WARNING

[Kelly]

Our site has grown enough that we are starting to get attacked more often by spammers. I'm sure everyone has seen them here in the forum, usually they attach a signature that links to another website where they're selling something.

However, recently we've been getting a more insidious type of spammer. These people go to our member list, and sent private messages to members of the site. One member recently received an email from a woman proclaiming her love for him and trying to get him to meet her somewhere.

Today, I received a message from a person calling herself Bintu from Sudan, who has "a legitimate deal that worth lots of funds but needed an overseas person to claim and invest it". All she needs is my personal contact information - of course, later, she'll need me to send her money to help her with her 'legitimate deal'.

(if only these spammers knew how broke i was, they wouldn't waste their time!)

If you have received a message from someone like this - DO NOT RESPOND. PLEASE - do not give out your personal contact information to people who contact you in this way.

Forward the message to Alan or I, and we will handle it.

Thanks so much, and stay safe!

[american_in_lima]

I got the same message. I wanted to give them all of my information but my internet crashed in between the man outside screaming to everyone that he has avocados for sale. Then the guy who sharpens knives came by to say hello with his never ending whistling.

When I was about to hit enter, I realized that I had some extra illegal fireworks that I wanted to dangerously light at 3 a.m. next to my neighbor´s door while playing my favorite song "y tu...te vas" while the same time I spread margarine on my three day old paneton.


Oh well, maybe next year!

[Gar-vera]

I received the one from the "girl" claiming to love me and wanting to meet me or something like that. This was in the form of a private message on this site, not an email.

[Kelly]

I received the one from the "girl" claiming to love me and wanting to meet me or something like that. This was in the form of a private message on this site, not an email.

Exactly - that's what concerns me about these, that they are being sent as private messages here on the site. I assume most people by now know to look out for con artists on the interwebs, but if they think it's coming from someone here on expat, they may let down their guard.



George - LOL... I'm so disappointed you can't come to the party, i have a feeling you're a blast to hang out with.

[Yuyis]

Yeah, my lover girl was one Favour Sanko from Sierra Leone.
But these are dating scammers, who first promise you money, but to obtain it you have to give them your info and they ask plata for the presumed 'formalities'. Those who do so, will never see any money... nor love... So beware!

[craig]

Yeah, my lover girl was one Favour Sanko from Sierra Leone.

Why didn't I get one of those? I feel left out.

Craig

[euroman]

Yuyis, do you have a picture and phonenumber of that girl from Sierra Leone.
I am interested. Please mail it to me. Maybe, she´s genuine and hot.

[mahou123]

do you have a picture and phonenumber of that girl from Sierra Leone.
I am interested. Please mail it to me. Maybe, she´s genuine and hot.

It would be certainly easier to bring her to Peru than to European Union!

I've just got this in my PM, in case you're still interested (she's from Sudan though, not Sierra Leone, but still can be hot ):

Dear, Greetings to you, my name is Amina, a lady from Sudan, I have a legitimate deal that worth lots of funds but needed an overseas person to claim and invest it with my plans. Can you promise safety of my share of the funds, before given you the details of the deal as we have not met each other before? I will appreciate your timely response urgently with your direct contact information for easy communication. If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your quick response to my private email address ( aminakhalif1@yahoo.com ) Regards, Miss Amina.

[Tito]

Kelly - Thanks very much for this tip. I am a new member and appreciate the heads up. I will certainly be more attentive.

[rama0929]

I had to deal with these clowns when I was renting out rooms in the Bronx... They're so transparent, I have no idea how anyone falls for these scams.

[kendrah]

Is there anything the site administrators can do to mediate these types of invasive messages?

[Kelly]

All the site manager can do is delete their account, which is why we need people to let us know when they receive a personal message from someone.

[imagatto2]

Kelly

Check out this site. I have used it for my websites and its really helped

http://webcomposing.com/webcomposing/HT ... ograms.htm

[Kelly]

I just got a call from someone, when I answered he started saying 'mama! mama!' - and since my oldest kid is 13, I knew it wasn't one of them-

I tried to tell him he had the wrong number, and he broke in 'Mama! I'm in trouble, I need help'
I tried again to tell him wrong number, and he asked for his uncle, and used my husbands full name - so probably, someone who's got one of my hub's business cards. I got curious then, and said yeah, this is his house, and he started up with 'Tia! Tia! you're my aunt, this is your nephew, I'm in trouble, I need help...'

By now I was laughing at the how pathetic his attempts were... I told him was a very poor liar, and hung up.

I'm guessing he was going to tell me he was at the police station and needed money, and would send someone to pick it up - so be careful folks.. they're out there.

[Xibalba]

One of the IT experts here can chime in with better technical info, but no one should assume they are personally being targeted on these boards by spammers. "Bot" programs created by spammers attack PHP based forum boards (I think this one uses phpBB, although I am not certain) and have developed ways to infiltrate the PM and board mail systems automatically. These spams are all sent by machine, and a human may get involved only if you reply and the auto-spam reports a "fish on the line."

These bot programs are getting so sophisticated, they can even get around those "CAPTCHA" screens (which require you to type a word that appears a blurry graphic) in some cases.

Keeping the board software up to date with the latest patches, security and anti-spam add-ons, etc., is the only thing the moderators can do. But the spammers are working just as fast to figure out ways around each new update.

Another thing: those "romantic" spams from women (or, in some cases, men) writing to people and claiming their undying love --- or also enticing one to view their webcams --- are run by some pretty sophisticated call-center like underground operations. Their ultimate goal is to get your bank account and/or credit card information out of you, so they can drain the account. Older-style scams still happen where these "operators" (who sit in large rooms and do this all day long, in a row next to other guys) will instead ask for money to be sent via wire transfer or Western Union, etc. In virtually ALL cases, these are MEN -- even the ones posing as sexy bikini models. Spend enough time researching this stuff and you start to see the same photos of the same models (most from a Hawaiian Modeling Agency website, for some reason) being used over and over.

There are, of course, webcam girl scams, which use actual girls on webcams to get your credit card info that way, too.

I interviewed two such scam operators (one from Ghana, the other from Nigeria) in an attempt to write a book about it. In both cases, these were college educated young men, with enough money for good computer equipment and internet access, but living under oppressive economic conditions. They legitimately saw these activities as their only way out. When asked if there was a more organized structure to it (a la the Mafia), they would not answer. In the case of Nigeria, it is known that the government is involved in some of these scams at least indirectly.

I never got far with the book because the scammers would always resort to attempting to rip me off, even after I promised them a contract for a percentage of the advance and sales (more than they would make on internet scams)! They just could not stop their thieving nature. Interesting.