Posted April 21st, 2008 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: Email Scams, False
Tags: 419 scam, email, email scam, nigerian scam, scam, variant
Okay, so maybe I’m a little odd, but for some reason I can’t help thinking it’s going to be a good day when I discover that someone has forwarded a new variant of an urban legend or superstition or scam email to me.
So, oh yes, imagine my excitement when I discovered two new variants in my inbox this morning! [1]
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Footnotes:| 1. | I didn’t actually jump up and down and clap my hands, if that’s what you’re imagining, but I definitely did smile and also possibly did rub my hands together and say, “Aha! The game’s afoot!”, or something equally silly. |
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Posted April 12th, 2008 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: False, Folklore, Ghost Stories, Urban Rituals
Tags: horror, Scarelore, scary, spooky, supernatural
I’ve just discovered a charming version of the Bloody Mary story over on the American Folklore web site.
In this rendition, Bloody Mary is a witch who lives in a forest and who lures children from a nearby village to use them in black magic that will give her back her youth.
…Then the little girls in the village began to disappear, one by one. No one could find out where they had gone. Grief-stricken families searched the woods, the local buildings, and all the houses and barns, but there was no sign of the missing girls. A few brave souls even went to Bloody Mary’s home in the woods to see if the witch had taken the girls, but she denied any knowledge of the disappearances.
Predictably, things don’t go well at all for the wicked witch once the villagers discover that she has been lying, and she is burned alive for murdering their children.
Before she dies, however, Bloody Mary curses the village, and to this very day anyone who chants her name three times in front of a darkened mirror will summon her vengeful spirit from the grave.
You can read the tale in full over at: Bloody Mary: A Scary Urban Legend from Pennsylvania Folklore
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Posted March 30th, 2008 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: False, Urban Legends
Tags: chain email, email, hoax, Scarelore, urban dangers
The email claims that a new danger has arrived in your neighbourhood – gangs of thieves are tricking the unwary into smelling ether disguised as a sample of an expensive perfume, and are then robbing their happless victims once they have been rendered unconscious.
How worried should you be that you or your loved ones might fall prey to these fiendish purveyors of fake fine perfumes? Step into the ULBlog car park to learn a little more about The Sweet Smell Of Danger…
It really is amazing how long a good Urban Legend can survive out there in the wild!
When I first wrote about the Perfumed Bandits email hoax we were living in a different century. It was November 1999, and the same email that has gone on to cause so much concern and alarm around the world was making its way into unsuspecting email inboxes for the very first time.
And this email didn’t mess about. It went straight for the psychologic jugular and didn’t let go, delivering its payload of anxiety and alarm to a host audience that was still trying to adapt to the idea that not everything you receive in your inbox is true or real. Even if it claims otherwise in very big letters…
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Posted February 5th, 2006 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: Email Scams, False
Tags: 419 scam, advanced fees fraud, email, nigerian scam, scam
An email lands in your inbox promising immense riches, if only you will help someone in a distant country transfer some money that has been left forgotten in an account for years. It’s called the Nigerian Scam, and it has cost the gullible and unwary millions of dollars.
Join me in the ulblog forensic accountacy department as we learn more about this surprisingly successful con game.
I first wrote about the Nigerian Scam [1] back in July of 2001 on the ULRC site. It wasn’t by any means a new scam then, but the Internet was still rapidly expanding, and vast numbers of people were still making their way online for the first time, and were being exposed – at an alarming rate – to a scam the majority of them had never heard of before.
Almost six years later, and it appears that the Nigerian Scam is still going strong.
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Footnotes: | 1. | Also known as an Advanced Fees Fraud and the 419 Scam, after the relevant section in the Nigerian criminal code that covers fraud operations such as these. |
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Posted February 1st, 2006 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: False, Folklore, Superstitions, Urban Legends
Tags: human behaviour, insanity, popular beliefs
The moon has fascinated humanity since we first looked up in wonder at its pale, glowing face, and has featured in our religions, folklore and popular beliefs ever since.
But our relationship with the moon hasn’t always been positive. Join me out in the still of the night, while we spend a little time gazing at our closest celestial neighbor and think a little about the topic of madness and moonbeams.
The Goddess Dances By Moonlight
Imagine, for a moment, what it would have been like for the first sentient humans to look up at the night sky and to see the moon charting its way across the heavens. It must have been one of the great mysteries of existence, worthy of secrets and rituals, and later to become an object of worship and suspicion.
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