The Scamdex Email Scam Archive

Scamdex sorts it's huge archive of email scams into five classifications:

1. Advance Fee Fraud : Payment is required to 'release' some much larger amount which is held by a third party. There is no 'millions', Mrs Abacha doesnt have the money either.
2. Lottery Scams: Payment is required to get your huge unsolicited lottery winnings transferred into your country/bank account. There are no 'winnings' .
3. Phishing: Official-looking emails from large internet banking and online services (PayPal, eBay, South Trust, US Bank etc etc) which ask you to 'confirm' some details. Always asks you to enter your credit card. The credit card details are used or sold on.
4. Auction Scams: Simple scams using eBay or Craigslist to take either your money, your property or both. Watch out for 'Second Chance Offers' on auctions you did not win!
5. Employment Scams: Employment is offered processing international payments. Certified check is paid into your bank account, you deduct your 'commission' and send on the rest. The check turns out to be a fake or you get prosecuted for Money Laundering!.
   

There is crossover between the basic types, for example, most use counterfeit checks/cheques at some stage and one scam may morph into another or even present several types at one time.

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NEVER USE WESTERN UNION

If you need to send money to someone out of the country, think long and hard before you use Western Union. Especially if the person wants the money quickly, says he can't accept PayPal or other online payment methods, and especially if it's for a big ticket item. It's not such a great deal if the laptop never turns up and your money is gone!
See here: CraigsList and here: eBay and her: Western Union

The DNS Route to Scam Protection Online

When you type in 'www.scammingsite.com' on your browser, a lookup translates the name into a unique address (IP Address) that all networked computers understand and which contains the path to the right server. Your ISP will have given you two numbers-separated-by-dots to type in to your Network Settings. These are the Domain Name Servers (DNS) that your computer will use whenever you ask to go to a domain name.

Click this button to find out why you need to change your DNS servers NOW!

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Scam Statistics from AOL

An AOL report in 2007 found that online frauds are becoming more sophisticated.

Of the 1% who had lost money through phishing, 53% were not compensated by their bank, the AOL survey found. A further 11% say they are still waiting for compensation.

Scam-Baiting

Defined as: "... the practice of corresponding with scammers to waste their time and/or make them look foolish....
Scammers are criminals and may live or have contacts in YOUR country. Some scam-baiting is simple racism too.
Got a Scam email not in our repository?
Send it to Scamdex.

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Scamdex Archive Statistics

Scamdex holds this belief to be self-evident...

" ... Organizations utilizing the Internet have a Duty of Care to their users, AND to those victimized by people who use those services for fraudulent means. "