours Faithfully,
(named removed for your protection)
Courier Dept(Citibank Plc).
+(Probably a Fraudulent Telephone Number, Removed for your protection)

Not only does the Email ask for personal information, it has numerous spelling and grammatical errors; which are dead giveaways to fraudulent scams!  It is important to understand that NO LEGITIMATE BUSINESS WILL EVER ASK YOU TO DIVULGE ANY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN AN UNSOLICITED MANNER, and that includes Email, Regular Mail, by Telephone, or in person.  As long as you can remember that very simple concept, you will avoid becoming a victim of such scams, because you didn’t take the bait!  The best thing you can do if you ever receive scams such as this, would be to forward the entire email to “spam@uce.gov“, as well as the investigative department of the company the email is imitating.

Common Sense will go a long way in protecting your financial security and personal identity.

PC-Armor.com

You will find the article at: http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/archive-092007.html#00001281 and it contains links to the PDF report.

Check it out…it’s worth it!

The scammers indicate they are relocating to a foreign country and need to find a “good” home for their beloved puppy or puppies.  These scammers are successful because they play on the good-hearted nature of those who love puppies and appear to be sincere in their communication to the victim(s).

You can read this story at:

http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=3220

There are tips in the article to help buyers choose legitimate and reliable sellers.

- pharmacy at your service: particular markdown.
- Need prescription to acquisition must have remedy?
- National worth painkiller.
- pills from Canadian druggist’s!
- High-eminence medication for you.
- Can’t find medication in your limited repository?
- universal pharmacy linkage.
- Grade A US medicine.

Of course there were many other subject lines, but the point here is that I have never seen so many medicine- or pharmacy-related e-mails at one time.  Obviously, a botnet has unleashed the power of a zombie army to flood the Internet with this junk.

It goes without saying that you should never consider opening these types of e-mails, because they could be laden with unknown malicious content.  Even if you didn’t know any better…would you really purchase something from people who can’t even put together a legible or grammatically correct subject line?

Stay safe and delete this junk!