Mark Worthington Stuck

Mark, following this up after talking to others here regarding your "plight" I did some more research. I contacted "you" via the E mail address and asked "you" to call me on my UK number. I got an immediate response to say that "you" had lost your phone and could I please send $2850 to a Western Union account in Cardiff, Wales. A bit more research then found an address for this account which shows it as a back street " care home" run by an eastern european name. I can pass tis info on to you if you wish to take things further, Frank
 
If this sort of thing happens for real in a foreign country I would of thought that, apart from contacting friends and family at home, your best bet would be to contact your embassy for help.

Western Union is a favourate with scammers because they just hand over the money with no (or very few) questions asked apparently.

Chris
 
Intersting info Frank, thanks for the research. Maybe we should send some love via a 'care' package to the back street address.

Frikken Scammers.....
 
Just got my gmail account back. The offending IP addresses originated in New York and Nigeria, two places that I hold in roughly equal esteem. The scammers thoughtfully deleted 6 years of carefully archived emails; at least now I have plenty of storage left.

Anyway, here are some lessons learned:

1) It's good to know you have friends and family who would truly help you out if you were in trouble.

2) Your Google account should get a dedicated, strong password. Don't use that password anywhere else. Especially if you have a lot of other Google features attached to that account (Calendar, Checkout, YouTube, etc.).

3) Beware public wi-fi hot spots. Beware Android or even iPhone apps that may compromise your security (I'm now officially suspicious of Swype, even though it's a great app). Always check the URL of any form that asks for a password, whether on a PC or a Smart Phone.

4) Print out or send a copy of your original gmail invitation to an email account that you know you will be able to access. Click on the Lost my Password button on the Google login screen and check out the other types of information that Google will need to restore your account, like the dates you registered for various Google products, gmail labels, and frequently emailed contacts.

5) Make damn sure you don't have sensitive passwords or unencrypted documents archived in your gmail (or any other webmail) account. The good news is it seems these assholes are too lazy/stupid to do anything other than broadcast Nigerian-style scams, but next time they may be more resourceful.

This was a serious disruption in my life, and I'm glad to move on.
 

Keith

Moderator
Just got my gmail account back. The offending IP addresses originated in New York and Nigeria, two places that I hold in roughly equal esteem. The scammers thoughtfully deleted 6 years of carefully archived emails; at least now I have plenty of storage left.

Anyway, here are some lessons learned:

1) It's good to know you have friends and family who would truly help you out if you were in trouble.

2) Your Google account should get a dedicated, strong password. Don't use that password anywhere else. Especially if you have a lot of other Google features attached to that account (Calendar, Checkout, YouTube, etc.).

3) Beware public wi-fi hot spots. Beware Android or even iPhone apps that may compromise your security (I'm now officially suspicious of Swype, even though it's a great app). Always check the URL of any form that asks for a password, whether on a PC or a Smart Phone.

4) Print out or send a copy of your original gmail invitation to an email account that you know you will be able to access. Click on the Lost my Password button on the Google login screen and check out the other types of information that Google will need to restore your account, like the dates you registered for various Google products, gmail labels, and frequently emailed contacts.

5) Make damn sure you don't have sensitive passwords or unencrypted documents archived in your gmail (or any other webmail) account. The good news is it seems these assholes are too lazy/stupid to do anything other than broadcast Nigerian-style scams, but next time they may be more resourceful.

This was a serious disruption in my life, and I'm glad to move on.

6. Don't use GMail....
 

Keith

Moderator
Cmon Frank, you're not as old as me are you?

GMail = Google Mail Web based email service similar to Hotmail

But, Google encourages you to link everything together i.e. Search Engine, YouTube, Googlemail etc, so if one of your Google services is compromised then they all will be and of course, Facebook links up with it all as well.
 
One of the easiest ways to get hacked is to use Wi Fi. Unless you know that the Wi Fi site is encrypted you can loose all your information on your computer. The programs that these low lifes use is FREE and available on the web. It takes no effort at all to get your information. If you use one of these sites and go to ANY account and use your password, the hackers have it as soon as you type it in. They then have access to that account and can pilfer all information on that account. Say you are out and about and you log in to the GT 40s site at an unencrypted Wi Fi site, and you log in, If they are "working" the site(your computer) with the software, they now have access to all your info on the site. Your settings, your friends and all your correspondence. So they can use that information to try and scam others as they tried in this instance. Your firewall and anti-virus protection is useless.Word to the wise, check before you use it.
Can you imagine what they could do if you check up on what is happening back at the office!!!

Bill
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
And you said you hold New York City (my home town) and Nigeria in roughly equal esteem.... how can you insult the Nigerians like that? Shame on you, Mark. Stand in the corner.
 
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