Comments on: Terror Spam

By: random tox

random tox — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:34:03 +0000

Oh and if you’re wondering what would happen if you send those complaints…

You won’t be getting any response whatsoever from ikeechem@yahoo.com, no matter how hard you try.

You won’t be receiving any reaction from NCC Nigeria either, but that doesn’t mean that nothing would change under the surface. I guess the individual who reads your complaint first will use it to extort some money from the person behind Henik International Ltd, threatening them to revoke their licence otherwise. This guy in turn will extort money from the proprietor of the scammer infested internet cafe at 213.255.199.40. The proprietor will either kick the actual scammer in the nuts, unless that guy has either larger muscles than himself or more powerful friends, respectively, in which case of course no word would be spoken. Either way, the scammer will keep on doing their dirty job, either in the same cafe or – in worst case – in another one, just across the street.

Good luck, nevertheless.

By: random tox

random tox — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:18:24 +0000

Although the message sounds upsetting, it’s nothing new. This odd blackmail form of the Advance Fee Fraud aka Nigerian Fraud pops up from time to time. As pretty obvious, no one is going to kill nobody. It’s just a stupid jerk sitting in some internet cafe in Awka, Nigeria; probably being entirely unsuccessful with their usual crap, this angle will be tried. The usual method of obtaining spam targets for Nigerian criminals is using email address harvesters, so don’t worry, it’s nothing personal.

As posted above, this spam run originates from 213.255.199.40, an IP that appears to be blacklisted on many sites. I haven’t found much on Henik International Ltd in Awka, Nigeria either, but the company appears to exist:

http://www.ncc.gov.ng/Liceensee_nov06/Internet%20Services.pdf lists “Henik International Ltd, 229, Zik Avenue, Awka, Anambra State” as being a licenced Nigerian internet provider from 1st August 2004 until 31st July 2009. About ncc.gov.ng:

“The Nigerian Communications Commission is the independent National Regulatory Authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.”

As Henik International has no internet presence whatsoever, you still may give a try to send your complaint to “Ike Echem” ikeechem@yahoo.com, an individual unknown to all search engines I use. This person with the above addy will be listed in the whois record of 213.255.199.40 as belonging to the mysterious Henik International Ltd.

Another approach would be to direct your complaint to the Public Affairs Department of the Nigerian NCC: ncc@ncc.gov.ng, and don’t forget to cc the Licensing Department at licence@ncc.gov.ng.

My actual guess is the Henik International Ltd is a one man company who buys internet services from SkyVision Network Services (see whois) and resells them to local scammers, probably operating in establishments loosely resembling internet cafes.

By: Chris Bryant

Chris Bryant — Sat, 05 May 2007 23:26:06 +0000

Ha- thanks for the post- I got this identical spam, and (Google be praised) was able to find your reference to it.
The difference was that I couldn’t track the email headers back past a US host.

I’m tempted to reply that I wish I could afford to pay, but my net worth of $US3.5 Million Dollars was lost from a Nigerian scam (c;.

BTW- Mine was to Christopher….

By: Pete C

Pete C — Sat, 05 May 2007 13:20:12 +0000

I recieved one of the e-mails a couple of days ago. It makes startling reading at first, but is obviously a nasty scam. Not quite sure how to progress it, telling the police is one course, but wide publicity would help too. Some folk may fall for this.

Interesting that us “Petes” are being targeted, agree with another commentator, probably somebody working down an alphabetical list.

B regards

Pete C

By: Steven Murawski

Steven Murawski — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:31:33 +0000

It’s showing up in the States too.. there was a similar one earlier in the year which I investigated and which had garnered the attention of the FBI. This mail seems to be another in the same vein. Have a great day!

By: pete

pete — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:32:15 +0000

Pete, sorry to hear you got one too – thought it might have been a limited run but I’d hazard a guess they’re running through a list or marks in alphabetical order. (I’ll ask my brother Paul if he got one just before me!)

I’ll probably report this to the cops as well, basically for it’s new approach so they can be aware of it. It’s a bastard of a trick though. One of the very few spams to get me to read the whole thing in a long time. No doubt it’ll catch a few people out, mores the pity.

By: Pete

Pete — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 13:18:08 +0000

Interesting… I got the same spam this morning and also decided it was an ugly turn of events from the 419 world.

After determining it came from Nigeria my instinct was to ignore it or bait the scammer somewhat but a friend persuaded me to report it to the police because it’s the kind of thing that would freak quite a few people out. Not that there’s a lot the British dibble can do from this end.

Weird that it’s two Pete’s, both in the Uk though… Maybe it’s a vendetta!