Well, it seems genuine and everything, and there’s the logo at the bottom, so I guess I best send them all my details and not give it a second thought:

We suspect our avid Bitterwallet readers are too savvy to fall for some dickish Facebook (and Twitter) scam, but you’ll no doubt have plenty of friends and family who aren’t, so point them at this.

Obviously Apple doesn’t bother beta testing new products with puny earthlings, so the whole thing is a lot of old balls. If you give your details away to the scamsters – specifically, your mobile number – then you can expect to find yourself subscribed to premium rate SMS services. Nice. It looks like it’s geared towards US users only, but we’re not going to to test that theory:

If a website doesn’t offer you profiles, contacts and some means of arranging extra-marital affairs, it’s not worth the photons that illuminate your screen. Of course, as wonderful as all this social interaction is, there are downsides; there’s the temptation to post messages that should only be said in private and there’s the ease of accidentally registering the same profile name you also use for shady scams that involve sending empty camera boxes to unsuspecting victims.

Bitterwallet reader Ben pointed us in the direction of a blog called A PayPal Scam; it tells the story of a guy who went looking to buy a second-hand camera. Reading through the posts, he’s reasonably savvy; he’s bought plenty of items from private sellers before and is aware of the scams. After figuring out how much he should be paying, he found a camera for sale online and arranged the deal, sending payment via PayPal.

Several days passed and no item arrived. The buyer then found this discussion on the Dyxum forums. The seller – username oldcodger – is also associated with another username – jabba1966 – and both names had been allegedly involved in scamming several buyers out of a camera that never existed.

A PayPal Scam goes one step further, and puts a possible face to the person responsible, after discovering the email address registered for PayPal matches a username on Flickr, and that the PayPal and Flickr real names also match up, as do the geographical locations of the two profiles. Instead of using multiple accounts to keep victims on their toes, the alleged conman seems to have done what we all do and registered similar details with every site they use. The blog also points to some serious past credentials by somebody of the same name.

As it stands, the individual on Flickr may be entirely innocent and the victim of identity theft; regardless, there’s a small group of determined users in the Dyxum forums who are gunning for the person responsible for conning them – several have already registered complaints with Surrey Police.

With the galactic success of iTunes in no doubt, it was only a matter of time before the spam-meisters got involved and tried their luck.  With tens of millions accounts worldwide, a scattershot approach through bulk spamming will reach an intended target plenty of times over.

Webuser reports that security researchers have seen an email being spammed out in high volumes, posing as an iTunes receipt. In fact it’s a scam to persuade you to buy medications and Valentine’s Day gifts. You know what kind of medications.

There’s no malware attached to the email; it simply redirects users through to third party sites. Having said that, anybody buying a Valentine’s Day gift from an online pharmacy is probably in a doomed relationship anyway, so maybe it’s for the best.

[webuser]

So when it recently came to light that spammers have to send over 12 million emails to find one gullible fool who’ll sign up to whatever they’re selling, the question that came to mind was “who was that idiot, then?”. Step forward registered nurse Jenella Spears of Sweet Home, Oregon who was duped to the tune of over $400,000.

How the blithering hell do find yourself emptying your husband’s retirement account and re-mortgaging the house for the sake of a spammer? All it took was the name of Spears’ grandfather to start the ball rolling. An email arrived from the Nigerien government (where else?), promising to cough up $20 million left behind by grandpops J.B. Spears, with whom the family had lost contact over the years. (more…)

With bankruptcies on the rise, upcoming figures are likely to show at least 100,000 new insolvencies, with many expected to be skilled tradesmen who work for themselves.

It can be very frustrating to deal with a trader who goes bankrupt in the middle of your job; having a half-finished basement is not the same as losing out on a retail purchase, it’s a pain to attempt completing a work done by another contractor, and an even bigger pain trying to get your money back.

This means if you plan on renovating or having repair work done in the near future, take extra measures to protect yourself.  Taking extra precautions to ensure that you are not defrauded or left with unfinished work will save lots of time, money, and stress in the long run.

Here are 4 tips from us to make sure your wallets stay safe:

(more…)

Recently retired TV presenter Des O’Connor of Channel 4’s Countdown was the victim of credit card fraud resulting in £1,000 worth of unapproved charges.

O’Connor was one of many victims of Olanrewaju Apalara, a former John Lewis sales associate perpetrating a huge credit card scam.

Apalara, 26, stole dozens of customers’ credit card information by recording it in his cell phone while working at the company’s Oxford Street store in London in 2005. He later used the stolen information to order electronics and other merchandise online and then resold them.  According to Prosecutor Ben Douglas-Jones:

“He used his position of trust to obtain the details of bankcards and pin numbers from customers who he served cards obtained from other sources were also used.  Apalara used two internet shopping sites where he knew the ‘integrity of the card verification system was flawed.”

Apalara was able to run his scam for nine months, but his operation came crashing to a halt when John Lewis brought in police. He was sentenced over the weekend to 18 months in jail after admitting to obtaining property by deception as well as converting the proceeds of criminal property.

[thisismoney]

In the words of Professor Hubert J Farnsworth, good news everyone!

Bitterwallet are starting the week on an-all time high, after winning half a million quid! Woop! We’ve no idea what we did to enter this Dell promotion, but who cares? £500,000! All we have to do is provide our personal information, and-

Ah.

Dell Award Notification:

This is to notify you that 500,000.00(GBP) pounds has been awarded to your e-mail in our end of yaer Dell online promotion. Reply to this email with your Information to file for your claims.

Contact Person: Brown .J. Williams

Claims Information:
Full Names:…. Tel:…… Sex:…. Age:…. Occupation:…. Residential Address:.
Nationality…….

Mrs. Stella Bell
(Information Officer)

What’s curious about this email is that although the return email address is an online account, it was sent from an email account at the University of Hertfordshire. We’re checking into who the account belongs to; in the meantime, it goes without saying that we won’t be quitting the day job just yet.

The advent of superstore shopping has created a cultural backlash (what some might call the ‘Walmart mentality‘).  Internet junkies are seeking for everything from used VW golfs to ASUS laptops and bartending jobs, all on the same site.

For a lonely few, the ‘dating’ and ‘friendship’ sections are only a mouse click away.  But seeking love (or sex) on an online classifieds has its drawbacks.  And one of them, is being scammed.

Classifieds Dating Scams

Scammed? Pah.  Most of us meet the average intelligence requirement to not fall for the typical craigslist or gumtree hustle, especially if Western Union or a Nigerian gets involved.

We are partly so sensitized, because we hear about these kinds of scam in the news, and read about them all the time.  Parting with our wallets for phony renters requesting money upfront via Western Union for non existent flats would of course never happen (but sending upfront fees to employers who claim it as a pre-requiste to give you the job would be even more ridiculous- how backwards is that?)

What you may not realise, is that the personals sections on these classifieds sites are no exception.  They are filled with online scammers trying to make a quick buck.  Better yet, they have a name.  They are called ‘ewhores’.

E-whore?

According to the Method List, a website that provides information on how to make money online, e-whoring is a “black hat marketing method that starts with signing up for dating or webcam affiliates.”

In laymen terms, spammers use unethical (and often illegal) methods to get affiliates to pay you a commission for referring new juicy traffic to them, by pretending to be a pretty girl.

And being scammed by a classfieds e-whore who hasn’t exactly taken anything from you (except your dignity and a recurring credit card bill) is unlikely to rush you to the authorities, or the local news station.

Case Studies

As duly diligent Bitterwallet editors, we decided to go undercover to illustrate our point (and with a faint hope of perhaps finding true love, indeed).

Names have been changed to protect the innocent and the desperate.

(more…)

If you ever felt like your prepaid phone card ran out of minutes awfully quick, you’re not crazy – you’re right.

A recent study by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission showed that consumers using prepaid long distance phone cards were only getting about half the talk time advertised.

MSNBC described the scam, revealing that “customers are charged connection fees, special fees for using a payphone, minutes are deducted for calls that did not connect and minutes are rounded up by three or four”:

Earlier this year, the FTC charged two major calling card distributors with cheating customers. In its lawsuits, the commission claims these firms charge hidden fees and make false statements about the number of minutes customers would receive.

During its investigation, the FTC bought and used dozens of calling cards from these two firms. None of the cards provided the number of minutes promised. On average, they delivered about half the minutes advertised. But in some cases it was much worse. A 360-minute card to Panama gave only 23 minutes of calling time.

All of these various fees eat away at card balances, leaving many consumers feeling cheated, and contribute to the pre-paid phone card industry’s £2.5 billion income per year.  And with the pre paid phone card industry being so easy to enter, it’s not wonder that the market is so ripe for fraud.

The good news is that the FTC has brought lawsuits against two major offenders, giving consumers hope for changes in the future.

Unless you plan to have one long conversation on your prepaid long distance phone card, why not consider a global SIM card, or a VOIP tool like Skype?  My favorite: VOIPStunt.

[MSNBC] (via The Consumerist)

You’ve got to be pretty thick to fall for a Nigerian 419 scam email. But the needle has got to be twitching away in the red part of the Thickter Scale if you start nicking from your employer in order to fund the scamsters.

In short, you’d have to be 53-year old American lady Jalaine Noella Holtan. But the thing is, she didn’t steal the money, she only ‘borrowed’ it, against the $10 million she was certain she’d be getting once her ‘investments’ in Nigerian ‘diamonds’ and ‘oil’ had matured.

Inevitably, poor Jalaine got nabbed and she’s due in court next month. The whereabouts of her $10 million windfall are still unknown, although you’ll probably get an email soon offering it to you.

In this 5 minute somewhat entertaining video from Ignite Seattle, car expert Rob Gruhl presents some tips on buying a new car. Might be worth a check if you’re planning to spend some hard earned £££ on your next set of wheels. Unless, of course, it’s an Porsche that saves the planet, in which case, just buy one for me too.

Some of Rob’s tips are pretty obvious, but there’s the occasional gem, like on competitive bidding, and his psychological breakdown of ‘feeling like an a**hole’ slide. It’s kind of pointless, but I’m stealing that slide for my next presentation.

A few things he didn’t mention include going to the car dealers at the end of the month when sales reps are trying to hit their monthly quotas, and doing your homework via sites like Yahoo! Autos and CarsDirect to figure out the invoice price for your new ride.

What other tips have you got?

I’m not a gullible man. I never fall for confidence tricks, I’ve never handed over my bank details to a strange Nigerian following the receipt of an unsolicited email and I know how the rabbit in the hat trick works.

In short, and without wishing to blow my own trumpet too much, I’m fairly clued up. But recently, I almost let myself get stitched up like a bloody kipper, and it was all thanks to smooth-talking horse racing guru Derek Thompson.
(more…)

These days, it seems like eBaY own most things in life, from Paypal to Gumtree to a major stake in Craigslist. Ever since I discovered Gumtree, I’ve been a big fan.

If you’ve not yet tried Gumtree either as a buyer or seller, you should. Listings are free, no final value fees and it gives a pretty good return on the time invested too. I’ve made some pretty impulsive bargain purchases, including a Humanscale Freedom chair worth around £500 for under £50. D-E-A-L! I’ve also hawked off a bunch of ’stuff’ that never seemed to shift on eBaY.

The idea is that because sites are limited to geographic areas, it minimizes the probability of you becoming a victim of a scam.

But here’s the deal. Scams do happen. Usually when you least suspect them. This article will hopefully give you an overview to Gumtree, take you on a tour inside the mind of a GT scammer, give you some ideas of the most common scams that occur there, and also give you some ideas for ways to find the best deals and bargains. (more…)