From: Mr. Abba Lawal.
Auditing and Account manager
Lloyds Tsb Bank Plc Republic Of Benin.
Phone:+229 9709 3412
Email: abba_l@msn.com

Dear Friend,
PLEASE REPLY TO MY PRIVATE E-MAIL ADDRESS:
abba_l@msn.com

I am writting to seek your coperation over this business, Please due welcome this letter.

I am  Mr.Abba Lawal, the director of the accounts & auditing dept .Lloyds Tsb Bank Plc Republic Of Benin With due respect, I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be beneficial to both of us.

At the bank’s last accounts/auditing evaluations, my staffs came across an old account which was being maintained by Mr. Peter Lund, a European. He was a seasoned contractor with Benin Cement Company, Cotonou, who unfortunately died in a plane crash of Union Transport Africaines Flight Boeing 727 in Cotonou,  Republic of Benin on 25th December, 2003.The deceased was unable to run this account since his death. The account has remained dormant without the knowledge of his family since it was put in a safe deposit account in the bank for future investment by the client.

Since his demise, even the members of his family haven’t applied for claims over this fund and it has been in the safe deposit account until I discovered that it cannot be claimed since our client is a foreign national and we are sure that he has no next of kin here to file claims over the money. As the director of the department, this discovery was brought to my office so as to decide what is to be done.  I decided to seek ways through which to transfer this money out of the bank and out of the country too.

The total amount in the account is (US$22.1M).with my positions as staffs of the bank, I am handicapped because I cannot operate foreign accounts and cannot lay bonafide claim over this money. The client was a foreign national and you will only be asked to act as his next of kin and I will supply you with all the necessary information and bank data to assist you in being able to transfer this money to any bank of your choice where this money could be transferred into.

You will read more stories about the crash on visiting this website:
1.www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3555201,00.html
2.www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/12/26/benin.crash/

I have decided to give away forty (40%) to you for your assistance and ten (10%) for any expenses that might arise during the transaction of this transfer, I want to assure you that this transaction is absolutely risk free since I work in this bank that is why you should be confident in the success of this transaction because you will be updated with information as at when desired.

If this proposal is acceptable to you, kindly email your following information to me:
a. Full Name(s)
b. Direct phone & fax number(s)
c. Your direct email & any other information you maydeem helpful.

I will wish you to keep this transaction secret and confidential as I am hoping to retire with my share of this money at the end of transaction which will be when this money is safety in your account. I will then come over to your country for sharing according to the previously agreed percentages. You might even have to advise me on possibilities of investment in your country or elsewhere of our choice. May God help you to help me to a restive retirement, Amen.

Please for further information and enquiries feel free to contact me through my email address abba_l@msn.com or on my telePhone number :+229 9709 3412

I am waiting for your urgent response!!!

Thanks and remain blessed.
Mr.Abba Lawal

If you have been reading the posts on my website you will know not to reply to this e-mail. If you haven’t been reading, now you know. Identity theft scams like this one are dime a dozen on the net. You should utilize protective measures in order to avoid identity theft.

One of the best for the e-mails is a junk mail filter. You might probably have it installed on your e-mail application or through your web-based e-mail provider, like: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and others. This first identity theft defense usually catches majority of the spam that’s out there on the internet. However, there are those that do slip through and can cause havoc if the reader adheres to the authors demands. Be smart and don’t become an identity thief’s prey.

THE KIA MOTORS CORP.
PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD
231 YANGJAE-DONG SEOCHO-GU SEOUL 137-130
SEOUL KOREA

KIA MOTORS CORPORATION (KOREA) OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws held by
Kia Motor Corporation (KOREA) in conjunction with the Korea International Lottery Worldwide
Promotion, your email address was among the 20 Lucky winners who won $530, 000.00 (Five
Hundred And Thirty Thousand United State Dollars) each on the Kia Corporation Promotion
dated as stated above. This is from the total price of Ten Million, Six Hundred Thousand
United State Dollars shared among the 20 lucky winners. You are therefore approved for a
lump payment of $530, 000.00 (Five Hundred And Thirty Thousand United State Dollars).

However the results were released and your email attached to ticket number (KCL810-000-0143)
and ballot/serial number (207-01). The online draws was conducted by a random selection of
email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and
corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet.
However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket
numbers for representation and privacy.
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email
selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the
continents of the world.

This Lottery is approved by the Korea Gaming Board and also Licensed by the The
International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). This lottery is the 3rd of its kind
and we intend to sensitize the public about our products and services, with a view to giving
back to society and promoting our business.
As indicated by the computerized selection machine, your lucky winning number falls within
our CHINA booklet representative office in GUANGDONG as showed in the coupon.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till
your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to
claim your prize.
This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of
this program.

In other to claim your $530,000.00 prize winning, which has been deposited in a designated
bank, you will have to fill the form below and send it to the promotion manager of THE KIA
MOTOR CORPORATION (CHINA ZONE) for verification and then you will be directed to the bank
where a cheque of $530, 000.00 has already been deposited in your favour.

NAME:……………………………….
AGE:………………………………….
SEX:………………………………….
ADDRESS:(RESIDENT ADDRESS ONLY)………………………….
EMAIL:………………………………
PHONE:……………………………..
OCCUPATION:…………………….
AMOUNT WON……………………
COUNTRY:………………………….

Please you are adviced to complete the form and send it immediately to the Promotion
Manager’s Office through email for prompt collection of your winning prize.
(PROMOTION MANAGER’S OFFICE)
E MAIL: kiaclaimsagent@yahoo.cn
PHONE: +86 1342 5141 704

You’re to keep all the Lotto information away from the general public especially your ticket
number and ballot/serial number. (this is important as a case of double claiming will not be
entertained)

WARNING !!
*Staff of Kia Motor Corporation Korea and the Korea International Lottery Company are not
allowed to partake in this Lottery*.

Note: This program is sponsored by: Kia Motors Corporation KOREA Only.

Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,

(Mrs) Lin Bo
(PROMOTION COORDINATOR)

I really am getting sick of these emails. I mean they are so ubiquitous. I am able to get 10 to 30 emails per day on 2 of my accounts and I can’t even catch up to put them up on this site. I hope you have the same sentiment. Luckily, I have a spam filter installed on my Microsoft Outlook and I use Internet Security programs to get rid of a lot of spyware, malware, adware, trojans and other leeching code. I feel that in this day and age personal info is so easily grabbed by different types of software, devices, and devious humans.

Dear Friend,
My name is Major Selma Linda George. I am an American soldier with Swiss background, serving in the military with the army 3rd infantry division. With a very desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you. I found your contact particulars in an address journal. I am seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of ( $ 3.2 million USD )three million, two hundred united states dollars to you, as far as I can be assured that my share will be safe in your care until I complete my service here, this is no stolen money, and there are no danger involved.

I am presently in a hospital recovering from injuries sustained in a suicide bomb attack.Source of money: Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near one of Saddam’s old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, and it was agreed by staff Sgt Kenneth buff and I that some part of this money be shared among both of us before informing anybody about it since both of us saw the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole. Of which my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb last week. Please view website for confirmation;

http://www.voanews.com/burmese/archive/2003-04/a-2003-04-20-1-1.cfm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

The above figure was given to me as my share, and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me, so with the help of a British contact working here and his office enjoy some immunity, I was able to move the money to a security company in Bangkok Thailand which have a branch in United States precisely New York it was deposited as a diplomatic baggage. They are now waiting for us to provide the name of beneficiary who they will transfer the funds to.

The reason I want you to claim the funds on my behalf is that as a soldier, I cannot present concrete evidence on how i made such a big amount of money down here. Besides the US Government is trying their best to keep their eyes on soldiers here in order to effect a high level of discipline among us. The moment i am sure that you are willing to assist me; I will give you the information of the security company and the security code of the baggage. I want you to tell me how much you will take from this money for the assistance you will give to me.

One passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this matter with anybody, should you have reasons to reject this offer, please and please destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us soldiers here in Iraq. I do not know how long we will remain here, and I have been shot, wounded and survived two suicide bomb attacks by the special grace of God, this and other reasons i will mention later has prompted me to reach out for help, I honestly want this matter to be resolved immediately, please contact me as soon as possible, my only way of communication is email.
Respond only through this my private email below:-
Email: – selmausarmy1@hotmail.com
yours in Service.

Major Selma Linda George

Identity Theft Prevention Tips to watch out for:

1. The legality aspect of this email
   1. Does it make sense to break the law?
   2. Does it make sense to risk your financial future?
   3. Does it make sense to have your identity and other personal info stolen?
2. Notice that the email addresses are different
   1. The sender of the physical scam is: danielwells@jabber.nuxo.net
      1. Most likely from a hacked account of an unsuspecting person
      2. Could also be a disposable account made by the identity thieves
   2. The person asking for help has this email: selmausarmy1@hotmail.com
      1. This is most likely a disposable email address to garner personal information and other crime related data
3. The two linked stories are very old and should give off red flags
4. The concept of deceit and psychological manipulation is at play here
   1. First the sender says it is legal… than what they have done is NOT
   2. The character wants you to feel for them in respect to their pains associated with “putting their neck on the line”
   3. For people who don’t like the ‘laws’ ‘law’ ‘cops’ or a concept of social control this email is very appealing. They see someone who has been on the side of the law and is breaking it by “dipping in the cookie jar” themselves and sharing the supposed profit.

In the end, you are the only one that can make the proper decision to stop identity theft at its tracks. If you decide to reply you may be in very deep in financial havoc and identity restoration efforts.

Think about it.  Your laptop is loaded with plenty of personal information.  This identifying info may be in your documents folder, web browsing history, and programs such as Quicken and Microsoft Excel.

Calling for help is safest
If your laptop breaks down try to call the company that sold it to you in order to fix it over the phone.  Make sure to do so if you have warranty on it, otherwise you will be charged for the call.  You can also call your knowledgeable friend, but I am sure he or she might be very busy for the next couple of weeks.  This is the best method to prevent identity theft as you are in possession of your laptop.

Second best
The second best method in protecting yourself from id theft is having a repair person come to your house and help you fix your computer.  By “help you” I mean that you should be aware of what is happening during the repair process.  I recommend ordering some pizza and having you sit down next to the technician all the way through.  I know it is tedious, but in the end it can save your from identity theft hell.

Still acceptable
Another way to fix a laptop that has a software bug, but it powers on and goes on the Internet, is via remote assistance.  This is a great thing to do if you want someone experienced to fix your laptop.  You basically connect to the Internet and invite the repair person to connect to your laptop.  Once connected the person can navigate to certain places as they will have control over your computer.  The possibility for identity theft is higher, but you are able to see what happens on the screen.  If you ever consider remote assistance to fix your laptop make sure to supervise the process.  If you smell something fishy and you have no control via mouse and keyboard simply yank the Internet connection cable or disable the Wi-Fi adapter.  The person on the other end should have no more access.

The worst way
Dropping your laptop off at a repair facility, like Best Buy’s Geek Squad, for example.  This is by far the worst way you can leave your laptop and your identity.  Once you leave the repair facility you have zero control over what the person, or the people, fixing your laptop can access and see.  This “worst way” statement also applies to having your laptop shipped off to a repair facility like: Dell, Gateway, IBM, etc. under the provisions of your warranty.  I know that this is the most common way people fix damaged laptops, but it is also the riskiest way to manage your identity and financial information that may be stored in your laptop.

In the end, you may avoid identity theft as no one will access or utilize the personal information on your laptop. However, this is not guaranteed. You should be cognizant of the fact that if something devious did happen you recently submitted your laptop for repair.

Size doesn’t matter
I remember that a few years back you could only get a 1 gigabyte usb drive for hundreds of dollars, now that type of memory power is minuscule when compared to the 8 GB or 16 GB models.  But no matter the size of your portable drive you must consider that most of the information identity thieves need is in small size text format like:

• Text Files
• Microsoft Word Documents
• Adobe Reader or Acrobat Files
• Spreadsheets
• Saved HTML Files
• And more

Forget me not
In my experience, the most common reason identity theft happens is because we leave these small forgettable devices in the USB drive.  We only begin to remember that we left it when we are on the bus, on the train, on the plane, or already at home.  I recommend finding a way to keep the device on some kind of long string, a shoe lace will do, or a neck string that is sold in local and online electronic stores.

U lazy squirrel
Identity theft is much easier for someone to commit when they have easy access to the right information. I often find myself deleting stuff from my thumb drive as soon as I transfer it on my home computer or when I don’t need it anymore.  Don’t be a chronic hoarder as keeping unneeded sensitive info can lead to the theft of your identity.  If you don’t want to trash your valuable documents keep your most important files encrypted.  There are USB thumb drives that offer encryption protection either via software or hardware means.  These portable mini hard drives are more expensive as the encryption software or fingerprint recognition are not a standard in the industry.

Car navigation systems, like many electronic devices, have built in or portable storage to keep track of the preloaded maps, addresses, phone numbers, and even voice recorded notes.  This is all great if you keep your least sensitive information stored on these systems.  However, there are some that load their life’s history, present, and future on these systems as the dependence for comfort overrides fear of identity theft.

If you are selling your car and it has a car navigation system make sure to purge all information from the electronic device.  This includes your favorite pizza place.  You don’t want people to find you there if something goes wrong with the car, right?   This way you will rest assured that your identity is well protected and no one is going to call your family by mistake while they learn to set up the car navigation system.

Identity theft with hard disk drives – a fractional example
If recently you had the privilege of replacing your old PC with a new one, I say: congratulations!  I certainly hope that you didn’t just throw out your old computer.  If you did a lot of bad things can happen if your hard drive wasn’t taken out of the chassis before disposal.  Your computer’s hard drive is the storage device that keeps your files, including those that contain personal information.  If you still have a chance, go to the alley and pick it back up.

Here’s what to do next
Once you have your old PC back in your possession connect it to your monitor, mouse, keyboard and proceed with deleting anything and everything.  Specifically, look for personal information folders such as: My Documents, Mike’s Documents, Mary’s Documents, or any other folders where you know sensitive information resides.

Turn off and unplug…
Then, I recommend having you, or someone that can operate a screwdriver, open up the case of the old computer.  Take out the hard drive by unscrewing it from the chassis and unplug all the dangling wires.  Also, take out your random access memory chips, better know as RAM, and have them in your possession.  Go back to the alley, or where ever your throw out your trash and leave your old stripped down computer to meet its maker.

Identity theft is nearly prevented
All you have to do now is destroy the hard drive and the RAM sticks.  Well, how are you supposed to do that?  RAM memory which can leave snippets of information are the easiest to dispose of.  Just burn them, just like you would burn your junk mail, to prevent identity theft.  The hard drive, or hard disk, is harder to destroy.  Whatever you do don’t stick it in the microwave like they do in the movies.

You can keep your hard drive in a safe or if you have a safety deposit box at the bank put it there.  Optimally, I wish I could disintegrate the steel with my eyes, but the Superman job was taken.  If you don’t have a safe, safety deposit box, and you don’t posses super powers keep the hard drive at home or bury it in a remote location at least six feet underground.  There are services that provide hard drive disposal at a cost.

Why dispose of a deleted or formatted hard disk?
If all else fails, I hope so does your old hard drive.  These devices are meant to take a beating and even if you delete or format the hard drive you are still susceptible to identity theft.  Most storage devices, including hard disks, store information that can be retrieved at least partially with utilization of restoration software.  Hence, I hope you will get the drive to dispose of your old computer so your life doesn’t end up hard.

The disgruntled giver
If you don’t believe in throwing things away, and you are a giver, understand that your charitable donations will be hugely appreciated by identity thieves.  Stop identity theft before you give your computer away to a friend, recycling center, or a charity.  Don’t feel bad that you won’t give away your credit score rating and bank account information which is hiding on your hard drive.  Granted you never used your computer for any personal information, even user names and passwords, you can go and give, give, give.  Of course, the last one was a bit sarcastic.  Prevent identity and credit card fraud by taking out your hard disk drives, flash memory, CDs & DVDs, and other writable media before you dispose or donate.