CriagsList Sharks Are Here. Watch Out for These Bozo Emails

I've never wanted to shoot anyone or blow them to smitherines in my life.

But as a former member of the Armed Services, having served in Turkey and having seen some combat action in my life, I am sort of longing to put a 47mm grenade into my M-16 just one more time and play the role of Al Pacino from the movie Scarface.

"Say hello to my little friend," and WHAM. Ka-boom. ka-powie. Whatever sound effect you like (goes here). My favorite scene from Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail,

"Oh Lord. Bless this thine hand grenade. That with it, I shalt blow thine enemy into tiny bits. In thy Mercy."

If you need a great laugh, here's the sound from the Movie. Click the link above.

Okay, back to being serious for a minute here: The ID theft Cartels are at it again and emails are now coming at us from CraigsList. It's a trap. Do Not Fall for these.

If I'm getting these deceiving emails from someone posing from CraigsListing, then so are you.

The Identify Theft Cartel are dreaming up more ways to steal your identity and clean you out of every dime in your bank. Many of these emails are coming from Gangs today. Yes, Gangs now called Phishing Gangs. It's being called, "The New Street Hustle," and quite frankly, it's just scaring the living daylights out of me when I think what our world is turning into. Computer-savvy kids are being suckered into gangs like Los Vatos Locos, Avenues, Mac-10 to get your money. I guess the drive by shootings, muggings and holding liquor stores is being considered "old school."

But you don't have to become a victim of the new Hi-Tech Gangs out there by falling for crimes like these.

You can protect yourself by just simply being a Doubting Thomas. Always be Cynical.And of course, always use a PC condom for your computer when you surf the net, or check email. Hahahaha.

I mean by that is to use Norton AntiVirus. And make sure your Windows software has adequate Internet protection turned on and you have the latest security updates, too.

BEWARE: If PayPal or CraigsList or any so-called Bank or Mutual fund sends you and email and asks you to CLICK here and do ANYTHING that asks you to log in, change password or confirm your ID or bank account of phone number... trust me. It's a trap, and you will end up paying for the mistake for years to come in cleaning up the mess.

Because these Hi-Tech Gangs are like cock roaches. You can't find them all. And the police departments who would be there to help fight this kind of crime are being cut down, laid off and retired. When my Identity was stolen by a young woman two years ago, I did my own research and narrowed it down to a restaurant I frequently visited with business associates. I have my company name stamped on my credit card. So when the Waitress asked a few questions about what we all did, we thought it was completely innocent. What we did not realize is that the Waitress pocketed my Visa number, expiration date, and the back of the card's last three digits and wrote down the CVB number.

Then she quit her job and drove to California and stopped for gas at a Mustang convenience store. She could not run my card through the gas pump so she went inside and gave the clerk a sad story about her Visa card not working. And the clerk manually took the number from her
and gave her gas. This is a no-no practice at any store as it can be fraud. She got gas, some Coke and M & M's and drove off to Los Angeles.

On the way, she stopped at one of those rest stops that are are now often equipped with a wireless connection. She goes to Priceline.com and reserves a hotel room with my card. She gets a confirmation number.

She gets to Los Angeles and checks into the hotel, and only gives the reservation number to check in. I blame the Hotel for this and I am asking for everyone to tell their state Senators to scream for a change here . If Hotels HAD to ASK for ID and proof of the Visa or credit card being in their name, this would help stop a lot of ID theft and at the same time, prevent the Hotels from losing so much $$$. Because my bank just took the money right back and gave it to me. So one would think that the Hotels might lobby for this or make their own rules to follow here.

Bcause the hotel does not ask jer for the card imprint or a drivers license. Then to add insult to injury, she checks into her room, opens up her PC laptop, logs into Pizza Hut and orders two pizzas paid for by me and my Visa.

The next day, she calls and orders a LCD TV screen at a local retailer. At which time the clerk thought it was suspicious and he calls my office. Asking to verify some woman called Jennifer is my wife and she works for Voyager. I am married but my wife's name is Tanya. Not Jennifer (which was a fake name, her real name was Melissa.)

At that time its clear to me she is a fraud -- so I find out more by logging into my bank.

Then depression sets it. I have racked up thousands of dollars in charges that were never made by me. I call the Los Angeles police department, and inform them of the facts I had gathered. I get a phone call an hour later. She was a 27 year old hispanic woman, and was still in the hotel room. She was arrested on narcotics charges from an earlier arrest then booked for ID theft and she is now serving 17 years in a federal prison somewhere in California.

I was able to clean up my credit card in 30 days, and my credit score was saved this time.

Look carefully at the email on the bottom of this article. See where it says to Email them BACK? This part cannot be hidden by amateurs who son't quite know how to be a good hacker just yet.

Simply MOUSE over the link and hover there.

See the REAL email link appear?

Aha! Gotcha. Another Bozo is revealed.

This is the first in a wave of CraigsList Bozo email scams. Rule of thumb: NEVER click on the emails and NEVER do what they say. CraigsList will never ask for this kind of information from you.

Please share this blog comment with your friends and colleagues.

- bartman

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