Aug 15 2009

Feeling Itchy Yet Fred?

Category: PersonalChrisM @ 10:42 pm

I received an e-mail that got around my GMail spam filter by keeping the main message within an attached document. Anyway,
‘Fred Driver’, using captfreddriver1@gmail.com as his e-mail address sent the following…

Hey!
Plz view attachment for your message.

Cheers
Fred

attached was the following request…

Dear Friend,

I am Capt. Fred Driver, an American Soldier, I am presently attached to a security company here in Iraq, I am assigned with the 1st Armored Division (Basra) here in Iraq. I am writing following an opportunity that will be of immense benefit to both of us.

As you know we are being attacked by insurgents on daily basis coupled with (Improvised explosive device) explosives we encounter almost every day, this has been responsible for the loss of both US & British Soldiers more than combat confrontations.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein, we discovered various amount of funds running into millions of dollars which we returned to the new (Iraqi Government) as you can see on this website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

However, when the situation became critical and we began to loose soldiers on daily basis and coupled with the recent deployment of United States Soldier out from Iraq, I decided to keep some of these funds we discovered just to help our family in case we didn’t make it out of Iraq alive. The total amount in my custody here is US$12.5million dollars in cash.

PLEASE COULD YOU KINDLY TELL WHAT PERCENTAGE (%) OF THIS MONEY (US$12.5million) YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE AFTER THE TRANSFER TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT?

All you have to do is just help me receive these funds in your account for us to share. On receipt of your details, I will properly guide you on the procedure we will adapt to facilitate a smooth transfer of these funds.
Kindly send me an e-mail, signifying your interest including
Your name:
Age:
Telephone/fax numbers for quick communication:
Contact address:
Occupation:
Nationality:
NOTE: This transaction is risk free and the case can be shipped out within 48hrs after we have both agreed to carry out this venture.

I urgently hope to get your response as soon as possible.
Regards,

Capt. Fred Driver

Deciding to check if s/he had used that alias before in other 419 scams, I came across a couple of instances back in May, thought about making contact and seeing if I could waste some of their time, but got bored very quickly writing a reply. So the following got sent instead…

Fred,
Congratulations on your promotion from Sgt. to Capt., and I am glad you have managed to sort out $6 million dollars already, since May 19th (see here and here).

If I had the time right now, I would gladly engage you in a long running e-mail exchange, in the hope that any time of yours that I wasted would be time you couldn’t be successfully conning at least one gullible person out there.
I spent quite a lot of time dealing with 419ers in one of my old jobs back in England – using the deaths of soldiers in Iraq is pretty fricking low, scraping the bottom of the barrel like those scammers who use names of those killed on 9/11.

May you get a crab infestation and your arms be too short to scratch, or failing that, at least get a conscience and decide to do honest work for a living.

Yours,

Chris Merriman
http://ChrisMerriman.com

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Sep 04 2008

Downright Disgusting

Category: In The MediaChrisM @ 2:52 pm

[EDIT]
Please see here for an update.

Morning everyone. I’ll hopefully be back to posting regularly soon – I’m almost recovered from a bug/flu/bad cold that I picked up on the flight back to Kazakhstan last week (Turkish Airlines are sadly not alone in the pitiful amount of fresh air (as opposed to the germ-laden recycled stuff) used on their flights).

Anyway, onto the reason I’ve made this post. First, please read this story from the BBC website. A brief summary is that a member of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces was refused a room at a hotel in Woking. Apparently it is the management’s and/or hotel’s policy not to accept military personnel!

Corporal Tomos Stringer

As long term readers of this blog will know, I am not a supporter of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan per se; however, when it comes down to the lives of those individual people who voluntarily sign up to protect their country, I believe we should show some respect. Support the personnel, even if you don’t agree with the politics. I can only guess that the policy of the hotel has come from previous problems they have experienced with squaddies relaxing a little too much. If so, I can understand how large groups of physically fit men who are trained to fight would not be ideal guests. This does not appear to have been the situation in this case though. One lone man, who was on leave from Afghanistan due to an injury, and was in the area to visit another injured soldier friend needed a place to lay his head and rest for the night. Having been refused a room, Corporal Tomos Stringer had to spend the night in his car.


View Larger Map
(I believe the hotel is located in the centre of this map.)

I would ask all readers (especially those in the UK) to consider calling the hotel to register a complaint about this incident. If you live outside Britain, but still feel strongly enough, I can recommend using Skype (and purchasing some credit) to call the hotel – assuming your normal phone has high international call rates. This is what I did, and left a message for the duty manager. The lady answering the phone behaved in a professional manner, and I would ask any callers to remain civil and simply ask that their disgust with the management be registered and passed on to them.

The hotel’s phone number is (01483) 727100 , or if you are dialling internationally, +44 1483 727100 . Should you live in the Woking area, and have a few minutes spare to actually complain in person, their address is The Metro Hotel, Gwent House, Crown Sq, Woking, GU21 6HR. There are two different addresses listed by Google, with the same phone number, so I’m not sure whether one is simply a correspondence address.

If your job happens to include arranging overnight stays for staff in a hotel, then I would ask you to consider not using this hotel in the future.

If you do not feel anything wrong has occurred, I obviously respect your right to hold a different opinion, but thank you for taking the time to read this message.

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Aug 29 2007

The Iraq, South Africa AND US Americans!!!

Category: VideosChrisM @ 3:18 pm

Thought I’d post a link to a YouTube clip whilst I wait to see if the new resizing method results in a much needed improvement in quality.
Anyway, click here to see the bright young future of America…
Although she has obviously been coached to include South Africa and ‘the’ Iraq in any of her answers. Unfortunately she seems to unable to answer the question regarding how 1 in 5 Americans can’t locate their own country on a map of the world, let alone subtly slip in the required references. I have seen better quality videos of the beauty contest, but the one linked to has helpful subtitles 🙂

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Jul 23 2007

Brown Holds Emergency Meetings Re. Floods

Category: Personal,WeatherChrisM @ 3:50 am

The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, held a Cobra committee (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) meeting regarding the response to the national flooding problems. Glos.’s Gold Command emergency response team was represented by Tim Brian – it’s head. He was included in the meeting (via a phone link up) as my home county (Gloucestershire) was one the hardest hit counties. There was the normal amount of slopey shoulders and buck passing, as the government has come under fire for not providing help to prevent the flooding, and assistance to clear up the mess. Some have stated the current military deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq had made their assistance difficult in areas; the response was, no that isn’t the case, anyway, sandbags are the local council’s responsibility…
hey ho.
On a more positive note, it looks like there will be more funding put in place for proper flood defence systems in the future – whilst these may not completely prevent future floods, they may help to stem the flow, and give better warnings.

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Jun 20 2007

Gas Pipe Disruption – Though Not Where You Think

Category: In The Media,PersonalChrisM @ 9:03 pm

Police take action over attempts to disrupt the construction of a gas pipeline.
Just another day in Iraq? Not a very surprising head line to read perhaps?
Well, this is not regarding terrorists/freedom fighters in Iraq. No, this concerns my home countries – England and Wales!

Around 30 people have been protesting about the construction of a pipeline between Pembrokeshire and Gloucestershire (the county Cheltenham is in, where we lived prior to Astana), and the A40 (that eventually leads onto London) has been closed around Brecon, as the authorities attempt to evict the protesters.

Grab more info at the BBC article on their web site.

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Jun 01 2007

Alan Johnston Video Released

Category: PersonalChrisM @ 2:48 pm

Just watching BBC World, and a video of the kidnapped journalist, Alan Johnston, has been released to the media.
He stated that he had been well fed, and not physically mis-treated.
He spoke of the actions of UK & USA government around the world, and how they were causing suffering.
There was indication where or, just as importantly, when the video was made.
The video was followed by a statement from his alleged kidnappers, detailing their demands. I’m not sure if they treated the audio track, used a woman or just had a high pitched person read their statement, but it sounded quite odd.

Whatever your view on America and Britain’s role in Afghanistan, Iraq & the backing of the Israeli state, Alan himself was never afraid to report the truth, and point out the injustices in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The mere fact that proof of his survival of the kidnapping itself is a good sign, but with no sign of when it was made, it is difficult to get your hopes up too high, just yet.

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