What kind of scam is this? What do they really want?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I got the following in my email:

The actual return address was a completely different name in Macedonia. There was nothing to click on so it wasn’t phishing. What kind of scam is it?

2

Standard 419 scam. You reply to the email. They have money for you. Just need to send them some dough to cover fees, maybe some bribes, etc.

Years go by, you’re out thousands of dollars and the money still has been given to you.

These are run via email. Macedonia has become a front for a lot of Russians doing Very Bad Things.

3

Anyone who seriously responds to a message like that is probably more likely to continue to fall for the rest of the scam. Smadar will likely need your help in smuggling a fortune out of Israel…help for which you’ll be richly rewarded.

4

not

Missed a word, otherwise I agree.
*Trying to not alter the quote

5

Oh, is that all? But I am not the least tempted to reply. But the only real harm in replying is that it might encourage them.

6

I think he was telling you a little “FIBI”.

7

What they want, ALWAYS, is money. The only question is, how do they want to get it this time.

8

Some folk actively engage 419 scammers in order to turn tables on them. There are websites dedicated to scamming the scammer.

9

For the record, the First International really is a major Israeli bank, and its CEO is in fact called Smadar Barber-Tsadik.

10

Unless they are James Veitch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Uc-cztsJo

11

Whoopsie. Thanks.

12

We had a poster here a few years ago who used to troll email scammers and post about it here. Does anyone remember who that was? Are they still active here? Some of those threads were hilarious.

13

I reply to them from time to time, using a fake email address of course. I pretend to be a researcher in Antarctica. So I end up saying things like “Since I’m in Antarctica everything will have to go through the Central Bank of Antarctica. I’ve had difficulties doing transactions sometimes, will this be an issue for you or have you worked with this bank before?” They always reply that it is no problem at all, they have a lot of experience with this bank. After a few exchanges, I’ll tell them that we have a very sink penguin at the research station, Pengo, and we don’t think he’s going to make. We’re doing a charity to raise some funds for Pengo, and as a successful businessperson, I’m sure they would like to contribute. It usually goes downhill pretty quickly from there.

14

That was great.
The ‘Head of costumer care’ line had me lol.

Fixed the link:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=C4Uc-cztsJo](]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Uc-cztsJo[/URL)

15

On occasions, I have enjoyed a bit of scam baiting and in the past, I have gone to quite elaborate lengths to string the scammer along, waste his time and with luck, cause him annoyance. Just recently though, I have hit upon a new technique that requires almost no effort, but still sometimes yields results…

Just reply ‘OK’ to every message the scammer sends. Nothing more. if they don’t reply, send the same ‘OK’ the next day, and the next day, etc.

Here’s one I’ve got going at the moment:

16

OK

17

OK

18

(I wonder if I just murdered this thread.)

(Also, Mangetout, I wanted to praise your post/tactic/results as being awesome, but I then realized the obvious response and had no choice. I have a chance now: that was awesome! :D)

19

That’s some funny shit.

20

Seems to me that the proper response to the last one would be