BEWARE: New MSN Messenger Spam Scam
Just last night I had an instant message from a local mate of mine come through on MSN. Funny thing is, my mate wasn’t online.
Here is the message I received:
Paul [5:45 PM]: omg! i just made 16$ online i found out a damn cool blog which guides to make money from Google by just filling out some forms and doing specific searches… <:o)
http://my-google-money.com/ (There was also a lot of smiley faces in the message)
***DO NOT SIGN UP THERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SCAMMED***
If this message had come from anyone else I wouldn’t have been so suspicious. You see, Paul is not into ‘making money online’ stuff and his writing style is nothing like above. I hate to admit this, but I too, have been a victim of a very similar scam to do with making money with Google.
I was asked to purchase a ‘Google Kit’ of some description for the whopping price of $1 (Yes, ONE Dollar) That was all good but I had to use my credit card (BIG MISTAKE #1) which mysteriously started getting charges left right and center for products and services I had NEVER heard of… HUH??? (FYI The magic pack never turned up…*gasp* surprise!)
What followed was a lot of wasted time, stress and expense. Because it was only small amounts ($14 – $37) I wasn’t too concerned but they kept coming out. There was no way to cancel whatever it was they had authorised so had to cancel my credit card and get a new one. The bank was going to track where the money had gone to… but ONLY after I had filled out a 20 page report on what happened, what I had done, who else had complained about it, any proof of other illegal activity etc etc. (Basically they wanted me to do their Job!)
Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on, its just not worth the hassle and lost productivity chasing down a few bucks. At the end of the day the chances of any justice being served is minimal.
My new rule about making an online purchase is easy…. IF I CAN’T PAY WITH PAYPAL OR 2CO, I DON’T PAY! At least you have some form of protection against the SCUM lurking in our midst by using reputable payment processors.
If you’ve had a similar experience please share it here. 
