The Ben Bernanke Scam Morphs Nigerian

So obviously TheHackerCIO has to tighten up his easy-going LinkedIn policy, so that he keeps his Network hygiene up.

We had some fun a few days ago with the Linked-In request purporting to be from Ben Bernanke.

The post was also a means of crowd-sourcing a determination of the scam.

But that isn't necessary.

I got a reply message from good old Ben:

Did you authorize One Lawrence R. Larson who presented document of claim purported to have been signed by you for the release of your payment to him? Could you please drop your direct line so that I call you for more details.

Ben

And in scams, as in most things, Google is your friend, so a quick check on Lawrence R. Lawson reveals the tired old Nigerian funds scam:

And, by the way, I'm mysteriously Unlinked from my newly accepted buddy.

Sorry that no-one gets to collect the credit for decoding the scam, but the reminder that scam and spam are everywhere, even in LinkedIn, is salutary for all of us.

Here is the text of my final communication with this despicable scam spammer:

Attention you despicable Fraud Meister:

If you send me any further communications at all, I will pursue every federal agency that exists to see that you receive the full punishment of the law for whatever scam you are pursuing.

You don't even have the imagination to use a different name from the Nigerian scam (Lawrence R. Larson). I will be forwarding all these details and following it up with yahoo, your email provider, as well as LinkedIn.

If I receive any spam at all on this account (which so far has received none), I will know it came from you and will pursue every legal avenue to see you receive full legal punishment.

Now go away, and forget my email address, you scum-bag.

I Remain,

TheHackerCIO