...making Linux just a little more fun!
Mike Orr [sluggoster at gmail.com]
Anybody who knows me knows how inappropriate this is. What would I do with a car, put it in my living room? Note the terms: you pay a fee and $10,000 deposit, we "promise" to return the deposit if your car(s) don't win the auction. "We cannot put prospective business partner funds in our bank account,that's why we will be using e-gold payment only."
This does count as the first time I've heard of anybody actually using e-gold for anything.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: fred Jones <fred_uscons@yahoo.com>
Date: May 8, 2007 8:55 AM
Subject: INVITATION TO BID!
To: sluggoster@gmail.com
I saw your e-mail online.
Our company is a car rental company in its embryo stage.Our corporate
office,our corporate website is under construction and we hope to
start operation by having our company desk in some 5star hotels around
new york after our first fleet of vehicles have been supplied.
We hereby invite car dealers to bid for the supply of
vehicles,Automated Vehicle Locator(A.V.L)G.P.R.S device listed BELOW
which will take place on the 1st August 2007 at Mandarin Oriental
Hotel,N.Y.C.
But registration will close 2weeks before the bid opening day.
Bids will be opened in the presence of registered bidders and their
representatives present at the venue.
Registered bidders and their representatives are expected to be at the
Meeting hall of the hotel 9:00a.m E.D.T.
LUXURY CATEGORY:
(1.)MERCEDES BENZ E CLASS 2006 MODEL(SPECIFY THE
EXACT E CLASS TYPE WHILE QUOTING PRICE).
(2.)TOYOTA CAMRY 2007 MODEL
(3.)GREEN,INFINITY JEEP QX56 2007 MODEL
(4.)BLACK,LINCOLN NAVIGATOR JEEP,2006 MODEL
S.U.V CATEGORY:
(1.)B.M.W SUV 2006 MODEL
(2.)CHRYSLER SUV 2006 MODEL(SPECIFY THE EXACT ONE WHILE
QUOTING PRICE).
(3.)G.M.C SUV 2006 MODEL(SPECIFY THE EXACT ONE WHILE
QUOTING PRICE).
CONVERTIBLE:
(1.)FERRARI 2004 MODEL
(2.)LEXUS 2006 MODEL
(3.)ASTON MARTIN 2004 MODEL
(4.)MERCEDES BENZ SLK CLASS SLK 2004 MODEL
A.V.L DEVICE:
(1.)4 SIRF STAR iii Full G.P.R.S DEVICE.
Any suitable colour will be okay except the Lincoln Navigator which
must be in BLACK COLOUR.
PROCEDURE:
Interested dealers are to supply their technical and financial
proposal i.e Quotation either by e-mail to this e-mail address or by
post to Lashanda Smiley,601 Saunders Ave. Hinesville Georgia
31313.Please kindly note that we do not want and will not regard any
form of question on phone due to large number of unserious callers
calling to disturb.So,if you have any question,e-mail me.Proposals
sent already sent by e-mail should not be sent by post.
Interested bidders are to pay a registration fee of $100 latest by the
15th July 2007.In order to participate in the bidding activity.
Also, a refundable bid security of $10,000 will have to be deposited.
The bid security will be refunded if you do not win any of the bids to supply.
If there is any medium you can use to help us advertise the event to
your fellow car dealers,we will appreciate that.
IF YOU FAIL TO SUPPLY THE VEHICLES AFTER 30DAYS OF WINNING
NOTIFICATION,then you forfeit the bid security deposit.
PAYMENT PROCEDURE:
Payments must be made into our company's e-gold account.
Our account Information is as follows:
E-gold Account Name:Zenith Auto Rental
E-gold Account Number:4418416.
If you have any question on how to pay via e-gold e-mail me and i will
give you full instructions.
Please do not pay or suggest paying cash to me or Lashanda.As soon as
you make any payment,send me e-mail so i can confirm and for proper
documentation of your company's profile.The e-mail must include your
company's full details,contact information of the bidder,his/her
representative(s) that will participate in the bidding process,Payment
reference code.
We cannot put prospective business partner funds in our bank
account,that's why we will be using e-gold payment only.
If you have interest,contact me for any additional information.
Best regards,
FRED.
______________________________
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
Check out new cars at Yahoo! Autos.
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Tue, May 08, 2007 at 09:12:35AM -0700, Mike Orr wrote:
> Anybody who knows me knows how inappropriate this is.
Mike, this is spam. It's a broadcast. They don't care about you; the easiest way for them to hit their targets without investing any time, effort, or money in research is just to spray everyone they can reach. They don't care if they annoy or outrage you; spammers never have, and I'm not sure why you'd think they'd change now. The only thing they care about is getting money out of suckers by using a variety of old scams - although they're using a relatively new method of "roping them in", the scam itself is as old as The Spanish Prisoner con (which itself was an update of an older con.)
> What would I do > with a car, put it in my living room?
They're not selling cars; they're "offering an opportunity" for the sucker to sell them a big batch of cars. Judged on its probable effectiveness (and ignoring the ethical issues connected with it), it's actually one of the better scams I've seen: it's aimed at car dealers - that is, people who have to use computers but do not have a particular reason to be savvy about them - and it sounds like a more-or-less credible business proposal. The possibility of selling a bunch of cars and establishing a business relationship with a rental agency is a very attractive one; a hungry car dealer, especially one who is new to the biz and not as cynical/savvy as he should be might very well jump at it.
Although 10k is a nice little chunk, and I suspect that even those who would have gone for it will balk at the figure. They'd probably have been more successful with, say, $500 or $1000 as the tip.
> "We cannot put prospective business partner > funds in our bank account,that's why we will be using e-gold payment > only."
Anybody whose alarms don't trip on that bit deserves to be bilked.
> This does count as the first time I've heard of anybody actually using > e-gold for anything.
I've seen it before - eBay laptop scams were pretty big on it a while back. Just for the fun of it, I'm going to point out the "alarm trip points" in this thing.
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: fred Jones <fred_uscons@yahoo.com>
Uh-huh. Serious business proposals always come from anonymous mail services.
> Date: May 8, 2007 8:55 AM > Subject: INVITATION TO BID! > To: sluggoster@gmail.com > > > I saw your e-mail online.
And, as the old joke about anonymous sex goes, "it was the equivalent of a formal introduction."
> Our company is a car rental company in its embryo stage.
To the point that they can't even hire anyone to edit out the kindergarten-level grammatical/stylistic mistakes in their big business proposal.
> Our corporate > office,our corporate website is under construction
Very serious company, obviously - lots of money to invest in cars... but not enough for a website.
> and we hope to > start operation by having our company desk in some 5star hotels around > new york
[laugh] "some 5star hotels around new york" - isn't that precious? Five-star hotels in NYC wouldn't let anyone but companies with the highest, long-established reputation operate from their premises - no matter how large the kickback.
> after our first fleet of vehicles have been supplied. > We hereby invite car dealers to bid for the supply of > vehicles,Automated Vehicle Locator(A.V.L)G.P.R.S device listed BELOW > which will take place on the 1st August 2007 at Mandarin Oriental > Hotel,N.Y.C.
Erm... is that vehicles with AVLs? or vehicles and AVLs? Or AVLs for vehicles? And what the hell does a cell phone protocol (GPRS) have to do with the Global Positioning System, which is how the cops know where the car is?
Maybe they want a GPS which communicates via GPRS. [ObRef] Gosh - I wonder if they're using Linux to run the whole thing?
> But registration will close 2weeks before the bid opening day. > Bids will be opened in the presence of registered bidders and their > representatives present at the venue. > Registered bidders and their representatives are expected to be at the > Meeting hall of the hotel 9:00a.m E.D.T. > LUXURY CATEGORY: > (1.)MERCEDES BENZ E CLASS 2006 MODEL(SPECIFY THE > EXACT E CLASS TYPE WHILE QUOTING PRICE). > (2.)TOYOTA CAMRY 2007 MODEL > (3.)GREEN,INFINITY JEEP QX56 2007 MODEL > (4.)BLACK,LINCOLN NAVIGATOR JEEP,2006 MODEL > S.U.V CATEGORY: > (1.)B.M.W SUV 2006 MODEL > (2.)CHRYSLER SUV 2006 MODEL(SPECIFY THE EXACT ONE WHILE > QUOTING PRICE). > (3.)G.M.C SUV 2006 MODEL(SPECIFY THE EXACT ONE WHILE > QUOTING PRICE). > > CONVERTIBLE: > (1.)FERRARI 2004 MODEL > (2.)LEXUS 2006 MODEL > (3.)ASTON MARTIN 2004 MODEL > (4.)MERCEDES BENZ SLK CLASS SLK 2004 MODEL > > A.V.L DEVICE: > (1.)4 SIRF STAR iii Full G.P.R.S DEVICE. > > Any suitable colour will be okay except the Lincoln Navigator which > must be in BLACK COLOUR.
Notice the cars? Almost all are either luxury or at least very expensive cars.
"Dr. Pavlov, would you please stop ringing that bell? Those car dealers are salivating all over our carpets."
> PROCEDURE: > Interested dealers are to supply their technical and financial > proposal i.e Quotation either by e-mail to this e-mail address or by > post to Lashanda Smiley,601 Saunders Ave. Hinesville Georgia > 31313.
Whaddaya know; they've roped an intermediary sucker. The Russian scammers have been doing a lot of this kind of thing, but at least they've set up some very fancy-looking web sites ("selling" luxury goods at high discounts with the intermediaries as phone operators.) Of course, no one gets any goods, and the operators never get paid...
There is, by the way, a person by that name in that area; https://www.411.com lists a
Smiley, Lashanda [undisclosed] Saunders Ave Hinesville, GA 31313
> Please kindly note that we do not want and will not regard any > form of question on phone due to large number of unserious callers > calling to disturb.
"Unserious callers" calling to disturb a company without a name that no one's ever heard about. Riiiight...
> So,if you have any question,e-mail me.Proposals > sent already sent by e-mail should not be sent by post. > Interested bidders are to pay a registration fee of $100 latest by the > 15th July 2007.In order to participate in the bidding activity. > Also, a refundable bid security of $10,000 will have to be deposited.
It is sorta fascinating in its own way, isn't it? Sorta like a wickedly-sharp rusty nail in the exact geometric center of a dance floor at a barefoot dancers convention.
> The bid security will be refunded if you do not win any of the bids to supply.
Oh, yah. For sure, cross my heart an' hope ta die. No, realio-trulio!
> If there is any medium you can use to help us advertise the event to > your fellow car dealers,we will appreciate that. > IF YOU FAIL TO SUPPLY THE VEHICLES AFTER 30DAYS OF WINNING > NOTIFICATION,then you forfeit the bid security deposit. > > PAYMENT PROCEDURE: > Payments must be made into our company's e-gold account. > Our account Information is as follows: > > E-gold Account Name:Zenith Auto Rental > E-gold Account Number:4418416. > > > If you have any question on how to pay via e-gold e-mail me and i will > give you full instructions. > Please do not pay or suggest paying cash to me or Lashanda.
Nice touch - and of course he doesn't trust his patsy to pass the cash to him.
> As soon as > you make any payment,send me e-mail so i can confirm and for proper > documentation of your company's profile.The e-mail must include your > company's full details,contact information of the bidder,his/her > representative(s) that will participate in the bidding process,Payment > reference code. > We cannot put prospective business partner funds in our bank > account,that's why we will be using e-gold payment only.
Wonder why they "cannot put", etc., in a bank account? Could it be those dang pesky federal sentencing guidelines for bank fraud, I wonder?
> If you have interest,contact me for any additional information. > > > Best regards, > FRED.Not "Fred Zibblegrabnitz, CEO Zenith Luxury Cars"? Not even "Fred F. Frinkle, Ph.D, ECVMS, XYZ, BIBBLEBOBBLESNITZ (cum laude)"? Darn, I guess they'll let anybody start a car rental company these days.
> ______________________________ > Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? > Check out new cars at Yahoo! Autos.
[laugh] And this is, perhaps, the best part of it all. Gotta love that context sensitivity on Yahoo's part. In some ways, they're the most efective scammers of all...
Mike Orr [sluggoster at gmail.com]
On 5/11/07, Ben Okopnik <ben@linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> > This does count as the first time I've heard of anybody actually using > > e-gold for anything. > > I've seen it before - eBay laptop scams were pretty big on it a while > back.
Have you heard of e-gold being used for anything legitimate?
Martin J Hooper [martinjh at blueyonder.co.uk]
Mike Orr wrote:
> On 5/11/07, Ben Okopnik <ben@linuxgazette.net> wrote: >>> This does count as the first time I've heard of anybody >>> actually using e-gold for anything. >> I've seen it before - eBay laptop scams were pretty big on >> it a while back. > > Have you heard of e-gold being used for anything legitimate? >
Haven't the owners been arrested for money laundering?
https://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/05/feds_accuse_ego.html
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Fri, May 11, 2007 at 09:18:44PM -0700, Mike Orr wrote:
> On 5/11/07, Ben Okopnik <ben@linuxgazette.net> wrote: > > > This does count as the first time I've heard of anybody actually using > > > e-gold for anything. > > > > I've seen it before - eBay laptop scams were pretty big on it a while > > back. > > Have you heard of e-gold being used for anything legitimate?
Nope; can't say I have. In fact, looking around the Web results in this:
(From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-gold)
On 27 April 2007, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. indicted e-Gold Ltd and its owners on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.^[1] e-gold, however, considers the charges completely groundless, and has responded to the allegations in their own press release.Probably not what you're looking for in a safe, reliable financial institution.