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On Sat, 22 Apr 1995, Stephen Bates wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Apr 1995, R Ballard wrote:
> > If a "please send e-mail" ultimately leads 
> > to a prostitution or blackmail attempt, the original offer is followed up 
> > with a "RE: FOR $$$ SCAM" notification.

>    And both (prostitution and blackmail) have arisen?  Or seemingly 
> arisen?  Along with the article on pedophiles, I'm doing a piece on legal 
> issues in cyberspace, and this is the first I've heard of these.  Thanks--
Actually, there are about 7 popular scam techniques.  One is to advertize 
something like "Dominant WF Seeks Sub M".  Which will quickly get responses.

From here, some can be coaxed into writing dirty e-mail, not realizing 
that they have already been "Fingered" and that their bedtime stories can 
be e-mailed to postmaster@employer at a moment's notice.  Nice way to 
start a little blackmail.

A more common scam is the "mail me $15 and I'll give you some great GIFs".
Either the GIFs aren't that great, or they are ripped off of some BBS.

Better than the mail-in, is to try for the credit card # and expiration date.

Then there's the cyber-sex to phone-sex invitations (prodigy offers a 
tamer version of this).

And then there's the "Come and Visit" invitation.  Usually shows up after
an extended dialogue of "Canned" (write once, send to 30) stories.  The 
meeting often involves a model/prostitute who now has a complete profile 
and can get you to go almost anywhere.  From there it can be anything from
a $700 "all-nighter" (ciber-sex to the real-thing is rarely local) to
a "bind and run" (bondage, no sex, just leave with the money).

Another popular scam is for women to set up "Dates" and then ask me to 
configure their computers for them.  I gave one woman $2000 worth of 
consulting time, for 3 "low calorie dinners".  No sex, just a nice date.

The down-side is that the victims often come back to the internet and let 
the entire news-group know the score.  The perpetrator then has to switch 
groups, change identities, and establish entirely new clientele.

I used to send canned stories to women and literally have them demanding 
that I send them more (I didn't charge).  At one point I had 6 women on-line,
and they would "unknowingly" send e-mail to each other. :-).

>    Stephen Bates, Senior Fellow
>    Annenberg Washington Program

	Rex Ballard


From rballard@cnj.digex.net Thu May  4 02:12:57 1995