Couple sold short, loses savings in internet scam

By Nikkii Joyce

ONE man's bid to give his terminally-ill wife the world has ended after the couple was scammed out of $8500 through a reputable online trade agent.

Russell Hellyer, 65, said he didn't think twice about buying a camper home through the Trading Post for him and wife of 45 years, Pat.

The Glenore Grove couple, whose recent trials include Pat's breast-cancer diagnosis, was planning to travel the countryside to visit interstate friends and seeking to buy a camper to be their home away from home.

"We used our savings and now it's gone, and my plan to take her back to the UK to make her goodbyes at home is now probably gone as well," the British expat said.

The couple went online with the Trading Post last month and answered an advertisement selling a 1993 Toyota Coaster motorhome being sold for $7200.

Mr Hellyer said initial contact was made with the seller claiming to be a "verified trader" which is a 100-point identity verification process through Australia Post.

He said the "scammer's" depth of cunning was such that he even placed the "verified trader" logo on each of his emails.

Despite further email revelations that the motorhome "owner" was living in the United Kingdom and that he wanted an extra $1300, Mr Hellyer said he didn't doubt the authenticity of the deal.

The money, totalling $8450, was deposited into an account of owner "David Parrat" through a Western Union money transfer.

In an email dated August 23, Mr Parrat said: "I am sorry but I cannot sell you the coaster for $8450 because my ex-wife will not allow me. She told me that if I want to sell the coaster she wants $14,500 for it so if you still want the coaster you will need to send me $6050 more. If this is not okay for you I will send you money back because I already found a buyer for $1500."

Less than 24 hours after they demanded their money back, reality hit hard for the Hellyers.

"I am sorry but I cannot send you the money back because I have paid $3000 for shipping and insurance. If you want the coaster you must send me $6050. If this is not okay, I will send you $5450 back."

Not surprisingly, the $5450 was never sent back and "Mr Parrat" was never heard from again.

"How does this happen on what is supposed to be a secure service? I've been told that there is nothing Trading Post can do, and our money is gone," Mr Hellyer said.

A Trading Post spokeswoman said the scam the Hellyers fell prey to was the result of a customer registering and placing an ad on tradingpost.com.au in the same manner a legitimate user would go about placing a listing.

She said fraudulent sellers obtained photos of vehicles from ads on other sites or libraries and posted contact details (email addresses) in the ads.

"When the buyer contacts the seller, the seller sends back an email much like the one I have attached. This is where the Verified Trader aspect comes in, not in their Trading Post ad," she said.

"As Trading Post is not involved in the transaction between the buyer and seller we are unable to offer any money back guarantees. This is outlined in Trading Post's terms of use."

She said the Trading Post had removed the advertisements as soon as they were detected and there were also numerous site content warnings on tradingpost.com.au in relation to these scams.

Laidley Police officer-in-charge Jim McDonald said there was little Queensland Police could do about the international scam but it had been reported to Interpol.


Article source http://www.thechronicle.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3784739

Beware Of Bogus Poetry Contests

Poetry scam contests rake in millions of dollars every year. They do so by promising fame and fortune and then charging 'contest winners' a fee to see their work in print. What is worse, everybody's a winner.

There are legitimate writing contests, and these can be a useful tool to get the attention of literary agents or publishers. Often however they can be scams. One type that dupes thousands of people each year is the poetry contest. This is how it works.

The originators of these scams often can seem to be highly legitimate and respectable. As well as ensnaring people VIA web site adverts and e-mail, you can often find their ads in glossy magazines and major newspapers. You have probably seen them or may even have received on of their e-mails.

The advertisements for poetry scam contests will often promise large cash rewards, even offering a free gift or reward just for entering, they will definitely have no entrance fee and have very easy eligibility requirements. Contestants simply create their poem and e-mail it to the organizers, or drop it in the mail.

Good luck but I bet you win! That's how the scam works because before you know it you get notification that your poem is a semi finalist, and what is more they are publishing it in an anthology. Wow I bet your thinking, I never knew how good I was.

Unfortunately everybody who enters gets the same letter, Yep there are no loosers here. bet you want a copy of your winning poem in print too, here comes the scam. they want $49.95 for the book(plus postage). a plaque with your poem on it will cost you another $40, your bio included with the poem another$20, join the poets society for another $60 the list will go on and on. Some experts estimate that these poetry scam companies make almost 10 million dollars a year!

So how can you spot, and avoid these Poetry contest scams?

If you want to see your poetry published, contribute your poems to legitimate magazines and literary publications. Once you have a collection of published poems, you can put together your own book and submit it to editors for publication.

Legitimate writing and poetry contests are both available and plentiful. If you decide to participate in poetry contests, investigate the organization before you enter. These poetry scam companies operate under a variety of legitimate sounding names. Research each organization before you enter a contest.Search the Internet for warnings about the company holding the contest.

Many legitimate contests do request a small entrance fee to cover administration and financial prizes, however they NEVER request a fee to publish or purchase anything upon winning the contest. Legitimate contests willingly post their guidelines, prizes, judges and contest rules.

Keep your eyes open and ask questions, and you should be safe from this type of scam. Remember as always, if it seems to good to be true it probably is.

Internet conman jailed after web hunt

By Simon Barrett »


An Internet conman has been jailed after his victims launched an online manhunt in a bid to snare him.

Fantasist Adam Dovey, 26, offered cameras, laptops and even tickets to wrestling bouts for sale on internet auction website eBay then pocketed the money from duped customers.

The scheme was launched soon after he was freed early from a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence imposed in 2006 for a similar eBay scam.

Dovey, formerly of Trafalgar Road, Portslade, Brighton, was given a 15-month jail term for 22 counts of deception, netting a total of more than £6,500, when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court.

Furious victims of the latest round of cons launched an online manhunt to snare Dovey – after “Googling” his name and stumbling upon newspaper reports in The Argus of his earlier jail sentence.

On one website, called mirrorofjustice.com, one post read: “I’ve been contacted by other people that have been victims of this eBay seller and I am collating information to hopefully get some justice for I believe a large number of people.

“Adam C Dovey is known to have lived in Brighton in England and has conned a number of people into paying large amounts of money into his bank account.

“If you are a fellow victim or know where he is please contact me.”

But Dovey used a string of fake identities and addresses in a bid to cover his tracks, the court heard.

After serving ten months for 12 eBay deception offences committed in 2005, divorced father Dovey started on another trail of deception last year, even using his mother’s maiden name as a cover and stealing a flatmate’s passport to try and open a bank account.

The court heard that when his mother Suzanne Dovey found out about his con, she threw him out of her house in Brighton and he moved to Liverpool where he continued his scam.

He was arrested in April last year.

Judge Guy Antony said: “eBay is an institution with which many people in this country find very useful as it lets them dispose of unwanted items or buy things they want.

“Its success depends on the honesty of the person who is selling or pretending to sell items.”

Dovey was jailed for 14 months for deception and theft and one month for failing to surrender.

Article source http://www.theargus.co.uk

Email hoaxes that millions fell for!

Email hoaxes are rife on the web, but with 30 percent of internet users claiming to have purchased something from a spam email, maybe the scams aren't as obvious as we first thought. Here's our round-up of the eight wackiest email scams that people really did fall for.

Most email hoaxes are pretty far-fetched. From a wealthy oil executive in a far-off land that wants to give you millions of dollars to a host of pretty girls waiting to meet you, most are obviously not for real.

Yet, millions of people every day continue to fall for them. And it doesn't matter how many times reports detailing email hoaxes gone bad or tales of spammers taking people for all they're worth are released, people just keep on clicking.

Why? It's the law of percentages. The response rate for snail-mail spam is between 0.5 and 1 percent. That might not sound like a lot, but if you apply it to email, it means a spammer can send a million messages, without the cost of paper and postage, and 5,000 to 10,000 people will answer. In fact, a study out this month indicates that nearly 30 percent of internet users confessed to purchasing something from spam email.

Here's our round-up of the top email hoaxes that have come through inboxes and fooled millions.

Raise bonsai kittens in bottles

It's amazing how many people were willing to believe this email about a breeder in New York who raised kittens in bottles. Perhaps it's the horrible detail that outraged the recipients so much: the small animals are given a muscle relaxant to pacify them and to allow the breeder to get them in the bottle.

They're fed through straws. Their skeletons take on the shape of the bottle. "Latest trends In New York, China, Indonesia and New Zealand."

A bizarre case of animal cruelty? A sick joke? Actually, it started as a fake website, Bonsai Kitten, the product of MIT students. The idea was so outrageous, it spread like wildfire via email. Plenty of people fell for it, many begging animal-welfare organisations to help the small furry creatures.

Even the FBI investigated it. Perhaps it could happen, after all, you can miniaturise a tree by pruning it and shaping it. But cats? Last time we checked, it's more or less impossible (not to mention probably illegal) to stop an animal from growing simply by keeping it in a small container.

Sign a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide

Email alerts outlining the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide swept the internet in the late 1990s and still pop up today. Many ask that you sign and forward a petition to ban the chemical, which contributes to global warming, is a major ingredient in acid rain, causes metals to rust more quickly, and has been found in cancerous tumours.

The chemical also contributes to the greenhouse effect and to erosion of our natural landscapes. It's even in food. Sounds pretty dangerous. You're ready to sign right now, aren't you?

Well, let us tell you one more thing about dihydrogen monoxide: it's more commonly known as water. You know, the substance that every single living being relies on to survive? The origins of this item are multifold, from flyers circulated at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1989 (so 20th century!) to a junior high school student who surveyed 50 classmates in 1997 and got 43 of them to sign his petition to ban the chemical. He then won a prize at his science fair for his project, called 'How gullible are we?'

Several web pages touting the chemical's dangers are still live. Don't feel too bad if you've ever fallen victim to this hoax; even a government official in New Zealand took the bait last year.

Extreme technophobia: pop popcorn with mobile phones

With all the talk of mobile phone dangers, the idea of radiation from them being powerful enough to pop popcorn doesn't seem that far-fetched, at least on the surface. So, why wouldn't you believe the swarm of emails telling you to look at the incredible video of friends popping kernels of corn with their mobile phones?

The group allegedly did it by placing the kernels inside a ring of mobile phones that then rang at the same time. The result - the kernels popped wildly as the mobile phone owners shrieked in delight. It must be true - it was on the internet, and the video was fun to watch. The event set off a wave of imitators attempting to film themselves re-creating it or trying to disprove it.

Unfortunately, as you might expect, it was all fake. A company called Cardo Systems made the video to promote its mobile phone headsets. Cardo's CEO Abraham Glezerman later admitted that the phones were real and the popping popcorn was real, but the video was a composite, with the footage of the popcorn heated over a kitchen stove digitally dropped into the video of the folks with their phones. Oh and the email about mobile phones that can cook eggs isn't accurate either.

Bill Gates wants to give you money

Now Bill Gates is being very generous with his fortune now that he has retired from day-to-day work with Microsoft, you can even get your hands on some it by applying to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But long before the foundation was created, back in the early days of the internet, emails discussing Gates' or Microsoft's willingness to fork over free cash was widely circulated. In fact they're still being forwarded today.

One version says that Microsoft wants to make sure Internet Explorer remains the dominant browser (which we're sure is true). All you need to do to help out and get money from Microsoft is to forward an email to your friends. Microsoft will track the email for two weeks, and you get paid for every person who receives it through you.

Among the attractive details is a list of differing amounts that will come to you depending on how many referrals you make, one version of the scam says the sender received a check for $24,800 (£12,400) from Microsoft!

Hold on a second. First, if tracking an email like that were even possible, privacy campaigners would be all over it. Oh, and did we mention that the technology to do such a thing probably doesn't exist? But if Microsoft ever really wanted to pay us just for forwarding an email, we're game.

Launch a nuclear strike from your PC

In 2002, Symantec supposedly issued an advisory about certain email messages flying around the country about an "important virus to look out for".

The antivirus-software maker, which does issue warnings on real viruses, allegedly instructed internet users not to open any email with the subject line 'Launch nuclear strike now'. If you did open that email, you would inadvertently end up sending nuclear warheads winging their way toward the former Soviet Union. That's right, you could start your very own nuclear war while in your slippers and bathrobe.

Apparently opening the email would download a virus that would tell your PC to access NORAD computers in Colorado and instruct them to launch a full-scale attack on Russia and former USSR. Needless to say, the virus isn't real, Symantec didn't issue such a caution, and it should be painfully obvious that this one is a hoax. If that isn't clear to you, step away from your PC and don't ever touch it again.

Hello, I'm a lawyer in Nigeria - can you help me?

Let us guess: at one time or another, you've received an email from an earnest resident of Nigeria that starts with a hello and an introduction to the sender. The email then suggests that your help is needed to claim an abandoned sum of money in a foreign account, or something similar.

The message typically promises that you will receive a large amount of money if you simply send a smaller amount of money now.

You didn't fall for it, did you? These convincing missives, which may or may not be from Nigeria, are known as 419 scams (named after a section of the Nigerian criminal code that deals with fraud).

Wikipedia says most of them are advance-fee frauds or confidence tricks. Not only will you not get rich, but you'll also have a very hard time getting back any money you wire the sender up front. We're sorry to report that these types of scams, which are based on versions dating back to the early 1900s, are still popular - variants purporting to be from Russia, Spain, Nigeria and many other countries still pour into email accounts around the world.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

'Video: watch Angelina Jolie's lips explode!'

No matter how many warnings are issued, people still click on dangerous and fake attachments that purport to be interesting photos or videos but actually turn out to be damaging viruses or Trojan horses. An early star of such email scams was Madonna. Paris Hilton certainly had her day, as did Lindsay Lohan. Poor Britney Spears is still holding strong in this category. But we have to say that in 2008, the uncontested star of creepy download offers appears to be Angelina Jolie.

As well as Ms Jolie's lips, 'Britney Spears and Brad Pitt Naked Video' (does Angelina know?), 'Jolly Jolie Sex Scene', and (with extra points for having both ladies in the same email) 'Angelina Jolie and Britney Spears lesbian sex tape' are among some of the most popular email titles we've seen.

Speaking of jollies, you'll get a lot more than that after nasty viruses trash your PC. (You know deep in your heart, don't you, that the invitation to click on racy photos/videos just opens nasty executable files for malware?) You won't be so jolly when you get the bill to rehab your computer.