I got Phished!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I advertised a computer on the internet. (Craigslist)

A week went by.

Then I got an email from: princesstessy@public.usa.com

The princess was very eager, and in a hurry to buy my computer. Wanted to have it picked up by FedEx, and sent to her address in Canada. I told her that it would cost eighty bucks just to pack it for shipment, but I would need her address to find out how much shipping would cost. ( told her I am just a few blocks from the nearest FedEx shipper, and I could drop it off there for free.)

During the week, she ended up with my address, but failed to give me hers.

Then I got an email. BidPay Western Union had a money order ready to mail to me, at the following address: (mine), and I could verify it at the link included. They recommended that I could release my computer for shipment, as soon as I verified the payment with them. Of course I had to join BidPay, and here’s a handy link would help me do that in minutes. Just fill in this form, and include your banking information to choose direct deposit. Easy, fast and convienient!

The computer was not even packed up. I still had no address.

So, I brought up another browser, and went to BidPay. They didn’t have any such system of payment. In fact, they didn’t even have the same URL! The reply to the Do not reply email came back with an unresolvable domain name.

Why, Princess! You’re a crook!

And you really don’t want my computer, do you?

I think I will send her a note telling her that I got the money, and the guys picked up the computer on Monday. Then I will tell her I forgot to include the manuals for the software, and I will send them Priority mail, no cost to her, if she will send me her address.

Why don’t we all tell her we got the money? Would that be legal?

Tris

2

Many commentators have pointed out before that the quality of character one finds in royalty these days is really insufficient to their station in life.

3

Manuals and while gathering the manuals you located the CD set and keys for the Microsoft Office 2003 suite that came with the computer but you never installed and you’ll put that with the manuals.

4

Does anybody know what legal authority Trisk should contact? The FBI?

5

Since I wasn’t actually defrauded of anything, the local police are entirely bored with it.

Monday, I will give J Edgar’s boys a shot, but I got my doubts. I did send a notice to BidPay’s spoofe monitor email address.

I have to say this has seriously eroded my entire nostalgia for the Royal Class.

Tris

6

If she’s really from Canada, you could sic the Mounties on her.

7

I don’t want to pass judgment until all the facts are in, but I’m betting she’s not a real princess either !!!

8

Reminds me of a similar scam I read about a while back, but the intended victim got back at the scammer: P-P-P-Powerbook!

9

Yeah, you might want to tell the RCMP (assuming she really is from Canada). They have a whole section on fraud, including online auction fraud.

10

Here’s a link to Reporting Economic Crime Online, a Canadian joint initiative with the RCMP and a not-for-profit

11

Would just giving her/ him details of your account allow them to withdraw money?

12

It’s a shame that you were going to ship the computer via FedEx, otherwise you could probably also involve the US Postal Service, citing attempted mail fraud.

13

This happens to me every time I post in the local (free) city paper classifieds:

How odd is this: people from distant lands respond to my classified ad

I always want to reply to the interested “buyers” asking them why they want to spend twice the retail cost of the item being sold in order to get it from me in used condition.

14

Most definitely!!

Triskadecamus: If you have not yet informed your bank about this security breach, you should do so ASAP and change any account information you might have provided via the e-mail link.

In the future, if you must provide any secure information, including bank account numbers, you should do so by opening your browser and going to the site yourself, rather than following a link in an e-mail message. It’s still not 100% safe, what with URL spoofing, but it’s better than trusting the e-mail to take you to the right place.

15

Kiminy,

I gave the Princess my name and address and phone number in a regular old e-mail. Perhaps it was ill advised, but the same information is available in the pile of phone books which happen to be sitting on my front porch.

I went to the site she directed me to. Perhaps that was risky too. But, I didn’t fill out any informaiton there. I replied to the email from the “Western Union” Email that informed me that there was money waiting for me. It came back with an unresolvable domain name.

I am not sure how she could have learned what bank I use, but when I spoke to the lady at my bank that afternoon, she suggested, and we implemented an additional security level to telephone access to my account, which involved an added password which I made up on the spot.

My credit card goes through my bank, as well, and that is being monitored.

Aside from that, I don’t have any money.

Tris

16

I like the idea of somehow getting her address and doing something similar to the P-P-Powerbook idea.

17

<small applause>

Very, very chic response.

Witty, yet tastefully restrained. I give it an 8.9.

18

What, exactly, do Mounties do? Aside from…singing?

“When I’m calling you, oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo!”

“Oh, I’m a lumberjack, and I’m okay!..”

19

“…hmmm…
You’re under arrest
for wire fraud…”

20

They’re our national police force, like the FBI. They also provide provincial police services to all but three provinces (Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador) and to many small communities, making them the only police force in the world to provide services at the national, subnational, and municipal levels.

You will be disappointed to know that they wear regular cop clothes while on the beat, not red serge.