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The Stimulus Package Appears To Be Stimulating Scammers...

from the they-wanted-job-creation... dept

Wed, Mar 4th 2009 7:34pm — Mike Masnick

This probably isn't much of a surprise for most folks, but scammers have wasted no time at all in using news about the massive government stimulus plan to try to trick suckers into various scams. Many of these are scams trying to get people to sign up to pay a "fee" to find out how they can get their "stimulus check" even though the stimulus program isn't sending out checks to individuals. Expect to see plenty more similar scams as well.

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Filed Under: scams, stimulus

13 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2009 @ 8:14pm

Madoff ?
Is that you ?
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Jeff Whitley, 4 Mar 2009 @ 8:19pm

Correction
That would be the "porkulous" package
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- Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2009 @ 10:31pm
  
  Re: Correction
  Ha, porkulous! You should host a radio show with original thoughts like that.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2009 @ 10:27am
    
    Re: Re: Correction
    Truth hurts huh?
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Occasionally Hip, 4 Mar 2009 @ 8:27pm

Got a quite 'federal' looking thing in the mail the other day, Time Sensitive! Stimulus Check Information! Gubmint Return Address! Open Immediately!

Trying to sell me a frickin' time share.

Guess the fed doesn't hold any trademarks? I think they'd've had a case.
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Josh, 4 Mar 2009 @ 8:29pm

Check.
What you didn't get your check? I did by simply following this link: Luckiest Chums (Please have your freedom and hope for a future ready to forfeit)
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2009 @ 8:31pm

It's their second job
Must be those poor CEOs trying to scrape together a living on just $500K per year.
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2009 @ 4:23am
  
  Re: It's their second job
  Must be those poor CEOs trying to scrape together a living on just $5MM per year.
  There, fixed that for you
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Rizwan, 4 Mar 2009 @ 11:02pm

I really gotta get into the scamming business, these guys are making a killing! How's that whole 'identity theft' thing work? Someone want to point me in the right direction?

thanks.
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Weird Harold, 5 Mar 2009 @ 4:09am

Spam is spam. Email spam changes with the season, the holiday, the events. The stimulus packge is just a term to use to get you to commit the ultimate sin (reading their spam and clicking on their links), nothing more and nothing less.

They have done the same for everything from plane crashes to Celebrity nudes. Nothing new here, nothing to see.
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Gene Cavanaugh, 5 Mar 2009 @ 11:07am

Stimulus scams
Right on.

I am of two minds on this, though.

1. I hate to see people taken advantage of, but
2. beyond a certain point, wouldn't it be better to take the money away from the brain-dead? I am not entirely kidding, here! Money in the hands of the truly naive can be dangerous!
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2009 @ 4:51pm
  
  Re: Stimulus scams
  Dude - do you have a senile grandma ?
  Ahhh, you probably wouldn't care anyway.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2010 @ 6:29am

got money to lay workers
cardinal glass got 7.7mil. to lay off 40 people stimulus really works
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