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Check the Mid-day Update!
While browsing through my spam this weekend I came across the quintessential
proof that perhaps there is a sucker born every minute.
Yes, once again the evil spamming hucksters are peddling a new
"get rich quick"
scheme that would seem to offer large amounts of "free money" to anyone who
wants it.
Yes, that's right, you may find it hard to believe but simply by signing
up you'll earn yourself US$610 and, if you're patient and greedy enough,
this site claims it will soon become US$123,500.
Wow, sounds almost to good to be true doesn't it (listens to the clatter
of alarm bells ringing).
The Aardvark PC-Based Digital
Entertainment Centre Project
Yes, at last, this feature
has been updated again! (31 Mar 2003)
But hang on -- you're probably thinking that this is a scam right?
How can it be? After all, the nice man in the business suit reassures
visitors to his website that "this is without risk, without investing,
without having to advertise or sell anything, without having to
talk to anyone, without having to sponsor or recruit"
Oh, be still my beating heart -- what a wonderful scheme to offer so
much for -- well, for nothing!
Ah, but even though the first page of this site says that the money you
will get on signing up is "free" and that "no investment" is required,
and despite the fact that on
the second page
it says "You will instantly get your free $610.00... all you have to do
is sign-up and it's FREE", the
third page
carries a nasty surprise.
It seems that in Mr Business Suit's world, free actually means US$39.90.
What's more, Mr Business Suit wants you to enter your credit card details
into an insecure web form that uses the popular FormMail script to send that
sensitive information by open email to the address
bbooaa@earthlink.net.
Now is it just me or do you also think that "bbooaa" might be the sound of
the evil laugh that Mr Business Suit makes every time some poor suspecting
mug's credit card info lands in his in-tray?
Money for free?
Well it looks as if that's what Mr Business Suit will be getting anyway.
The fact that so many stupid people will doubtless be duped by this
"spectacular financial opportunity" is sad testimony to the gullibility
of some people.
It is this type of scam which preys on the stupid and unsophisticated that
should be prompting our politicians to get off their fat bottoms and
legislate against spam and those who send it.
MID-DAY UPDATE: More on Mr Business Suit
Thanks to some sleuthing by rather cunning Aardvark readers, I'm now able
to provide readers with more information about this scam.
If you pay up your $39.90 do you immediately get $610 as promised?
Hell no!
One only has to look at the contents of
Mr Business Suit's real email account to see that. The words "refund"
and "fraud" feature prominently in his intray.
What you actually get for your $39.90 is access to a website at
http://www.fps-wwmm.com
which is actually just a list of other places on the web that will pay you
money to receive spam, surf the web for $0.47/hr, fill out survey forms,
recruit new members for similar scams, etc -- you know, all those things
that the UnitedProsperity website said you wouldn't have to do.
But wait -- doesn't this page
offer a $2,500 guarantee?
Yep, but to qualify, you must have sent TEN MILLION emails and signed up at
least 500 affiliates to one of the programs listed on the fps-wwmm.com website.
And just in case you're wondering, yes there appear to be *plenty* of
people stupid enough to send their credit card details through that
insecure webmail form -- just look at this!
What's worse, as one of my readers pointed out, you don't have to be a rocket
scientist to work out the password for Mr Business Suit's email accounts and
that means *anyone* can get access the credit card details of those poor
mugs who respond to his spam.
Here's a screenshot of Mr Business Suit's
Earthlink mailbox
and his
his YahooMail one.
Please educate your friends about spam, you may save them a heap of cash.
And of course if any Aardvark readers have an opinion on today's column or
want to add something you're also invited to chip in and
have your say.
Yes, You Can Donate
Although the very kind folks at iHug continue to generously sponsor the
publication of Aardvark, the bills still exceed the income by a fairly
significant amount. It is with this in mind therefore that I'm once
again soliciting donations from anyone who feels they're getting some
value from this daily column and news index. I've gone the PayPal
way of accepting donations because the time involved in processing a bunch
of little credit-card billings sometimes exceeds the monetary value they
represent. Just click on the button to donate whatever you can afford.
NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally donate twice
what you were intending :-)
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