The worst scam email of all time?

Nic · Feb 2, 2004

This ones pretty funny, so I had to post it.

The original article can be found here ...

Is this the worst scam email of all time? - The Register

We have in the past made merry at the linguistic deficiencies of 419 advance fee fraudsters, but nothing the boys from Lagos have ever issued even comes close to what some chancer has just sent reader Joskyn Jones.

The email purports to come from Citibank, (not a new line of attack, as we previously reported) and is a bog-standard phishing scam, to wit: the recipient is asked to verify details online and thereby inadvertently gives his or her credit/debit card number and PIN to the waiting phishers.

However, this particular missive is so spectacular in its ineptitude that we are convinced it is unlikely ever to be bettered:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--- citi_bank_ wrote:
From citi_bank_ Sat Jan 31 02:19:56 2004
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 05:19:56 -0500
From: citi_bank_
To: Joskyn
Subject: citi_bank Email Veerification

Dear _citibank Mebmers,

This leter was sennt by_the Citi_Bank serevr to veerify your E-mail addres_. You must clomptee this psrecos by clicking on the link below and enntering in the litle winddow your Citbiank Debit_ full card nummber and PiN that you_use on_the Atm Machine. That is done for your pocetrtion -m- becourse some of_our memebrs no lengor have accses to their email addseesrs and we must verify it.

http://www.citibankonline.com:4NPtp8MenPW@llakr4d6b.da.Ru/?pDkYgi

To veerify _your_ _email_ adress and access _your_ _citibank account, clic on_the link below_.

Thank you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it and weep - with laughter. What is really special about this magnificent piece of imbecility is that it seemingly comes from "americanfootball.com", a really convincing touch.

The link, btw, really does give a pop-up window over the main Citibank site. Once you have obligingly entered your details, you are informed "Your E-Mail Address Was Successful Verified", so they couldn't even get that bit right.

Here's a bit of advice for the people behind this nasty little scam: in the unlikely event that you ever lay your hands on some authentic credit card details, use them to sign up for a crash course in English, a decent dictionary and, for the love of all that's Holy, an at least half-convincing email address. Please - you're killing us. ®

- By Lester Haines

Masque · Feb 2, 2004

That is absolutely hilarious! Thanks Nic!

lowman · Feb 19, 2004

The even sadder side of this, is that I am sure some poor sap actually went ahead and followed the instructions in the email...

Goalie · Feb 21, 2004

Actually, with all the grandmas and grandpas out there, a suprising number of people will click this. They'll even think that the extra _ are from technical glitches.

If it didn't work at least a little, they wouldn't do it.

me(who else?) · Feb 22, 2004

This is really funny. Thanks for a good laugh!

TechSpot

The worst scam email of all time?

Nic TechSpot Paladin

Masque TechSpot Chancellor

lowman Newcomer, in training

Goalie Newcomer, in training

me(who else?) Newcomer, in training