My attempt to scam a scammer – FAIL!

A while back my dad had contacted me saying that he wasn’t able to log into the email account for his curling club anymore. Just as a side note, they were using Hotmail for their email. Anyways, after a few questions to him, I realized that he had been tricked into ‘confirming’ his account and had basically given up the password. D’oh! Suffice it to say that I berated him enough that I don’t think he’ll be tricked again. :)

Anyways, since I knew the account had been compromised, I was trying to think of a way that I could trick the scammer into giving me the new password. I was presented with an opportunity on March 20th when I received an email from the curling club email address – WARNING: You may find this REALLY long and boring.

subject URGENT……PLEASE REPLY!!!

Hello,

Hope you are doing fine. Please I need an urgent favor from you. I went
for a program in Africa Empowering Youth to Fight Racism,HIV/AIDS,Poverty and Lack of Education, taking place in 3 major countries Ghana,Cameroon and Nigeria.It has been a sad moment for me, I just cant explain the present condition I find myself.I was robbed on my way back to the hotel where I’m staying and most of my things were made away with. The little bag where my money, passport, documents and other valuable things were kept all gone. I am facing a hard time here because i have no money on me. I’m owing an hotel bill of $1250usd and they want me to pay the bill before checking out,Else they will have to seize my other bag and hand me over to the Hotel Management.I also have to pay for feeding which is about $1050usd.Please I need you to do me this favor urgently. Help me with any sum amount of money .This will sort out my problems here.I’m starving, I don’t even have money to feed myself for a day.I await your quick response so i can e-mai you the hotel manager’s information were you are to send the money to me via western union money transfer or money gram. I have contact the embassy and the immigration for help regarding my traveling document that was inside the bag that was made away with and they promised to give me a temporary traveling papers. All i need right now is the money to settle up the bills and leave. I’ll pay you back when i get back home and also explain how it all happened. I am sending you this e-mail from the hotel customers cafe,and I only have 30 min, I will appreciate what so ever you can afford to send me for now and I promise to pay back your money as soon as i return home so please let me know on time so that i can forward you the details you need to transfer the money through Money Gram or Western Union. Hope to hear from you Soon.Thanks

I replied with the following – my first attempt:

Oh my God! Yes, please send me the info and I’ll see what I can do to help you out!

BTW – did you change the password on this email account for some reason? I was trying to login so that I could send some members an email and I can’t get in! If you changed the password, can you please tell me what the new password is so that I can send out the membership email?

Thanks

At the same time I forwarded off the original email to abuse@hotmail.com asking them to suspend the account and then return it to its rightful owner. It’s now April 8th and I’ve sent a couple follow-up emails to them and haven’t heard anything back. Sad really.

The following day, March 21st, I got the following reply to my response:

Thanks for the email and your help I feel relieved with your message.I Knew I
could Count on you.I will really appreciate what so ever you can afford to help
me for now and I promise to pay back your money
as soon as i return home.I will Like you to send the money via Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram.Please the money Should be sent in the name of the hotel management because of the loss of my passport.So kindly send the money to the information given below: Rivers
Hotel and suit room 6

Receiver Name: OGUNLANA N ABIODUN
Address: 4, OPEBI ROAD
City: IKEJA,
State: LAGOS
Country: NIGERIA.
Zip Code: 23401
Security Question Should be: What
Room Number?

Answer should be: Room 6

Please As soon as you send the Money i will like you to email me the Below
Details
as Follows before the hotel manager can be able to cash it here…

Sender Name:
Sender
Address:
MTCN Control#:
Sender Country:
Amount Sent:
Security Question and Answer

I did not change the information okay.
After I receive the money I will email you on the arrangements to get back
home.Thanks once again and I hope to hear from you soon. With much love.

I responded back again, trying to put a little more urgency behind my request for the password:

I’ll get right on that.

Can you please send me the password for the email account so that I can login and send out the yearly financials to the membership before the due date of Monday – I can’t login with our usual password and obviously you can. As you know, we NEED to get the yearly audit report sent out to out members!

Thanks

I talked to my friend Dave, and he suggested I try to fool them by suggesting a virtual dead drop – so I followed up my previous reply with the following:

Was thinking about this, and I don’t really trust sending the security question and answer over the internet. What I was thinking was that I could compose a draft message, and leave it as a draft, with the security question and answer – that way it doesn’t get sent over the internet where it could be intercepted. Make sense?

So again – I need to know what the password for the fcc.curling email account is, because the old password hasn’t been working since sometime last week. I assume you changed it because you are still able to send me emails.

Let me know ASAP.

Thanks

I didn’t hear anything back for a couple of days, so I thought maybe they had given up on me. Then on March 23rd, I got the following:

Am so sorry for this late responce,I did not check my e mail for two days trying to see if I can get money from my account but I failed.you Think I change the password right? truely I did not change it, it’s the same password we are using….is just that I instol msn windows on my pc here, may be that is were the problem starte….Am very sorry for anything I may have cused you.if I get the money today I will get back home tommorow I will be abble to attend to this…Please send it to me truogh this e mail account I promise that I will make this e mail work for us again…Thank you so much for your help.

I again pushed him for the password for the account:

What password are you using to sign in then?

Please advise

Thanks

He responded back pretty quick with the following:

You still don’t believe me….I will contact the hotmail now to let them no what is going on. I can’t sing out of this system and you can’t access the mail. please forgive me if I offend you with this…please forgive me.

I pushed him some more:

Just confirm with me what password you are using, and then I’ll know if it’s me who is having the problem.

Thanks

And he responded back with the original password for the account (Xed out here just because):

this is the password am using XXXXXXX OKAY

Now I tried to get him to change the password and tell me what it was:

Well that is the one I had, and it still doesn’t work, so I’m not sure how you are able to log in with it.

Do me a favour and change the password to something else and let me know what it is so I can log in.

Thanks

He came back with:

I have change it to (rivershotel) check it now..

That obviously didn’t work for me (he didn’t REALLY change it of course) so I responded back with the following, attemping to sound agitated:

rivershotel

That didn’t work :(

I’m freaking out a bit cause I need to get this email out to the members.

Can you change it to new2day and let me know when you’ve done that?

Thanks

He quickly responded back:

I have don that again and I just contact hotmail, I can’t sing out of this laptop since last week I don’t no what is going on believe me.

Obviously he didn’t really change the password to what I had asked him to, which meant I still couldn’t log in, so I responded back:

Seems I still can’t sign in :(

I give up, if I can’t sign in, and leave the info for the money transfer in a draft message for you, I don’t feel comfortable sending it via email to you – too many places it could be intercepted. You can’t trust everyone you know.

If you somehow get the password sorted out, then please let me know what the new password is and I’ll pass along the info for the money transfer.

Now I just need to figure out a way to contact the membership to let them know what is going on with the yearly audit…

Thanks

Another day goes by, and then I get this:

I HAVE CONTACT THE MSN AND I WAS MAIL THAT IT WILL BE RESOLVED.OK THEN RAP THE MONEY IN ARD PAPER WITH SELOTAPE AND PUT IT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GREATING CARD SEND THE MONEY TO ME TROUGH ANY FEDEX OR DHL ADDRES IT WITH MY NAME SEND IT TO THIS ADDRES 2 SHOBANDE STREET AKOKA, CITY YABA,STATE LAGOS, ZIP CODE 23401 COUNTRY NIGERIA.

At this point, I forwarded on the email trail to abuse@hotmail.com again – still no response from them.

I didn’t respond to the request to wrap up money in ’selotape’ and send it to him, so the next day I get another email:

How do you do today? I will like you to please send me the tracking number when you have sent it to me so that I will no the date it will get to me….Thank you.

I responded back simply with:

Still waiting for you to send me the correct password.

I hear nothing back from them for 5 days. On March 30th I decide to try one last time:

Ok, I managed to get logged into the email account. I’ve composed a draft message and saved it with all the required information for the shipment to you. Hope that helps.

My thinking was that they’d log in, look for the draft, and not see it. I’d then say I couldn’t log in again, and ask them to change the password again. Hey…it was worth a shot. :) On March 31st I get the following:

AM VERY GRATEFUL FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPORT AT THIS TIME, I DID NOT SEE THE TRACKING NUMBER OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION IN THE DRAFT. PLEASE TRACK IT AND TELL ME WHEN IT WILL GET HERE.THANK YOU.

I didn’t respond. On April 2nd I got another email:

How are you doing today? I just want to let you no that have not get it yet money ship to me yet. Thank you.

Then:

Please send the tracking number to me on this mobile number +2348039551366.. Thank you.

Quickly followed by:

Or give me the new password so that I can sing in to check the draft.

I responded with:

You obviously have the password, and must have changed it again because I can’t sign in anymore :(

2 days later (April 4th):

I did not change the password I swear, I want you to find a way to get into the box again and change the password not only the password but with all other information contain in the account please do this some bastard must be playing around with us don’t you think?? please find any possible way to get into the e mail again OK…And please don’t forget to send the tracking number to me or you send it to this mobile number +2348039551366…Believe me I did not change the password……With much love.

I couldn’t resist his reference to “some bastard”:

I think you’re right, some bastard *is* playing with us. Since you are able to sign into the account (to send email) how about you change the password one more time and then let me know what the new password is.

He’s starting to get frustrated with me I think:

I myself am not using it too since last week…..Why did’t you want to tell me about the shipment did you or did you not send the money to me let me now Please.

I had pretty much given up any hope of getting a password out of this guy by this time, so I decided to just keep egging him on:

You’re not making any sense, how can you be sending emails with the account if you haven’t been using it for the last week?

I’m starting to get pretty suspicious.

He responded back with:

What I mean is this I did not use the e mail for a week wich is last week I did not do anything on internet, this week tuesday was the day am abble to check the box and I found your mail stating that you have manage to sing in and the information is saved in the draft wich I did not found……..Yestarday I got your mail again that you can’t log in again it was a surprise to me because am using the same password your are complaning about now what am thinking is this maybe because the e mail is been use in diffrent country that is why is like that so I will stop using this mail I will like you to start mailing me on this account, you can now mail me on this account fcc.curling@yahoo.com……..I will be waitng to read from you ……..thank you.

I didn’t respond, and two days later (April 6th) I get this gem from him – he’s pissed:

Am very surprise at your level of thinking, You think I change the password to the mail we have bean using,,,,,Were exactly do you put your trust??? You don’t trust me and we are partners it’s amazing it is indeed….Am roosting here and you find it very difficult to help me out of the mess I found my self what a pity on me,You also mention that you have ship money to me why you have don noting. I no one day I will get out of this, Thank you.

Just to push his buttons a little more I respond back with simply:

Good luck :)

And then let him know that he’s not fooling anyone:

Who exactly is speaking? Your name please.

Thanks

And finally, just this morning (April 8th) I taunt him one last time:

Forget your name have you? :)

I don’t expect to hear anything back from him again. My sad attempting at fooling him didn’t work, I’m not surprised. What I *am* surprised at though, is the lack of response from Hotmail on this. I’ve contacted them twice about this account that was compromised and is now being used to try to trick people into sending money and I haven’t heard one word from them – other than the standard auto-reply that says, “Thanks for the email…” I forwarded the entire email trail to them again this morning, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for any sort of response.

If by chance anyone who works at Hotmail, or knows anyone who works there, reads this – I’d appreciate a response. :) Thanks.