Zabaware Support Forums

Zabaware Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: freddy888 on August 17, 2006, 09:03:01 am

Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: freddy888 on August 17, 2006, 09:03:01 am
Look out for unsolictied mail folks - this one grabbed my email from here, and is not registered under the username the email gives.
This is a pretty common scam, I think they bought the 'Scamming for Dummies Pack" where you fill in the blanks, as the wording for this kind of scam hasn't changed much in years.

This is what to look out for :


 
quote:
Hello freddy888

You received the following message from: pyasmine (pyasmine2@yahoo.fr)

At: http://www.zabaware.com/forum/

Heartiest Greeting From Princess,
From Princesse Yasmine ettenyen.
PLEASE REPLY ME WITH THIS MY EMAIL ADDRESS(pyasmine7@yahoo.fr)

My Dear One,

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business
relationship with you. I got your profile and name though this dating web I prayed
over it and selected your name among other names due to its esteeming
nature and the recommendations given to me as a reputable and trust
worthy person that I can do business with and by the recommendation , I
must not hesitate to confide in you for this simple and sincere business .
 
I am PrincessYasmine Ettenyen the only daughter of late Chief. and
Mrs.Anthony Ettenyen.My father was former Director of finance Sierra-Leone
diamond,Gold and mining corporation, in Free Town , the economic
capital of Sierra Leon, my father was poisoned to death by his business
associates on one of their outings on a business trip .While my mother died
when I was a baby and since then my father took me so special. Before
his death on october 2004 in a private hospital in Free Town Sierra
Leon. he secretly called me on his bed side and told me that he has the sum
of Nine  Million, United State Dollars. US($9,000.000.00) left in fixed
/suspense account in one of the prime bank in Abidjan the economic
capital of  Cote d'Ivoire,that he used my name as his only daughter for the
next of Kin in depositing of the fund. He also explained to me that it
was because of this wealth that he was poisoned by his business
ssociates.That incase he die I should move out of the country down to Cote d'
Ivoire where he made the deposit to seek for a foreign partner in a
country of my choice where i will transfer this money and use it for
investment purpose after my education such as real estate management or
hotel management.I am living in Cote D'Ivoire since 3months now.
Dear I am honourably seeking your assistance in the following ways,To
provide a bank account into which this money would be transferred to,To
serve as a guardian of this fund since I am only 20years and To make
arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education
and to secure a resident permit in your country while you will be take
care of investing this money.
Moreover, Dear, I am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as
compensation for your effort/ input after the successful transfer of this
fund into your nominated account overseas Furthermore, you indicate your
options towards assisting me as I believe that this transaction would
be concluded within Seven (4) days you signify interest to assist me.
 
Anticipating to hear from you soon.
 
Thanks and Regards,
Princess Yasmine Ettenyen


Its another obvious Scam.

You know whats really daft is if anyone did have that ammount of money tucked away, they would just go and open a bank account or get professional help - not ask some complete stranger half way across the world if they can do it for them lol

Nice story Princess, but try working for a living and in those imortal words, passed down through the ages, "**** off".
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: onthecuttingedge2005 on August 17, 2006, 09:22:01 am
Hi freddy.

Yep, The suspect e-mailed me with the same spam.

Jerry[8D]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Duskrider on August 17, 2006, 10:50:44 am
Hey Princess!!![:(!]
I thought I was your "dear one"[:(!]

Two-timing %*#&^#% !!!
[:(!]



[;)]

Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: vrossi on August 17, 2006, 10:59:07 am
I've received today 2 identical messages like this, with subject: "Sent From Zabaware by pyasmine".

What particularly worries me is that pyasmine is not a registered member, so he (or she, since she's a Princess [:D] ) can't have used the "e-mail to a member" function in the Forum. So I think that someone has managed to get access to the Zabaware Forum mailing list. Since I am the Admin of other Snitz-based Forums, I hope this is not a security-bug in the software. I regularly apply all the security notes released by Snitz, and I am certain that Robert does the same on this Forum.

It would be interesting to further investigate, in order to understand how it happened, so that we can set up some stricter check on the e-mail database security (both here and in other forums).

Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Duskrider on August 17, 2006, 12:07:39 pm

She (it) was a member for a few hours.
Robert must have deleted her

[8D]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: GamerThom on August 17, 2006, 12:31:54 pm
A few hours is all it takes Dusky. I received the
same piece of e-mail early this morning and forwarded
it to Robert. Then reported it as spam to AOL. I think
that temporarily it would be prudent to make all our
e-mail addresses private in our profiles, just until
we see if there are any more scammers lurking around.

I'm not positive but I wouldn't doubt that this person
or persons is also actively seeking info at DG forum &
VHumans as well.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: markofkane on August 17, 2006, 12:36:07 pm
I don't get spam.[:D]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: aladyblond on August 17, 2006, 03:13:06 pm
well there goes my dreams of fame and riches [:(]~~alady
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Carl2 on August 17, 2006, 03:54:33 pm
Thanks,
  Seemed to good to be true.
Carl2
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Bill819 on August 17, 2006, 04:06:33 pm
Hey guys you are not alone. I awoke this morning to find the same email message written to me. This is an ongoing scam that has been tried all over the world. Everyone who has forwarded them their bank account numbers has quickly had their bank accounts not only emptied but have had several other charges made against it.
Glad to see that most of  you are aware.
Bill
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: danbaltzell on August 17, 2006, 04:18:41 pm
I could have invested that money and made a gazillion buckaroonies!!!
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: freddy888 on August 17, 2006, 09:19:08 pm
hehe, I feel like we're the Magnificent Seven (and more), I can hear that music playing as we head off into the sunset once again.

daa daa du du du daa daa....duh duh dah dah du du du du dah....
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Testlund on August 19, 2006, 07:25:22 am
Yeah, Prinsesse Yasmin is really desperate to give us her money. I just got a second email from her, so I have now set my email address so people can't send me emails from here, hopefully.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: markofkane on August 19, 2006, 08:39:12 am
I get so disgusted at parasites not getting a real job, but sit on their fat butts all day trying to scam people.

That goes for all unsolicited sales, like telemarketers, door to door salespeople(ok, they don't sit on their butts), (excluding kids trying to sell cookies or something), email and message board spam, phishing, pidgeon drop, and pyramid schemes.

I'm too smart to fall for any of that, because I don't trust people, especially strangers.

ANYTIME you have to give money to get money, it's a scam. (except for state-run lotteries in this country, and casinos. (Not online casinos)
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Duskrider on August 19, 2006, 09:16:57 am

...and I'm not too sure about lotteries and casinos
[:(]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Testlund on August 19, 2006, 10:38:46 am
quote:
Originally posted by markofkane

I get so disgusted at parasites not getting a real job, but sit on their fat butts all day trying to scam people.

That goes for all unsolicited sales, like telemarketers, door to door salespeople


I have a rule I'm following; never trust anyone tries to sell something through the phone, at the door or on the internet.

I've done a few purchases from internet though, after I've got some second opinion from people or if it's a software wich I've been able to try fully before I buy, and if it can be bought from a secure page, like Hal6 for instance. [8D]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: freddy888 on August 19, 2006, 11:50:06 am
:) I know what you all mean - at least with Lotteries though, you know what the score is - you're not going to win unless you are outright lucky or skilled at some game.  Generally speaking even if you disagree with the idea of gambling then again at least the money is really there.

I think this kind of scam is only likely to work on someone really desperate or prone to being taken advantage of - it's gutless and cynical and like you all say insulting.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: rayle88 on August 20, 2006, 05:55:02 pm
I know I don`t post very much on here, but I have learnt a great deal over the last few months reading all the various bits and pieces that you have written, and I thank you all.
re the scam, for those of you who may not know, this is one of thousands of similar scam s known as 419`s.
The email addresses are ususally obtained by trawling through Guestbooks by someone with a program that can do it, they are then sold on to the scammer who tries his luck, and some indeed do make money.
Maybe now they have the facility trawl forums and obtain addresses that way, they send these things out in dozens so I hardly think they would take the trouble to join a forum, no doubt we shall find out more as time goes on.
If anyone would like to know about 419`sand the fun that can be had with the scammers take a look here http://www.419eater.com/  or just type 419 in the search bar.
Keep up the good work all of you.
Ray
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: rayle88 on August 22, 2006, 11:57:03 am
Since posting two days ago, I receieved a scam mail addressed to
Hello rayle88
Hello rayle88

You received the following message from: grace01 (gracejohnson55@yahoo.com)

At: http://www.zabaware.com/forum/

From Miss.Grace Johnson
Avenue 112 Rue 24 Macory-Abidjan,
Ivory Coast.
22/08/2006



So it would now seem that they have found a way of trawling through apparently secure forums such as this,whether there is a way to prevent it I do not know, no doubt a lot of members of this and others Forums will be finding them in mail boxes.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: GamerThom on August 22, 2006, 03:45:39 pm
Too late. Got one the other day like that, just forwarded it
along to Robert and admin when I got it.

Something similar happened over on DG Forum yesterday, but
over there we got hit with porn advertising.

So you can probably bet that they'll be hitting all the
forums before long, if they haven't started already.

It's a real shame that this kind of thing can't be stopped
and the perpetrators of it tracked down so legal penalties
could be put in place.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Carl2 on August 29, 2006, 08:44:36 pm
GamerThom,
  Just received that porn you spoke of, didn't spend much time with it but now I know where it came from.  It's a shame these things are happening at these sites.
Carl2
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: spydaz on September 07, 2006, 08:49:39 am
WOW,  i recieved a simular email, a saffrine Boma... asking for bank detail and photographs, as she was heir to 12million usd, and need a bank account to store the money and smebody was out to kill her, so she needed my bank to hold on to the money and for this i would be paid a great commission:

The forum members are now being targetted


WATCH OUT
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Bill819 on September 07, 2006, 11:21:47 am
Hello all
I just received another one and this time it referenced VR network or should I say the Vitural Humans network. This is an old scam that originated in Nigeria.
Bill
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: aladyblond on September 22, 2006, 09:42:49 pm
i got an email from paul labamba who made his money in chocolate and coffee. too bad the jerk isnt real i could use some good coffee and chocolate. i just turned him over to aol hope he gets some sort of punishment. he got my email from here.~~[V]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Art on September 23, 2006, 06:23:51 am
Lynn,

Unfortunately, Paul (if he was indeed a real person) may not have been the actual person that sent the thing. Some of the posters can use another's computer and bounce their garbage from place to place trying to be anonymous.

The real person might eventually get caught but chances are the person from whom you received it, was not the person that sent it.

It's good that you reported it because it will at least give AOL or whatever company a place to start looking!

Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: freddy888 on September 23, 2006, 08:07:47 am
For general info, I found Yahoo, 1and1 and Orange (formerly wanadoo) have good spam filters on their webmail services.  Yahoo's is probably the most effective.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: freddy888 on September 23, 2006, 05:27:40 pm
Latest one is someone called Paul4Real, probably snooping right this minute as I just got a mail...my usual expletives your way Paul...it landed nicely in my Spam tray...thats the pigs fed..Nice [:)]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Carl2 on September 24, 2006, 08:40:05 am
Freddy,
  Just received the same, quite a few accounts of people responding to these and loosing money in the news. Thay really should be reported to some type of agency to deal with them.
Carl2
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: mystifytina on September 24, 2006, 02:52:10 pm
I recieved one but it is different. I have alerted Robert. This is what mine said. Hello mystifytina

You received the following message from: paul4real (paulmboma2006_01@yahoo.com)

At: http://www.zabaware.com/forum/

                                CONFIDENTIAL URGENT ASSISTANCE
From Paul Mboma.
Avenue 5 Lot 172 Cocody Quarters
Abidjan IVORY COAST.
WEST AFRICA

Good day Dear One,

Greetings and How are you today,I am Paul Mboma 22 years. I would like you to permit me to apply through this medium for your co-operation and  to secure an opportunity to invest and do joint relationship and business with you in your country.

I have a substantial capital I honourably Inherited from my late father late CHIEF PATRICK MBOMA
who deal in Cocao-coffee plantation and share from family Gold, diamond Mining and trading.The Epmgigo rebels killed Him recently in poltical crisis in our country that have resulted to war since this past two years.

I intend to invest this money in profitable areas in your country into a very lucratives business venture of which you are to advise and execute the said venture over there for the mutual benefits of both of us .
Most especially is for you to help me come over to your base if possible for You be able co-operate with me to become my business partner in your country and create ideas on how  money will be invested, properly
managed and the type of investment after the money  is transferred to your custody with your assistance.

I inherited this sum from my late father  whom the rebels killed because he was not supporting their selfish intrest to topple the president Gbagbo the present president.Meanwhile, on indication of your willingness to handle this transaction sincerely by protecting my Interests and upon your acceptance of this proposal.I would  furnish you with the full detailed information, procedure, amount involve is below and we shall  mutually agree on your percentage interest or share holding for helping me to secure the release of the deposit and investing the fund into a lucratives profitable venture in your care.It is The sum of Nine Million,Five Hundred Thousand USD $9.500.000USD I shall be glad to reserve this respect and opportunity for you, if you so desire, but do urge you to give the matter your immediate attention it
deserves.I want you to be rest assured that everything is in order and legitimate it was due to the politicalcrisis in our country that have resulted to war which cause everybody to find a way to get out the country,that makes me to use this medium to request for your assistance hoping that you will not let me
down.

This money is legitimately acquired by my late father from sales of cocoa-coffee and diamond dealings.
Looking forward to your prompt response
Thanks and God bless
Paul Mboma.
PLEASE CONTACT ME ON MY PRIVATE EMAIL AT paulmboma2006_01@yahoo.com  for more details



quote:
Originally posted by onthecuttingedge2005

Hi freddy.

Yep, The suspect e-mailed me with the same spam.

Jerry[8D]

Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Duskrider on September 24, 2006, 07:10:53 pm

My dear Paulie,
It appears you now have the 9 million that your sister the most honorable Princess Yasmine had after the death of your father.   I am confused why she has disappeared and you are now handling the family fortune.  I am in contact with the Cote de Ivoire authorities as I speak in hopes we may rescue her from whatever diabolical situation you have imposed on her.
 
As I look forward to her release and your imprisonment, may I wish you a nice day and please keep smiling.

Your good friend,
                           
---Dusky.

[8D]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: onthecuttingedge2005 on September 25, 2006, 12:02:57 am
If we take away some letters on a google search we will find the same result:
paulmboma2
If you follow:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=paulmboma2&btnG=Search
is the beginning of this suspect.

All the way to paulmboma but not paulmbom in google search.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=paulmboma&btnG=Google+Search

A con artest to say the least!

paulmboma2006_01@yahoo.com is an easy generic account to say the least that doesn't require ligetment information to start an account

Just for the fun of it I guess.
Jerry[8D]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Art on September 25, 2006, 04:56:03 am
Not much fun for the 70 something year old man who a week or so ago, lost a large part of his savings ($230,000.00) on this scam!!
Hope he has some luck along with the authorities in locating the scammer(s).

I guess P.T.Barnum was right after all....
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: markofkane on September 25, 2006, 08:42:11 am
Wow, Art. I got it. (just kidding, this stuff happens to me too)

Well, I cannot understand someone smart enough to save over $200,000 can be so dumb.

You know why this happens?? Greed. People are greedy. That 70 year old thought he could get more money. If he'd have common sense (well, he should be excused for Alzheimer's or some other disease that decreases thought function)

It's like a person that is wealthy gambling all of their money away, because they think they can make more money. Usually, they lose more than they gain, unless they are lucky.

I told my father NEVER to give money or personal info to ANYONE who contacts HIM first. Unless he knows for sure they're legit.

Best way to find out is to research.

I am happy to be paranoid, because I trust NO ONE.

But, those who take advantage of ignorant people in this manner should be drawn and quartered.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: firemaker on September 25, 2006, 11:08:19 am
I LOVE GETTING THESE !  now I gotta new monkeyman http://www.419eater.com/ to play wiff

thought for the day: ever notice how adding the word monkey to praticaly any sentance makes it funny? monkey face, monkey butt, monkey fart..,
ok back to monkeyin around with with my everso important stuff I was doin before I got the email from the mboma monkeyman
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Bill819 on September 25, 2006, 01:25:18 pm
I just received my third email trying to get my bank account number. They got my address from Vhumans. I had one before from this site too. This scam has been gong on for years now. I had gotten the same thing about 10 years ago. They must be making money or they wouldn't be still in business. I don't know why they have not been caught yet.
Nigeria is considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world and this is the home base for all these crooked dealings.
Bill
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Art on September 25, 2006, 04:18:04 pm
Bill,

I doubt it's the same person or persons, just the fact that the old is becomming new to a newly hatched breed of vermin who decided to ply their trade as cretins of society!

SS,DD...if you get my drift!
[:p]
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Carl2 on September 28, 2006, 08:25:55 pm
All,
  Just changed servers and while speaking to the people I mentioned this scam, thay just provide the service and have no interest in any type of fraud, next you would have to prove it is a fraud.
  This type of thing has been mentioned on tv, I'll try to contact them, there should be someone to report them to.
Carl2
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Medeksza on September 29, 2006, 10:23:16 pm
I added some code to the forum to disable sending emails through the forum on new accounts. Most users will still be able to use the function, but new users must at least make some posting on the forum first and wait a couple days before being allowed to use the email function.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Art on September 30, 2006, 03:19:18 pm
Wise decision Robert!!
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: freddy888 on September 30, 2006, 07:34:56 pm
thanks Rob.  For the record I also get the odd one from my VHumans forum account.
Title: Con artist at work on forum - Princess Scam
Post by: Carl2 on October 05, 2006, 06:16:36 pm
All,
  Just received another email, I have two from Virtual humans. The TV station gave me consumers affairs but I can't find a catagory for it.
It's a person with large amounts of money asking for help.
Carl2