I found this in my spam box and thought I'd share some of the BULL DROPPINGS that this clown is spreading over the garden (or is it kindergarten) of the Internet and especially our e-mail boxes.

OK, so let us note a few HUGE warning signs.

1) The header: Note that there's a misspelling. "FIST" instead of "FIRST." Really, they couldn't be bothered to check spelling? Or do they speak English fluently or at all?

2) The phone number: Hold up, that's not a United States phone number. Does Western Union even go to Europe? And what do they mean they send me money via Western Union? I never heard of these people! Oh, yeah, and Western Union is written western union. No reputable business would write a business name in all lower case.

3) E-mail addresses: Check out the e-mail addresses, both by the sender and the so-called "western union" address. OK, they sent me money? Note that there appear to be a whole lotta people they supposedly sent money to. --"undisclosed recipients" Really? What turnip truck do these clowns think I fell off?

Another danger sign with the e-mail address - Note that it's a hotmail address. Whaaat? This isn't a bank or business, it's a made up address that anybody could've snatched up and made an e-mail address. And you're not likely to get hotmail to cough up any info on the sender PLUS it'd be useless anyway, it's all fake. Trust me.

PLUS - Since when would Western Union not have their own website? Oh, yeah, they do. So why on God's green earth would the extension on this so-called address be @live.fr??? Really? REALLY?

4) The signature line: "IMF Managing Director" OK, they have GOT to be stupider than a stump to think that you'd really believe that the International Monetary Fund would send somebody like me or you 1.5 million dollars. Come on now!

There are a lot more warning signs, such as "winning funds" and "transfer payment information." What international contest did you enter that would send you money from the International Monetary Fund? Yup, none. And what transfer payment info are they asking for? Betcha it's your bank account info, which you never, ever, ever give to anyone!!

Oh my, the BULL DROPPINGS are getting deep in here. I'm going to have to step out for some air.

But in the meantime, DO NOT even bother to reply to these kinds of messages. Hit that "Spam" button and then delete your Spam box. It's not real, it's not gonna be real, and if you give this info to these rip-off artists, you will lose all of your money.

Trust me.

OK, don't trust me, check on it yourself. Google it or go to http://www.snopes.com/.

Don't be a fool. Remember the famous saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

Yup, now that's a truth to be remembered!

Warn Your Family About Check Fraud!

Please do yourself and your family a huge favor and talk to them about the latest check scams going around.

Here's the deal.

Generally, a person is asked to deposit a check into his/her bank account. (Sometimes it's a money order.) The check will be made out to him/her, printed on check stock, it actually looks pretty good.

The victim is to deposit the check, usually through the ATM, and in a few days withdraw the money and give the money to the scammer. The scammer will convince him/her that it's really a good check, that they're hiding money from their ex/the IRS/creditors, or some other BS, so it's all good, no risk at all to the victim.

Yup, it's BS.

The person who deposits the check WILL be charged with a variety of FELONIES!! Even though he/she is a victim of the scammer. No one will believe that he/she is so foolish as to deposit a check and not know that it's fake. District Attorneys are a-holes and will not believe the victim, period!

People are truly naive about the dishonesty of others.

The scammer will throw him/her under the prison bus without a single thought of the long lasting consequences to the victim. Bluntly, no matter how nice, how honest, how caring they seem to be, they're just thieves in the temple and WILL NOT care what happens when they get the stolen money in their hot little hands.

So, talk to your family, your friends, your loved ones and make sure that they know to turn that other cheek and RUN like the wind if anyone approaches them with the idea of depositing checks or money orders into their bank accounts.

It will be bad, very bad, if they get sucked into the scammer's lies.

Trust me.

Please. Just trust me on this one. For your family's sake.

Beware The New Check Scam

Well here we go again!

The latest scams involve checks.

First, the scammers are using craigslist. So you're trying to sell a car, you get an e-mail offering you full price. They send you a check and you're supposed to wire transfer the extra funds to the "shipper". (There are variations on the theme, they're all bad.)

The super bad news is that the check wasn't any good to start with, it was a fake. So your bank account will be minus the check amount AND you'll owe the bank for the money you transferred to the "shipper".

Bad.

Very bad.

The second scam claims that you've won a prize from "NSW International Lotteries" or another sweepstakes. You'll get an initial check in the mail BUT you're supposed to send in a processing fee for the rest of the prize.

Yes, you guessed right. The first check is fake, but no one will know until AFTER you sent off the "processing fee". So you're screwed again.

In both cases, the check will be from "Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co."

In both cases, the check will be fake.

Even if it's not from Nationwide, it'll still be a fake check, trust me!

If someone tries to suck you into one of these scams, call Nationwide at 1-877-On Your Side® (1-877-669-6877) or make an online report immediately.

DO NOT put the fake check in your bank account!

Don't get sucked into the BULL DROPPINGS!

The vile pool of BS is getting deeper by the day and the scammers are using modern technology against you. Don't let them take your money, be a wise consumer!

"Forced To Suspend Your Account"

It must be the holiday season.

I got not one, but TWO e-mails yesterday, one from eBay and one from PayPal, telling me that there was fraudulent activity on my accounts and thus I needed to log in and verify my information or they'd be "forced to suspend your account" (IE my account). Conveniently, each e-mail provided a link to take me to the respective "website".

LOL! Yeah, right!

I call: BULL DROPPINGS!

By merely waving my cursor over the link, it was obvious that it was going somewhere other than eBay and PayPal.

Obviously, these jerks must have some successes, because they keep sending this garbage to me, and I keep forwarding them to spoof@paypal.com and/or spoof@ebay.com. The return e-mail always says the same thing, that the message did NOT come from PayPal or eBay.

Look, to protect yourself, NEVER use a link provided in an e-mail. It's easy enough to open a new window and go directly to the website, log in, and check your messages. There is ALWAYS a message if it's a real e-mail.

There's no need to panic, any e-mail that threatens some horrible event, whether it's suspending your privileges, freezing a bank account, or bad luck for the next seven years, is a FAKE!

As always, you don't have to believe me.

In fact, don't believe everything you read or hear, it's just too, too easy to be fooled. Even my own mom got sucked in on a phishing (fake) e-mail. Luckily, just after she finished putting her info in, she realized what she'd done and called me. I was able to jump into her account and change the passwords before the thieves did, so all was well...

Sigh. Thank God Mom is a smart woman!

eBay Protection Tutorial: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tutorial/accountprotection/js_tutorial.html
PayPal Security Center: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_security-center-outside