Teachers Targeted by Scams

[unknown-user]

I was approached by a John Wayne, of all people, an airline pilot, wanting lessons for his son. What tipped me off that it was another scam, albeit, more specific and realistic than ever before, was the use of the word tutor for teaching harp, and that it came from a server in the U.K., though he claimed to live in Alaska. Watch out for these letters. Look for mispelled words, inappropriate word usage and so on. Unfortunately, they are making me afraid to respond to any internet lesson inquiry.

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Hi Saul,
I just got an e-mail from “John Wayne” today. I get several of these from various people wanting their child to study with me. If they only knew how expensive and difficult it is to learn the harp they would never be so stupid as to try this scam. I also get a lot of these: Dear Beloved, I have 10 gazillion dollars to be given to you as I am the executor to the late so and so from the bank of Nigeria etc. etc. etc. I hate these guys, my spam folder if full of this every day. I am glad we can warn eachother about the bad guys.

[unknown-user]

Well, I think these people are serious criminals, and it may all be one person or gang involved. People who have been lured to Nigeria have actually been murdered. I can’t believe it hasn’t been movie already. It’s nothing to do with harp, it’s about getting your id to steal or cash.

[diane-michaels]

I’ve read accounts of the scam getting further along:

[karen-conoan]

http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/Internet_Fraud.shtml

This site has a plethora of useful information on a variety of frauds and how to report them.

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Hi Karen,
Thank you for this excellent information! We all need to be aware of these computer scammers, hackers, and abusers. Hugh if you are reading this, you might want to put a bit in the magazine to warn other harpists. It’s helpful if we are aware of what to do with this e-mail garbage. I do a lot of advertizing for my free-lancing business and I wonder if that makes me more vulnerable on line than others.

[unknown-user]

Laura

If you are truly getting bizarre email from yourself it can only mean that someone has your Yahoo address and password and is using it to send mail.

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Hi Michael,
Thank you for your suggestions, I have already changed my password several times.
I am doing my best to protect my computer from these viruses and hackers.
It is disgusting to think of the possibilities of darker minds who play on the internet with other peoples good names and businesses. These people take fraud and slander to a whole new level of slime and sleaze.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I just got a new one from Jessy Joy/Moore, etc.

[HBrock25]

Actually, that’s not quite true.

[unknown-user]

Hey, Mike.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

If it came through a Yahoo account, I always mark it with full headers, which show all of its routing, then forward it to abuse-at-yahoo.com and they cancel the account.

[David Ice]

Another scam is the “I found you on the internet and we’re having a party in Ohio (or wherever) and want you, and only you to play at the party.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Here’s a new one:

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Here’s one that came today that is particularly dangerous, as it lacks the spelling and grammar errors that signalled the previous versions as spam. Do you agree that it is spam?

From:”Logan Scott” ll24429573@hotmail.com
Subject: Need a lesson teacher
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 09:41:51 429573@hotmail.com #message871437817761173188140594503705910

Glad to tell you that,my son will be coming to the United State for holiday.Will be more than glad if you can have private lessons with him everyday from 2pm-3pm or your suitable time(1 hour per day from Monday-Friday for two weeks making a total of ten lessons.If you can make it,kindly get back to me with the cost of your teaching for two weeks in the dates of October 15th-30th.He will be coming to your house for 1 hour each day for two weeks.I have someone that will always drive him down to your house His name Sam,he is 13 years old. I will want you to calculate 1 hour per day from Monday-Friday for the whole 2 weeks and get back to me.Looking forward to read from you.Best Regards

[Author]

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