How to deal with scam artists

Just recently I have had an onslaught of scam e-mails.  Under normal circumstances I would simply mark the e-mail as spam and block it but I recently read an amusing artical on a blog (http://www.sodahead.com/) where one of the posters said that he signed up scammers for free casket measurements, which got me thinking.

Now, before marking and blocking the scammers, I sign them up on a site called Free Stuff (http://www.free-stuff.co.uk/).  All you need to do this is the scammers e-mail address and name.  The e-mail address is pretty simple and as for the name - I use one of the bogus names in the scammers e-mail.

I think I may just have found a new (and extremely enjoyable) past time...

High Alert Update

As promised, I have responded to the ad with the following.  Please note that I have not included the pictures as they may be viewed as offensive by some.

HIGH ALERT!!!

I was scanning vacancies via Indeed and came across the following ad.  When I clicked the link it directed me to Gumtree.  I found it to be highly suspect for several reasons which will become glaringly obvious to you as you read through it.  This prompted me to do a little research and I found that the company MKC academy of fashion, beauty & print is located in Los Angeles, California and not Paris.  The poster of the ad is obviously using this company to give his "job opportunity" credibility.  What he gets for this is pictures of women in costumes and lingerie which he will probably sell on to porn sites that will use the pictures to advertise their sites.

Another hoax?

Hi all,

I have just received the following bbm's within minutes of each other:

BBM 1

A 4yr old boy went missing in heaton park yesterday he was wearing shorts and a thomas tank top and jelly shoes, If seen ring 07876355234 please pass this on to all your followers and send the message out to your friends, his parents are really worried.

I would like to point out a few things with regards to the above.

To Thatch or not to Thatch

Hi all,

This is a call for help.  If you or anyone you know needs thatching done, please let me know.  Stanley is a man from Limpopo who is needing your business.  He did the thatching on my nieghbours gazebo and his craftmanship is impeccable.   Because he works for himself,  his prices border on the unrealistic. 

Job Interview

The interview that I went for today went well.  The position is a commission only position, but at 30%, it's higher than most.

Pay it Forward

I had a really uplifting experience today and could not wait to get home to share it.  One of my favourite movies is Pay it Forward.  For those of you who have not seen it, it really is worth the watch.  The basic story line is about a young boy who starts a chain of events.  His philosophy is that when someone does something good for you, rather than you owing the person a favour back, you pay the favour forward to someone else.  This movie was such an inspiration to me that ever since the day that I watched it, I have made it a personal (and unpublicised until now) mission to do at least one good deed a day.