Scammers

I have an email address I never use anymore, but periodically, I log in to clear out all of spam and such. Once in a while, one of the more creative emails catches my eye.

Here's one that had me laughing...I love how you can clearly see that English is not their first language:

Re: Your Compensation
Good day to you.

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I hope this mail
meets you in a perfect condition. I am using this opportunity to thank you for
your great effort to our unfinished transfer of fund into your account due to
one reason or the other best known to you. But I want to inform you that I have
successfully transferred the Cheque out of the company to someone else who was
capable of assisting me in this great venture .

Due to your effort, sincerity, courage and trust worthiness you showed at the
course of the transaction I want to compensate you and show my gratitude to you
with the sum of $800,000.00 (Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in
respect to your lottery winnings. I have authorized the finance house where i
deposited my money to issue you international certified bank draft cashable at
your bank.

My dear friend i will like you to contact the finance house for the collection
of this international certified bank draft. One of our representative has been
given your cheque to be delivered to you and as faith may have it he his an
AMERICAN who will help you monitor the delivery of your cheque to you simply
because of the ongoing scam all over the world. For clearity, you can ask him to
show to you his identity. Below is his contact details

COMPENSATION AND FINANCE HOUSE
FUND REMITTANCE OFFICER
CONTACT AGENT MR. DONALD HOLEMAN
EMAIL: don.holeman0206@hotmail.com
donhole2020@yahoo.co.jp

At the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects which
myself and my new partner are having at hand. To avoid any delay, please provide
the below informations to him.

Your Name...............
Your Address................
Phone Number.................
Present Country................
Nationality..................

Finally, remember that I have forwarded instruction to the finance house on your
behalf to send the bank draft to you as soon as you contact them without delay.

Please i will like you to accept this token with good faith as this is from the
bottom of my heart.

Best Regards,
Mr Brian Smith

And here's another one...this one is more insidious, though. It makes it sound like someone has done a wire transfer to my bank account.

NOTE: If you get this Wells Fargo phishing email, DON'T click the link. Instead, forward it to: reportphish@wellsfargo.com

Dear Customer,

VALORIE SCHMALTZ made an online funds transfer to your Wells Fargo account and asked us to notify you that it was completed successfully. The details of this transaction are shown below.

Transfer Date and Time: 07/21/09 at 01:45 AM
Transfer Amount: $980.00
Transfer Description:

To view this transaction and your current balance, please sign on at www.wellsfargo.com.

If you have any questions related to this message or the funds transfer, please contact VALORIE SCHMALTZ. Please do not reply to this message.

Sincerely,
Wells Fargo Online Customer Service