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Spotting a Scam e-mail.

OlsonSigns601

New Member
I've been getting a large amount of scam e-mails for people wanting quotes for banners, T-Shirts, Yard Signs and the lastest one for 80,000 flyers.

Now a small part of me worries it is a real e-mail when I respond with a $1,000,000.00 Price and cash only but before I do I double check its a scam.

So I thought I would post on how to spot a bogus order through e-mail.

Step 1.
Open up the e-mail and look at the header info.
(You can google "Look at header in [you're e-mail client]" for additional information)
If you are using Thunderbird, just scroll down on the spot of the e-mail where you normally see who sent the e-mail and look for the last line of Received in the header.
attachment.php

I generally scroll all the way to the bottom and work my way up until I see the 1st received from the bottom and that is the IP I want. The other IP addresses are just hubs the e-mail went through to get to you and will generally be Yahoo, GMail or some other main free e-mail provider location. Just remember its the 1st received IP in the header so it will be at the bottom.

NOTE: It may not be the 1st received line. You may need to goto the next one if they were using a router. If you see the IP Address start with 192.168, then move to the next received.


Step 2.

Copy the IP Address found in the Received section.

Step 3.
Go to a website to trace the IP. I use http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/

Step 4.
Paste/Key in the IP Address and perform the trace.

Step 5.
Validate the senders location.
The Trace I did provides a map of where this e-mail originated. Now it won't be specific to their exact location but it will show the city their ISP is in.
attachment.php


So I had a really questionable one, looking for 80,000 flyers and he actually listed an address only about an hour away. Normally I would probably take the order but when the question came in asking if we take credit cards, I decided to do the trace. Turns out they are in the same city in the screenshot I provided.

I responded that I would do it for $1,000,000 Cash but they could also get help from these guys. http://www.ghanapolice.info

So if you ever are in question of a job being real and don't want to come off as a jerk, I hope these instructions work for you.

Good Luck out there and stay smart and safe.
 

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