Someone tries to post the following comment on the blog. The original was chock full of Urls to penis enlargement sites.
HELP! I’m currently being held prisoner by the Russian mafia and being forced to post spam comments on blogs and forum! If you don’t approve this they will kill me. They’re coming back now. Please send help!
The encyclopedia of scams is getting a make over. If you have not had a chance to check it out, click here to see our new look and the new content.
My interactive game, Three Card Monte, is getting noticed online.
We’ve been featured…
…on facebook
…on the ABC statewide drive blog
…on the magic news site Itricks
….on twitter (thanks daniel)
and on the super hip magician’s forum Ellusionist.
I am so down with the kids.
A young man from De Salle College has been nice enough to start a Honest Con Man fan group on facebook.
If you join, you ‘ll be cool to
Thanks James.
I’m very proud of this new interactive game.
With my good friends Tom, Yao, David and Vin, we have created an interactive experience that allows you to play Three Disk Monte exactly as it is played on the streets.
Even if you manage to beat the game, can you beat the grifters?
Click below to find out!
A few months ago, I fielded several emails and callers from people worried that a Westfield Win A Gift Card promotion on facebook was a scam.
Cynical marketing ploy? Yes
Shameless attempt to cash in social networking? Of course
Do I like asking questions and then answering them? Certainly.
Scam? No.
It was a genuine marketing promotion.
Over the past few days, 40,000 facebook users have fallen victim to an Ikea Gift Card Scam. And this time, it really is a scam.
Step 1) You are asked to join a facebook fan group allowing you to Win a $1000 Ikea gift card. The design is flashy and professional.
A few commentators have jumped on the fear mongering band wagon (In my mind, the fear mongering band wagon is a black panel van with flames on the side and a skull on the bonnet) claiming that the anyone who signed on will end up the identity theft.
However, I’m not sure this is case.
If you put the pieces together (which come conveniently flat packed with allen key included) it becomes clear that the creator of the group mostly receives kick backs from the companies above for signing on new recruits.
These types of affiliate programs are all over the net and they are not illegal.
What is illegal, however, is to promise a gift voucher that you don’t deliver.
If you haven’t been by Scambusting! lately you’re missing out. Lots of great information and entertaining videos recently. I am very happy to see members posting materials as well.
Be sure to visit Nicholas J Johnson’s blog. A couple of postings from his blog are available on Scambusting, but you should read all his past postings. Nicholas is a magician and “Honest Con” from Australia. He is very talented and well-informed.
We are a small group right now, so why not invite some friends to join? There is some great information to share. A little something for everyone.
Thanks
Bill Nuvo
We had plenty of callers ringing to complain about a scratch card in a major newspaper on the weekend. Everyone who scratches, wins. The catch is you need to text or call a $20 premium number to find out you only won a free ring tone. One caller managed to get his money back by complaining.
An Indian man has been wandering the streets of Melbourne claiming he can read fortunes. He’d write a prediction on a small piece of paper and then ask victims what their favourite flower and number was. He always got it right leading to several women giving him $20 and $50 notes. To find out how he did it, talk to this man or head over to the Melbourne Magic Festival.
Plenty of callers has been infected by a worm attached to a facebook message. The email claimed that their facebook password had been changed. It was also asked “how can you tell what is a real page and what is a hoax page. The key is to look at every between the http:// and the next / . The address reads from right to left. So scam.facebook.com would be a real site as it falls under the facebook.com domain. facebook.scam.com would be a fake site as it falls under the scam.com domain.
Finally, serial swindle Wayne Charters is behind bars after being found guilty of five counts of obtaining money by deception. He married a Rosebud woman and then convinced her to sell all her assets so they could move overseas together. He claimed to be an ASIO spy trying to escape the organisation. He got out of sleeping with her by claiming that he ‘didn’t believe in sex before marriage’ and ‘had a bad back.’
If you’ve got a scam question for the show, email me at sleightofhand@conman.com.au.
