MetaFilter posts tagged with scams

Nothing to declare except that, um, $135 billion

grounded — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:11:16 -0800

Two Japanese men have been detained by Italian authorities after they were caught with $134.5 billion in US bonds and securities in a false-bottomed bag on a train heading for the Swiss border. Real or counterfeit? Quantitative stealing? Japanese TV reports. And all this when Japan is pledging 'unshakable' faith in US Treasuries.

Today a sewing machine - tomorrow a dirty bomb

rongorongo — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:48:45 -0800

Dig out your old Singer sewing machines from the attic and sell them to somebody in Saudi Arabia for a fortune on account of the red mercury they contain. Red mercury allows nuclear bombs to be constructed without the need for plutonium [previously]. Red mercury came originally from Russia. Or from the Nazis. Red mercury was invented to lure terrorists in sting operations. It is a medicine for treating impotency. Red mercury will bring long life. It is cinnabar. It is mercury iodide. It is Lithium 6. It is a Bose Einstein Condensate. It is a ballotechnic mercury compound. It is a codeword. It's a game. It costs $300,000 per kilo.

Nearer to thee....

adamvasco — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:47:36 -0800

What would Jesus fly? Senator Charles Grassley investigates TV evangelists. One of whom claims his financial records belong to God. Further Investigation of TV evangelists some of whom are leaving on a jet plane. All thanks to the Prosperity Doctrine

International award of the century

salishsea — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:40:07 -0800

The American Biographical Institute and the International Biographical Centre have been offering honours for sale for years now. Recipients are offered the chance to purchase space in published "Who's Who" type directories and they can also purchase awards and honours such as "Most admired man of the decade" or "Eisteinian Chair of Science." Academics seem mostly to fall for the allure of prestige (including David Suzuki) but so do some politicians, including Kamala Persad-Bissessar (MP, Trinidad and Tobago), Tõnis Kint (Acting President, Estonia), Adrian Severin (Member of the European Parliament), Jona Baravilala Senilagakali (Minister of Health, Fiji), Benazir Bhutto (President, Pakistan) and Gambian President His Excellency Alhagi Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh.

Congratulations!

Blue Stone — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:32:31 -0800

Clive James on Scams and Hoaxes. "If the flim-flam man is sensible enough to offer you a return of only twice as much, the scam might even work. I was once defrauded of a heartbreakingly-large sum by a fellow writer who was smart enough to offer no return at all. True to her word, she didn't return my money either."

Thank God I'm Stupid!

MaxVonCretin — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:17:01 -0800

"Thank God I Was Raped!" Thank God for creepily masochistic self-help concepts! Thank God for network marketing publishing stunts that prey on the deranged! Thank God I was scammed out of real money by an advocate of rape therapy! But most of all, thank God there's an affiliate program!

Subscriptions for Disaster

maryh — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:23:56 -0800

“We’re selling magazines to earn points in a contest to win a trip abroad,” begins the standard spiel. At any given moment there are roughly 2,500 of these fresh-faced teens travelling across the USA hawking subscriptions for periodicals door to door. Welcome to the violent exploitative world of the Magazine Crews. via

Scams

viama — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 00:03:07 -0800

Scams. There's always someone trying to get what's yours. They take advantage of the misery of others, and if you're labeled a sucker, then you could end up being deluged. Can you tell what is real?

Not Affiliated with the LDS Church

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 16:41:17 -0800

Tired of EBay scams? Think EBay is a haven for criminals? Maybe you ought to surf on over to MormonBid.com.

Seems legit-- where do I sign?

gwint — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 13:50:09 -0800

Ze Frank, nigerian 419 scammer. [Quicktime]

P-P-P-Powerbook

holloway — Thu, 13 May 2004 19:41:41 -0800

An American Ebay seller realises a European bidder is trying to scam him out of a Powerbook (fake escrow site, hijacked ebay account), so he sends him something far better, a P-P-P-Powerbook! Now, for you non-techies here, a factory model p-p-p-powerbook weights half what it's competitors weigh, comes with an A4 screen, the latest in internet adventure software, zero boot time, a fullsize keyboard (often with Key Redundancy^TM) and a state-of-the-art laser bluetooth mouse. This is technology. The seller posts to a forum and amongst the chatter people follow the package via the the Fedex tracking page and some even visit the delivery address (a barbershop/internet cafe) and take photos, video, and a seat for their hair cut. The duty tax on this particular p-p-p-powerbook is around £350 (paid for by the scammer) before he sees the package, and a few days later it's released by Customs as they watch in anticipation. A forum member arrives at the internet cafe, takes a seat and soon the package arrives. The scammer opens the box and there are angry raised voices heard. The barber doesn't understand what's wrong and asks... "Is it broken?"

A fool and his money are soon scammed out of it

mathowie — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 09:08:38 -0800

There's a lot of scammin', griftin', and chicanery going on in the world and Snopes has always been there, but they usually take some time to do their investigations. But for the quick hit, they've just launched a new daily scam page carrying just that day's latest scam news from around the country. It's really amazing how many major scams take place every day, and it helps to know how to spot a scam when you hear about it.

Rip-off Report™ is the next best thing to getting your story on TV or in a newspaper?

Macboy — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 05:31:48 -0800

Victim of a consumer Rip-off? Victim of bad business practices? Have a deadbeat ex-husband? Want justice? Rip-off Report is a worldwide consumer reporting Website & Publication, by consumers, for consumers, to file & document complaints about Companies or Individuals who ripoff consumers.

Church of the Holy Cow

dhoyt — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 22:51:54 -0800

Nigerian Email Scam Gone Wrong • Evangelist Ojukwu Damisa contacted a fictitious American pastor--Father Ted Crilley of the "Church of the Holy Cow"-- in search of donations. Though Father Crilley's prank response has become a familiar Something Awful-style troll, it's always funnier when there are pictures involved.

Turning the tables on the 419 scammers

tranquileye — Fri, 21 Nov 2003 05:26:26 -0800

"Although this letter will come to you as a surprise..." Fed up with having their inboxes clogged with emails from Nigerian fraudsters promising untold riches, the victims are finally hitting back in what has been described as the Internet's first blood sport.

Caution: Fake Blogger.com

hoder — Wed, 30 Jul 2003 11:44:18 -0800

Don't be fooled by fake blogger.com. Crackers are after your Blogger password.

Scamming the scammer

feelinglistless — Fri, 04 Jul 2003 15:59:50 -0800

Scamming the scammer Somewhere along the line I think we've all wondered what would happen if we answered the Nigerian 419 scam email. Now we don't have to. Someone calling himself 'ebola monkey man' has been taking the scammer's on a email journey to the point that he will only agree to send them money if they send him a silly picture of themselves holding up a sign with their name on... [via b3ta]

Divinely Inspired to Pick Your Name...

apocalypse miaow — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 15:40:15 -0800

Nigerian email scam dudes. Possibly the first visual evidence of the rapscallions behind the scam that just keeps on sucking in new 'investors'.

Scam Spam Kills

ashbury — Mon, 24 Feb 2003 11:51:56 -0800

The Nigerian Scam Email also known as the 419 scam, claims a death. People get scammed all the time, hopefully with less dire consequences. The FTC has a list of the 12 most common scams. Has anybody here been scammed lately (it happens to the best of us and most likely all of us, at one time or another)?

That's FEXX'ed up!

thatweirdguy2 — Mon, 17 Feb 2003 08:51:24 -0800

Looking for the right job? Or a new team member? Not so fast. You might like to read about others' experiences with the company. Shouldn't this site have been shut down already? Where can one complain if the company in question lists a bogus address?

Yellow Bamboo

hockeyman — Sat, 15 Feb 2003 21:57:40 -0800

How would you like to control the entire universe, both what goes within you and what happens with others? As you can imagine when you can knock down attackers from 10 feet away or heal someone dying from something just using your own energy- that is true personal power! Others are skeptical. I think I will hold on to my $19.99. The movies are entertaining, though.

E-Bay Scammers and Internet Fraud

tgrundke — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:08:17 -0800

A Mac user scorned is a dangerous thing... Gotta hand it to this guy: persistence pays off. After being scammed with $3000 in forged cashier checques in an eBay transaction, this seller took matters into his own hands. How secure do you feel making transaction over eBay and related services? What kinds of internet fraud have you faced or fear? And most interesting of all, to what extent have you gone to correct evils done to you?

TCMITS — Fri, 23 Aug 2002 09:42:41 -0800

A new twist on the Nigerian Money Laundering Scam Spam? Everybody has a little cash-flow problem now and then...

tomplus2 — Wed, 14 Aug 2002 12:51:30 -0800

Would you like to be part of my pyramid?

We all know someone who has tried to sell us a "multi level marketing" product. Usana and Amway are 2 popular MLM companies. Can you really make money with these pyramid schemes? There are sites that talk about avoiding scams and others that show support for those who have been burnt, but they sometimes turn around and support mlm and network marketing.

Does anyone know these people? What kind of cars do they drive? What kind of person gets into network marketing and who are these "successful independant distributers"? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

tweebiscuit — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:00:28 -0800

"The fraud, the huckster, the salesman are not new phenomena in America; what is new is that they now so strongly control every estate of our society." For the last few days, I've been reading the Progressive Review's Undernews, a sort of progressive news blog-by-e-mail -- and frankly, it's amazing. One of today's articles blew my mind: it's a spot-on encapsulation of What's Wrong with America Today. (Scroll down to "Derivative America and the Enron Generation." This link is to the "Latest Issue" page. Tomorrow I think it will be archived here.) Seriously, read it now. It's worth it.