BEWARE! SCAM MAIL!

[xylothrill]

I only use the address listed in my profile for this forum and email communication with other known members. I don't have my email address hidden since I'm an administrator so this person got my email address, beyond a shadow of a doubt, from here.

PLEASE make sure your email addresses are hidden in your profile. You can always securely PM someone if need be.

I looked up the first, second, and third IP addresses and they were all from China "from n1b.bullet.mail.cnh.yahoo.com ([203.209.250.185])". Then it was routed through two seemingly nonexistent IP addresses. The sender claims to be Nigerian. I went to Fwd it and it said "Chinese Simplified (GB2312)" on the title bar. I don't think any of you would be stupid enough to fall for this but it is still happening and people are still falling for it.   :
I just don't like the spam myself. It's been nice having this new address without spam for as long as it's lasted.  (
The letter in blue:


From: mainm001@yahoo.cn
Reply To: musabaremainassara@yahoo.fr   <---- From China wanting a reply to France

Dearest one,
Please, I know this mail will come to you as a suprise
since we haven't  discusse it before,  but kindly bear
with me at this moment. I have a special reason why I
decided to contact you. My situation at hand is
miserable but I trust in God and hope you will be of
my help.
My name is Musa Ibrahim Bare Mainassara  19 years old
boy from Republic of Niger the son of Late General
Ibrahim Bare Mainassara the former President of the
Republic of Niger who was ambushed and killed by
dissident soldiers at the military airport in the
capital, Niamey with his driver and a former Prefect.
You can see more detail about my late father here. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9/newsid_2463000/2463927.stm

I am constrained to contact you because of the
maltreatment which I am receiving from my step mother
and uncle's. They planned to take away all my late
father's treasury and properties from me since the
unexpected death of my beloved Father.
Meanwhile I wanted to travel to Europe, but she hide
away my diplomatic passport
and other valuable documents. Luckily she did not
discover where I kept my father's
File which contained important documents. I am
presently in hide out in Cote d' Ivoire. 

I am seeking for longterm relationship and investment
assistance.  My father of blessed memory deposited the
sum of US$15.5 Million in a local bank in  Abidjan,
Cote d' Ivoire with my name as the next of kin.  I had
contacted the Bank to claim the deposit but the Branch
Manager told me that being a refugee that my status
does not permit and according to the local law and the
egreement between my late father and the bank does not
authorize me to carry out the operation.  However, he
advised me to provide a trustee who will stand on my
behalf.  I can not present my step mother or uncle's
about this deposit because I am affraid that she will
not offer me anything after the release of the money.

Therefore, I decide to seek for your help in
transferring the money into your bank account and to
relocate to your country and settle down with you.  I
have every documents of this deposit which I will send
to you as soon as you indicated your interest to
assist me. I have also decided to compensate you with
15% of the total money for your assistance
and the balance shall be for  investment in any
profitable venture which you will recommend to me, as
i have no any idea about foreign investment.

Please all communications should be through email only
for confidential purposes.

Thanking you alot in anticipation of your quick
response.  I will send you my telephone number in my
next email.

Yours Sincerely
Musa Mainassara

      ___________________________________________________________
                    <---- As if this weren't another clue.. Edit: Those WERE Chinese characters, not emoticons when I copied and pasted them! LOL! .
http://cn.mail.yahoo.com/   

[boxcarguy07]

Thanks for the notice. However, really anyone who falls for something like that kind of deserves it! jk
That being said, my email is set to private, but when I look at my own profile it shows the email address, it doesn't say hidden. Is it really hidden? Can you see it?

[TylerDurden]

I've heard of at least 1 businessman who allowed himself to be fleeced of 230,000-odd pounds because of this classic Nigerian fraud. However, it's so old now that the Nigerians are now pretending to be from other countries, usually.

*I tried changing a few things on the account-settings page re hiding profile/showing e-mail or online-status but it wouldn't allow me - I had to put in my password, I put in all the ones I've used in the past, but none of them worked. Any ideas?

[xylothrill]

Log out and view your profile as a guest and you'll see how others see it. If you hide your online status you will only appear to yourself but your name will be in italics on the members online list and at the top of boards and topics. Everyone else will just see "hidden." They won't know who you are. Also, are you sure you're putting your password in the third password field and not the first or second? The first two are only for changing your password in which case you would fill out the first two password fields with the new one you've chosen and fill out the third with your current password.

I hope that clarifies things a bit. Some things here could stand to be a little more intuitive. Maybe I'm just used to SMF now but I think the other free software forums out there can be even worse.

Who am I now? Oh!

Craig

[xylothrill]

I've been switching back and forth. If any of you Mods see another one, please remove it.

Thanks,
Craig

[TylerDurden]

That explains it.