Believe not what you see

7 reasons the world will end in 2012

2009-02-15T02:17:00.000-08:00

A new hoax in circulation

7 reasons the world will end in 2012

Scientific experts from around the world are genuinely predicting that five years from now, all life on Earth could well finish. Some are saying it'll be humans that set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it'll be God himself who presses the stop button...

1. Mayan Calendar

The first mob to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things:

Building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and
Sacrificing Virgins.

Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the Earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it's likely they've got the end of the world right as well.

2. Sun Storms

Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery: our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic, and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy, it's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it'll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012

3. The Atom Smasher

Scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator. Basically its a 27km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They're predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

4. The Bible says...

If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn't bad enough,religious folks are getting in on the act aswell. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between Good an Evil, has been set down for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

5. Super Volcano

Yellowstone National Park in the United States is famous for its thermal springs and Old Faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple - it's sitting on top of the world's biggest volcano, and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we're many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the Earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

6. The Physicists

This one's case of bog-simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berekely Uni have been crunching the numbers. and they've determined that the Earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they're claiming their calculations prove, that we're all going to die, very soon - while also saying their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 percent- and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

7. Slip-Slop-Slap-BANG!

We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that sheilds us from most of the sun's radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call north and south have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so - and right now we're about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is underway, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

Out Take

1) If it isn’t the Maya’s calender than it is another calender which predicts the end of the world. When that passes it is suddenly yet another calender or religion which predicts it ‘with all certainty’…

It also highly depends on who interprets the calender and their writings btw. It is not like the Maya’s said somewhere “on this date the earth will blow up”.

2) Sun storms are indeed a concearn and can influence the earth and the weather a lot. Not to mention satelites, etc. Before the sun will blow up into a red giant and swollow the earth, a massive sun storm would have already destroyed a lot on earth, directly or indirectly. Although I do not believe this will ‘destroy’ earth at all. At best we will suffer some consequences like global warming and the likes and some problems with communication or whatever, but that’s it.

3) The atom smasher: that is the most paranoid thing of all. Why is it that all of a sudden people cry out loud “oh nooooos, they are building an atom smasher and are creating black holes, we will all blow up”? Particle accelerators have existed a looooooong time, and there are already a lot of them. The _only_ reason why people are crying out loud now is that this new one has simply been on the news, nothing more. This is absolutely not “the first time they fire it up”. And about those black holes and other ‘deadly’ results, that is absolutely BS too. That is just hear-say or whatever made by paranoids who don’t even know the basics of how such partical accelerators work. You don’t create universes and black holes in such machines at all… The worst that can happen is that someone with a peace maker will have a heart attack because he stands to close to a super conductive magnet of the machine, as a matter of speaking.

4) I stand corrected for what I said in point 3…. This is most BS of all… Every 10 years or so somebody comes shouting that the Bible predicts Armageddon in xxxx. Do you know that Armageddon isn’t even an event, but a place? And in fact an existing place! Heck, according to a massive amount of previous Bible inspired predictions we wouldn’t be here at this moment.

See a massive list of some of those predictions (douzens and douzens for each year) here: http://www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrld.htm

Let all the cults and sects commit suicide or whatever when they believe they will be saved like that if “Armageddon” is here or that they experience the Rapture. It makes the world a nicer (less paranoid) place…

5) Rubbish also…. that is, not the fact that Yellowstone is sitting on a super-volcano. But rubbish that “scientists have set the date for the big bang to 2012″. The fact is that scientists do not know when it will errupt (if it will errupt at all as a super-volcano!). And the fact that it is overdue means absolutely nothing! If such a super-volcano with a cycle of 650000 years like this is overdue, it could well be another 10000 years before it even rumbles and has a hick-up.

6) erm…. yeah…. this is just as worse/good as all the other thousands of predictions over the centuries… BTW: look at the Middle-East, or Africa, Soudan, and all the other places which do not catch the 7 o’clock news. There are many genocides, clensing of whole cultures, mass hunger and starving, killing millions every day, etc… I says there are already enough catastrophic events already without needing any calculator. All you need to do is looking a bit further than your TV-set and what they might (not) tell you on the news…

7) same story as point 5….

All paranoid nonsense, very good for a Blockbuster movie or interesting to read about. Nothing to worry about…

sorry for the spelling and grammar mistakes / I really can not be bothered to check them for this post

New Fake mail from bank of baroda doing rounds

2009-01-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

Dear customer,
We would like to inform you that Bank of Baroda has detected an error while login on to your account. As a result of multiple login attempt. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.

Confirm your Bank of Baroda Account now to enjoy the benefits of internet banking and finance and to avoid fraudulent activities on your account.

To initiate the verification process: Kindly (CLICK HERE TO PROCEED)
Important Notices: Our Security Department, Therefore ensure a security measure against Unauthorized attempt. Enjoy Your Internet banking Guide.

Regards,
Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely, Bank of Baroda,
Customer Service.

The Gold Quest Pyramid Scam

2008-04-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

DON'T JOIN GOLDQUEST…….. Or any other pyramidal business

MATHEMATICS behind GOLDQUEST…….. Or any other pyramidal business

The SCAM Revealed….

Pure money laundering

1st step- U register and Buy --
U have coin only company- 30000

2nd step- u bring two direct referrals--
You have coin only-Company has 90000

3rd step- they bring two referrals each---
U have coin and 1st cheque of 10,000 and company has 2,10,000

4th step- they bring two refferals each---
U have Coin and 2nd Cheque of 10000 so total you have 20,000, persons who joined at step 2 have coin and 1st cheque of 10000, so total money in incentives paid is 40000 total and company has 4,50,000

5th step-they also bring two refferrals each---
U have coin and cheques which when added to all u have already earned come to 40,000, persons joined at second step have coin and 20,000 each and people at step 3 get their first cheque of 10,000 and people at step 4 have coin only and company has 9,30,000
and here 7 members who have atleast some cheques but 24 people have nothing but just the coin

6th step
15 are earning but 48 have nothing

7th step
31 are earning but 96 have nothing but just coin

8th step
63 are earning but 192 have nothing.

9th step
31 have recovered money, 96 get little and 384 have nothing
and so on…

But always the no. who have only the coin is always much much more than the who have earned atleast some money.

And the people who have recovered money is just 31 when 384 have still to do it but to do that no. of those who have nothing will become 1286 people...

So always the ones at the bottom of the pyramid are the losers… And the only way left for them to move upwards in the pyramid(ie: earn money) is to lure others into the last layer. This is done after realizing that the last layer is always the losers. It is a sad fact that in the frenzy to get back the lost money relationships are often forgotten. It is often your close friends or family members who occupy the layer under you. Even then the chances that you will make money is very remote.

It is clear that the company, including the few people at the very top layer are making huge profits. The sad fact is that the money thus generated is not even being used in INDIA. It is flowing out of India. This is the same money that could very well be spent in strengthening our economy. If you buy a kg of rice not only are you investing in something that is useful to you, but also, you are indirectly supporting the family of some poor farmer somewhere.

STOP THIS SCAM…

BE THE CHANGE…

FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS AND MAKE THEM AWARE…………

Cyber mafia is lurking in your computer

2008-03-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

What's your value in the cyber mafia-run chor bazaar? $0.25 for your official name, $2 for cell number, $150 to $500 for credit card number and $50 to $400 for bank customer ID and PIN. You could be worth $1,000 on an average. When it comes to dealing in corporate information, your value could run into thousands of dollars.

If fun and fame were the sole aim of cyber hijackers till sometime ago, making fast buck is the key motive of today's smart cyber crackers. "These nerds can outsmart cracker king Kevin David Mitnick. The intelligence and tech savvyness attached to the profession makes it highly proliferate in terms of value and volume,'' said a leading cyber expert.

How does one fall prey to the cyber mafia? The case of Rajeev Vasudeva, a Chandigarh bank executive, says it all. He only knows that, for the first time, he logged on to a social networking site, a couple of months ago.

"Soon, I started receiving mails from unknown sources asking about my health, my wife's transfer and our home loan details. I thought someone who knows us well was playing a prank, until a tech-savvy friend realised my computer was hijacked and turned into a BOT (a hijacked computer) — a captive.''

In Vasudeva's case, when he logged on, a malware/spyware was downloaded onto his system which held his computer a captive and started sending the entire data to an outsider, exposing his passwords.

Over 10,000 computers are converted into BOTs a day and are linked into large networks of such computers, called BOT-nets. Globally, several thousands of BOT-nets exist, the largest so far being a network of 150,000 BOTs whose sever was detected in Holland.

On an average, around 400 BOTs are created a day in India, says a recent study. The country already has over 40 command-and-control servers having 38,465 distinct BOTs. Among the cities, Mumbai reported a share of 33%, followed by Delhi at 25%, Chennai 17% and Bangalore 13%.

Another Fake letter intended to fool HDFC bank customers into revealing their account number and password

2007-12-28T02:44:00.000-08:00

Dear HDFC Internet Banking Customer,

During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we were unable to verify your account information. This might be due to either one of the following reasons: 1. A recent change in your personal information (ie change of address). 2. Submitting invalid information during the initial enrollment process. 3. An inability to accurately verify your account information due to an internal error within our processors.

We demand that you take 5 minutes out of your online experience and renew your records to avoid running into any future problems with the online service. However, failure to update your records will result in your account suspension. Once you have updated your account records your internet banking service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

Please click here http://netbanking.hdfcbank.com/netbanking and renew your account information.

Security Advisory
Customer Service Dept,
HDFC Internet Banking.

The bank officials have confirmed that neither the mail id: alert@hdfcbank.com
or the website address http://netbanking.hdfcbank.com/netbanking belong to them.

The page http://netbanking.hdfcbank.com/netbanking when opened in a secured browser like firefox or latest IE with anti phishing will give the following warning:

UFO OVER HAITI PROOF OF FAKE ANALYSIS OF THE TREES

2007-12-20T03:50:00.001-08:00

It appears as if the video is a hoax. A CGI program advertisement has surfaced that clearly shows the same trees that appear in the video.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE FAKE TREES:
http://img3.freeimagehosting.net/imag...

For a shot of the Vue program that made the trees:
http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/p...

Vue website with proof that the trees and area in this video are from a Vue advertisment video:
http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/...

A great article on CGI and this UFO:
http://www.rense.com/general77/haiti.htm

This is one of a series of videos that hit the Internet in mid-2007, all of them showing UFOs over various cities around the world, including Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic:

They're digital creations which, according to the Los Angeles Times, were put together by someone identified only as "Barzolff" in connection with a feature film project:
The 35-year-old Barzolff is a professional animator who attended one of the most prestigious art schools in France and has a decade of experience with computer graphics and commercial animation.

It took Barzolff a total of 17 hours to make both the Haiti and Dominican Republic videos. He did it all by himself using a MacBook Pro and a
suite of commercially available 3-D animation programs, including Vue 6. The videos are 100% computer-generated.

The videos, he said, were intended as research for a feature film project he's been working on with Partizan, the France-based production company responsible for, among others, Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

When contacted to verify the story, "Eternal Sunshine" producer Georges Bermann said it was all true, and that Barzolff was "an absolute genius" who could "make anything look entirely real."

To prove that he was truly behind the videos, Barzolff agreed to provide the L.A. Times with a new spacecraft video. Called "Proof," the video depicts a small version of one of the spacecraft floating above a Paris street. As the camera pans over, the viewer sees two elderly women at a cafe. One of whom is holding a remote control device. Humorously, of course, this video makes use of computer graphics as well.

The movie Barzolff is working on for the big screen is about two guys who create a UFO hoax so realistic that it spirals out of their control. "For better or worse," said Barzolff, who cited being "overwhelmed" by the response to his video as one of the reasons he didn't want to go public with his name.

Barzolff stressed the videos were not intended as a viral marketing ploy. His movie is still in the idea phase, and he created the hoax strictly as a "sociological experiment" — in other words, just to see what would happen.
Last updated: 22 August 2007

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/photos/odd/haitiufos.asp

Did Smith sisters murdered anonymously really happen ?

2007-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

Claim: Ghosts of two murdered teen girls return to kill and skin parents who failed to tell their subsequent son of the girls' existence.

Status: False.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2005]

girl meets a boy on her yahoo messenger.

crazy1 86:hey baby!!!
h0tNsPiCy91: whos dis???
crazy1 86:ur secret admirer!!!!!
h0tNsPiCy91: o really.... quite lyin! whos dis???
crazy1 86:i loved u the first time a stared in your eyes...
crazy1 86:i think about u everyday... you are my dream come true.
crazy1 86: we met once! i dont think u remember tho.
crazy1 86: i cut myself because the pain takes away my feelings of u.
crazy1 86: tonight u will see me some time tonight....
h0tNsPiCy91: ..WHO IS THIS!?!?!?
crazy1 86:dont worry.... ill take very good care of you...

crazy1 86 had signed off.

the girl was so scared she locked alll her doors and windows. she made sure her room was secured. she was so scared if it was a joke or for real. she didnt know when he was going to come. the girl was frighten so she decided to sleep with her little sister. the girl dozed off quikly. then she heards a knock on the window. the girl slowly walked to the window. it started knocking louder. the girl looked through the windows and saw nothing. just some of the tree branches. the girl went back to bed with her sister. the bed was wet and a pretty smells horrid. maybe her sister wet the bed... the girl checked and found blood everywhere. the girl panick. she didnt know what to do. she ran and hid in the closet incase the guy was their for her. while looking through the cracks of the closet the girl saw a shadow. it was dark so she couldnt figure out who it was. she started to get more frighten. the man crept closer to the closet. the girl closed her eyes as if it was a dream. then suddenly he open the closet door and pulled her out. her parents found her dead. she was skinned all the way and was hunged in her sisters closet.

PART 2...

2 years after the the sisters deaths, the her parents got pregnant with a baby boy the girls room became a guest bedroom and the little sisters room where the murder took place became the babys room. the baby grew up to be a secessful kid. one night he was on the computer and got a instant messege.

h0tNsPiCy91:hey lil bro!!!
2seXay4u: who the f is this?
h0tNsPiCy91: its your big sis.
2seXay4u: i never had a sister. im an only child.
2seXay4u:this is some kinda joke huh?
h0tNsPiCy91: mom and dad never told you?
h0tNsPiCy91: i died 15 years ago with your other older sister.
h0tNsPiCy91:we were murdered in your room which was once my little sisters room. she was killed in bed when i was sleeping and i was killed in the closet and skinned to death.
2seXay4u:quite lying. i never had a sister. if i did my parents would tell me. whatever. your stupid.
h0tNsPiCy91: you dont believe me? well if you wanna look in your closet floor.
h0tNsPiCy91: i carved my name, time and date i was being murdered. then i carved my little sister name.
h0tNsPiCy91: if you dont believe me little brother check the internet. type in ''smith sisters murdered anonymously''.
h0tNsPiCy91: i gtg little brother. i love you. and mom and dad soo much. i cant believe they kept us a secret from you. they should burn in hell.

the boy checked the closet. he saw the carvings. was it true? he surfed the internet and everything was their about the anonymous murder in the house. the next morning the boy went downstairs. it was so queit. maybe mom and dad was sleeping.. hours later the boy found his parents in their closets skinned and hung. then he found more carvings on the ground. it says '' I TOLD YOU I WASNT LYING. LITTLE BROTHER, I LOVED MOM AND DAD.... BUT THEY KEPT ME A SECRET. I CANT BELIVE IT. WELL IM FREE FROM THIS COLD WORLD. I WONT HURT YOU LIKE HOW THEY DIED. I LOVE YOU!

- LISA SMITH ''

this is a death chain. if you dont send this in the next hour the parents will kill you at night. they will kill you

DONT BELEIVE ME? LOOK IT UP N GOOGLE

Origins: We began encountering this tale in our inbox in late June 2005. Almost two months later, near the end of August 2005, versions mailed to us began including this coda:
ps guys..i looked it up on google and it really happened. creepy eh? i dont normally do these..but this one kind of bothered me a little bit. heres the article.

"Smith sisters murdered anonymously

In 1993, two sisters were brutally murdered in the small-town community of Plainfield, wisconsin. Lisa Smith, 19; and her sister, Sarah Smith, 15; were attacked in their parent's home on the night of November 17th, around 1:30AM. Sarah was found stabbed and strangled in the bed where she had been sleeping. Her sister Lisa was found hanging in her sister's closet, skinned alive. Police conducted an extensive investigation, but to no avail. The motives for the attack were never discovered, nor was the attacker ever found. The only lead athorities had was a log found in Lisa's computer, showing a series of threatening messages sent through an Internet Relay Chat service. The case was closed in October of 2000."
Plainfield,
Wisconsin, is a community of less than a thousand people located in central Wisconsin. As its one claim to fame, it was the birthplace of Ed Gein, a farmer who was convicted of murdering one woman in 1957 and confessed to having killed another in 1954. His notoriety came, however, from his use of dead bodies: he mutilated the corpses of women, cutting off a variety of their body parts and fashioning these into macabre items.

As one might suspect, murder in Plainfield is relatively rare. As one might further suspect, no two teen girls named Lisa and Sarah Smith were murdered in that town in 1993, nor their parents a number of years later. The story is fiction, plain and simple, just another example of the 'bad things will happen to you if you don't forward this chain letter' genre. (The concept is stated explicitly in its text: "this is a death chain. if you dont send this in the next hour the parents will kill you at night.") .

Numerous Threatening with a knife inconsistencies in the Internet-circulated story provide enough clues to its being fiction that even those lacking access to online news archives should be able to dismiss it as an attempt to yank their chains:

* The younger sister is murdered while the older girl is either sleeping beside her or going to the window to check on an odd sound, yet the older sibling hears nothing happening in the room and is alerted to something's being amiss only because the bed is wet and ill-smelling upon her return to it.

* Rather than scream for help or run from the room, the older girl hides in the closet.

* The older sister is pulled from the closet by her murderer and her body is returned there to be hung for her parents to discover, yet while she's in this closed space before her killer takes her from it, she carves hers and her sister's names and the time and date. If she had something with which to gouge messages into the floorboards or onto the walls, why didn't she use it to stab at her attacker and escape his clutches? Also, wasn't it thoughtful of her murderer to afford her time to finish her woodworking escapades before coming for her?

* The parents (who we presume are sleeping in the same house, since the story doesn't mention their being absent that night) hear nothing of their two daughters being murdered.

* The son (who we work out from the story is 12 years old: "15 years ago" less "2 years after the the sisters deaths" less a nine-month gestation period) lives those twelve years in the murder room yet never once notices the message carved in the closet.

* The girls were murdered "In 1993" yet the IM'ing ghost of one of them informs her brother she died "15 years ago." Our calendar says it's 2005, not 2008.

* Instant message capability didn't become an online reality until 1997 when AOL introduced its Instant Messenger service. Yahoo Messenger (which the narrative tells us was used by the murderer to contact one of the sisters prior to his killing her) began in 1999. However, while IM didn't exist in 1993, chat rooms did — IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was most certainly part of the cyber world at least as far back as 1993.

Be Careful With Online Greeting Cards

2007-12-03T02:27:00.000-08:00

Internet users are becoming more sensitive to the possibility that viruses can arrive in spam mail. But those who want to send viruses in spam mail are coming up with new schemes to overcome the wariness that is developing among users.

The latest danger comes from viruses sent under the guise of e-greeting cards, those ubiquitous messages usually coupled with graphics that many Internet users have come to rely on for expressing themselves to their online friends and family.

Those in the business of spreading viruses have found that creating spammed messages and disguising them as e-greeting cards is a good way to spread their malicious attacks around the world. It's estimated that since the first of July, about 300 million spammed messages sent announcing e-greeting cards but in fact baiting the recipient.

The problem has become so severe that the FBI has warned consumers about this online greeting card scam.

"Like many other Internet fraud schemes, the perpetrators use social engineering tactics to entice the victim, claiming the card is from a family member or friend. Although there have been variations in spam message and attached malware, generally the spam directs the recipient to click the link provided in the e-mail to view their e-card. Upon clicking the link, the recipient is unknowingly taken to a malicious Web page," the FBI alert says.

In most instances, the subject line of the e-mail says that the recipient has received a greeting card or a postcard from an unnamed friend, family member, schoolmate or secret admirer. When the e-mail is opened, there's a link to a Web site. If the recipient accesses it, a virus is uploaded to the recipient's computer.

The viruses might do one of many things. It might search your computer for personal information and send it to the person who created the virus. In other instances, it might corrupt your computer - causing a crash.

Some of the recipients of these cards are told to download certain software to read their message. If that happens, the program they download sends e-mails to everyone in that person's address book. Strangely enough, some of the scammers actually ask permission to install the software on your computer using an End User License Agreements, something that most folks don't bother to read.

What do you do? First and foremost, be skeptical of every e-mail you receive that announces you have a greeting card waiting for you. If it simply says that the e-mail was sent by a nameless friend, neighbor or whomever, don't open it. If it says that the e-card comes from someone who is named and you know that named person, it's probably safe to open the card.

UNITED NATIONS : LATEST CIRCULATING E MAIL SPAM !!!

2007-11-27T06:02:00.001-08:00

Save Your Online Bank Account

2007-11-18T05:01:00.000-08:00

This is one of the worst phishing scam ever seen.
Both the URLs appear same, but if you look at the duplicate site URL, it is slightly different and not the regular ICICI Bank URL.

Surprising both the sites have secured SSL from Verisign !!!!

The wrong one
http://www.icici-infinitysupport.com//login[1][1].jsp.html
Actual ICICI Site
https://infinity.icicibank.co.in/BANKAWAY?Action.RetUser.Init.001=Y&AppSignonBankId=ICI&AppType=corporate&abrdPrf=N

Security Tips for using ICICI Account
1. Always type the link of www.icicibank.com and never click on any link in any email.
2. Never Access Banking Account from any Cyber Cafe.
3. Any bank never asks you for password or PIN via email.

New email scam targetting Standard Chartered Bank Customers

2007-11-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

This mail was received from the email id : customerservicestandardcharteredbank.co.in@mail.worldispnetwork.com

The email which asks customers to provide their account details on a website provided by the fraudsters reads as follows:

Dear Valued Standard Chartered Bank Customers:

Standard Chartered Bank always look forward for the high security of our clients. During our regularly scheduled
account maintenance and verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your account
information.This might be due to either of the following reasons:

1. A recent change in your personal information.
2. Submitting invalid information during the initial sign in process.

Due to this, you are requested to please update and verify your information by clicking the link below:

http://www.standardgateways.com/inside.html

Regards

Customer Support
Standard Chartered Bank.
Standard Chartered offers Private Banking services to high net worth individuals and institutions. Our team of
seasoned financial and investment professionals provide objective guidance backed by thorough research and
in-depth analysis keeping in mind your financial goals.

Highest Paying Google AdSense Keywords Hoax

2007-11-03T01:17:00.000-07:00

Description

Is it possible to find out what google adwords pay the most? I've decided to research the topic and my findings so far show that many sites claiming that they know the most paid keywords are a hoax (usually the free ones). Read on for details.

Published: Apr 28 2006

Highest Paying Google AdSenseKeywords Hoax

A friend sent me a list of supposedly highest paying keywords for contextual advertising. I wonder is this true or whether this is just a gimmick to make other people believe so... and me supporting the hype by reproducing it here? For your amusement the partial list is at the end of this article. (and don't be surprised if google actually serves you those ads matching those keywords.)

Assuming that whoever produced this list is correct, by looking at the data one can tell that NY and Chicago lawyers are willing to pay a lot of money to get a potential customer via online ads.

But can someone explain why mesothelioma is in the top rank? Is it because people are afraid to get it? Or is it because many people have it already?

Luckily Google doesn't allow porn ads, otherwise we would have been drowning in nasty ads, which probably would have had the highest click rate ever.

The list

Here is a partial list:

  $78.30 chicago personal injury lawyer
$73.01 chicago personal injury attorney
$69.17 lasik new york city
$64.27 new york personal injury lawyer
$64.17 new jersey car insurance
$63.10 new york personal injury attorney
$61.64 chicago personal injury lawyers
$61.17 mesothelioma lawyers
$60.74 atlanta personal injury lawyer
$60.29 new york personal injury lawyers
$59.00 lasik dallas
$58.68 new york personal injury lawyers
$58.38 miami personal injury attorney
$58.25 what is mesothelioma
$58.08 best equity loan
$57.95 lasik new york
$56.88 whole life insurance quote
$56.75 new york car insurance
[...]
$53.46 whole life insurance quotes
$53.42 car insurance in new jersey
$53.12 las vegas personal injury lawyer
$53.12 term life insurance quotes
$52.57 mesothelioma treatments
$52.41 equity loan rate
$51.78 equity loan
$51.50 new york personal injury lawyer
$51.29 equity loan rates
$51.15 fixed rate equity loan
$50.54 causes of mesothelioma
[...]
$45.33 los angeles botox
$45.07 new lasik
$44.86 fixed equity loan
$44.51 san diego personal injury attorney
$44.19 125 equity loans
$43.58 mesothelioma cases
$43.57 car insurance in new york
$42.97 equity refinance
$42.70 asbestos and mesothelioma
$42.52 auto insurance quote
[...]
$40.47 [cosmetic surgery los angeles]
$40.04 personal injury attorney atlanta
$39.67 car insurance california
$39.66 oregon personal injury lawyer
$39.43 auto insurance
$39.35 albany personal injury lawyer
$39.21 fixed equity loans
$39.11 personal injury lawyers
$38.84 ameriquest mortgage
$38.31 auto insurance quotes
$38.19 mortgage refinance
$38.17 lump sum settlement
$37.43 cause of mesothelioma
[...]

I wonder whether I should research topics about lawyers and mesothelioma :)

Hoax Revealed

After receiving this list, I've googled for "Highest Paying Google AdSense Keywords" and apparently there is a lot of sites out there suggesting those words, most seem to concentrate on mesothelioma and lawyers but the prices seem to vary. I'm still puzzled how did they find out that information?

OK, I think I've figured it out: many of those sites seem to be a hoax. The source seem to be coming from: hxxp://www.cwire.org/highest-paying-search-terms/, but it will just trick you into clicking on some auto-generated content. Bad boy. No cookie.

Further search reveals more sites advertising similar hoaxes. Oh well, the nature of the internet -- you get both: the good and the less good.

One forum (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2301) has suggested something that may give you an idea on the subject of keywords, but this thread is very dated. For example it suggests to go to http://www.google.com/adwords and try bidding at words and see which one come with a high price tag. Another user suggested to use Overture http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/USm/search/tools/bidtool/.

But even that thread concludes that those techniques don't really work and suggests:

 You shouldn't be building pages for
AdSense. You should be putting
AdSense ads on pages with lots of good content. Build the pages for
the reader, optimize them for the Search Engines, then you will get
visitors who are interested in the content and will be interested in
the AdSense ads. That is how you get a good CTR and that is how you
make money with AdSense.

and I totally agree with that.

Microsoft Lottery Scam

2007-10-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a sample of the letter supposed to be send my microsoft lottery team thats making rounds nowadays.
All users are requested not to fall for it and reveal your confidential information to these scamsters

Microsoft Lottery Team
MICROSOFT AWARD PROMOTION DEPARTMENT
#1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052.
Ref: BTD/968/07
Batch: 409978E

The prestigious Microsoft and AOL has set out and successfully
organized a Sweeps takes marking the yearly anniversary. You
are among five others selected winners under draws 6+J promo
program specially organized by the Microsoft Award Department.
Your e-mail address was attach to the ticket number 008995727495
in the Random Computer Selection System (RCSS). However your
email flagged out the lucky numbers 14-21-25-40-40-47(21) and
won you the sum of (£500,000 GBP) in certified cheque credited
to File No:SBTD/9080648302/06.

You are advised to provide our claims agent Mr Peter Garry
with the following information below:

Name_______
Address_______
Country_________
Telphone Number_______
Occupation________
Batch Number_________
References Number_______
Amount Won__________

Mr Peter Garry (Microsoft Claim Agent)
E-mail: pgarry01@yahoo.co.uk
Telphone Number: +44 704 571 5501

Regards,

Microsoft Lottery Team

More on Nigerian Scam

2007-09-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

Scam: A wealthy foreigner who needs help moving millions of dollars from his homeland promises a hefty percentage of this fortune as a reward for assisting him.

Status: Real fraud which costs its victim anywhere from a few thousand dollars up to hundreds of thousands.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2000]

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'. I AM SURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR ABILITY AND RELIABILITY TO PROSECUTE A TRANSACTION OF THIS GREAT MAGNITUDE INVOLVING A PENDING TRANSACTION REQUIRING MAXIIMUM CONFIDENCE.

WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA. IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TRANSFER INTO YOUR ACCOUNT THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS.

THE SOURCE OF THIS FUND IS AS FOLLOWS; DURING THE LAST MILITARY REGIME HERE IN NIGERIA, THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SET UP COMPANIES AND AWARDED THEMSELVES CONTRACTS WHICH WERE GROSSLY OVER-INVOICED IN VARIOUS MINISTRIES. THE PRESENT CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT SET UP A CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL AND WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A LOT OF INFLATED CONTRACT FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY FLOATING IN THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA READY FOR PAYMENT.

HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS CIVIL SERVANTS AND MEMBERS OF THIS PANEL, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS MONEY IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE PANEL TO LOOK FOR AN OVERSEAS PARTNER INTO WHOSE ACCOUNT WE WOULD TRANSFER THE SUM OF US$21,320,000.00(TWENTY ONE MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS). HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE ACCOUNT OWNER 2. 70% FOR US (THE OFFICIALS) 3. 10% TO BE USED IN SETTLING TAXATION AND ALL LOCAL AND FOREIGN EXPENSES. IT IS FROM THE 70% THAT WE WISH TO COMMENCE THE IMPORTATION BUSINESS.

PLEASE,NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE TO COMMENCE THE TRANSFER LATEST SEVEN (7) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIOM BY TEL/FAX; 234-1-7740449, YOUR COMPANY'S SIGNED, AND STAMPED LETTERHEAD PAPER THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF CLAIM AND JOB DESCRIPTION RESPECTIVELY. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY'S NAME TO APPLY FOR PAYMENT AND RE-AWARD THE CONTRACT IN YOUR COMPANY'S NAME.

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

DR CLEMENT OKON

NOTE; PLEASE QUOTE THIS REFERENCE NUMBER (VE/S/09/99) IN ALL YOUR RESPONSES.

Origins: Even as you read this, the world famous Nigerian Scam (also known as a "4-1-9" or "Advance Fee Fraud" scheme) is parting yet more of the 'something for nothing' crowd from their money.

Here's how it works: Letters (or, nowadays, e-mail messages) postmarked from Nigeria (or Sierra Leone, or the Ivory Coast, or almost any other foreign nation) are sent to addresses taken from large mailing lists. The letters promise rich rewards for helping officials of that government (or bank, or quasi-government agency or sometimes just members of a particular family) out of an embarrassment or a legalproblem. Typically, the pitch includes mention of multi-million dollar sums, with the open promise that you will be permitted to keep a startling percentage of the funds you're going to aid in squirreling away for these disadvantaged foreigners.

If you're not saying "scam" by now, you should be. Should you agree to participate in this international bail-out, something will go wrong. Paperwork will be delayed. Questions will be asked. Officials will need to be bribed. Money from you — an insignificant sum, really, in light of the windfall about to land in your lap — will be required to get things back on track. You pay, you wait for the transfer . . . and all you'll get in return are more excuses about why the funds are being held up and assurances that everything can be straightened out if you'll just send a bit more cash to help the process along. Once your bank account has been sucked dry or you start making threats, you'll never hear from these Nigerians again. As for the money you've thrown at this, it's gone forever.

In a nutshell, the con works by blinding the victim with promises of an unimaginable fortune. Once the sucker is sufficiently glittery-eyed over the prospect of becoming fabulously rich, he is squeezed for however much money he has. This he parts with willingly, thinking "What's $5,000 here or $10,000 there when I'm going to end up with $2 million when this is all done?" He fails to realize during the sting that he's never going to get the promised fortune; all of this messing around is designed to part him from his money.

In another form taken by the Nigerian scam, a church or religious organization is contacted by a wealthy foreigner who says he desires nothing more than to leave his considerable fortune to that particular group. Maybe he says he's led a life of sin and is now trying to make good, or maybe he claims that as a devout Christian he heard about their good works and wants to leave his money to help continue them, but whatever the backstory, it's just a tale. Once again, there will be delays, each of them necessitating the "beneficiary" to spend a few thousand here and a few thousand there in an effort to collect money that never materializes.

In a 2002 version of the con, the victim is informed he has just won an important prize in a foreign lottery he doesn't remember entering. Only when he tries to collect the money is he approached for payment of facilitation fees to get his winnings to him. It's the same con, with just a few elements unimportant to the execution of the thievery changed about.

The scam is known as the Nigerian scam, but many countries are routinely named as the homelands the appeals originate from. Likewise, the backstory, the tale that supposedly explains how these people came into possession of this incredible sum and why they now need help getting it out of wherever, changes from one e-mail to the next. There are hundreds of versions in existence, each naming different people, describing different situations, and coming from a myriad of far-flung countries. Forget about matching one backstory to another or being suspicious of e-mails from Nigerians but not applying the same caution to approaches from folks from other places — grasp instead the general principle of the scam: Someone from someplace far away wants to give you (or your church) millions of dollars but needs your help in moving the money from there to here. It doesn't matter if the letter says it came from Sri Lanka and the "funds" that need moving are gold bricks or uncut diamonds — it's the Nigerian scam. Don't let the naming blind you to that.

Once the scam is explained, it seems so obvious a con that you'd wonder who would fall for it. Yet fall for it people do because they're mesmerized by the wealth that will soon be theirs. They also fail to realize there's a hook hanging just out of sight; at first all they see is that someone wants to give them something, thus they're ill-prepared to mentally shift gears when that person turns the tables. Because the premise of "I'm going to get millions of dollars" is wholeheartedly swallowed early on, it's not at a later point questioned when things begin to go wrong with the transaction and the dupes who have been targeted are asked to dig up some funds to help move things along.

The Nigerian scam is hugely successful. According to a 1997 newspaper article:

"We have confirmed losses just in the United States of over $100 million in the last 15 months," said Special Agent James Caldwell, of the Secret Service financial crimes division. "And that's just the ones we know of. We figure a lot of people don't report them."

But this is a new scam, right? People are falling for it because they've yet to catch on?

Wrong. Very, very wrong.

The Nigerian Scam has been emptying the pockets of victims for decades — first through letters, then with faxes, and now via e-mail. In its earliest incarnation — which dates to the 1920s — it was known as 'The Spanish Prisoner' con. In that long-ago version, businessmen were contacted by someone trying to smuggle the scion of a wealthy family out of a prison in Spain. But of course the wealthy family would shower with riches those who helped secure the release of the boy. Those who were suckered into this paid for one failed rescue attempt after another, with the fictitious prisoner continuing to languish in his non-existent dungeon, always just one more bribe, one more scheme, one more try, away from being released.

These days it's trapped funds not errant sons of well-to-do families that are the objects of these global wild goose chases, but the con is the same. The undisputed headquarters of the scam is Nigeria, with some of the cons progressing so far as to have the victims fly to that country to meet with the "officials" they are purportedly assisting. Things got so out of hand, in fact, that in 1991 the Nigerian government felt compelled to issue a statement disavowing its participation in this scheme:

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Thursday that swindlers using Nigerian names had extorted millions of dollars from people in the United States, Asia and Europe under the guise of transferring cash abroad.

The elaborate fraud involves fake official approval to transfer up to 15 million dollars in excess claims on bogus Nigerian contracts as well as pledges to cut the claims amount for help in the use of offshore bank accounts.

A CBN statement warned foreign companies and businessmen not to fall for the confidence trick, saying that the bank had been surprised and embarrassed by enquiries relating to the fraud. "The bank has no knowledge or record whatsoever of the purported claims or transfers, or even the related alleged contracts," it said.

Ah, but is it the same scheme? You tell me:

British companies are being warned against a get-rich-quick scam involving thousands of letters sent from firms based in Nigeria.

The letters ask UK firms to assist in the transfer of funds from Nigeria to Britain — by sending signed headed paper, invoices and bank account details — in return for a cut of the sum transferred. Instead of transferring sums, the UK firm's money is removed by the fraudsters. Scotland Yard says that some companies have lost thousands of pounds in this way. About 25,000 letters are circulating in the UK. But the scale of the losses - which could run to many millions according to the Confederation of British Industry - is masked because some victims are ashamed to admit that they took part in such schemes in the first place.

The real Central Bank of Nigeria tries to warn people about this scam, but it's a case of the guy with the broom following the elephant — the elephant always gets there first. They even placed a half-page ad explaining the scam and warning off those who might be tempted to fall for it in major U.S. newspapers, such as the 27 October 1998 issue of the Los Angeles Times. That ad mentioned some new variations on the old scheme:

A recent variation of the scam directed primarily at charitable organisations and religious bodies overseas involves bogus inheritance under a will. Again the sole aim is to collect the 'advance fees' already described above. A new strategy that has also been used to defraud the 'victims' is to offer to use chemicals to transform ordinary paper into United States dollar bills, which would be subsequently shared by the parties.

Should you have occasion to feel something's not quite right about a deal being offered, drop by the websites of both the Better Business Bureau and the National Fraud Information Center.

Salon.com editor Douglas Cruickshank also penned "I crave your distinguished indulgence (and all your cash)," a wonderful textual analysis of Nigerian fraud messages.

The Secret Service asks if you have been victimized by the Nigerian scam to forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail. Per their automated response system, they no longer want faxed copies of the various Nigerian scams.

However, it needs be pointed out there is only so much the Secret Service or any law enforcement agency can do if the perpetrators of the scam are not within their jurisdiction. Your local police department cannot send officers to Nigeria to arrest the fellows who are attempting to con you out of your life savings any more than Nigerian police could show up on your doorstep to put the handcuffs on you.

Folks angered by Nigerian scam come-ons often want to see justice done and done quickly, yet often there is little that can be done because those behind the thefts are in other parts of the world. Ergo, the best protection is an awareness that the laws of your country are not always enforceable in other lands, so it behooves to you always proceed with caution when dealing with people or business entities in foreign locales.

Anti-Virus, AntiHoax, AntiMyth, AntiFraud, AntiChain Letter and Anti-Spam Resources and Sites

2007-09-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Current Advisories, Alerts and Warnings

Attack Registry Intelligence Service
http://aris.securityfocus.com/

CDC Current Health-Related Hoaxes and Rumors
http://www.cdc.gov/hoax_rumors.htm

CDC Emergency Preparedness & Response Site
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/

Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (CERT/CC) Current Activity
http://www.cert.org/current/current_activity.html

Current Yahoo Full Coverage News
http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/fc/Tech/Computer_Viruses/

Internet Alerts
http://www.internetalerts.info/

OSVDB: The Open Source Vulnerability Database
http://www.osvdb.org/

SANS Global Incident Analysis Center
http://isc.incidents.org/

Secunia - Vulnerability and Virus Information and Alerts
http://secunia.com/

US-CERT - National Computer Emergency Response Team
http://www.us-cert.gov/

Worm Radar
http://wormradar.com/

xForce - World's #1 Resource for Computer Threats and Vulnerability
http://xforce.iss.net/

AntiHoax and AntiVirus Sites

About.com Antivirus Resources
http://antivirus.about.com/compute/antivirus/AntiVirus

AntiOnline - Maximum Security for a Connected World
http://www.antionline.com/

AntiVirus and Hoax Warnings Page from Data Fellows
http://www.datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm

AntiVirus for Exchange Server
http://www.gfi.com/mailsecurity/

AntiVirus Research and Scientific Papers from IBM Research
http://www.research.ibm.com/antivirus/SciPapers.htm

Anti-Virus.com Information
http://www.anti-virus.com/

Doug Muth's Anti-Virus Help Page
http://www.claws-and-paws.com/virus/

Eddy Willems Free Anti-Virus Consultancy Comprehensive List
http://users.pandora.be/wavci/

Handling Internet Hoaxes from the Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet Phenomena
http://www.setileague.org/otherweb/hoaxes.htm

Hoaxbusters
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HoaxBustersHome.html

Hoax du Jour
http://www.korova.com/virus/hoax.htm

Hoax Encyclopedia
http://antivirus.about.com/library/blenhoax.htm

HoaxKill
http://www.hoaxkill.com/

Hoax Viruses
http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp

Hoax Warnings from DataFellows
http://www.datafellows.com/news/hoax/

Hoax Warnings from F-Secure
http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/

Hoaxes and Other Bad Information in the News
http://www.virtualchase.com/quality/hoaxes_in_the_news.html

Hoaxes and Scares
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/

Hoaxes Archives from the Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Folklore/Hoaxes/

Hype or Hot
http://www.trusecure.com/knowledge/hypeorhot/

Identifying Hoaxes
http://www.philb.com/hoaxes.htm

Indiana University Knowledge Base Virus Hoaxes
http://kb.indiana.edu/data/afjv.html

Internet Hoax Watch
http://www.healthcentral.com/Centers/OneCenter.cfm?Center=Internet%5FHoax%5FWatch

Jerkz
http://www.jerkz.com/

Library of Spoof, Forged, Bogus and Hoax eMail Scams and Web Pages or Sites
http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/identitytheft/spoof-email-and-spoof-web-page-library.htm

Lies, Damn Lies and ICQ Messages
http://diamond-back.com/icqlies.html

McAfee Hoaxes
http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Purportal.com - The Bunk Stops Here
http://purportal.com/index.php

Symantec Security Response Hoax Page
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

Stiller Research Virus Hoax News
http://www.stiller.com/hoaxes.htm

Spyware Warrior
http://netrn.net/spywareblog

The Antivirus Defense-in-Depth Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/guidance/avdind_0.mspx

The Real Truth
http://home.cfl.rr.com/realtruth/

Trend Micro Hoax Encyclopedia
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoax.asp

Truth Miners
http://www.TruthMiners.com/truth/

Truth or Fiction
http://www.truthorfiction.com/

US-CERT Computer Virus Resources
http://www.us-cert.gov/other_sources/viruses.html

Virus Bulletin - Hoaxes
http://www.virusbtn.com/resources/hoaxes/

Virus Busters
http://www.itd.umich.edu/virusbusters/

Virus Encyclopedia AVP
http://www.avp.ch/avpve/

Virus Hoax Busters
http://www.stockhelp.net/virus.html

Virus-L comp.virus Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/faq/

vMyths.com
http://www.vmyths.com/

AntiMyth Sites

Computer Virus Myths Home Page
http://www.vmyths.com/

The AFU and Urban Legends Archive
http://www.urbanlegends.com/

Urban Legend Combat Kit
http://netsquirrel.com/combatkit/

Urban Legends and Folklore from About.com
http://urbanlegends.about.com/

Urban Legends Reference Pages
http://www.snopes.com/

AntiFraud Sites

Anti-Phishing Working Group
http://www.antiphishing.org/

Better Business Bureau
http://www.bbb.org/

Consumer Action Website
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/crh/respref.htm

Crimes of Persuasion: Telemarketing and Investment Frauds
http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/

CyberCrime
http://www.cybercrime.gov/

Cyber Criminals Most Wanted
http://www.ccmostwanted.com/

CyberFraud and Internet Fraud
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm

Direct Fraud
http://www.directfraud.com/

Economic Crime Investigation Institute
http://www.ecii.edu/

Fair Credit Billing
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fcb.htm

Federal Trade Commission - eCommerce and the Internet
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menu-internet.htm

Fraud Bureau
http://www.fraudbureau.com/

Identity Theft
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

Identity Theft Resources Center
http://www.idtheftcenter.org/local.shtml

Internet Detective
http://sosig.ac.uk/desire/internet-detective.html

Internet Fraud
http://www.internetfraud.usdoj.gov/

Internet Fraud Complaint Center
http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

Internet Fraud: How to Avoid Internet Investment Scams
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm

Internet ScamBusters
http://www.scambusters.org/

Internet Scams
http://www.internetscams.info/

Jerkz.com Public Awareness Project
http://www.jerkz.com/

Links to Consumer Information Resources
http://consumer.net/linkscon.asp

National Fraud Information Center
http://www.fraud.org/

NetScalped.com
http://www.NetScalped.com/

Quack Watch
http://www.quackwatch.org/

RipOffs.org - Complaints
http://www.ripoffs.org/

ScamHound
http://www.ScamHound.com/

SEC Investor Fraud Warnings
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm

Spam and Phishing: Public Policy Report
http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=155

Spoof eMail Hoax Scams and Web Pages
http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/

Strider URL Tracer with Typo-Patrol
http://research.microsoft.com/URLTracer/

U.S. Consumer Gateway: Your Money
http://www.consumer.gov/yourmoney.htm

Virtual Feedback
http://www.virtualfeedback.com/

Where to Complain About Frauds and Scams
http://www.elsop.com/wrc/complain.htm

WebAssured.com
http://www.webassured.com/

WiredSafety
http://www.wiredsafety.org/

WorldWide Scam Network
http://www.worldwidescam.com/

Zone Patrol
http://www.zonepatrol.com/

AntiChain Letter Sites

BreakTheChain.org - Stop Junk E-Mail and Misinformation
http://www.BreakTheChain.org/

Chain Letters on the Internet
http://athos.rutgers.edu/~watrous/chain-letters.html

Internet Chain Letters from Computer Incident Advisory Capability
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

Anti-SPAM Sites

alt.spam FAQ
http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/net-abuse-faq/spam-faq.html

Anti-Spam Solutions and Security, Part 2 by Dr. Neal Krawetz
http://securityfocus.com/infocus/1766

Ban Spam
http://banspam.javawoman.com/index.html

BrightMail
http://www.brightmail.com/

Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE)
http://www.cauce.org/

Consumer Information Organization's ConsumerNet
http://consumer.net/

Council for Responsible E-mail (CRE) - Association for Interactive Marketing (AIM)
http://www.interactivehq.org/councils/CRE/

FairUCE
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/fairuce

Fight Spam on the Internet
http://spam.abuse.net/

Jetable.org - Anti-Spam Solution
http://www.jetable.org/en/index

Junk eMail Resource Page
http://www.junkemail.org/

Mail Abuse Prevention System
http://www.mail-abuse.org/

Project Honey Pot
http://www.projecthoneypot.org/

SamSpade
http://www.samspade.org/

Spam and Phishing: Public Policy Report
http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=155

SpamArchive
http://www.spamarchive.org/

SpamBot Beware
http://www.turnstep.com/Spambot/

SpamBully
http://www.spambully.com/

SpamButcher
http://www.spambutcher.com/

SpamCop
http://spamcop.net/

Spam Laws
http://www.spamlaws.com/

SPAMfighter
http://www.spamfighter.com/

SpamFighter
http://www.spamfighter.org/

Spam Laws
http://www.spamlaws.com/

spamNEWS
http://petemoss.com/spam/

StopSpam.org
http://www.stopspam.org/suespammers.org

UXN Spam Combat
http://combat.uxn.com/index.html

Zero Spam Network
http://www.0spam.net/

Anti-Vandal, Computer and Network Security Resources

BigFix
http://www.bigfix.com/

BugNet The World's Leading Supplier of PC Bug Fixes
http://www.bugnet.com/

Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security
http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/

Computer Cops
http://www.computercops.biz/

CyberNotes
http://www.nipc.gov/cybernotes/cybernotes.htm

GFI Email Security Testing Zone
http://www.emailsecuritytest.com/

The Security Assurance Company
http://www.trusecure.com/

UK Information Security
http://www.uk-information-security.co.uk/

Articles and Papers

Fraud and Deception on the Internet
http://marylaine.com/lies.html

FYI 28 Netiquette Guidelines
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/fyi/fyi28.html

FYI35 - Don't Spew
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/fyi/fyi35.html

Internet Web Hosting Scams and "Free" Hosting Ripoffs by Lori Eldridge
http://www.loriswebs.com/internethostingscams.html

Netiquette Home Page
http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/netiquette.html

Mailing List Manners 101
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05386

Netiquette Home Page from Albion.com
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/

Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT®) Alerts

CERT® - Coordination Center Alerts
http://www.cert.org/nav/alerts.html

CERT®/CC - Incident Notes
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New Phishing Site : this time HDFC

2007-08-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

After targetting ICICI and Axis bank the phishers have turned to HDFC.
This is a sample of the mail that you might get,

Dear Hdfc NetBanking Customer,

Account Status Notification

We are contacting you to remind you that our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with HDFC Bank User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been accessed from fraudulent locations, access to your account has been limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved please log in your account or click on the link bellow:

My Account Activity

© Copyright HDFC Bank Ltd,

An Unsuspecting HDFC bank customer, who clicks on this link will be taken to the following site which looks exactly like the HDFC net banking interface and will be asked to enter his internet banking details.

http://www.rilumedia.com/photographybyjurgen/cms/files/hdfc.html

So those who recieve this mail please report it to the concerned bank .

'Killer' SMS hoax doing rounds

2007-08-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, an SMS started doing the rounds of cellphones. It urged people not to accept calls from a few numbers listed in the message.

If a call originated from any of these numbers, the message said, it would show up on their cellphone screens in red. On taking the call, the message added, a high-frequency sound would emanate.

It could cause the brain to haemorrhage and even kill. "27 persons died just on receiving these calls from these numbers," it added for good measure.

"Inform to al your friends relatives soon," it concluded. A few TV channels fell for the hoax. That translated into breathless anchors telling their equally beady-eyed viewers what numbers not to accept calls from. The message gained credibility. In public interest, though, The Times of India bravely dialled the five numbers listed in the message.

This writer survived to tell the tale. Three numbers do not exist. But two do. Both, however, went unanswered. Chances are, those who own the numbers have stopped taking calls, exasperated by a few hundred curious bravehearts.

That said, as far as hoaxes go, this particular one has an interesting history. In June 2004, an email started doing the rounds of the internet. It claimed to be a "confidential, internal document" leaked from Nokia's headquarters and was purportedly signed by the company's CEO Jorma Ollila.

The note said: "It is my sad duty to inform you that these rumours are true." A few paragraphs of assorted rubbish later, the note ended on an ominous note.

"As far as I am concerned, the loss of life is an acceptable risk we must face, in order to sell our products and keep our business alive." The prankster who created the email was inspired by a 2002 Hollywood flick called The Ring. It didn't take much for the e-mail to find its way into the internet's Museum of Hoaxes. Still archived on technology websites like Gizmodo, the urban legend now elicits a few chuckles.

But stories, like cockroaches, don't die easy. A few months later, it resurfaced in Nigeria and spread like wildfire. A few weeks of pacifying later, life got back to normal, and the story went back to history. Two years later, it came back to life in Pakistan.

This time around, though, the message claimed 20 people had died. The Pakistani clergy took this as a sign from above. Many mosques in Karachi started to warn the faithful of God's wrath. It took a joint effort by telecom operators in Pakistan to assuage people's fears and give the story one more burial. But the story simply jumped borders and invaded Afghanistan.

An angry government quickly blamed the Taliban for stoking fear. At a press conference called by the authorities to squash the SMS, a spokesperson for Afghanistan's interior ministry said: "I find it necessary to assure people that the rumour spreading around the city is absolute nonsense. It is the work of the enemy."

While it is not known how the Taliban responded to the accusation, the story found its way to Kuwait, and is now on Indian soil.

An Offer You Can't Refuse

2007-07-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

You get a letter from a stranger in another country who tells you he or she has millions of dollars stored in a bank somewhere, but can't access because of legal restrictions. He'll split the money with you if you help him get it out of the country. Sound too good to be true?

SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT

From: oseni mustapha [mailto:mustty2@yahoo.com] Subject: STRICTLY PERSONAL

I AM MAKING THIS CONTACT WITH PROFOUND INTEREST, HAVING CONSIDERED YOU HIGHLY REPUTABLE AND CAPABLE OF ASSISTANCE TO MY UNDERSTATED BUSINESS PROPOSAL AFTER GOING THROUGH A BRIEF PROFILE OF YOUR COMPANY HERE IN THE GHANA INTERNATIONAL TRADE AFFAIRS COMMISSION.

I AM OLIVER KABILA FROM THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO ZAIRE, SON OF LATE LAURENT M. KABILA, THE FORMER PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES REPUBLIC OF CONGO ZAIRE. PRESENTLY TAKING REFUGE HERE IN ACCRA GHANA (WEST AFRICA) AFTER THE SUDDEN DEMISE OF MY FATHER, FOLLOWING HIS ASSASINATION BY HIS PERSONAL BODY GUARD ON THE 16TH JANUARY 2001. I REFER YOU TO THE TIME MAGAZINE COVER STORY OF THE 12TH OF FEBRUARY.

ON TRUST AND IN UTMOST CONFIDENCE, I AM ESTABLISHING THIS RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU IN BENEVOLENT SPIRIT AS TO ENHANCE IMMEDIATE RESOLUTION TO AN OPPORTUNITY RIGHTLY AT HAND. IN A CLOSE DOOR MEETING HELD WITH MY FATHER BEFORE HIS SUDDEN DEATH, HE DISCLOSED TO ME CERTAIN FACTS AND SECRETS ABOUT HIMSELF AND THAT OF MY STEP-BROTHER GENERAL JOSEPH KABILA (I MEAN THE PRESENT PRESIDENT OF MY COUNTRY). CERTAIN DOCUMENTS WAS GIVEN TO ME THAT DAY BY MY FATHER REGARDING 1000KG OF 22 KARATS GOLD WHICH HE DEPOSITED IN A PRIVATE VAULT OF A SECURITY FIRM HERE IN GHANA. IN ADDITION, $168 MILLION USA DOLLARS CASH IN TWO TRUNK BOXES ALSO IN THE VAULT. THE $168 MILLION USD WAS TO BE USED TO WORK ON LEADERS OF THE ECOWAS COMMUNITY, ENHANCING HIS FULL SUPPORT IN POWER. BUT THIS AIM WAS NOT ACHIEVED BEFORE HIS DEATH.

THE ISSUE OF THIS MONEY AND THE GOLD HAS BEEN A SECRET BETWEEN MY FATHER AND I UNTILL HE DIED. THEREFORE, I AM TAKING THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENRICH AND EQUIP MYSELF TO FACE MY SECRET AMBITION. AS NOBODY CAN CONVINCE ME THAT MY STEP-BROTHER (JOSEPH) IS NOT BEHIND THE DEATH OF MY FATHER.

I HAVE SINCE BEEN IN THIS TOWN IN PURSUANCE OF THE CLEARANCE OF THIS CONSIGNMENT AND I AM SO FAR ABLE TO CLEARIFY/CERTIFY ALL PAPERS WITH THE SECURITY COMPANY (WHERE THE CONSIGNMENT IS BEING KEPT IN A PRIVATE VAULT). I HAVE INSPECTED THE BOX BUT COULD NOT OPEN IT DUE TO SECURITY REASONS. BECAUSE MY FATHER DID NOT DECLARE THE CONTENT AS MONEY BUT PERSONAL EFFECTS.

ALL I NEED NOW IS A RELIABLE FOREIGN PARTNER WITH WHOM I CAN CLEAR AND TRANSFER THIS MONEY ABROAD.I HAVE AGREED TO GIVE A REASONABLE PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL VALUE OF THIS CONSIGNMENT AS YOUR SHARE. YOU MAY ASK IF I DON'T HAVE INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS TO ASSIST ME ON THIS ISSUE. THE ANSWER IS YES, BUT I HAVE AN AMBITION RIGHT NOW AND WANT TO LIVE IN DISGUISE UNTILL MY AMBITION IS FULFILLED.

I EXPECT YOUR KIND URGENT RESPONSE BY PHONE OR EMAIL: mustty2@yahoo.com OR mustty1@yahoo.com TO ENABLE ME FURNISH YOU WITH MORE DETAILS ON THIS BUSINESS.

THANKS IN ANTICIPATION.

OLIVER KABILA CELL PHONE: + 233 24260633 (ON 24HRS)

NB: I SHALL COUNT ON YOUR INDULGENCE TO PLEASE KEEP THIS INFORMATION VERY SECRET & CONFIDENTIAL. AND PLEASE, YOU SHOULD HENCEFORTH ADDRESS ME AS MR. MUSTAPHA OSENI. THAT IS THE NAME I AM NOW USING FOR SECURITY REASONS.

END CHAIN LETTER TEXT

Variations of this scam have been bilking Americans - and others around the world - out of millions of dollars each year for decades. Originating in Western Africa, it's most often referred to as the "Nigerian" or "4-1-9" scam after the section of Nigerian law that forbids it. More broadly, it's called "advanced fee fraud" and is very much against the law virtually everywhere.

Originally targeted at businesses and charitable organizations, the scam has mutated to target individuals as well. Judging from the dozens of different versions of it BreakTheChain has received over the past month, it's spreading like wildfire. The names and particulars differ from letter to letter, but the formula is always the same:

"I am writing you in confidence in hopes that you can help with a business venture. Because of my ties with a foreign government or bank, I have come into a sizeable fortune. Unfortunately, social, political and/or legal restrictions prohibit me from accessing the money directly. But you can help me and, in return, I will share the wealth with you. Just contact me to let me know if you are interested."

SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT

Sir,

Blessing to you and the Church in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that this letter will come as a surprise to you but I pray that you find in your heart the time and will to help me pray and ask the Lord for forgiveness of my sins for I have sinned. I have killed, raped, and done a lot of unforgivable things that I cannot but bow my head in shame, so please brother, help pray for my soul and me.

My name is KALUMBA DAVID alias '' Terror'' special Military assistant to the late president Laurent Kabila of the democratic republic of Congo. I will be 35years this year and out of this years 16 years was spent in the bush fighting as a Guerilla. All these years my total devotion was to the late President. I stole, killed and committed all kind of atrocities. When eventually we succeeded in over- running the Late Mobutu Sese Sekos army, I was handsomely rewarded with the position of special military assistance of the President. Aside being his Chief Security officer, I was also charged with the responsibility of ensuring steady purchase and supply of arms from South Africa.

A week before the death of the late President I was in South Africa with a total sum of $12.5 million dollars cash which was brought in through a diplomatic means. This money was to effect the payment of shipment of long-range anti-tanker launchers to my country before I learnt of the sudden death of the president. My initial reaction was to deposit this money with a security deposit Company here in South Africa, which I did, and rush back to Congo. It was in the process of my arrangement to travel back to Congo that something happened to me. I met a cab driver that talked to me about the Lord and wonders of his son Jesus Christ. Since that very day I have never been the same, I keep hearing cries of little Children every night I sleep and I keep seeing this big house dripping of blood in my dreams.

I feel my sins are catching up with me; my past is out to hunt me. I have prayed to the Lord for forgiveness of my sins and to the glory of the Lord I have not touched this money...

END CHAIN LETTER TEXT

...and so on. Here's one more chapter in the "Kabila" family soap opera:

SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT

FROM: MRS, MARIA KABILA.

I am very much interested to enter into a mutual business relationship with you, after going through your company's profile yesterday. I AM MARIA KABILA a widow and also the second wife of the late PRESIDENT OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRO) president LAURENT DESIRE KABILA, who was assassinated on January 16th by one of his security aids. I am under several pressures from this present military Government headed by the first son of my late husband GENERAL JOSEPH KABILA, who felt victimized due to the family problems between his biological mother and I. He has probing my family financial resources and has gazetted all my family's properties. Just recently he seized all the known family deposited funds registered under my care by my late husband, through his appointed friend who was the Governor CENTRAL BANK OF CONGO (CBC).

However, I want to mandated to scout for a very reliable foreign investor participant with a solid back ground, who is not known as my associate who will help me to claim the total sum of $ 30.000.000.00USDollars currently with security company which I now intent to use for an investment out side my country Congo...

END CHAIN LETTER TEXT

These letters aren't limited to the reign of the late President Kabila. Quite often, they come addressed directly to you and use your name in the salutation. Don't be fooled, these scammers buy the same mailing lists that spammers do.

SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT

ATTN:SHARON,

First, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction, this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly CONFIDENTIAL and TOP SECRET. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. We have decided to contact you by e-mail due to the urgency of this transaction, as we have been reliably informed of it's swiftness and confidentiality.

Let me start by first introducing myself properly to you. I am Mr.Ibrahim Yusuf, a Manager at the Union Bank Nigeria PLC, Lagos. I came to know of you in my private search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential transaction which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign account requiring maximum confidence.

THE PROPOSITION:

A foreigner, late Engineer Johnson Creek, an Oil Merchant / contractor with the federal Govenment of Nigeria, until his death three years ago in a ghastly air crash, banked with us here at Union Bank PLC., Lagos, and had a closing balance of USD$38.M ( Thirty Eight Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) which the bank now unquestionably expects to be claimed by any of his available foreign next of kin or alternatively be donated to a discredited trust fund for alms and ammunition at a military war college here in Nigeria...

END CHAIN LETTER TEXT

There are literally hundreds of variations of this scam, and no one site could list them all. Other popular variations include an appeal to churches and a notice that you've won a foreign lottery you never entered.

The most frequent question I get is "do people really fall for this?" The answer is, sadly, yes. According to Internet Scambusters, in 1996, the United States Secret Service received 300-600 complaints from victims and potential victims each week! The lure of easy money can sometimes be way too much for some to resist. On the 'net, people often adopt an attitude of "It's probably not true, but I'll try it - What can it hurt?"

It hurts big time. Once you've initiated contact with these scammers, they will stop at nothing to get what they're after - access to your bank account. They will harass, threaten, and even use physical force to achieve their means. This is not a game, it is very serious. If it sounds like a scam, treat it like what it is: a crime. Report it immediately.

So, what should you do if you receive one? Most experts agree, the best thing to do is ignore them and hit the delete button. Many have told me, however, that they have (or at least were tempted to) reply to the sender just to let them know that they are "on to" them. However, this is highly inadvisable. These are not bored teenagers looking to score an easy buck. These are hardened, organized criminals who will not stop until they achieve their goal and will not be discouraged by threats of contacting the authorities. They see every response from you as an opportunity to exploit and aren't afraid to do so.

If you live in the United States and have received a letter like the above and lost money as a result, the US Secret serv asks that you contact your secret service field office. In other parts of the world, check with local consumer advocates and organizations investigating international crime to see if they are looking into this type of scam.

Don't be a victim. Break this Chain!

Backwards Thinking

2007-07-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

Items of convenience are frequently the subject of urban legends and bank ATM machines rank right up there with one of the most convenient inventions of modern times, so it is no wonder that there are many myths about how easy it would be for a criminal to exploit them. This one breaks the mold a bit, offering a supposedly easy way to thwart, or at least facilitate the apprehension of the thief.

SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT

ATM PIN NUMBER REVERSAL (GOOD TO KNOW)

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse. For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.

This information was recently broadcasted on TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don't know it exists.

Please pass this along to everyone possible.

END CHAIN LETTER TEXT

Many of the most popular chain letters about ATM dangers warn of clever schemes robbers can use to steal your card number, pin and, ultimately, cash without your knowledge and without the criminal even having to confront you. This chain, at least, recognizes that the most likely way a criminal will try to separate an innocent from his or her funds is the direct approach.

But, if you are ever forced to withdrawal money from an ATM by a criminal, can you assist in the theif's capture by simply reversing your PIN? Probably not.

This is a case of rumor getting slightly ahead of reality. Yes, the technology to make this a reality does exist and at least one lawmaker is championing the cause to have such a system put into action. Illinois attorney Joseph Zingher got the idea when he was in law school and was using an ATM in a dangerous part of town. He patented his concept in 1998.

Zingher proposed that every ATM account come with two PINs - the standard code to confirm ownership of the account and another, dubbed the SafetyPIN or PanicPIN, that would allow cash to be withdrawn, but also notify law enforcement that a crime was taking place at the location of the ATM. The most likely source of this second PIN would be to reverse the first, however Zingher's plan allows for the card holder to specify any code as the SafetyPIN (which would get around the problem of PINs that are the same in reverse as they are forward).

Legislation calling for the institution of a SafetyPIN-type system has been introduced in Kansas and Illinois, the Kansas bill failed, and the Illinois bill was so dilluted by bank industry lobbyists by passage that it made adoption optional. As of this writing, there are no other such legislation in the works and no banks or other financial institutions have implemented any such plan.

The bank industry has been very resistant to Zergher's plan. they argue that the average consumer may not have the clarity of mind in such a situation to successfully enter their alternate PIN and that efforts to do so might be seen by the criminal as resistance, thus increasing the risk of violence. They also contend that law enforcement would likely not be able to respond fast enough to catch the thief.

But the real reason behind the industry's reluctance may be much more straightforward. Implementation of the system would likely be expensive and the relatively low incidence of ATM crime just doesn't justify the cost. Many industry experts hint that they have their own solution in the works, but offer no details.

Until the better mousetrap can be built, we have to keep our defenses up. Always be alert of your surroundings when using an ATM and look for machines in well-lit, high traffic areas. If anyone approaches you, espeicially with a deadly weapon, and orders you to withdraw cash, law enforcement experts advise to give the crook exactly what he wants, then notify officials as soon as possible after the incident. Break this chain.

Merman / Mermaid Carcass Found on Beach

2007-07-19T01:26:00.000-07:00

Comments: Not to be pedantic, but mermaids -- supposedly half-fish, half-human creatures who live in the sea and lure enamored sailors to their death -- are a staple of myth and legend going back thousands of years. They don't exist.

On the other hand, there is a related tradition of slightly more recent origin, perhaps dating back 1,500 years, which consists of manufacturing fake mermaid carcasses for public display out of the body parts of dead monkeys and fish. The photographs you have just seen exemplify such a hoax.

Another specimen still in existence was fabricated in Japan and said to be 1,400 years old. Yet another, and certainly the most famous, is P.T. Barnum's Feejee Mermaid, an artifact purchased secondhand by the great showman in the mid-1800s and exhibited throughout the United States as a sideshow attraction. There is an uncanny similarity between all of these examples.

The glaring irony in all this mermaid fakery, however, is that the mummified specimens typically displayed are, without exception, hideous in appearance - "the incarnation of ugliness," as one American critic described Barnum's creature - while the classic mermaid of folklore and popular culture is invariably depicted as beautiful and alluring. It's a discrepancy no one ever bothers to explain.

Update: These same images circulated again in early 2005 in an email claiming the carcass was found washed up on a beach in Chennai, India in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004.

Sundarbans Ghost Chain Letter

2007-07-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

Email that includes an image of a ghostly girl in the Sundarbans claims that bad luck will befall those who do not forward the message
Example:(Received vie email, 2003)
Subject: Fw: Read before u view the picture - Believe it not

The guy in the photo went to the Sundarbans with his friends and he asked 1 of his friends to take his picture in that very place. While his friend was taking the picture he screamed and fainted, 2 days later he died in the medical college. Doctors said he died because of heart attack.

When the photos were exposed, in the last photo there was a lady standing right beside him though friends claim that he was standing alone.

Many people said it is a rumor and the picture is the result of the blessings of latest technology. However, the photo itself is very scary and I'm sure you'll also feel the same way I've felt. Here you go with the photo!!!

A navy officer sent this letter to 13 people and he was promoted.. A business man received this letter and threw it away..not believing in it.. and he lost everything he had within 13 days.. It reached a labourer and he distributed it to 13 people.. he was promoted and all his problems were solved within 13 days.. So you must send this e mail to 13 people for something good to happen to you so people..get sending !! :) don't be lazy.. P/S : Do not send back to the person who send this to you!!!

Commentary:
This email attempts to re-enforce a typical chain letter message by attaching a "ghost" photograph. Like many chain letters, the email promises good luck for those who forward the message and bad luck for those who don't. Given that the image of the "ghost" has appeared on the Internet before in completely different contexts, it is not hard to work out that the picture is a computer-generated forgery.

The photograph was supposedly taken in the Sundarbans, which is a National Park in Bangladesh. Earlier in 2003, India's Thanthi newspaper published the smiling "ghost" picture, causing fear and alarm among residents of Tiruchi. The article falsely reported that the boy in the photograph had slipped into a coma after viewing the picture. The same image appears in another "ghost photo" featured on the Castle of Spirits website.

Although the photo is clearly a fake, it is rather scary!

Fairy Pictures / Butterfly Man

2007-07-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

Emailed photos purport to show mummified remains of a fairy (aka 'butterfly man' or 'moth man') discovered in the Derbyshire countryside of England

Description: Emailed images
Circulating since: April 2007
Status: April Fools hoax

Comments: BBC News has confirmed that the images and text above were created as an April Fools prank by Dan Baines, whose job is designing "strange and unique" illusions for stage magicians. The story of the mummified fairy's discovery was first posted in March 2007 on Baines' Website, Lebanon Circle Magic Company, where it attracted as many as 20,000 hits in a single day. After confessing to the hoax he sold the fake artifact on eBay for £280. Many people, he says, continue to insist it's real.

The prank calls to mind the infamous Cottingley Fairies hoax of 1917, wherein a pair of young British girls with too much time on their hands concocted fake photographs of tiny, humanoid fairies flitting through the air. The photos were vetted as authentic by none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series, and received an inordinate amount of publicity from a credulous press. It wasn't until 66 years later, in 1983, that one of the girls confessed that the fairy images had been hand-drawn and suspended in the air via hatpins to be photographed.

Gaff art

Baines' work is an outstanding example of what is called "gaff art," the use of taxidermy and prop-building techniques to create realistic-looking sideshow artifacts. One famous example was P.T. Barnum's half-ape, half-fish Feejee Mermaid, which astonished visitors to his American Museum in the mid-1800s. More recent examples, such as Juan Cabana's "Golden Mermaid" carcass, have won fame and infamy thanks to images circulated via the Internet.

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