Don't fall for this one (or any others)

As a rule of thumb- if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.

Here's a little humour for this thread:
I don't get much in the way of spam, but one email I had was a hoot.
From Nigeria, of course.....their friend had stowed away on the shuttle to the International Space Station and was now stranded there, and they were collecting to finance a trip to get him back......

No, I didn't contribute.

lol Oxon......well at least they are using their imagination, shame they cant put it to better use.

The "Fake Parcel note" scam was fixed in 2005 but warnings are still going the rounds.

I received one yesterday and it rang a bell. I seemed to remember that checking up last Christmas showed that the warning emails being forwarded then were no longer necessary, so I checked again.

It starts - "A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a Premium rate number).

If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £315 for the phone call."

It only took me one minute to find that:- " ........ despite claims the scam has been confirmed by Royal Mail and the Trading Standards Office, it was in fact shut down in 2005 and is not re-occurring today.
A spokesperson for PhonepayPlus, which regulates phone-paid services in the UK, said: ‘The chain email refers to a service (operating on 0906 6611911) that was shut down by PhonepayPlus (then ICSTIS) in December 2005. PhonepayPlus subsequently fined the company that was operating the service, Studio Telecom (based in Belize), £10,000’.

The regulator is asking people who receive the chain email about this alleged scam not to forward it on to others, and to instead forward a statement from PhonepayPlus informing them it is a hoax.

A real problem with emailed warnings such as this is that they often continue to circulate for months or even years after the described threat has disappeared. They also tend to mutate as they travel, further diffusing the truth and relevance of the information they contain,' PhonepayPlus added.

THIS IS THE STATEMENT FROM PHONEPLUS - www.phonepayplus.org.uk/News-And-Events/News/2011/10/Postal-scam-chain-email-2011-PhonepayPlus-statement.aspx

and from crime-stoppers:- www.crimestoppers-uk.org/fraud/types-of-fraud/common-scams/postal-scam-email-from-parcel-delivery-service-65455465

Apparently some up-to-date scammer is sending emails claiming to be from one of Gaddafi's mistresses, who has the secret of the millions he stashed away, but needs help to get at it. She will share it with you if you send her the money to unlock it. Just send your bank account details to .......

Makes a change from the Nigerian scams.

I've received the 'fake parcel' scam email several times over the years. I now send the phone plus statement to all the recipients of the email by clicking on 'reply all'. Some day the message will get through, but by that time, there will be a new and more inventive scam! But Gaddafi's mistress - who's going to fall for that one?

Somebody will! It only takes one for them to make a profit.