On this post you will read how I had some fun extracting personal information from those morons behind the Viber International Ballot Award Program Scam: one of the most idiotic scamming attempts circulating the Internet. You may also want to check out my scamming-the-scammers archives for more similar posts, and especially this very funny story of how I scammed a bunch of real-world Indian scammers while on a trip to Rajasthan, India, earning some cash and free meals in the process.
I personally happen to have quit Viber since a long time already due to the large volume of spam and scams that manages to go past the app’s filters. I suppose everyone who’s used this chat service should know what I’m talking about.
The other day, I happened to be shown a such scamming-attempt message received by a friend of mine. It read as follows:
Attention User,
Your VIBER mobile number has been selected as the winner of Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($500.000.00USD) in the VIBER International Ballot award programme. Send your winning REF No: VIP/US-179/2019. to email: [email protected]
Full Name:
Country:
Contact Mobile Number:
Nationality:
Address:
Age:
Sex:
Marital Status:
Occupation:
11.03.2019 17:55:46
What an outright idiotic and laughable try. Utter lack of imagination and creativity; the idea is so ridiculously naive that its whole scheme becomes obvious by the introductory message. Those fools try to convince you that you won $5,000,000 in some kind of official Viber ballot. Then, in the extremely rare case that someone might fall for it, they will ask you to pay for the shipping of the cheque. I always find such stupid scamming attempts as a nice opportunity for a good laugh, and the prospect of disclosing and posting online some of the private information of those rascals behind them as an intriguing one.
So I title a new mail ‘Ballot’ and send it to the address above:
Wow, I’m so excited I won! Thank you so much, guys!
Ref number: VIP/US-179/2019
Full name: Henrik **********Country: Sri Lanka
Mobile: +94*********
Nationality: Norwegian
Address: Sunset view villa, Weligama, Sri Lanka
Age: 52
Sex: Male
Marital status: Divorced
Occupation: real estate investor
They soon answer, deeply contended that someone, finally, might fall for their cheap scam – I imagine.
Viber Inc.
670 Castro Street, Suite 125-220, Mountain View, California, 94041
United States of America
Dear Winner,From the desk of the VIBER Splash Promotion Team, we wish to officially inform you that your application has now being approved for a payment. We congratulate you once again for emerging as our winner of $500,000.00 USD ( Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).
VIBER Corporation organized this promotional to appreciate the society for it’s amazing supports and patronage towards the growth of the organization. We also thank you for being a part of our community, and helping to connect the world free.
We are sending this message to inform you that your claim process has been completed, and your winning Cheque amounting to the sum of $500,000.00 USD (Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) has been given to our affiliate courier service: Orient Global Shipment for immediate delivery to you.
Your Cheque has been issued by our correspondent bank in Turkey where your winning ballot number falls for payment. Please take note of this enclosed number (VIBER-VIP/US-179/2019) and contact the Courier Dispatch Manager immediately via the following contact>>>
ORIENT GLOBAL SHIPMENT
[Head Office]
Trump Towers, 34387 ÅžiÅŸli/Ä°stanbul
Dispatch Manager:
Mackay Christopher Allan
Email:[email protected]
[Note] The courier services will be needing your complete delivery address and contact telephone number to enable them honor your request on time. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us
Best Regard,
VIBER TEAM
I choose the first one of the addresses above, I compile a new mail titled ‘Viber Promotion’, and let the joke begin…
Hello there! I suppose this must be Mr Mackay Christopher Allan. How’s the weather in Istanbul? Good view from the tower?
I am the winner of the $5.000.000 price (VIP/US-179/2019). It’s a pretty good coincidence I won that money now because I was thinking to buy a new yacht – my current one is already 5 years old. So Mr Mackay, can you be quick and send me the money the soonest possible? Thanks.
ATTN:
Welcome to Orient Global Shipment (OGS). We are a courier company that ensures a safe, sound and secure delivery of your parcels, making sure you get them when expected. Your package containing your Cheque, original copy of your certificate and security documents alongside your consolation prizes have been picked up from the Viber head office and are ready for dispatch.
Package Contents: Cheque, Winning Certificate and Security Documents.
Weight of Original Winning Certificate: 0.12kgWeight of Bank Cheque: 0.6kg
Total weight of Parcel: 0.18kg
Total Net weight of Parcel: 0.20kg
Colour of Parcel: Red & White
Parcel Packaging: Bonded
You are required to select a Shipment option in which you have to pay before we can deliver your parcel below:
Option: 1 SHIPMENT SERVICES EXPRESS DELIVERY (2 days)
TOTAL……………………………€1,785
Option: 2 SHIPMENT PREMIUM SERVICES (4 working days)
TOTAL…………………………..€985
Option: 3 SHIPMENT REGULAR SERVICES (7 working days)
TOTAL……………………………€785
PAY YOUR DELIVERY FEE THROUGH WESTERN UNION OR MONEY GRAM WITH THE INFORMATION BELOW AND SEND THE SCAN COPY OF PAYMENT FOR CONFIRMATION. “PURPOSE OF PAYMENT IS FOR THE SERVICES”
FIRST NAME: MARAL
LAST NAME: CHARYYEVA
Address: Trump Towers, 34387 Sisli/Istanbul,Turkey OR
You can send it through Ria Money Transfer,Universal Payment Transfer (UPT) with below information
FIRST NAME:HOUSSEINE
LAST NAME: AISSAOUI
Address: Trump Towers, 34387 Sisli/Istanbul,Turkey
The charges are a little bit high because of the Hardcover insurance Policy we have undertaken in case of loss, Damage or Theft of your highly sensitive document and funds. We assume all responsibilities in case of any eventualities.Note : That your delivery charges cannot be deducted from your winning prize/Cheque or even pay after delivered due to Article 1186 section 45 subsections 2.3 of the Turkish Constitution as relates to Financial and Courier matters, which are duly codified in the Turkish law. Hence you are to note that the delivery charges must be provided by you before your prize/Cheque will be delivered to you.
Please respond to this email by making a selection from the options above.Also be reminded that the deadline for the claiming of winnings is exactly two weeks after the receipt of this email. After this period, your cash prize will be deemed to have been forfeited by you and will be reused in the drawings of the next edition of the Viber Splash.
Good luck and Congratulations once again. Please send your response within the next 24hrs to this same email: [email protected]. Kindly Note that you are to inform us of the option you have chosen and sendcopy of the payment for confirmation
Regards
Christopher Allan
Manager Of Orient Global Shipment Turkey Branch
Mobile: +905380609075Address : [email protected]Address : [email protected]Address : [email protected]
Website: www.orientglbalshipment.com
Hey there! Lovely, thank you so much! Tell me something, is there any faster shipping option than those? If I could receive it by next day, I wouldn’t mind paying something more. Otherwise I will go for the 2-day express one. And something more, would it be possible to pay by direct bank transaction? Do please send send me a bank account number and I will send you the money asap. Thanks again a million!
Attn: Sir
Greetings from the Orient Global Shipment and thanks for contacting us.
In reference to your request,please find below the faster options to receive the winning fund in your bank account within 48hrs.
Sending the fund via bank to bank wire transfer will cost you €10,750 euro for the account activation fee and it has to be send to us before we can proceed to enable us start processing for the transaction form immediately. Secondly you have to provide us with below information for the easy transaction to proceed Sir
• First name and Last name:
• Nationality
• Bank name and address:
• Account Name:
• Account number:
• Swift /ABA Code etc
Further More if you chooses to get your winning Cheque via delivery to your country then proceed on paying the necessary delivery fee through western union or money gram as we have instructed you in our previous mail OK.
Attn
Again the shipping delivery to get in next day will cost you only €3,850 Euro , The delivery called ESD( Express Delivery ) So now all options have giving to you in black and white only left for you to make your choice Sir. Update us on any option you choose
Alright guys, then I will go for ESD express delivery. I will send you tomorrow €3,850 to proceed with Western Union. Do please send me name, address, and passport number of the receiver.
Attn:
Below are the receiver information attach with his company ID card which is the registered identity card our staff send out if needed by our customer/client
FIRST NAME: MARAL
LAST NAME: CHARYYEVA
Address: Trump Towers, 34387 Sisli/Istanbul,TurkeyPhone Nos: +905380609075
Hello! I am now in Western Union. It probably is some pecularity of the local law, but in order to let me send this sum of money out of the country they require that I provide them with a passport copy of the receiver. Can you please send me that quickly? If we don’t reach them today, then they open on Monday again.
Attn:
Sir you are advise to send the fee from another country outside Sri Lanka as their law don’t support sending money outside their country and we are very sorry we don’t send our staff international passport copy to anybody/client /customer outside our dear registered company, all our staff international passport copy are stored and installed in our company server /database for security reasons and can only view by the BOT Board of trustees in charge of the company. Hope you well understood my explanation Sir? Kindly look for person to assist you in sending the money from another country outside Sri Lanka through western union,don’t forget to send us the payment copy for confirmation so that we can proceed immediately once the payment is confirmed Ok. Sorry for the inconvenience this might cause you
It’s ok guys, I totally understand your concerns. Do then kindly send me your bank account information so that I can proceed with paying you straight away via direct bank transfer.
Attn:
Below is the bank account details as requested
Account name: Ramona Karina Garcia
Account number:3546164-102
IBAN: TR68 0020 6003 1203 5461 6401 02
Swift code: AFKBTRISXXX
Bank: Türkiye Finans Katilim Bankası A.Ş. Address: Sisli İstanbul Turkey
Thank you so much, Ramona! This is very kind of you. I sent the money already but I did a small mistake. Because I was in a rush I accidentally typed in a extra 0, so instead of €3,850 I have sent you €38,500. The payment has been already processed and I cannot change it. Be kind and return me the surplus once you receive the money. It should show up in your account by tomorrow latest. Inform me then of how I can receive my parcel on the next day. Thanks a lot again! Have a great day sexy!
I did not hear from them again. I tried to send one more mail but I didn’t get any response; they figured out that I was just kidding with them. I would have liked to keep it up for a little longer, but that was all. Up to this point, I managed to extract from them the following info:
Three people associated with this scam, apparently residing in Turkey but being of Central-Asian origin, named:
- Maral Charyeeva
- Houssein Aissaoui
- Ramona Karina Garcia
A bank account belonging to the latter one:
Account name: Ramona Karina Garcia
Account number:3546164-102
IBAN: TR68 0020 6003 1203 5461 6401 02
Swift code: AFKBTRISXXX
Bank: Türkiye Finans Katilim Bankası A.Ş. Address: Sisli İstanbul Turkey
Four e-mail addresses associated with the scammers:
As for the website orientglobalshipment.com, after a quick look I had, it seems to be belonging to a legitimate shipping company that the scammers arbitrarily use, and its owners should become aware of that fact.
A few months after the incident, those (or perhaps some other) idiots found this post and the only thing they thought of doing was giving it another try on me by sending me the following mail from the address [email protected] via my site’s contact form…
CONGRATULATIONS!
We deeply congratulate you once again for winning the *VIBER* International balloting award programme.
Your Mobile Number has been selected among the five lucky-winners of the *VIBER* programme, USA for Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars.
This is a reward program for the patronage of internet services, all participants were selected randomly from world wide mobile number Directories, and your mobile number appears on the VIBER machine as the winner of the 2019 VIBER yearly promotional Award Prize of Seven hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000.00)
This promotion is part of the financial empowerment program of the VIBER in its struggle to alleviate poverty.
This promotional programme is being promoted and sponsored by eminent personalities in the person of Bill Gates of Microsoft Inc. With the support of VIBER Founder: , Talmon Marco and other corporate companies and organizations in United States to encourage the use of computer systems worldwide.
Full Name:.
Country:.
Contact Mobile Number:.
Nationality:..
Address:.
Age:.
Sex:.
Marital Status:..
Occupation:.
Above is the required information for processing of your winning, please fill the required information and return it back for verification and payment of your won prize fund. Please provide the required information as soon as possible to enable the paying bank process and commence your payment before the last remittance date.
Best Regard,
Viber Inc.
670 Castro Street, Suite 125-220
Mountain View, California, 94041
United States of America
I got this message from you’re mail
A few more months later, I found out that they also have set up an utterly ridiculous website on Blogspot. They have pictures of supposed winners and they also have a couple of telephone numbers where you can call them (0019188444474 – 0019188444478).
Update September 2020: They recently tried on me again, via Whatsapp this time. I took the opportunity to poke some more fun at them.
