Help … we are dying … (WTF?!?)

Sometimes I get bizarre requests. And people can come up with the weirdest excuses for me to tell them how to open certain locks. But the mails below are the most bizarre scam mails so far. Or at least I hope it’s a scam …

Help

Begin forwarded message:

From: johnhXXXX@hotmail.com
To: barry.wells@toool.nl

Subject: FW: Help!
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:00:24 +0300

Hello there.

We are forwarding this e-mail from XXX XXXXX. We requested a help to get out from the Rebelions leader close camp in the border to XXXXXX. The guys are comming and kill people everyday claiming to show where the goverment soldiers has gone. No one knows. but they have already killed 27 peoples up to this morning.

We can’t escape our death as the camp is made of steel shipping containers and the steel doors are all locked with Mul-T-Locks. We need the help on instruction to open this locks so we can run our death. Please Help us… We are dying….

John.

From: John HXXXX [mailto:johnhXXXX@hotmail.com]
Sent: 14 August 2010 11:13 AM
To: XXX XXXXXX
Subject: Help!

Dear XXX,

We are 124 XXX (country BW) citizen kidnaped by rebels near the border to XXX (country BW). They come and shot dead one person in front of us everyday! We was 132 up to now remained 124 only and they still come to kill us..

The building doors are all made of steel. But all the padlocks are MUL-T-LOCKS.

One of us has managed to hide her mobile phone connected to internet. We now use this phone to seek for you help to unlock these 3 locks and run away from our death.

Can you please tell us what to do with this locks to resque our life please…..

John.

22 Responses to “Help … we are dying … (WTF?!?)”

  1. Shappy says:

    One time I opened up a fortune cookie and the fortune said, “help, I am being help prisoner in a fortune cookie factory.” 😛

  2. unhappy says:

    Sure, you are closed inside in a metal container but still can see what kind of lock there is outside. And you connect to the internet via radio inside a Faraday grid.

  3. unhappy says:

    Of course, you are closed inside in a metal container but still can see what kind of lock there is outside. And you connect to the internet via radio inside a Faraday grid.

  4. unhappy says:

    Naturally you are closed inside in a metal container but still can see what kind of lock there is outside. And you connect to the internet via radio inside a Faraday grid.

  5. unhappy says:

    I believe you. You are closed inside in a metal container but still can see what kind of lock there is outside. And you connect to the internet via radio inside a Faraday grid.

  6. Mitch Capper says:

    I am sorry, ive seen some awesome fraud emails before but this is the best ever.

  7. Mark A says:

    How about just “dude can you tell me some cool stuff I can do with a MUL-T-LOCK”? Like a cool way to open it with a coke can or something like that.

  8. Sophie says:

    Yeah, that is kinda weird. (I came here from a friend who pointed me here.)

    I can’t see any other mention of that email on the Internet though, and one would think there would be one. I’d like to investigate this further as I kinda like investigating scams (obviously, I don’t do anything that would let me get caught.) My guess is that when you respond and after they “free” themselves, they’ll want to “reward” you with, oh, how does a million US dollars suit you? And then, of course, it all plays out. But even so, I’m intrigued to see how they do this.

    Email to the address I gave in this comment should work fine, if you’re okay with forwarding it.

    Take care!

    – Sophie.

  9. Travis says:

    Wow, that is very creepy. For being in a hostage situation locked in a metal container, they still seem to have internet access.

  10. WolfDog says:

    If they have access to the internet, then can’t they just Google how to open the lock?

  11. NKT says:

    Might I suggest telling them to try shimming the padlock with a bit of a coke can? If they email and say “Thanks, we are free! We want to reward you.” it’s a scam. Also, I’m not sure what you could say to help them anyway? The drill points won’t help, and unless they have a workshop and materials in there, they aren’t going to make a decoder or a set of picks.

    If it’s a camera phone, they can send a photo of the door and I can probably tell you how best to open it (or any one of a hundred others who come to this site)

    Calling the emergency services and asking them to triangulate would be better. Beyond that, send a text to a location tracking service to send you a text of your location, then forward that to whoever you know who can help, in country.

  12. Elphreaker says:

    Mmm, I have had similar messages, but from people asking for specific bumpkeys or directions to open a certain door or lock, very common thru private messaging in forums :S

  13. philoT says:

    @NKT Are you saying I can text a number from a non-gps enabled phone and they will test my coords back to me?

  14. Till says:

    Give me the adress i go there.
    I have some of days at the moment.
    greetz Till

  15. Elphreaker says:

    @philoT What he means is that any phone that has coverage is connected simultaneously to a few nearby repeaters. By analysing the Signal/noise ratio of the connection to each repeater, the can pretty accurately know your position.

  16. Ratajczyk says:

    Might I ask how would they open a padlock on the outside of the door while locked inside the container?

  17. Prisoner 135 says:

    I thank you for the knowledge of the shim. I will send to you a million dollars but first I require a small fee to open my illegaly frozen account, a hundred dollars via western union will do. Contact me @ pris@n.er

  18. Prisoner 135 says:

    I thank you for the knowledge of the shim. I will send to you a million dollars but first I require a small fee to open my illegaly frozen account, a hundred dollars via western union will do. Contact me @ pris@n.er

    I kid I kid…. but seriously, cell phones can be decently high frequency, if theres so much as a pin hole in the cage… it might escape, offer some real world advice, like…

    Forcefully remove a largwe toenail and fashion it into this: pictures of picks

  19. Wolf says:

    Just tell them the first rule of lockpicking:

    Never pick a lock that is “in use”

    😀

  20. NKT says:

    @philoT : Yes. Google it, there are loads. http://www.mobilelocate.co.uk/ for example (First paid for ad on my search) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4747142.stm talks about some of the abuses.

    They have both internet and a phone, they should be able to do this, and then call in an air strike. Well, perhaps they’d need a good Smartphone for the airstrike. 😉

  21. Squelchtone says:

    Time for a new Blackbag entry Barry, it’s been over a month! The villagers are getting restless. Have fun at Lockcon!

  22. Jim says:

    The last time i emailed the cops they thought it was a joke too.