1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

How stupid do they think we are?

Discussion in 'Alley of Dangerous Angles' started by Carcaroth, Jul 18, 2007.

  1. Carcaroth

    Carcaroth I call on the priests, saints and dancin' girls ★ SPS Account Holder

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2004
    Messages:
    1,655
    Likes Received:
    5
    Thought I'd share this with the boards.

    The better half has bought a new car, and she is therefore selling the old one as advertised on auto-trader. It's a ten-year old Saab with a 145k miles on the clock.

    This is an email from a purported "buyer". Hardly the most credible scam I've heard of!

    'Cos I'm sure you need a lot of old Saab's in Canada, and are willing to pay over £6000 to ship them out - you backwards nation you! :p

    In case people are wondering, although the cheque funds are immediately available, after a month the banks checks will deem the cheque to be forged, and the bank will reclaim all of it's money. In the meantime someone has made off with your car and a large sum of your cash.
     
  2. LKD Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2002
    Messages:
    6,284
    Likes Received:
    271
    Gender:
    Male
    Scams like this only need a 1% success rate to be a success. At least, that's my guess. I mean, the Nigerian money scam has been around for at least 40 years and it STILL WORKS! All you need is a sucker or someone senile and you're richer than you were before!
     
  3. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,475
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    AT LEAST IT'S NOT ALL IN ALL CAPS LIKE ALL THE NIGERIAN SCAM MAIL SUBJECTS. :shake:
     
  4. LKD Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2002
    Messages:
    6,284
    Likes Received:
    271
    Gender:
    Male
    Breakin' yer own rules, there, Tal! ;) I'd say the horrendous spelling in the excerpt is bad enough.

    I see these people all the time in the core of my city. Panhandlers who tell you one day they have 4 kids to feed, tomorrow the number is 7, and they run their scams with such energy! All they need to do is find one sucker a day . . .
     
  5. kuemper Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2005
    Messages:
    8,926
    Likes Received:
    8
    :lol: If they're going to scam someone, check the spelling! It's like they just came out of RuneScape or from an IRC.
     
  6. The Magister Gems: 26/31
    Latest gem: Diamond


    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2006
    Messages:
    2,364
    Media:
    16
    Likes Received:
    7
    Gender:
    Male
    Is there a point to the y?
     
  7. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,475
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
  8. jaded empath Gems: 20/31
    Latest gem: Garnet


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2005
    Messages:
    1,284
    Likes Received:
    9
    Now-now; not ALL of the 'Nigerian Scam' emails sent out have all-caps subjects....just most of them.

    Strangely, I only received one variant to that scam EVER in maybe fifteen years of being 'wired' - it was purportedly from the son of the (supposedly) deposed Liberian president hiding out in Nigeria, predictably needing to launder vast amounts of money through MY bank account.

    Sadly, the con artist made up the son's first name, and ENDED UP MATCHING MY FIRST AND LAST NAME!!! :lol:
     
  9. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    May 29, 2003
    Messages:
    13,346
    Likes Received:
    97
    I still want to know who the nutjobs are that actually respond and pay over money to these scammers.
     
  10. teekc Gems: 23/31
    Latest gem: Black Opal


    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2002
    Messages:
    1,509
    Likes Received:
    0
    To get a successful scam in one out of a billion trillion bitrillion mails sent out is enough. Emailing has little cost, the return is far greater. Only stupid people don't try to use these scams.
     
  11. Carcaroth

    Carcaroth I call on the priests, saints and dancin' girls ★ SPS Account Holder

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2004
    Messages:
    1,655
    Likes Received:
    5
    It does make having to pay a small amount for sending an email seem a better idea though.
     
  12. jaded empath Gems: 20/31
    Latest gem: Garnet


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2005
    Messages:
    1,284
    Likes Received:
    9
    true - that WOULD make email 'marketing' (even general spam advertising) dry up considerably - apart from those who can manage to pull in enough sales/revenue to cover the expense...but then, they'd probably have legitimate products.

    At first I thought of this and almost typed "but that would be the end of free communication"; then I looked at my two email accounts - I haven't sent ONE email in the last six months! :skeptic: On the other hand, I still have over six HUNDRED pieces of spam in my 'junk folder' for just ONE account, and they date back as far as a month ago.

    So let's hear it - micro-charge for email sending on all existing servers and providers! (pity it'd take a metric buttload of work to retroactively change ALL the emailers out there...)
     
  13. LKD Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2002
    Messages:
    6,284
    Likes Received:
    271
    Gender:
    Male
    Now I just have to ask this -- how does a "metric buttload" compare to an "imperial buttload"? It's questions like these that keep me awake at night.

    I don't want to even think about the idea of charging for e-mail -- I use my account quite a bit and really don't need another expense. What needs to happen is that these guys who do these sorts of scams need to the executed when they are caught -- well, maybe just slapped around a little. You get my point.

    BTW, teek, I don't use these scams -- does that make me stupid? ;)
     
  14. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

    Joined:
    May 15, 2003
    Messages:
    12,434
    Media:
    46
    Likes Received:
    249
    Gender:
    Male
    I don't know - what if the cost was really minimal - like a penny per e-mail? I can't imagine most people send more than a couple hundred e-mails per month, so for the cost of a couple bucks per month, it would probably greatly reduce the incidence of spam, who need to send out thousands of e-mail daily.
     
  15. LKD Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2002
    Messages:
    6,284
    Likes Received:
    271
    Gender:
    Male
    The thin edge of the wedge, my friend! It'll START at a penny a send, and then . . . they'll raise the prices. Keep the Net free!!!
     
  16. teekc Gems: 23/31
    Latest gem: Black Opal


    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2002
    Messages:
    1,509
    Likes Received:
    0
    there is another idea, let email sending do a trivial math loop so to delay the sending time. Let's say, 30 sec an email, that would also greatly reduce those spammers efficiency.
     
  17. Montresor

    Montresor Mostly Harmless Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2005
    Messages:
    3,103
    Media:
    127
    Likes Received:
    183
    Gender:
    Male
    Having to pay for sending email would not work on spammers who hack their way into other peoples' computers and use them to send spam from faked email addresses. :(

    [ July 21, 2007, 00:35: Message edited by: Montresor ]
     
  18. Drew

    Drew Arrogant, contemptible, and obnoxious Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2005
    Messages:
    3,605
    Media:
    6
    Likes Received:
    190
    Gender:
    Male
    I hope this was just an unfortunate turn of phrase because, if it isn't, you just called anyone who chooses not to try and scam people stupid.
     
  19. Carcaroth

    Carcaroth I call on the priests, saints and dancin' girls ★ SPS Account Holder

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2004
    Messages:
    1,655
    Likes Received:
    5
    Well I hadn't intended this to go into the Alley, but it was me own fault I guess.

    Monty,

    I thought that most of the spam was sent out from a single location (i.e. the spammers computer) with an piece of software used to disguise/change the real address. Hacking into other peoples machines is rather more technical and I think having to pay would still reduce spam.

    On a slightly different note I have another particular dislike about this issue. It would have been easy to do a sting operation, take the check, wait for the guy to turn up and hand him over to the police. Would they have been interested though? Not a chance in hell. There have been a couple of cases recently where people have done all the leg-work, tracked the theif down and got all the evidence required (stolen cars parts on ebay springs to mind) and the police still aren't interested. I think in that instance, they actually brought a successfull civil case.

    [ July 26, 2007, 14:50: Message edited by: Carcaroth ]
     
  20. Munchkin Blender Gems: 22/31
    Latest gem: Sphene


    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2007
    Messages:
    1,413
    Likes Received:
    14
    Gender:
    Male
    I received the same type of email when I post rents on craigslist. Some people have no morales.
     
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.