Post by thread:[OT] Heads up, buy PIC scam

Hi all, I would be suprised if others on the list had not received similar emails in the last couple of days, copied below FYI. Doesn't look legitimate to me for at least 3 reasons: 1) I don't sell PIC's, nor do I advertise that I do. 2) I have received the same email twice now, with different "from", "to", and "reply to" fields. 3) I don't need a third reason. Best regards, Brent. {Quote hidden}> > Hello Sales, > We are interested in purchasing some of your product(s) listed below:- > > 1: pic16c54c20/p QUANTITY( 2000 PIECES) > > Kindly,give us the actual Quote for this product, > I'll be awiting your prompt affirmative response. > Thank you! > LANRE LAWSON > > LANDSLIDE. COMP.LTD > 57,AYILARA STREET, > SURULERE.LAGOS.23401 > NGR. > TEL:+2348028728103 > FAX +1-253-484-824 ____________________________________________

Usual Nigerian scam.... why do they bother... Surprised they didnt; check that you take (their stolen) credit cards..... The most bizarre one I ever had was this - fourth one down on my 'dumb emails received' page, www.electricstuff.co.uk/muppet_alert.html wanting to buy quantities of calculators shown on my vintage calculator collection page (http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/cacls.html) On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 11:19:14 +1300, you wrote: {Quote hidden}>Hi all, > >I would be suprised if others on the list had not received similar emails in the >last couple of days, copied below FYI. Doesn't look legitimate to me for at >least 3 reasons: >1) I don't sell PIC's, nor do I advertise that I do. >2) I have received the same email twice now, with different "from", "to", and >"reply to" fields. >3) I don't need a third reason. > >Best regards, Brent. > >> >> Hello Sales, >> We are interested in purchasing some of your product(s) listed below:- >> >> 1: pic16c54c20/p QUANTITY( 2000 PIECES) >> >> Kindly,give us the actual Quote for this product, >> I'll be awiting your prompt affirmative response. >> Thank you! >> LANRE LAWSON >> >> LANDSLIDE. COMP.LTD >> 57,AYILARA STREET, >> SURULERE.LAGOS.23401 >> NGR. >> TEL:+2348028728103 >> FAX +1-253-484-824 > > > >_____________________________________________

> I would be surprised if others on the list had not received similar emails > in the > last couple of days, copied below FYI. Doesn't look legitimate to me for > at I haven't seen one of these. But given all the other unsolicited email that I have had from Nigeria I wouldn't even consider replying to such a request unless he offered me at least $20 million at the same time. Quote him $US10,000/chip and see how you go. RM {Quote hidden}>> We are interested in purchasing some of your product(s) listed below:- >> >> 1: pic16c54c20/p QUANTITY( 2000 PIECES) >> >> Kindly,give us the actual Quote for this product, >> I'll be awiting your prompt affirmative response. >> Thank you! >> LANRE LAWSON >> >> LANDSLIDE. COMP.LTD >> 57,AYILARA STREET, >> SURULERE.LAGOS.23401 >> NGR. >> TEL:+2348028728103 >> FAX +1-253-484-824 ____________________________________________

I got this micro-related one a couple of days ago =================== 11/28/2004 To whom it may concern: Do you have any news on this RFID technology everyone is talking about? If you know of web sites, and news sources about this technology, can you email me, or send me something in the mail? Luke Nichols 299 Old Oakvale Road Princeton, WV 24740 USA PS- If you received this email in error, please accept my apologies. You can ask me to remove you from this list, by replying with the word: REMOVE in the subject line. Of course this is a one time email to you. Thanks for all your help! ____________________________________________

Any email containing the word Lagos or Nigeria is automatically deleted by my mail server. I was getting 10-15 a day once... --Bob Lawrence Lile wrote: >Also, it comes from Nigeria. All of the honest people from Nigeria have already left the country, according to the Nigerian expats I know. There are billions upon billions of dollars worth of scams run out of Nigeria. > >-- Lawrence Lile, P.E. >Electrical and Electronic Solutions >Project Solutions Companies >http://www.projsolco.com > > > > >>{Original Message removed}

> Doesn't look legitimate to me for at least 3 reasons: > > LANDSLIDE. COMP.LTD > > 57,AYILARA STREET, > > SURULERE.LAGOS.23401 > > NGR. 4) : country of (alledged) origin! Wouter van Ooijen -- ------------------------------------------- Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: http://www.voti.nl consultancy, development, PICmicro products docent Hogeschool van Utrecht: http://www.voti.nl/hvu ____________________________________________

Watch out for purchases from Urganda for harddrive, LCD, PC accessories too. Fake checks flying around. I got hit, manage to stop losses to time and effort. I think is quite new, does not "google" up anything yet. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Urganda+scam Ling SM > > Doesn't look legitimate to me for at least 3 reasons: > > > > LANDSLIDE. COMP.LTD > > > 57,AYILARA STREET, > > > SURULERE.LAGOS.23401 > > > NGR. > > 4) : country of (alledged) origin! ____________________________________________

This is another variant of the Nigerian scam. It works like this: * You reply to say you have the parts they need * They tell you they have a counter cheque/cashiers cheque/bank draft/some other payment vehicle for the asking price +50%. * They ask you to accept the funds, then send them the parts plus a cheque for the difference. * You wait for the cheque to clear, which it appears to do, and then send the parts plus payment for the difference. * A couple of weeks later, your bank calls to say the correspondent bank has declined the cheque. * You lose the parts plus the difference payment, plus your time. It's a very common scam, netting the west african fraudsters millions. Peter Moreton {Original Message removed}

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 15:06:11 -0000, Peter Moreton wrote: >...< I'm confused... > * You wait for the cheque to clear, which it appears to do, and then send > the parts plus payment for the difference. > * A couple of weeks later, your bank calls to say the correspondent bank has > declined the cheque. As I understand it, a cheque doesn't "clear" until the recipient bank has received the money from the sending bank, usually taking about three "business days" in the process when it's within a banking system (longer if it's going between banking systems). At this point the transaction is complete. What happens after two weeks that would allow the sending bank to rescind the transfer? In the UK certainly (and probably in other countries) once the cheque has cleared it is your money, and the bank may not send it back to the payer without your permission. If they have made a mistake (such as crediting it to the wrong account so it shouldn't have been in yours anyway) then that's different, but when the process has completed normally, that's it! Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England ____________________________________________

> As I understand it, a cheque doesn't "clear" until the recipient bank has received the money from the sending > bank, usually taking about three "business days" in the process when it's within a banking system (longer if > it's going between banking systems). At this point the transaction is complete. I think the confusion here is in the word "clear". A bank in the US at least will frequently put money in your account before the check truly clears. For example, I write Billy Bob a check, he puts it in his account. Later that day, he checks the ATM balance, and my check shows up added to his balance. He withdraws all the money in his account. Then my check gets to my bank. My account is empty, so my bank returns it to his bank. His bank deducts the cash from his account, overdrafting him. Bada-bing, a check that "cleared" but really didn't. Of course, now that things have gone electronic, this whole thing is getting less and less likely. For an example of the tremendous humor this sort of thing can cause, see http://tinyurl.com/f1tl Mike H. ____________________________________________

> As I understand it, a cheque doesn't "clear" until the > recipient bank has received the money from the sending > bank, usually taking about three "business days" in the > process when it's within a banking system (longer if > it's going between banking systems). At this point the > transaction is complete. > > What happens after two weeks that would allow the sending > bank to rescind the transfer? > > In the UK certainly (and probably in other countries) once > the cheque has cleared it is your money, and the > bank may not send it back to the payer without your > permission. If they have made a mistake (such as > crediting it to the wrong account so it shouldn't have been > in yours anyway) then that's different, but when > the process has completed normally, that's it! 'Fraid not. Thats why the scam works. It may be scandalous, but the banks do remove money from your account when a fraudulent payment instrument is encountered, no matter how long it takes to detect the fraud. Oh, and in the UK you may be suprised to learn that cheque funds actually clear on the SAME day that you deposit. The Bank then keeps your money and earns interest on it for 3 to 5 days before the money 'clears' into your account. Peter Moreton (an ex-Banker!) ____________________________________________

Mike, On Fri, 3 Dec 2004 14:18:31 -0600, Mike Hord wrote: > > As I understand it, a cheque doesn't "clear" until the recipient bank has received the money from the sending > > bank, usually taking about three "business days" in the process when it's within a banking system (longer if > > it's going between banking systems). At this point the transaction is complete. > > I think the confusion here is in the word "clear". > > A bank in the US at least will frequently put money in your account > before the check truly clears. Must be very different banking systems then - that certainly wouldn't happen here! If you deposit cash into an ATM here it won't appear as "available" until it's been physically checked, although the time/date of deposit is used for calculations later. When you get a balance (either at an ATM or online) it shows two figures, "Current" and "Available" balances. The latter is all you can spend! :-) Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England ____________________________________________

Peter, On Fri, 3 Dec 2004 20:46:41 -0000, Peter Moreton wrote: >...< > Oh, and in the UK you may be suprised to learn that cheque funds actually > clear on the SAME day that you deposit. The Bank then keeps your money and > earns interest on it for 3 to 5 days before the money 'clears' into your > account. I think we're using different meanings of "clear" here! I mean arriving in my account so I can spend it, and I think this is the usual meaning. I'm fully aware that it left the senders account some days before - it's the way the banks manage to make the huge amounts of money that they do without charging the punter for every transaction. Of course when they *did* charge for each transaction they *still* made it also on the interest during transit... Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England ____________________________________________

> Must be very different banking systems then - that certainly > wouldn't happen here! If you deposit cash into an ATM > here it won't appear as "available" until it's been physically > checked In NZ, if I deposit a cheque in the morning it'll show up in the ATM by the afternoon, but AFAIK it still takes 5 working days for the issuer's account to be debited ____________________________________________

> Must be very different banking systems then - that certainly wouldn't happen here! If you deposit cash into > an ATM here it won't appear as "available" until it's been physically checked, although the time/date of > deposit is used for calculations later. When you get a balance (either at an ATM or online) it shows two > figures, "Current" and "Available" balances. The latter is all you can spend! :-) I don't see two balances, I'm afraid. And they seem to take a much longer time to reflect debits than credits on the ATM (or website) balance! The net result is that if one isn't EXTREMELY careful to write all debits/credits down, the "balance" available is rarely accurate. I suspect part of this is to sucker people into spending more than they have, so they can assess fees. Another trick I've heard of follows: Say I have $100 in my account. In the mail in the morning, my bank receives a check I wrote for $50, one I wrote for $60, and one I wrote for $30. A "good" bank would take them in the order written (let's say $60, $30, $50), thereby overdrafting one check (the $50 one). Many banks, however, will "rearrange" them, taking the $60 check, then overdrafting the other two and charging two fees instead of one. I think I remember a stink a few years back about this happening, as it is illegal in some jurisdictions. IANAL, though, so don't go tromping off to your bank if you feel something shady like this has happened to you without more research. Mike H. PS- The link above was for a guy who deposited a fake check from a "work at home" offer. It was credited to his account and after a couple weeks of a $95k balance, he withdrew a cashier's check. A couple more weeks passed before the bank realized their error, and started to get frantic about it. It's quite amusing, and highlights the problems that can occur in that "no-man's land" of time between a deposit and the issuing bank receiving the check. URL was http://tinyurl.com/f1tl ____________________________________________

At 10:43 AM 04/12/2004 +1300, you wrote: >> Must be very different banking systems then - that certainly >> wouldn't happen here! If you deposit cash into an ATM >> here it won't appear as "available" until it's been physically >> checked > >In NZ, if I deposit a cheque in the morning it'll show up in the >ATM by the afternoon, but AFAIK it still takes 5 working >days for the issuer's account to be debited In SA, I can deposit a cheque into an ATM, key in the credit, and draw the money immediately. But this varies with 'level' of account holder, so the responsibility is mine. If I deposit a suspect cheque for R10 000 and draw the money, and it bounces later, I'll have to fork out, and the facility(privelage?) will be withdrawn. Of course I would'nt screw around with it, 'cause not having to wait five/ten days is a real bonus. Regards Roland Jollivet ____________________________________________

>-----Original Message----- >From: .....piclist-bouncesKILLspam@spam@mit.edu [piclist-bouncesKILLspammit.edu]On Behalf >Of Mike Hord >Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 5:16 PM >To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. >Subject: Re: [OT] Heads up, buy PIC scam > > >Another trick I've heard of follows: >Say I have $100 in my account. In the mail in the morning, my bank receives >a check I wrote for $50, one I wrote for $60, and one I wrote for $30. A "good" >bank would take them in the order written (let's say $60, $30, $50), thereby >overdrafting one check (the $50 one). Many banks, however, will "rearrange" >them, taking the $60 check, then overdrafting the other two and charging two >fees instead of one. > >I think I remember a stink a few years back about this happening, as it is >illegal in some jurisdictions. IANAL, though, so don't go tromping off to >your bank if you feel something shady like this has happened to you >without more research. "Bank of America" does this, sometimes juggling up to a WEEK of debits to maximize the penalties they can charge. Totally outrageous. I would have thought it illegal, I guess not. ____________________________________________

At 05:40 PM 12/3/2004 -0500, you wrote: {Quote hidden}> >-----Original Message----- > >From: .....piclist-bouncesKILLspam.....mit.edu [EraseMEpiclist-bouncesspam_OUTTakeThisOuTmit.edu]On Behalf > >Of Mike Hord > >Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 5:16 PM > >To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > >Subject: Re: [OT] Heads up, buy PIC scam > > > > > >Another trick I've heard of follows: > >Say I have $100 in my account. In the mail in the morning, my bank >receives > >a check I wrote for $50, one I wrote for $60, and one I wrote for $30. A >"good" > >bank would take them in the order written (let's say $60, $30, $50), >thereby > >overdrafting one check (the $50 one). Many banks, however, will >"rearrange" > >them, taking the $60 check, then overdrafting the other two and charging >two > >fees instead of one. > > > >I think I remember a stink a few years back about this happening, as it is > >illegal in some jurisdictions. IANAL, though, so don't go tromping off to > >your bank if you feel something shady like this has happened to you > >without more research. > >"Bank of America" does this, sometimes juggling up to a WEEK of debits to >maximize the penalties they can charge. Totally outrageous. >I would have thought it illegal, I guess not. On the other hand, I've heard of people finding a mistake in their favor from the past and making the bank go back a couple years reversing all the charges that could not have been debited had that money been sitting in their account. ;-) Best regards, Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speffspam_OUTinterlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com ____________________________________________

On Sat, 4 Dec 2004, Jinx wrote: >> Must be very different banking systems then - that certainly >> wouldn't happen here! If you deposit cash into an ATM >> here it won't appear as "available" until it's been physically >> checked > > In NZ, if I deposit a cheque in the morning it'll show up in the > ATM by the afternoon, but AFAIK it still takes 5 working > days for the issuer's account to be debited That cannot be true ?! It's an invitation to pyramid-style fraud. Peter ____________________________________________

On Fri, 3 Dec 2004, Peter Moreton wrote: > Oh, and in the UK you may be suprised to learn that cheque funds actually > clear on the SAME day that you deposit. The Bank then keeps your money and > earns interest on it for 3 to 5 days before the money 'clears' into your > account. Not just in the uk, everywhere else too. I'd be surprised to see places where it is different. Peter ____________________________________________

Howard Winter wrote: >>> As I understand it, a cheque doesn't "clear" until the recipient bank >>> has received the money from the sending bank, >> I think the confusion here is in the word "clear". >> >> A bank in the US at least will frequently put money in your account >> before the check truly clears. > Must be very different banking systems then - that certainly wouldn't > happen here! If I understand the check handling in the USA correctly, the bank where you deposit the check doesn't receive a positive confirmation from the bank that actually pays it. They only receive a negative confirmation if something is wrong with the check. This has a number of odd consequences, some of which have been mentioned here already, and one of which is that there is not really anything like a cleared check in the sense that you know when you can count on it. I don't really understand why anybody would use checks anyway. They are so inefficient and lead to all kinds of strange situations. I grew up (and worked for quite a while) in Germany, and I didn't use a single check until I moved to Brazil (where they use a system that is similar to the US system in many respects, including the use of checks). Gerhard ____________________________________________