Email Scammers are getting cunning,
This one almost got me the other day and I consider myself to able to spot a fraudulent email from a mile away.
To prevent others falling into the same trap I thought I would write a short piece on the events that almost got me.

This attack started with a Facebook instant message.

Friend –

Hello
How are you doing??

Me –

yea, getting there.. yourself?

Friend –

Glad you are here luke
Am in some king of deep mes here

Me –

huh?

Friend –

Facebook is acting up here…Please can i have your email

Me –

–insert email address here–

Friend –

I will send you an email now and explain what am going through
OK?

Friend –

My email is blue_green00998
Ok?

Me –

ok, about to leave work, will read it soon though

This is what the email said..

Hi,
How you doing?my family and I made a trip to Philippine unannounced some days back,Unfortunately for us we got messed up in another country,stranded in Philippine,fortunately passport was back in our hotel room. It was a bitter experience and i was hurt on my right hand,but would be fine.I am sending you this message because i don’t want anyone to panic,i want you to keep it that way for now.

our return flight leaves in a few hours but we are having troubles sorting out the hotel bills, wondering if you could loan us some money to sort out the hotel bills and also take a cab to the airport about (1,550 dollars).

I have been to the police and embassy here,but they aren’t helping issues,I have limited means of getting out of here,i have canceled my credit cards already and made a police report,I won’t get a new credit card number till I get back home! So I really need your help.

You could wire whatever you can spare to my name and location via Western union:

Name: –Removed For Privacy–
Location :Location :54B Banawe Street:City:Manila:Country:Philippine
Amount:(1,000 pounds)

Get back to me with the details,would def refund your money once i get back you can count on that,below are the details needed for me to pick up the money with my passport

MTCN:
Amount Sent:

I await your prompt response.

After checking out the exchange rate and starting some background checking, I was about to ring a few people to see if the story held any water when I received another message from Facebook.

Friend –

hey mate.
wtf is going on here? looks like my page might have got hacked or something. disregard anything that was said in this. weird as.

hope all is well otherwise tho.

So what do you do when you have a scammer on the other end..
Well I though I would have a bit of fun..

So I email him back..

Me –

Hi mate,
I have transferred the money into your bank.
It should arrive instantly as we are with the same bank of course 🙂

Have a safe trip home..

Him –

Luke thanks for the mail I need you to go to the western union to get the money transfer How soon as you get the money done you can email me the western union details (MTCN)

Me –

Can you transfer the money back then?
I will create a transfer when it arrives..

Cheers

Him –

Thanks for the mail. Luke i have not getting any Money here I can get any money through bank here is only transfer they do here in Manila

I will refund your money as soon as i get back tomorrow.

I owe you a lot Luke

Ok so by now I think he has wised up a bit (one would hope) and he wont be getting my money..
If you do get something like this, report it..
Though I lost nothing besides time someone else could fall for the same trap.

Here are two links that I used to report the case to the authorities..
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/reportascam/
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/reporting_to_ISPs.php

For SMS spam have a look at this post by AVG
http://resources.avg.com.au/spam/sms-spam/

Take Home Message.

• Do some research, call friend and relatives to see if the message holds water
• Suss out the spelling and grammar. Look at the example above it’s all over the place
• DONT transfer money to unknown places or Bank accounts.
• KEEP YOUR PASSWORDS PRIVATE! – Dont type your password into a box that looks like Facebook for example, this is a easy way for scammers to gain access to your account. Creating a fake facebook login page is easy and they gain access to your username and password. If you find you did type your password in a unknown site, PLEASE PLEASE change your password.

I have become a bit more wiser with this scam, I hope people can learn from my experience and become wiser with online security..

The account running this scam is
blue_green00998@yahoo.com
I have found out by talking to the scammer that he uses the same account but changes the name frequently to match the person his impersonating..

My first Woodford Folk Festival, the shear size of the festival alone made it a worth while event!
There were many artists playing at any one time so choosing the type of music you wanted to listen to was sometimes a challenge.
Anyways I will have to go again and next time take more pics.
Here are a few I took of some of the stages and the closing ceremony (There are some weird creatures roaming around)

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