How Stupid Do They Think I Am?

A friend of mine sent me this one, which another friend of ours had warned her about.

I can see where this one is going to be catching more than a few people as we enter the holiday season.

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From: “United Postal Service”
Date: November 24, 2008 3:00:47 PM EST
To: (e-mail edited out by Cybercat)
Subject: Your Tracking # 690253580603

Sorry, we were not able to deliver postal package you sent on November the 1st in time
because the recipient’s address is not correct.

Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our office.
If you do not receive package in ten days you will have to pay 36$ per day.

Your UPS
<attachment>

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I got this in the e-mail this morning… I just had to shake my head at it.  I have XX  or ## ‘ed out e-mail and phonenumber information, but otherwise this e-mail is just the way I received it – typos, misplaced punctuation, and all.

I’m not going to bother looking into this one more, but I’m sure these guys would like me to go hand Western Union $125.00.  They get enough people that do that and they are making a pretty good return just on the mass e-mail.

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Hello My Dear
How are you today?
I write to inform you that we have already sent you USD5,000.00 dollars through Westernunion as we have been given the mandate to transfer your full compensation payment total sum of USD1.500,000.00 via western union by this,governemnt.
I was calling your ,telephone number to give you the information through phone but you did not pick up my calls throughout that;yesterday even this morning.Now, I decided to email you the MTCN and sender name so that you will pick upthis USD5,000.00 to enable us send another USD5,000.00 today as you know , we will be sending you only USD5,000.00, per day.
Please pick up this information and run to western union to pick up the USD5,000.00 and call me back to send you another payment today,
Hon; Tony Hubert
Western Union Department
Director General Benin Rep;,
Mobile: ## ### ###-###-##
E-mail: ( western_union33@XXXX.XX )
call or email me once you picked up this USD5,000.00 today.Here is the ,, western union information to pick up the , USD5000.00; MTCN # :### ### ####
Sender’sName:……….PRINCE ACJAA,
Text Question:…………HONEST
Answer………………….TRUST
Amount:………………..USD 5,000.00
I want to remind you that the Western Union Department will ask you to pay $125.00 for Re-newing File before you will pick up your payment via western union.
I am,waiting for your
call once you pick up this USD5,000..00, Please email me your , direct telephone number because I need ,to be calling you once we send any payment for the informations.
Contact me with my private email ; anthony.williams@XXXX.XX
Thanks
ANTHONY WILLIAMS

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Okay, there are a lot of reasons to detest scam artists that con people out of their money, but in my opinion the bottom-feeders of that particular low life are those who specifically target senior citizens. I mention this because I was shown something by a friend of mine earlier this evening. It seems that down in California there was a couple that were taken in by some guy pretending to be their grandson needing help after a car accident.

The story about the Cohasset couple that fell victim to the phone scam, including a video of the news broadcast, can be found at the KNVN Ch 24 website (preceding link). Basically some guy called up in the middle of the night claiming to be their grandson and that he had been in an accident in a rental car in Las Vegas, he needed money wired to him within the hour. The guy knew stuff that sounded legitimate, things the couple suspect he got from a public geaneology site, so they wired the money. They later discovered their grandson was safe and in California – not Nevada. The grandson looked into the wired money and was told that someone with proper ID had collected it from a pickup location in New York.

The police said there was little hope of any recovery of the money (over $2,000), and advised people to never disclose personal information when called. I don’t think that advice would have helped in this situation, since the guy seemed to have all the information already. This is, in my opinion, a good example of a couple that were targeted by a sleeze that knew the scam they were pulling. My sympathies to the couple, I wish I could offer some kind of advice on how to get the money back, but the best I am able to do at this point is to alert others to this scam and help them in their desire to make sure that their being targeted can help others learn to evade these kinds of predators.

The only thing I can think of that I would suggest on this is to ask for a number to call back at before the money is sent, and then call the person who claims to need the money using a number you already had for them, or someone that knows them – such as a parent or sibling, and get independent verification that the person really is where the person calling claimed. If not – immediately pass that number you got on to the police so they can try to catch whoever it really is.