E-Mail Scam
"The Nigerian Advance Fee Scam" Victimizes Internet Users

Call Before You Dig. It's The Law!
ND One Call 1.800.795.0555

Ask The Help Desk
What Is A "Read Receipt" Message?

Sites Of The Month
Great Sites To Check Out In April!

Short Tutorial
Sending "Read Receipt" Requests When Sending E-mail Messages

  

Hello goNDTC Internet Customers!

This month's eNewsletter is packed with great information. You will be able to impress your boss and co-workers with some new "buzz" words, impress your friends and relatives with your extensive knowledge of minerals and gemstones, and brag to everyone about playing Rock Paper Scissors with celebrities!

The goal of each of our monthly eNewsletters is to keep our subscribers informed regarding their Internet connection and to improve their Internet experience. To meet this goal, each monthly newsletter will usually contain information related to:

  1. Warnings on a recent virus or e-mail hoax that may affect you
  2. An update on new services and other local interests
  3. An answer to a frequently asked Internet related question
  4. Some fun, seasonal websites to check out
  5. A short, step-by-step tutorial on an e-mail or browser related task
We think you'll find the information contained in this newsletter to be a valuable tool for enhancing your Internet experience. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions that you would like to submit, please click HERE.

To see what's inside this issue, take a look at the index to the left and thanks for reading!

- The goNDTC Team

E-Mail Scam - "The Nigerian Advance Fee Scam" Victimizes Internet Users

Although the "Nigerian Advance Fee Scam" has circulated across North America for many years, it continues to be one the highest median dollar loss Internet scams around. According to the FBI's 2004 Internet Fraud Crime Report, the average dollar loss for Internet users who reported being victimized by the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam was $3,000. Only Internet check fraud scams had a higher average loss ($3,600).

Also known as the "Nigerian 419 Scam," referring to the Nigerian law for fraud, the scam has propagated for years through regular mail, fax transmissions, telephone solicitations, and, in recent years, most prolifically via e-mail.

There are hundreds of variations of the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam; however, the storyline is similar in each instance. The scam goes something like this: A person from a third world country, usually claiming to be either a very important business person or from royal lineage, sends you an e-mail saying he/she has access to huge amounts of money which is sitting idle from a recent inheritance, government action, or business deal. For some strange, fateful reason this person has selected you to assist him/her in getting the funds out of his/her country. Once you've grabbed the "bait," the scammer asks you to either provide him/her with a "transaction advance" (which you'll never see again) or personal bank account information for the purpose of sending millions of dollars to your account for a temporary holding period. The individual promises to share the proceeds with you (usually anywhere from 10%-25%) after the transfer of funds occurs. The e-mail message normally utilizes incorrect grammar and spelling to further the notion that the sender is indeed from an impoverished, far-off country.

Below is the exact text of an actual Nigerian Advance Fee Scam that has been recently circulating the Internet:

  "Subject: PARTNERSHIP

FROM: Michael Shaw
E-MAIL: michaelshaw99@myway.com

Good day,

With warm heart I offer my friendship and greetings. I hope this mail meets you in good time. However strange or surprising this contact might seem to you as we have not met personally or had any dealings in the past, I humbly ask that you take due consideration of its importance and immense benefits. I duly apologize for infringing on your privacy if this proposal is not acceptable to you.

First and foremost, I wish to introduce myself properly to you. I am Mr. Michael Shaw, the son of the former Liberia finance minister (Mr. Emmanuel Shaw) under the past government of Charles Taylor. I presume you are aware of the political crisis in my country which affected my father's health. At the end of Charles Taylor's regime, he was exiled to Nigeria where he currently resides. Majority of his officers including ministers like my father, are having their accounts frozen by the present government because they were uncomfortable with the past regime. We then jointly decided within the family to relocate the family funds outside Liberia for investment.

I am contacting you because of a good friend of my father (Dr. Thomas Clark) who visited your country sometime ago made recommendations about your country to my family. Following the above reason, I have been subsequently advised to seek and invest this money abroad. So,I am soliciting for your co-operation and confidential assistance to take custody of twenty six million united states dollars (US$26.000.000). And also front for me in areas of business which you desire profitable. Left alone, this would prove extremely difficult if not impossible due to the bureaucratic nature of the western world.

In preparedness and appreciation to conduct this business with you, I shall give you 15% of the total funds and 5% commission on any profit that we might realise in the process of investing the funds. 5% shall be set aside for any eventual cost that may occur in the process of this transaction. Please,I need your entire support and co-operation for the success of this business venture,and also your utmost confidentiality. Be rest assured that,this is absolutely safe with no risk involved. I do hope my proposal is acceptable to you.

Thanking you in anticipation, while looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,

Michael Shaw.
E-MAIL:-michaelshaw99@myway.com"

The above message is an Illegal Scam! If you believe that you have been victimized by the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam or any other type of Internet fraudulent scheme, contact your local law enforcement officials and file an online report with the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center located at: http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

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Call Before You Dig. It's The Law! - ND One Call 1.800.795.0555

It's springtime once again so many homeowners are heading outdoors to tackle long-awaited projects. New decks, tree plantings, fences, landscaping, and sprinkler systems are some of the more common springtime endeavors that involve digging or excavating.

NDTC would like to remind each of our customers that when digging a hole in your yard, you could disrupt telephone service, water, cable TV, sewer, electric power, and a number of other underground utility lines.

Before any excavation or digging starts, homeowners need to know they must call North Dakota One Call 48 hours in advance at 1.800.795.0555 to have their utilities properly identified and marked. It not only saves you time and money--it's the law.

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Ask The Help Desk - What Is A "Read Receipt" Message?

Question: I recently opened an e-mail message from a friend and got a strange pop-up message that said something like, "The Message sender has requested a response to indicate that you have read the message. Would you like to send a receipt?" What does this mean? (I use Outlook Express on a Windows machine.)

Answer: The message you described means that the person who sent you the e-mail is requesting an acknowledgement that you opened and read it. It's called a "Read Receipt" message. Most e-mail programs allow you to ask for Read Receipts when sending e-mail messages. Many also allow you to acknowledge Read Receipts when receiving these messages. E-mail software programs do not automatically send Read Receipt requests to e-mail recipients unless the sender first changes the settings on his/her e-mail software program. (See the tutorial section below.) The recipient can then authorize a reply message (receipt) to go back to the sender by clicking "OK" on the pop- up message or he/she can click "Cancel" which does not allow a receipt message to be sent back to its origin.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

Understanding Internet Buzzwords
http://buzzwhack.com -  The world of Internet "geek-talk" is filled with buzzwords and acronyms. How can you help but look bewildered when someone is referring to "link farms," "beggarware," "stickiness," and "crittercams?" Well, bewilder no more! Buzzwack.com is dedicated to de-mystifying important words or phrases used primarily to impress people. The site includes definitions of hundreds of alphabetized buzzwords used in the realm of technology and business. Oh, and don't forget to "munge" next time you make a posting on an online newsgroup!

Having Fun With Minerals And Gemstones
http://minerals.net -  In case you've always wondered, the chemical composition of Crocoite is lead chromate. The color purple is caused by iron or manganese impurities. If this is the kind of information that gives you an adrenaline boost, then you'll really enjoy this educational guide to color, streak, hardness, crystal group, elemental classification, and, of course, the ever-popular "Dana classification." Actually, "Dana classification" may be a good submission candidate to the buzzwhack.com site listed above.

The National Arbor Day Observance Is In April
http://arborday.org -  Although each state celebrates Arbor Day at different times of the year, the official national observance date for this holiday is on the last Friday in April. Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska on April 10, 1872. He coordinated the planting of 1 million trees in the state in one day. This nationally-celebrated observance reminds everyone of the importance of planting and caring for trees. For further information, check out the National Arbor Day Foundation's official site.

Play Rock Paper Scissors Online
http://playrps.com -  How do you decide whose turn it is to take out the garbage or clean the kitty litter box? By playing Rock Paper Scissors, of course! You've played it with your friends and with your spouse. Now you can play the game online against the likes of "eTerminator," "eVentura," "eGladiator," and "eZorro." Win the best of seven series and you move on to compete against the next character.

Test Your Major League Baseball Trivia Skills
http://baseball-almanac.com/  -  Who holds the record for the most grand slam home runs in a career? Who has pitched the most complete games during his career? Who is the career leader in successfully stealing home? Who was the first player to earn $100,000 in salary for a single season? The major league baseball season has finally arrived and there's no better time to brush up on your baseball trivia. This site is filled with over 110,000 pages of baseball facts. That should keep you busy between innings! Answers to the above questions: Lou Gehrig (23), Cy Young (749), Ty Cobb (54), Hank Greenberg (Pittsburg in 1947).

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Short Tutorial -  Sending "Read Receipt" Requests When Sending E-mail Messages

Most e-mail programs allow you to ask for Read Receipts when sending e-mail messages. However, two popular Macintosh programs, Mail.app by Apple and Microsoft's Entourage, make no provision for sending or responding to Read Receipt requests. For information on popular e-mail software programs that do have Read Receipt capabilities, see the details below.

Outlook Express for Windows
Outlook Express for Windows can both request Read Receipts and respond to them. To set-up Outlook Express to request Read Receipts, follow the steps below.

  1. Open Outlook Express. Place your cursor arrow over the word "Tools" on your Outlook Express menu bar and select "Options" from the resulting drop- down menu by clicking on it.

  2. When the "Options" window opens, click on the "Receipts" tab.

  3. The first option list is "Requesting Read Receipts." Click on the check box next to "Request a read receipt for all sent messages" and then click "OK" to close the window.
Eudora 6.2 For Windows and Macintosh
Eudora 6.2 does not have a setting which allows you to request a Read Receipt every time a message is sent. The user must request these on a per e- mail basis. Eudora 6.2 does allow you to respond to receipt requests. To request Read Receipts in Eudora 6.2, follow the steps below.
  1. Open Eudora 6.2 and then create a new e-mail message.

  2. The message will have its own small tool bar with icons across the top. In the Windows version, if you pause over the buttons, they will tell you their functions. When you find the one labeled "Read Receipt," click on it. On the Macintosh version, the button is plainly labeled "RR."

  3. Send the message.
Mozilla's Thunderbird For Windows and Macintosh
Mozilla's Thunderbird is a close cousin to the popular Firefox Web browser. Thunderbird allows you to request Read Receipts; however, a known bug prevents anyone from responding to one. To request Read Receipts for an e- mail account when using Thunderbird, follow the steps below.
  1. Open Thuderbird. Place your cursor arrow over the word "Tools" on your Thunderbird menu bar and select "Account Settings" from the resulting drop- down menu by clicking on it.

  2. When the "Account Settings" window opens, look in the pane on the left for the name of the account from which you want to request receipts. Click on the plus sign next to the name to expand its settings list if necessary.

  3. Click on "Return Receipts" and then click on the "Customize return receipts for this account" radio button.

  4. Click on the check box next to "When sending messages, always request a return receipt" and then click "OK" to close the window.
Netscape 7.2 For Windows and Macintosh
Netscape 7.2's mail feature for both Windows and Macintosh is another Mozilla-based browser/e-mail client which supports Read Receipts. Its interface is similar to Thunderbird's but it allows you to also acknowledge a Return Receipt request. To set-up Netscape 7.2 to request Read Receipts, follow the steps below.
  1. Open Netscape 7.2. Click on the word "Window" in the Netscape menu and select "Mail & Newsgroups" from the drop-down list.

  2. Place your cursor arrow over the word "Edit" on your Netscape mail menu bar and select "Account Settings" from the resulting drop-down menu by clicking on it.

  3. When the "Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings" window opens, look in the pane on the left for the name of the account from which you want to request receipts. Double click on the name to expand its settings list if necessary.

  4. Click on "Return Receipts" and then click on the "Customize return receipts for this account" radio button.

  5. Click on the check box next to "When sending messages, always request a return receipt" and then click "OK" to close the window.

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We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you posted on the happenings at our shop. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions that you would like to submit, please click HERE.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards,

Dave Dircks
NDTC General Manager
North Dakota Telephone Company



North Dakota Telephone Co.
211 22nd St NW
Devils Lake, ND 58301

(701) 662-1100



(We have used our best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, we do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.)

©2005 Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.

Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this eNewsletter are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.