How to Phish Out Phishing Scams - I Love This One

A few years ago during some very lean times I posted a guest room available for short stays. Someone wanted to book the room for a few days. They sent a deposit cheque for a very large amount, asking me to cash it and give them the difference when they arrived. Was it a scam? Of course it was a scam. The letter and cheque came from the US but the cheque was a fraudulent one written on a Scotiabank account in Ontario. Envelope addy handwritten but letter was by a different hand. Beautiful handwriting, too! I reported the scam to the bank then I took all the paperwork and emails to the local cop shop and we all had a good laugh. 

And of course, because I couldn't get a coherent commit date for her arrival without several emails (I knew this was a scam btw) I finally just emailed her saying sorry the room was booked and no longer available. What address, please, so I can return the cheque. I never did get an answer to that one ... LOL

Here is the latest one and here is how I did my research. I've included names and sites here because it's all on the 'net and freely available. Read on:

Received a letter for a relative from a supposed lawyer regarding an inheritance from a Robert XXX (surname same as relative's), last address Knightsbridge, London. This is a scam. Did a little googling.

The letter is from a Thornhill, Ontario address from a Peter Meyers – QC. This address exists. Odd thing is that the return communications are through phone number and fax with UK numbers.

Looking at Google Maps it is an office building on Commerce Valley Drive East, Thornhill, Ontario (return address on envelope but not in letter and mailed from Canada).

I could not find a Peter Meyers QC listed in England or Canada. There is no Walton & Meyers LLP listed in UK phone directories or law firm lists.

The Brit phone number is not listed after a quick search of the number on Google. As this is supposedly a law firm, you’d think they would have a phone number. Poking around a little more reveals that if the number were from England it would be written as 44 20 323 … etc., instead of 44 (0) 203 239 xxxx. Area code 203 is, surprise surprise, in Connecticut.

The supposed inheritance is in the Butterfield Private Bank. The venerable bank exists. It’s in wiki. The founder is probably twitching in his venerable grave.

 

A little more searching. There is no law firm listed by this name in the UK or Canada or the USA.

Whois.DomainTools.com has a listing of all internet domain name changes. 

waltonmeyers.com was created on March 17^th, 2012. It belongs to:

Domain Name.......... waltonmeyers.com
  Creation Date........ 2012-03-17
  Registration Date.... 2012-03-17
  Expiry Date.......... 2014-03-17
  Organisation Name.... virginia lemus
  Organisation Address. 8303 riverbirch drive
  Organisation Address. apt 207
  Organisation Address. 
  Organisation Address. charlotte
  Organisation Address. 28210
  Organisation Address. NC

  Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Google www.waltonmeyers.com and you see “This site is under construction”. Umm … A law firm website under construction for one year!!! Yeah, right.

Results.beenverified.com shows many Virginias with several aka’s, none in Charlotte, NC. Doesn’t mean she is not there, just that she is not listed as being there.

How it works is, you contact “Peter Meyers” aka Virginia, by fax because the phone number is screwy or you leave a message because "no one is available to take your call at the moment. Please leave a message". Or you send a reply to the supplied email addy. The firm's "secretary" now has your phone number and probably your email addy because you were silly enough to supply them to a complete stranger. 

The scammers/hackers/she will contact you after fishing around to discover if you have money because of course processing the inheritance, with them as go-betweens and executors, will cost you money. You understand of course that because the paperwork  all goes through the bank's "authorized" US offices and thence back and forth to London, there will be costs involved. Please send XXX dollars. Please send more. Please, there is a hold up for additional fees so send me everything you have in all your banks accounts. Oh, so sorry! A  claimant with closer ties to the “deceased" has suddenly appeared. No further correspondence is possible due to the privacy laws in place. And because they have moved on to other fishing grounds y'all ain't gonna get a refund. 

Looking at the domain registration it would appear Virginia gives this particular scam a 2 year shelf life.

And Virginia laughs all the way to the bank. Not Butterfield’s though.

Bye bye, have a nice day, y’all. 

http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/english/recognizeit_inheritance.html

http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/848613

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/advancefee/inherit.asp

http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/fraud/types-of-fraud/common-scams/inheritance-fraud

Think About...

This is the sort of thing I think about when washing the dishes... Disposable razors ... Sure, they are convenient ... for you maybe. But think about this for a minute.

How many billions of the things are manufactured globally in a year? The info I found says "In the US 68 MILLION men use them every year". (LOL - no mention of women who shave underarms, legs and other body parts frequently)

How often are they used before tossing them in the garbage? Anywhere from twice to a dozen?

Did you know that using a safety razor will cost you way less? Let's face it, we pay more for the packaging than for the product. And that goes in the garbage, too.

Since the blades are made of poor quality metal and the handles are plastic, that's an awful lot of non-biodegradable stuff going into landfills and being dumped in oceans. Millions of cubic feet annually. It will sit there forever too. A thousand years from now archaeologists will come across these in their billions and curse us. Justifiably.

Think about it.

And I like the way a beard looks on a man. Just let me wipe that egg from your moustache for you - unless you are saving it for a snack ;)

Arsenic in Rice Products!

"Arsenic Found in All Rice Products: Alarming levels of harmful arsenic have been found in every rice product tested by the FDA in its ongoing investigation, reports the Chicago Tribune.

There is currently no official upside to the amount of inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen, allowed in food.

But Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement: "First and foremost, I want to warn parents that every rice cereal product we tested contained arsenic. These results are shocking because rice cereal is often a baby's first solid food. Parents and caregivers should moderate the amount of rice products they feed their children, while the FDA sets standards to limit this known carcinogen in our food." via Chicago 

Well, given that all** rice produced in the US is GM* as well... umm ... time to ask for non-GMO and non-arsenic products when you shop? When they say sorry, put the stuff back on the shelf. Maybe the retailers will get the message if enough of us do this?

*There is more to this story - click on the Chicago link above.

** Unless, by some small miracle there is a pocket of truly organic rice fields or paddies with water not previously  filtered through mine tailings somewhere in the US.

I'm on holiday right now but will expand on this story later in the year.