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Spam off the Forum???

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ppetracca
Navigator

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USA
163 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/04/2004 : 10:25:07

I just received this e-mail:

Hello ppetracca

You received the following message from: akwti201 (akwti201@yahoo.se)

At: http://www.catalina25-250.org/forum/

>From Mr.John Kwati
International Bank for Africa Lome-Togo.
Accounting and Auditing Unit.
Foreign Remittance Dept.
alternative email:akwati123@zwallet.com

Attn :Patrick Petracca

I am Mr.John Kwati the director incharge of auditing and accounting section of "International Bank for Africa Lome-Togo" with due respect and regard.I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.
During our investigation and auditing in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on november 1997 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account with this bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development.Although personally,I keep this information secret within myself to enable the whole plans and idea to be profitable and successful during the time of execution.The said amount was the sum of US $21.7m(Twenty one million seven hundred thousand United State Dollars).
As it may interest you to know,I got your impressive information through our chamber of commerce on foreign business relations here in Lome-Togo.
After having your contact i Prayed and also have the believe that GOD will guide and assit you to be viable and capable to champion a business of this magnitude without any problem.Meanwhile,all the whole arrangements to put claim over this fund as the bonafide NEXT OF KIN to the deceased, get the required approvals and transfer this money to a foreign account has been put in place and directives and all needed informations will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your interest and willingness to assist me and also benefit yourself to this great business opportunity.
Infact,I could have done this deal alone but because of my position in this country as a civil servant,I am not allowed to operate a foreign bank account.They would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the time of transfer because I work in this bank.This is the actual reason why it will require a second party or fellow who will forward claims as the NEXT OF KIN with affidavit of trust of oath to the bank and also present a foreign bank account number where you will need the money to be re-transferred into on your request as it may be after due verification and clarification by the correspondent branch of the bank where the whole money will be remitted from to your own designation bank account.
I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free and on smooth conclusion of this transaction,you will be entitled to 20% of the total sum as gratification,while 5% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer and also telephone/fax bills, and 75% will be for me and my partner.
Please you have been adviced to keep top secret as i am still in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with you.
I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank untill you confirm the money in your account and ask me to come down to your country for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously indicated.
All other necessary informations will be sent to you when I hear from you including my complete personnal information for proper guarantee.

I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish to this deal.

Yours faithfully,
Mr.John Kwati
Director F.R.D (I.B.A) Lome-Togo
alternative email:akwati123@zwallet.com[/

Has anyone else received junk mail from our Forum? Should this be reported to someone? In almost 2 years on the site, this is the first I've received....thought I should tell somebody.

Edited by - on

Earl Landers
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
157 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 10:36:59

Patrick,
Me too

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 10:37:28

I received something similar about a year ago, but don't remember it having any connection to this forum. The server that provides your e-mail probably has a button that you can click on, to report fraudulent or suspicious spam. That's whast I did.

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 11:01:49

Got the same within the last day... Many on the Trailer Sailor site have gotten this same thing in the past...

Edited by - on

NuNees
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
125 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 11:22:37

FWIW;
I got one of these sent to my office e-mail about 2 months ago. Since then I have received 4 or 5 e-mails, here, with the same sort of mysterious return address ... I don't open them. I send them straight to delete.
So, I don't know if they have any connection to this site ... I figured they originated from the junk my brother-in-law sends me. I no longer open his mail. Also, I do not pass on any 'Chain' letters, no matter how heartwarming they may seem.

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3072 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 12:04:18

Several possibilities here.

1) A spammers web-bot has "crawled" the C25 forum page and harvested addresses... (likely thing)

2) Either the site itself, or somebody who frequents this site and has the address in their adress book, is being used as an 'email relay'. This means their system has been 'hijacked' to send spam out. This is one of the primary methods spammers use to do their dirty work.

Edited by - on

Bubba
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 12:09:54

I got the exact same message today. I sent a note to Bryan and pointed him to this topic.

Edited by - on

Bryan Beamer
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1038 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 12:22:12

According to the Sailor's Forum opening page who ever (akwti201@yahoo.se) is, they are the newest member to the Forum. You have to sign up as a forum member before you can send an e-mail to any member. They probably joined just to send the Spam.

Edited by - on

Bryan Beamer
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1038 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 12:33:32

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Bubba
 I got the exact same message today. I sent a note to Bryan and pointed him to this topic.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I think your e-mail needs to go to Spike. I will forward it to her.

Edited by - on

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 12:36:35

Me too. -- Leon Sisson

Edited by - on

Bubba
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 12:37:45

Thanks Bryan. Man you're fast!

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 16:53:32

I don't know if I've received this particular email because, as with paper junk mail, I trash it WITHOUT EVER OPENING IT.

ALL email that I recieve from unknown senders is deleted as is email that has been forwarded by someone I know(this is how most scams and viruses propagate).

And by the way, this particular scam has been around for years and I believe it even predates the internet.

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3072 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 19:21:41

"...they are the newest member to the Forum... They probably joined just to send the Spam."

Must be rookies... 419'ers (name of this particular scam) are usually more sophisticated than that.

Edited by - on

Gary B.
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
969 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 19:41:19

I hope this did not happen through ME! Does it help that I use a Mac? I'll tell you, I don't know how to get rid of these things, either! and I probably get at least 2 a week!

The mistake I think I made is that about a year ago? when I got the first one, I responded, " Sure, send me the money!". I think that was just enough to get their interest and now they all are sending this crap. HELLLPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary B.
Encore! #685 SK/SR
Vice Commodore

Edited by - on

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3323 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 19:53:29

I got the identical message this morning.
Derek

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 19:59:36

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">...who ever (akwti201@yahoo.se) is, they are the newest member to the Forum. You have to sign up as a forum member before you can send an e-mail to any member. They probably joined just to send the Spam.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
If Spike removes this person from the membership rolls, would that prevent them from sending any more e-mails to the members?

Edited by - Steve Milby on 01/04/2004 20:02:49

ppetracca
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
163 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 21:23:45

I normally delete e-mail I don't recognize or think might be suspect.

What got me on this one was the way it came in.

sender: akwti201@yahoo.com (innocent enough, there are a lot of good people who use yahoo, right?)

subject: SENT FROM SAILOR'S FORUM by akwti201

Looking at that, I thought it's from a sailor, it's got to be information I want to read! Considering I had a boat for sale on the net and have started receiving e-mails from new members to our own club's forum, it looked legit. Fortunately, no harm done.

Will have to be more careful next time or I'll end up like that lady on the Southwest Airlines commercial.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 21:47:39

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ppetracca
 I normally delete e-mail I don't recognize or think might be suspect.

What got me on this one was the way it came in.

sender: akwti201@yahoo.com (innocent enough, there are a lot of good people who use yahoo, right?)

subject: SENT FROM SAILOR'S FORUM by akwti201...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Good Point!...I would've opened it, too.

Edited by - on

Admin
Forum Admin

Members Avatar

460 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2004 : 22:58:00

ppetracca and everybody,
I have locked out the new member akwti201. The spammer cannot send email from that user account. But, I can't guarantee that anybody else won't sign up for an account and spam some more.

Earl Landers, Bubba, Arlyn, Leon, Derek,
Did all of your messages come from the Sailors Forum? Or in regular email?

Clam Beach,
One must be a member in order to send email using the Sailor Forum. So it is a two step process. So a web-bot crawling through is unlikely to happen in the future using the email list in this Forum's database. And the relay approach won't work here either because you have to be a member and can only email other members.

Those things said, I can do one thing that will help prevent email havesters gather email addresses from this web site's Owners Directories. I will take out the email links on those pages and you guys will have to cut and paste.

And by the way, you can send me your spam if you want, I don't get enough now, I only get about 200 /day.
Spike

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2004 : 07:19:33

Mine came directly from the yahoo address.

akwti201@yahoo.se

Edited by - on

Earl Landers
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
157 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2004 : 10:14:50

Spike,
As with Arlyn's mine came directly from akwti201@yahoo.se, it was the subject line that drew me in.

Edited by - on

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3323 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2004 : 10:31:54

Ditto

Derek

Edited by - on

Spike
Navigator

Members Avatar

141 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2004 : 12:13:17

It looks like it is not a Forum memebers wide problem. I think spamming every member of this forum would take somebody lots of hours. So right now, just let me know when the next message comes and I will lock out that user right away.
Spike

Edited by - on

Raskal
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
162 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2004 : 15:54:08

It looks like a lot of people haven't been keeping up with the news about how spam works and where it comes from, but simply ignoring it will not help. It pays to be savvy about how to chip away at the beast.

Harvesting bots are one way that spammers can get real email addresses; anything formatted as a valid email address which gets published on a page that can be read from a search engine will get harvested. If you include your real email address on the readable signature which appears with your forum comment, you can be harvested here.

The connection with the forum can also come from people who have computers infected with the various "worm" type viruses which go into you email utility's address book. These worms can be configured to send a static message to every address in the book and insert a fake "from" address in the header. If you use the "file--properties" command on your toolbar when reading the message you can often get information about whose infected address book is sending to you.

Conventional wisdom says don't use the "remove me from mailing list" links supplied at the bottom of a page of spam--it often simply serves to confirm to the spammer that you're a real address. Use one of the methods below instead.

I receive very little spam at home or work any more and this is how I do it:
--use an antivirus program at all times and keep it up to date. When the program tells you something is infected, don't even consider opening it--delete and empty your trash to keep it from being opened accidentally.
--subscribe to an ISP that offers spam filtering. Find out its reporting address for junkmail and forward all spam to it. My ISP Earthlink offers its own "Spaminator" service to users; I forward all of my spam to their "junkmail@earthlink.net" address for them to analyze and incorporate into the "Spaminator".
--If your ISP doesn't do spam filtering, learn how to configure a proxy server. It can shield you from harvesting by hiding your real address while online.
--If you use Microsoft Outlook or Netscape Navigator as your email utility, learn how to use the "block sender" and custom text blocking functions on your toolbar. Setting up your utility to block all email with the word "Nigeria" or "viagra" and delete them from the server rather than downloading them will comb out much of the lunacy. Using this one function cleverly can be your best friend.

Rich Kokoska

Edited by - on

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2004 : 18:57:13

You mean its a fake? Just kidding....

I got spared this one, but I get them all the time....assorted variations. I have the ability to go to the web site of my ISP and to preview my mail before down loading......I check all the ones that I don't like and whoppa, they're gone. Then I download the few I want. This will get you off some spam lists. With HTML e-mails they can see if you read them as some of the graphics come off the web when you open it, similar to our pictures on the forum. If it is never downloaded/opened, your address is not confirmed as a valid address. This has cut down the spam flow by at least 50%.....

Meanwhile, for those wanting to broaden their horizon, check this out:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm

and finally.....I want these guys to design my next boat...

http://www.woodenshoemusic.com/Images/familypics/Forumshots/chinesedonkeycart.jpg

Oscar

Lady Kay 250 WB #618
Sunrise on the Neuse River...

Edited by - Oscar on 01/05/2004 18:59:19

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2004 : 22:02:24

This just in, taking the BS to new heights

My Dear

I got your contact address through internet browsing
in my search for a reliable and trustworthy person who
will assist me in a business investment venture in
your country I am MRS. LUISA EJERCITO ESTRADA the wife of MR.JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA the former president of the Philippines located in Southeast Asia.

My husband was impeached from office by a backed
uprising of mass demostrators and the senate. The
present government is forcing my husband out of Manila
to avoid demonstration by his supporters. During my
husband regime as president of Philippines i realised
millions of dollars from various contracts projects I
executed successfully. I had plans to invest this
money for my children's future on real estate and
industrial production. My husband is not aware of
this because I wish to do it secretly for now.

Before my husband was impeached from office I
concretely and secretly deposited this money and
declared it as solid Gold bar with a security company
that transports valuable goods and consignments
through a diplomatic courier service to their adhoc
offices. The consignment or boxes I declared owned by
my foreign business partner. I am willing to give you
30% out of the total sum if You will be willing to
assist me claim this money and invest the money as I
assure you 100% risk free business transaction. I am
trusting you as a God fearing person that you will not
sit on my funds when it gets into your account but
rather assist me in this business venture.

This business demands absolute secrecy and
confidentiality so all communication for now shall be
through email because our lines are connected to the
philippines telecommunication network services. I will
furnish you with more details when I receive your
positive response.

Thanks.

MRS LUISA EJERCITO ESTRADA

Edited by - on

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