Popular 2012 Cyber Scams

Okay, we still have a week to go here to roll through the holiday season and settle down and focus on 2013, but I was reviewing my email inbox for December and realized I had received at least one example of each of the below scams (and in some cases, two of three per example).

How many of these can you check off as having received during the holiday season?

[ ] Phoney PayPal Payment Confirmation Email
[ ] Phoney YouTube Video Upload Confirmation Email
[ ] Phoney Bank Account Has Been Suspended Email
[ ] Phoney Discounts/Gift Cards on Holiday Items
[ ] Phoney Someone is Stranded & Needs Help Email
[ ] Phoney Facebook Friends Request Email
[ ] Phoney LinkedIn Connection Request Email
[ ] Phoney UPS/FedEx/USPS Delivery Invoice Email
[ ] Phoney Charity Money Request Email
[ ] Phoney Crazy Inheritance Email (can't believe this one still exists)
[ ] Phoney Work-At-Home Job Opportunity Email
[ ] Phoney Response to Craigslist Posting Email

I have to say, I am a popular girl with the scammers.

YouTube Email Scam

Scammers do not rest on Christmas. People who are amoral and online criminals do not really observe holidays. Notice the time stamp of the below scam email. Ok... do not notice the time stamp of my posting of this scam email to alert others. They won't let it rest, neither will I.

So here is one example of how a scam fake youtube notification email looks. I used a screen shot so you can see how they set it up to look like the email is coming from youtube to tell you your video has been approved. As I have not uploaded any videos to youtube, I'm clearly not their target, but they send out millions of these emails, knowing that lots of people DO upload videos to youtube and certainly some percentage of them will think this is a real notification and click on one of those darn links in the fake email.

The message for the link of the supposed video says this: "The link for the video says: There was a problem connecting to YouTube. This video may not exist or it may only play on YouTube. Try going to their website: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEaaDkFzYw0a&feature=topvideos_mp"

An unsuspecting user will then think, oh I have to click on one of these other links to go see my video - and *all* the other links in the scam email actually redirect the user to a clearly bogus and probably malicious website: http://hasret.ekarakus.com/deliriously.html [I put the link here but DON'T go to it, I wouldn't even risk what would happen, especially since many of these malicious pages can just begin downloading spyware to your computer so they can track your keystrokes, seeking out your passwords. So don't try that link.]

The header of the email looked like this:
From:    YouTube Service (lwong@50.22.132.48-static.reverse.softlayer.com)
Return-Path: lwong@50.22.132.48-static.reverse.softlayer.com
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2012 03:33:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: YouTube Service has sent you a personal message: Your video has been approved‏

and below is an image of the bogus email content, designed to look as if youtube was actually notifying you of your upload. Remember, none of the links actually go to youtube, they all go to a fake page that probably looks like youtube if you are not paying attention to the actual destination of the url and not just the blue underlined label you see in the email.

Give me a Christmas gift and do NOT fall for this scam. Let the scammer go empty-handed this time. Make my day.

Email Scam: It's Going to Be a Long Tax Season

Scammers are going to pile on the tax-related scams now until April. People are starting to collect up their 2012 information as the year ends, accountants are reminding their clients what to collect up and do by the end of the year, and scammers know this is a timely topic. Unsuspecting people will read it. This one is targeted at Accountants. DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS IN ANY TAX-RELATED EMAIL.

I didn't mean to shout, but I kinda did...

It doesn't matter the scammer sent this to everyone. They only care about those sub-set of people receiving it who actually ARE members of AICPA and thus more likely to click on the link. It's a numbers game to them.

From: AICPA (alert@aicpa.org)
Return Path: [normalizationcf51@blomnet.com]
Subject: Tax return assistance  fraud prosecution.

Having trouble reading this email? (actually redirects to: http://cccjinfo.com/components/com_ag_google_analytics2/taxfraudalert.html) [Does this mean the scammers are actually tracking the responses on their scam emails to improve their effectiveness? Yikes. They can set up google analytics and yet can't spell or format worth crap below??]

You're receiving this informationas a Certified Public Accountant anda  member of AICPA.Having trouble reading this email?  Take a look atit in your  favorite browser.
        
Revocation of Public Account Status due to income tax  fraud

Dear  AICPA participant,We have received a delation about your possibleassistanceinincome tax refundfraud  for one of youremployers. In obedience to AICPA Bylaw Section No.700your Certified Public Accountantstatuscan beterminatedin case of the actoffilingof a incorrector fraudulentincome tax return for your client or employer.Pleasefamiliarize yourself with the notificationbelow andrespond toit within 7 business days.The  denial toprovide the clarificationswithin thistermwouldresult indiscontinuationof your Certified Accountant Career.Complaint.pdf

The American Institute ofCertified PublicAccountants.  Email: service@aicpa.orgTel. 888.777.7077Fax. 800.362.5066

Scammer: Bobby Paul

Here is a typical fake buyer scam, where they go for the high-ticket item in order to steal more cash in the scam. Remember, the scam is they pay with a counterfeit check or stolen credit card, overpay and say some non-existent shipping company is going to pick up and they ask you to forward that money on to the shipper via wire transfer. The scammer's money is fake but the money you forward is your own and real and it is just the scammer at the other end of that wire transfer, and once they pick up the money, it is gone and untraceable.

Also, when scammers say they can pay via paypal, they end up doing one of two things (or sometimes both): they send a fake paypal confirmation email saying the payment has been received by paypal (when, in fact, no money was paid... the scammer is hoping the victim doesn't check before forwarding the money via Western Union) or they come up with some story as to why paypal doesn't work for them and can they pay via certified check or credit (which falls back to being counterfeit or stolen).

Here is the email sent to me:

Hi Kathleen,

I’d like to add the cell phone number from “Bobby Paul”, when he initially contacted me by text.  It’s:  954-284-0147 which I think is in Florida. Thanks again for your website.  I’m grateful for your information to help protect people from disgusting scammers.

Sincerely,
Rhonda

From: Rhonda
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 1:26 PM
Subject: Fw: Motorcoach for sale

Hi,

I received this email from what I thought is a prospective buyer for my motorhome I have listed on Kijiji.  They initially sent me a text message with their interest to purchase and requested my email address.  I sent an email at 10:08am but when his reply email came the time showed 4:08am on the email I had initially sent...5 hour time difference?  This email sounds like a scam.  Now they have my email address and cell phone number.

Thanks for your helpful site.  Bobby Paul looks like another scammer name for your list.

------------

To: bobbypaull@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 4:08 AM
Subject: Motorcoach for sale

Good Morning,

Thank-you for your reply to my ad listed on Kijiji regarding our Motorcoach for sale.  The price is somewhat negotiable with a slim margin.  The Newmar Essex is a luxury line of motorhomes and it’s condition is outstanding.  This coach has provided us with tremendous comfort and pleasure with it’s convenience in every way.  We have recently purchased a house for our winter retreat and the coach is no longer needed.

Please reply for further information.

Thank-you
---------------

From: Bobby Paul
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: Motorcoach for sale

Thanks for the swift response...I am willing to know the lowest price of it.im out of state presently and please due to the nature of my job and location,i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advert and i am satisfied with it.As for the payment..i will be paying you via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal).
I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have been made ...so no shipping included.You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set up one...log on to www.paypal.com and sign up. its very easy. await your reply asap.

Bobby Paul

Fake Buyer Scam: Pedro Alvex

Hi Kathleen,

I just had the same situation happen but I was contacted and requested for catering food. I “Googled” some of the info he gave me and it came up with your website.

It sounds exactly like the stories in your website so I thought I would add mine to alert people they have many scams!

I’m actually still in contact trying to get his visa number so I can alert Visa of this fraud.

As you may notice he is requesting to pick up catering at 11 am for an event in Ontario, …which he doesn’t even spell properly…

Thank you so much for having this web page!

Susana

First Email:

From: Pedro Alvex [mailto:alvexpedro@yahoo.ca]
To: undisclosed recipients
Subject: hello

My name is Pedro Alvex and i will like to order for cup cakes for 400 people for an upcoming event kindly advice if you can handle that ..

Regards.
Pedro

Second Reply:

From: Pedro Alvex [mailto:alvexpedro@yahoo.ca]
To: Susana
Subject: Thanks for the prompt response

Thanks for getting back to me .. I will be interested in the white chocolate cup cake so please advice on the cost for each cup cakes and let me know the total cost for it .

The event will be taken place on the 30th of this month, so kindly advice if you can have it ready by then ..

You don't need to worry as i have a shipper agent who will be coming over for the pick up of the order from you.

do you accept credit card as a mode of payment?

waiting to read back from you ...

Regards.
Pedro.

Third Reply:

From: Pedro Alvex [mailto:alvexpedro@yahoo.ca]
To: Susana
Subject: Re: Thanks for the prompt response

Since you don't have the white chocolate i will go for the vanilla chocolate and let it be regular size

I want you to please do me a favor as i have a shipper agent who will be coming over for the pick up of the cup cakes from your end but he made it clear to me that he doesn't have credit card facilities to run his charges through so i will urge you to add the sum of $1350 to the total cost of the cup cakes (which is $2572 ) and kindly run it on my credit card so as soon as you have it charge you can then go ahead and send the shipper agent fees to them as they have some other stuff to pick up for me in regards of the event .. Kindly get back to me so we can proceed.. I am hearing impaired so i wont be able to call you to give you the card but can only email my credit card

Will be waiting to read back from you ..

Pedro.

Fourth Reply:

From: Pedro Alvex [mailto:alvexpedro@yahoo.ca]
To: Susana
Subject: Re: Thanks for the prompt response

Hi Susana,

I am unable to down the file you sent to me cos i don't have a pdf application on my laptop so i will urge you to send the document to me using a wordpad so i can be able to fill the form and get back to you ..

I will be sending you my shipper agent details so as to know when he will be coming over for the pick up but the event start from 11: 00 am in the morning and i want the cup cakes to be here before that time.

I await the form so we can proceed..

Regards,
Pedro

Fifth Reply:

From: Pedro Alvex [mailto:alvexpedro@yahoo.ca]
To: Susana
Subject: Re: Thanks for the prompt response

The event will be taken place at Cambridge Ontarioso he will be coming from there as he has some other stuff to pick up for me for the event .. I still cant open the file you sent to me .. please check and send it to me through wordpad.

Pedro

Can Any Scammer Spell?

There are a couple of things I love about the below exchange that someone forwarded to me for posting. The first obvious thing is this particular scammer couldn't figure out how to correctly spell their own fake name. Curse that 'is it i-e or e-i?' english grammar rule! How do you Americans spell that darn nickname for Jennifer? Ha. That is so funny. Poor scammer misspells the fake first name and tips many potential victims off that something is not right. No one has the name Jennei. Oh, maybe someone buckin' the name rule does, someone trying to be different than every other Jennie, but spelling the name Jennei certainly threw up the Red Flags.

I also love the way this artist kept the scammer 'on the line'. Really, time is money to a scammer and the more time you can keep a scammer engaged, the less time they have trying to get other victims. Love how this scammer was strung along.

I also love how this artist, in a more ironic turn of strategy than anything else, proceeds to ask the scammer to reveal all kinds of identity information, like their social security number - just like the scammers do. Funny! Most scammers are not U.S.-based and so will not have a social security number and I doubt a scammer would begin providing their information (they make it all up anyway), but I love the humor this artist had in asking.

After the artist let on they knew it was a scam, there was one more lame attempt to see if the scam was really over and you almost get the sense this scammer was so upset they could barely type. And then there was no further contact and the scammer did, in fact, move on to seek out other victims.

But it was fun while it lasted.

Hi Kathleen

Thanks for all the work you do towards informing artists about internet scams. I wanted to share with you my latest predator-turned-victim...I love messing with them.

Susan


On Nov 7, 2012, at 5:56 PM, Jennei Brown wrote:

Hello,

Your work is most creative & desirable, so much talent! I am interested in purchasing some of your unique items. But before i place my order i will like to inform you that my method of payment is Via my U.S issued credit card Account. Please let me know if you can assist me with these items and do not forget to include your webpage in responses to my email. Mind you i will be having my shipping agent coming to pick up the order directly from your location cause i already have some Large merchandise with them in Which they Will be shipping together to me here in Norway.

Kind Regard,
Jennei Brown.

Jenney-fanaffairantique No
21 Hegdehaugsveien,
Oslo, NO-0507,
Norway.
Tel: (+47) 022336203
Email: Jennei.s.complex222@gmail.com
Webpage: www.fanaffairantiquefans.com

-------

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 9:06 AM, susan wrote:

Thank you so much. I am sure I can help you with the items you like. Which paintings are you interested in?

-------

On Nov 8, 2012, at 1:17 PM, Jennei Brown wrote:

Hello Susan,

I got you response,So below here is what i will like to order from your stock.

Chinatown
acrylic on paper
23×26 framed
Qty...1

Big Cascade
acrylic on paper
28×28 framed
Qty...1

Dog Park
36″ x 48″
Qty...1

Please kindly get back to me with the total estimate of this order, so  you can get the items ready for shipment. I will email you my U.S. issued credit card information for the payment. And my shipping agent will be coming to pick up the order directly from location cause i already have some large merchandise with them in which after picking up the items, they will then deliver it to me here in Norway, please let me know the size and weight of items for shipping reason.

Regard,
Jennei Brown.

-------

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 5:58 PM, susan wrote:

Dear Jennei
I am so excited that you like these pieces. I have just recently had a price increase and the following works are priced as follows...

Chinatown $1800
Big Cascade $1800
Dog Park $2800

Total $6400

I think you will be very happy with these choices.
Best,
Susan

[PS: Kathleen - I more than doubled my prices here and she asked nothing about that! Too funny.]

-------

On Nov 8, 2012, at 6:12 PM, Jennei Brown wrote:

Hello Susan,

Thank for your response, yes i'm very happy with these choices. but i will like to go for the "Chinatown" and "Big Cascade" for now cause that is what i can afford for now when next i will be ordering i we go for the "Dog Park" i admire you jobs they are one of a kind.

Please kindly get back to me with the new total cost of this order, so  you can get the items ready for shipment. I will email you my U.S. issued credit card information for the payment. And my shipping agent will be coming to pick up the order directly from location cause i already have some large merchandise with them in which after picking up the items, they will then deliver it to me here in Norway, please let me know the size and weight of items for shipping reason.

Regard,
Jennei Brown.

-------

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 10:40 AM, susan wrote:

Hi Jennei

Your total is exactly $6400.
No shipping fee since you are picking up.
Please provide me with your credit card number, expiration date, social security number and US mailing address...all of which you would need in order to have a US issued credit card :)

Thank you so much!
Susan

-------

On Nov 9, 2012, at 4:14 PM, Jennei Brown wrote:

Hello Susan,

I got your response, but i want to be clear with the total cost. did you mean that the total cost for the  "Chinatown" and "Big Cascade" is $6400. Like i said i don't want the "Dog Park" for now so you have to deduct the money  "Dog Park" and get back to me with the new total cost so as to proceed with the order.

Thanks,
Jennei Brown.

-------

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 5:03 PM, susan wrote:

Hi Jennei
Oh so sorry! You are right - your total will be $3600. Big difference!
Thanks,
Susan

-------

On Nov 12, 2012, at 3:49 PM, Jennei Brown wrote:

Dear Susan,

Thanks for the total quote of my order which is ($3,600..00) is quite correct and okay by me and I'm ready to pay the bills. I shall inform my freight forwarder who will be coming to pick up the order to hold on and come immediately you inform me that the items are ready for pick up then i can give you a call on that day to get the items packed for pick up and they will call you on their arrival at your address. Also I want you to help me Charge another ($2,750.00) from my credit card for the freight forwarder who will be coming to pick up my ordered items from you. The ($2,750.00) that will be sent to the freight forwarder is for the shipping of my order and other items i ordered from different part. ($200) for the transfer fee and for your efforts. Please note that i should have given the shipping agency my credit card for him to deduct the freight charges but he told me that he doesn't have the facilities to charge or debit credit card, so that's why i bring my vote of confidence in you and i want you to assist me in this measure, so i want you to transfer the funds to him after you have make the charges and the money charged from my credit card is in your account, then you can now make the transfer to the agent via western union. I will have love to do this my self but there are no western union here around me cause i am out of town to monitor my estate construction at a remote village, So the charges you will deduct on my credit card will be:

Order Fee: $3,600..00
Agent fee: $2,750.00
Transfer Fee with shipping fee: $200
Total: $6,550.00

Note that my credit card will be charged for the amounts above.So kindly do get back to me if you are in the office right now so that i can email you my credit card details,then you can charge the full amount and transfer the shipping company fee to them via western union so as to proceeding the shipment. And as soon as the shipping agency they received the shipping fund, they will schedule the time for the pick up and then come to your facility for the pick up.

Warmest Regards,
Jennei Brown.

-------

On 11/13/12, susan wrote:

You may email me your credit card information.

-------

On Nov 21, 2012, at 10:15 AM, Jennei Brown wrote:

Hello Susan,

I got your response and sorry for my late in respond.I want to confirm if i can go ahead and forward my credit card account to you so as to run the cost of the goods and the shipping altogether as i have explain to you earlier.So kindly get back to me with a feedback.

Thanks,
Jennei Brown.

-------

On Nov 21, 2012, at 11:17 AM, Jennei Brown wrote:

Susan ,

I got your response and i want to thank you for the assist,I'm really grateful and i deeply appreciate.Below here is the credit card details due to the card limitation.So you are hereby Authorize to charge to the lowest limit of the card so as to get the total due and meanwhile i can go ahead and contact the shipping agent in meantime that the order will be ready for collection to make the necessary arrangement.

Card Type: Master Card
Card Number:  5491-2370-0623-6767
Exp Date: 09/2013
Cvv: 423

So as soon you have run the full charges on it and as soon it's has been approved kindly get back to me with a feedback so as to forward the shipping company bank details where the shipping fee will be transferred to.So i will be waiting to read from you as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Jennei Brown.

-------

On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 12:14 PM, susan wrote:

Thanks for sending the number.
I have reported it as stolen to USAA Federal Savings Bank.
Sucker.

-------

Hello Susan,

   What do you mean by that?
he's this how you do business? and who told you that the credit card is a stolen one!!!

Thanks,
Jennei Brown.

Scam Email: Mark Peters

This is a pretty classic exchange of emails between a scammer and their potential victim, until the victim realized it was a scam in time to not lose any money. Notice how the email changed because one email was just hijacked but the actual "reply-to" went to a gmail account the scammer was using. That way, they can communicate with their potential victim but keep the sense of legitimacy and the victims often don't even notice this change. and see how the scammer waits a few steps to lure the victim deeper into the scam and then has a long email to begin to re-direct the victim towards the heart of the scam - overpaying with a counterfeit check or stolen credit card (and trying to have a whole fake story as to why the check will be so much more than the amount owed) and asking the victim to forward the difference to a shipper (who doesn't exist) via wire transfer (so that when the scammer picks up the money, it is gone and untraceable).

From: Mark Peters [mailto:mark@markpeters.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 11:03 PM
Subject: Order Inquiry

My name is Mark Peters,I want to place an order in your store,I will like to know if you ship to Philippines. Do you have credit card facility?Get back to me with your website.I will await your prompt response.
Best Regards,
Mark

On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 6:12 PM, Janice wrote:

It would depend what you were interested in ..........if a painting unframed this is easy if glass work would depend on the size of the piece

Janice

 From: Mark Peters [mailto:auszza@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 11:03 PM
Subject: Re: Order Inquiry

Email me with the prices of the birds below
Nature, Panel 6mm glass 50 x 70 cm
Emu Panel - 84cm x 32cm
Robins on Red - 40cm x 40cm
Jabiru - 38cm x 38cm

On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 2:36 PM, Janice wrote:

I do not ship framed, this is better done after you receive them

These are all original paintings and the sizes are as follows before framing

Emu panel - 106 x 37 cm            $350 AU + postage
Robins - 106 x 37cm                  $350 AU + postage
Jabiru - 77 x 28cm                   $300 AU + postage

And not sure which nature one you are referring to

Janice

From: Mark Peters [mailto:auszza@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 21 November 2012 6:41 AM
Subject: CONTACT SHIPPER

Dear Janice
Good to read back from you . below are the Items I want to order

Emu panel - 106 x 37 cm   
2 qty

Robins - 106 x 37cm
2 qty

Jabiru - 77 x 28cm
1 qty

SHIPPING ADDRESS
8221 Paseo de Roxas,
Makati City, Metro Manila.
Philippines  , 1226

Concerning the shipment,the likes of UPS,FEDEX and POST OFFICE always don't take care of the charges down here. Charges like handling,customs duties,tax etc. I have experienced such situation before and I don't want to be the victims of such a thing again. I will be glad if you contact this freight forwarder Lintel logistics for shipping quote.The shipping company will arrange the pick-up of my order from your store,so you don't have any stress to face in shipping processing at all.Here is their email address (lintellogistics@yahoo.com) ,Not that I can't deal with the shipper directly,but they always prefer to deal with the store where they will be doing the pick up in other to reduce the customs duties and other charges.They have a way of preparing their shipment documents whereby the custom duties payment on this goods will be reduced and if I wanted to pay for the custom duties and other charges, at times it is 40% of the whole package amount.I do trust Lintel logistics ,if not I wouldn't have recommend them for my shipment.They are very reliable and fast.They will take care of everything including Handling, Customs duties,Tax, Insurance etc.Contact them to obtain a quote and get back to me in the format bellow:

COST OF THE ORDER
COST OF THE SHIPPING FROM LINTEL LOGISTICS
TOTAL COST (ORDER + SHIPPING)
Once I have these details from you, I will get back to you with my
credit card information,so you can charge and make the necessary
shipping arrangements.
Regards,
Mark

NOTE:The freight company will need these 5 information to get you a quote,so provide them with the details bellow:

1)My Customer's ID # :BWA45479ZQ
2)Delivery Full Address:
8221 Paseo de Roxas,
Makati City, Metro Manila.
Philippines  , 1226
3)Pick Up Full Address : PROVIDE YOUR ADDRESS
4)Weight Of The Consignment : PROVIDE ORDER WEIGHT
5)Momentary Value Of The Consignment : PROVIDE ORDER TOTAL COST

Scammers Love the Holiday Shopping Season

Scammers love this time of year. People are distracted, in the most intense shopping season of the year, and looking for the best deals. Easy pickin's for scammers. They use "hooks" to lure in their victims, like offering a free or cheap iphone 5 or LCD TV - things that people desire and are looking for. But these are just the hooks. There is no iphone "prize" or deep discount, there is no TV. The scammer is either trying to get cash out of their victims (small shipping fee or taxes) or they seek to steal identity information by getting people to fill out surveys that ask the user to provide WAY too many details about their themselves - account numbers, passwords, social security numbers.

Be VERY careful because in addition to all the legitimate "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" sales, scammers will also be putting up fake pages and sending out fake emails targeting these phrases and trying to trick unsuspecting people to respond to their fake ads.Yes, we want great deals online, but check and double-check and triple-check you are really at the right website and not a fake website. Do not go to websites via links in emails, even when they offer a great deal. That deal can also be found, if it is real, by opening a new browser and typing in the main url yourself and search around for the holiday specials. Yes, it is extra work and not as convenient as just clicking on a link in an email, but it is SO much safer.

And on the other side of the equation are all the small businesses selling online during this season - scammers also run their fake buyer scam as often as their little keyboard typing fingers can send out the emails. Sellers: NO WIRE TRANSFERS! I can not emphasize this enough. Do NOT use wire transfers under ANY circumstances. Scammers *need* this in order to steal your cash and disappear without a trace. Do not accept any checks or credit card payments for more than the amount or agree to forward money to anyone in behalf of a buyer via wire transfer. Just do NOT do it!

Gift cards - this is the season for scammers to try and sell gift cards that have been stolen and are worthless. This is super rampant this time of year. If its not properly activated at the store register, it is a worthless piece of plastic. Don't buy these from sources you don't know, don't buy gift cards on Craigslist or eBay, don't buy "discounted gift cards" from some third party, and if you get a gift card, check at the register FIRST to see its value and if its valid before shopping.

Yes, the season of shopping will kick into high gear this week... but also be on the lookout, because scammers also kick into their high season of trying to steal money from people.

Are Scammers As Dumb as They Seem?

Something that always amazes me is how dumb scammers appear to be. They hardly even try to correct the grammar in their emails. They don't seem to care a lick about spelling or formatting. Their sentences often do not even make any sense. Their made-up names often are gender confused or they'll use a typical last name as their first name - when clearly it is a last name. They use the same fake name and email addresses for long periods of time. They seem to use the same templated content over and over and over and over again. They make up stories that often are too unbelievable, and they use dollar amounts for "inheritances" or prize money that are so outlandish, it seems too fantastical.

And I think to myself - how can scammers be so stupid?

And then I thought - are scammers really as stupid as they seem to be?

They seem to be making millions and millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims and they don't even have to clean their act up. They can put in a minimum of effort, not even make sense, have all their formatting off, and their story nonsensical - and still they are making millions and millions of dollars. They can send the exact same "story" out to hundreds of thousands of people and use this same story over a long period of time - years in many cases, and still they make millions and millions of dollars. They evade the authorities and get people from all over the world to wire them money and people keep doing this even though wire transfer is the one way their money will disappear and be untraceable once the scammer has picked it up from Western Union or Money Gram or some other wire transfer service.

So the really sad thing about this is the fact that scammers are as successful as they are doing the crappiest of jobs that they are.

I really do not think victims are dumb. I think scammers exploit some very nuanced weaknesses in people - that they are in a fast-paced society and don't take the time to read everything before acting. They don't take the time to check things out from independent sources online (more people are now, but clearly not enough). People are moving fast and not checking the details.

The other weakness scammers exploit is the tendency people have to trust what is in front of them. If their bank has sent them an email saying their account has been temporarily suspended for suspicious activity and click here to verify your identity - way too many people just naturally believe that email is really from their bank and they need to click on that link and verify their identity. It never occurs to them that the email is all made up to look like their bank but a scammer is behind it all. People just wanna believe.

So scammers have the luxury, for now, of not even having to make sense or present an email with correct sentence structure, spelling, or formatting. Their story doesn't have to make sense. They can throw any huge number out there of how much you've won or inherited from some Nigerian prince. They can say anything they want and put an absolute minimum amount of effort into it, and they will still make a bundle of money from their victims. That is why there are so many scammers. It's a dream job.

When are you - people - going to get off this bandwagon and not make it so easy for a scammer to take your money or identity or passwords online? What will it take to move the awareness of enough people so that it actually becomes difficult for scammers?

Why am I going on a rant like this on a Saturday morning? Because I am going to post an email below that I received and the scammer was SO dumb that he pasted the entire message of his scam all in the Subject line and left the content area blank. Scammers have these templates and software that push out their spam email and this scammer couldn't even paste his spam content into the correct field of his spam software. And yet... I wonder how much money he'll successfull make on even this email....

Reply-To: [mrabrahammaluba@yahoo.co.jp]
From: "Abraham Maluba"[mrabrahammaluba@yahoo.co.jp]

To: mrabrahammaluba@yahoo.co.jp

Subject: IAm a ex-banker from Benin Republic. A family friend Mrs. Linda Calsabay who happens to be the wife of a late banker and my former boss intimated me on her intention to invest the sum of USD12.6M in a foreign country, being money left for her family by her late husband who died recently. Iam soliciting on her behalf for you to help her invest and manage the money properly in your country, her areas of investment interest includes but not limited to real estate and hotel.Get back to me for more info please.

Email Scam: Vague Support Email Scam

Here is a scam email that intentionally is SO vague that some people will click just to see what the heck it is about. Be careful about that. Regardless of the content of an email, do NOT click on links in an email that you are not sure where they are going (often the actual destination is different than the visible destination - scroll your mouse over the link without clicking and look to the lower left portion of your screen in the status bar to see what the actual destination is).

Return-Path: support@rainbowfocus.nl
FROM: Support Center (noreply@message.rainbowfocus.nl)
Subject: Support Center

Thank you for contacting us, your information arrived today.

Alright, here's the link to the site:

Proceed to Site  [this is linked and actually goes to: dietblueline.com]

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Regards, Alana Kane, Support Team manager.
 

Scam Email: Fake Red Bull Job Ad

Here is an email I received that clearly was a scam email. Always be suspicious when an email for a job opportunity (or something to make some extra money) comes unsolicited AND tries to collect a whole bunch of information on the first email. I've seen this one a lot - make money to drive around with ads on your car. I glanced at the full headers and sure enough, the REPLY-TO was different and revealed the real email account receiving replies from unsuspecting potential victims. So it has nothing to do with Red Bull but this scammer is hoping to trick some young people who drink Red Bull and wouldn't mind having some cash to put ads on their car. Truth is there will be no ads, but only the loss of your identity information and probably some cash later in the scam. The check they promise in this email will SURELY be counterfeit and they'll ask you forward part of it to someplace else via wire transfer, losing your own good money.

Be VERY careful of any unsolicited opportunities to make money. It is almost always a scam.

Reply-To: [tradefeettable@yahoo.co.jp]
From: "RedBull"[user@redbull.com]
Subject: RedBull Job Ad - Get Paid To Drive
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Hello,

We are currently seeking to employ individual’s world wide. How would you like to make money by simply driving your car advertising for RED BULL.

How it works?

Here’s the basic premise of the "paid to drive" concept: RED BULL seeks people -- regular citizens,professional drivers to go about their normal routine as they usually do, only with a big advert for "RED BULL" plastered on your car. The ads are typically vinyl decals, also known as "auto wraps,"that almost seem to be painted on the vehicle, and which will cover any portion of your car's exterior surface.

What does the company get out of this type of ad strategy? Lots of exposure and awareness. The auto wraps tend to be colorful, eye-catching and attract lots of attention. Plus, it's a form of advertising with a captive audience,meaning people who are stuck in traffic can't avoid seeing the wrapped car alongside them. This program will last for 3 months and the minimum you can participate is 1 month.

You will be compensated with $300 per week which is essentially a "rental"payment for letting our company use the space no fee is required from you RED BULL shall provide experts that would handle the advert placing on your car. You will receive an up front payment of $300 inform of check via courier service for accepting to carry this advert on your car.

It is very easy and simple no application fees required contact email along with the following you are interested in these offer.

Full Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip code:
Age:
Current Occupation
Other email address
Make of car/ year:
Telephone numbers:

We shall be contacting you as soon as we receive this information.

Mrs. Jennifer Brooks
Hiring Manager,
RedBull(TM)

Internet Scam: Fake Facebook Missed Activity Email

Here is an email I received that looks like I am missing stuff on Facebook and I should click on the link to see what I missed. But it is a scam.

Notice the 'From' email address. It is not a Facebook email. When I moused over the button links that say 'Got to Facebook' and 'Check Notifications', the actual destination link is tdginc.com/boats.html. Not a good sign! And when I viewed the email headers I saw this:

Return-Path: susan_kenney@a132.radicenter.eu

So that is where replies will likely go. But the scammer isn't after replies. They want you to click on those links. DON'T! I know, all the Facebook users moving too fast who do not want to miss a single thing will click on those buttons, but I'm here to tell you - do not do it!

Log into Facebook yourself - from a new browser window where you type in the facebook url yourself and see from there what you may have missed. The below email is a total scam.

Internet Scam: Fake Walmart Job Opportunity

Here is an excellent example of how a fake job ad for Walmart looks like. First of all, this came unsolicited to me, so that was a tipoff - to me. But to someone deep into a job search might not realize that and this is what the scammer is hoping. Secondly, always view the email message headers and see if the REPLY-TO is different than the FROM email address. When they are, that is often a big sign it is a scammer. Thirdly, I'm not completely convinced there are ANY legitimate mystery shopper jobs (and if there are, they are certainly drowned out by the hundreds of thousands of scammer mystery shopper ads).

What this email would turn into, if I were to fall for it, would be a check cashing scam. They would send you counterfeit check(s) to do your shopping, ask you send a portion of the check to some other entity (sometimes they say another office), ALWAYS via Western Union (so watch out for that), you would deposit the check(s) and then use your own good money to do the actual shopping, only to find out later that their original check was fake and the bank has withdrawn that money from your account. You are out your shopping money AND the money you forwarded via Western Union.

Sometimes, the scammers are lazy and just go right for the Western Union part by saying they are a company that has been hired to secretly test the quality of Western Union's service, so they will be sending you a check and you keep a portion for yourself and wire the rest back to them and send them a report on the quality of the service. Of course, no one has been hired to do anything and you are out the money you wired back to them because their check will turn out to be counterfeit.

Received: from xolido36.xolido.com ([193.127.98.3])
From:    Wal-mart (admin@walmart.com)
Reply-To: [walmart@superkingston.us]

Subject: Re: Job Opportunity

Will you like to Shop and Get Paid? You can earn as much as $2,700 monthly
working while carrying out a mystery shopping survey assignment for our company?
Shop details include dining out in restaurants, and carrying out secret survey
reports on Financial Institutions, and feeding us back with the activities that
transpires between you and the shop attendants. This is a form of feedback
mechanism to check on the activities of our staff for job performance
evaluation.

TO PARTICIPATE; KINDLY FILL IN THE FORM  BELOW

-----------------------------------------------------------------

YOUR FULL NAME(s):

FULL RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: Street Number/City/State/Zip Code.

Cell/Home/ Telephone Number:

Alternative Email Address:

We are well registered by the appropriate authorities and we are licensed to
operate under legal and licensed organization of the better business bureau,
Working with our company guarantee's you a safe relationship and licensed
establishment.

Your response would be highly appreciated.
 
Regards.
Task Co-ordinator
Gary Lockrey
WALMART SURVEY INC.

Scam Email: Jonathan Takyi

This scammer basically references three different email addresses and never mentions the products they are interested in, and famously their address is in a foreign country, Ghana in this case. These are the initial red flags that categorize this as a scam for me. I don't even need to the reply to see if they then bring up their shipping company angle and the certified check crap.

From: Jonathan Takyi (hbthurn@cantv.net)
Reply To: jontakyi@yahoo.com
Return Path: (hbthurn@cantv.net)
Subject: Interested in your product

Dear Sir

I am a direct buyer private consultant and I have a client that is interested in your products, so kindly give me your full product list and prices to enable us place an order with you.

Regards
Mr. Jonathan Takyi
RZMFG Integrated Consulting
28 Bwaleshi Road
East Legon, Accra
Ghana.
Email: info@rzmfginc.com

Craigslist Scammer: Merry Jack

Well, I get to go through the whole scammer thing on Craigslist because I have a few items to sell. One item I think attracted the scammers because it is a kiln for $500. Scammer like those big numbers because they can rip their victims off for more money.

Fortunately for me, I saw it was a scam immediately, even though his first didn't say much. And I knew I wanted to blog about the whole back and forth and put him on the Internet so here goes... I'll keep adding to this until he realizes I know and moves on to greener scam pastures.

Notice how he put this weird thing at the bottom of his email to make it look like it was contacting me from his DROID, but then the phone number wasn't even properly falsified. Gads. Scammers are dumb. And they STILL make so much money. Baffles the mind.

First Email from my scammer:

Reply-To: roberyfourty@gmail.com

Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2012 13:42:02 -0400
From: wallinsino02@gmail.com
To: wzdwx-3332982329@sale.craigslist.org
Subject: Evenheat GT-14-6 120volt Kiln - $500 (marina / cow hollow)

Hello

is the above item still for sale?


Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

(267) 607-924

I noticed the FROM and the REPLY-TO were different emails. Also a sign of a scammer. Just for grins, because I like to mess with them, I replied to both email addresses and in the body of the email (and the subject line), I removed all references to what the item was and will see what the scammer does with that.

Oh, they reply to *thousands* of sellers on Craigslist so they may just move on, but I had to see.

Second Reply (of course he ignored that he had no idea which item I am selling):

Subject: Re: Craigslist posting 

From: Merry Jack [roberyfourty@gmail.com]

Hello,
Thanks you for the response, I'm  okay with condition  on the Craigslist.
 I am ready to make instant purchase. My mode of payment would be in
 Certified Check  and i will arrange for a local pick up as soon as you
 get the payment, . I really wish to be there to check out the item but
due to my work frame i can not be able to get there , am very busy
 woman (Nurse) and i don't mind adding an extra $50 dollars for you to
take the advert down from Craigslist, so that i can be rest assured
that am in hand of  it. More so  my husband  will process your  payment
as soon as you provide your infor,and i promise everything  will go smoothly,
Concerning the pick up, i will arrange for it after you  receive the payment
and it clears... Pls get back to me with below info  so that i can proceed with
 the payment  immediately if you are selling to me.

 Name:
 Physical Address:
 City:
State:
 Postal Code:
 Phone Number:

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be process
tomorrow  and i will let you know when its mailed out. Thanks and i
hope we handle this in good faith.Additional $50 will be added for
remove the item from the list.I will happy if you can sell the item for me.
although this is first time in Craigslist, So please be honest with  me, thanks
for understanding, looking forward to hear back from you ..God Bless you

Regards.....
Merry Jack

So I wrote back and told him he would need to overnight the check (I want him to lose a little money at least) but then I didn't provide him my address. I want to waste more of his time first.

To be continued....

Internet Scam: Fake Tax Refund Email

In these scams, the scammers send the email to everyone, but their target would be those people who are in the UK and would think (or hope) they are due a text refund.

The scammer is less worried about you replying, so the return address is not a disposable account - because their goal is more that you open the attachment to see the refund information. But it is really a script to download something malicious to your computer.

In these cases, never click on anything in the email, including the attachment. Open a new window browser and go to the website and see if you can find the information independently. If not, look up their informational phone number and call them. Better to find out it is a scam than to have something terrible downloaded to your computer.

Reply-To: [annual.tax@hmrc.gov.uk]
From: [annual.tax@hmrc.gov.uk]
Subject: Submit Your Payment Refund

Dear Applicant:

An Income Tax repayment is a refund of tax that you’ve overpaid.
So, if you’ve paid too much tax for example through your job or pension this year or in previous years HMRC will send you a repayment.
You’ll get the repayment by bank transfer directly to your credit or debit card.

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible
to receive a tax refund of 384.77 GBP.

Due to the high volume of refunds due you must complete the online application
In oder to process your refund you will need to complete the application form attached to this email.
Your refund may take up to 1 - 2 days to process please make sure you complete the form correctly.

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a web browser. Once opened, you will be provided with steps to refund your money as soon as possible.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Best Regards,
HM Revenue & Customs
London , HA7 2LD

File attached: Refund.html

Internet Scam: Fake Car Advertisement Job

I received this email today and felt it was worthy of a post because I've seen this particular scam a number of times.

Hi, I received an email from a supposed hiring manager from redbull, he was offering me a job where all I have to do is drive my car around with their logo company on it, he send me a paycheck and ask me to send some of the money to a guy that is called the "specialist" from the company and that I will keep the rest of the money because of my first payment, I went and cash the check but I don't want to send money to nobody because of my first payment, so what do next?

This IS a scam. It is not a real offer. You can tell because it has the classic check cashing scam built into it - they overpay with a counterfeit check, ask you to deposit it and send some portion of the amount on to another party - via wire transfer (always via wire transfer, because that's how they are untraceable once they've picked up your money). The original check will turn out to be counterfeit and the money you have forwarded is good and you will be on the hook for the full amount because the bank will pull that fraudulent amount back out of your account as soon as they figure it out.

There is no Redbull specialist, there is no car advertisement, there is only a scammer at the other end of that wire transfer, waiting to disappear with your good money.

I'm SO glad this person wrote in, from their Samsung mobile phone, and will NOT be sending any money to this scammer. I told her she doesn't have to even reply - just ignore any further emails from the scammer and let them waste their time while they figure out that no money will be coming from this particular potential victim, who will not be a victim today!

Internet Scam: Triangle Credit Card Fraud

This is a tricky one, called the Triangle Credit Card Scam and here is how it works:

1. The scam seller, on some auction or selling site like eBay, sells a product to a buyer, who pays for it.

2. The scam seller doesn't actually have the product so they then go to a seller online who actually is selling the product.

3. They order from that seller, who is now also a victim, using the buyer's information but a different stolen credit card number. The victim seller thinks the the buyer is just shipping to a different address, which happens frequently.

4. So the second seller is out because the goods were purchased with a stolen credit card and the actual owner of that credit card will do a charge-back when they figure out their card number has been stolen, and the buyer has their product but in reality they have now received stolen goods, which is a felony, and the original scammer disappears with the money.

A little confusing but of course everyone loses but the scammer. I'm kind of thinking why even go past the point of getting the money from the buyer. Many scammers just do this scam - pretend to have something to sell that they don't, get payment, and then disappear. Of course, the ideal payment is via wire transfer but even with credit cards, scammers can turn that into cash by buying stolen goods themselves.

The only way not to get pulled into this scam is to fully research who you are buying things from before you do the purchase.

Internet Scam: Fake Shipping Notification Scam

The below email got my attention more for the text at the bottom which you wouldn't see because it was white text on a white background, but when I selected the text - there it was. Very weird, though I figure it's purpose is to randomize that text to avoid the spam filters, which worked, because it got through to me.

Also notice the FROM email. That is a technique spammers use to trick people who aren't paying attention. ups-support.com is NOT an UPS domain name. It's not the same. But scammers are hoping you don't notice that.

And of course, this email had the expected malicious attachment payload (the attached file was named UPS_Label_Copy_US_ID45555.zip - which doesn't even match the ID number in their subject line, but whatever - scammers don't care about the details, they are seeking someone not paying attention) that, had I opened them (and I knew not to), would have probably installed a virus or spyware on my computer to monitor my keystrokes and look for passwords when I type them in.

Even if you DID have a package in route from UPS, these emails are NOT the way to check out the status. Go to the website yourself in a new browser window and look up the tracking number. Or call them.

Received: from ups-support.com ([80.123.214.210])
From: "UPS Customer Service" [international@ups-support.com]
Subject: UPS shipment status ID#5578

Notification,

We couldn’t deliver your parcel.

Status: Postal code isn’t specified.
LOCATION OF YOUR ITEM:Miami
STATUS OF YOUR ITEM: not delivered
SERVICE: Express Mail
NUMBER OF YOUR PARCEL:U452061644 NU
FEATURES: No

Postal label is enclosed to the letter.
Print a label and show it at your post office.

Important information!
If the parcel isn’t received within 30 working days our company will have the right to claim compensation from you for it's keeping in the amount of $21.26 for each day of keeping over limited time.

You can find the information about the procedure and conditions of parcels keeping in the nearest office.

Thank you for attention.
UPS Global Mail.

Evil spirits murder family jailed

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Global growth fears creep into financial markets

Congo allows firm to hunt for oil in Virunga park

Grandmother Scams

These scams started out as the "stranded scam", where scammers would target grandmothers and call them up and pretend to be their grandson, saying they were stranded in Mexico and now at the police station and needed money wired to them to get back home (and please don't tell anyone...) Grandmother's all over were falling for this scam, even when the person on the phone did not sound like their grandson. they would override their gut instinct and tell themselves that it was a bad connection or that they were under stressed and so "sounded different". And what grandmother would refuse to help their grandchild?

I hate scammers. This scam is still pretty active.

I am hearing more and more of these grandmother scams so Grandmothers everywhere - beware! Always call someone else to verify the location of your grandchild. Never wire money to anyone without speaking with another relative first. The scammer, pretending to be your grandson, will tell you not to tell anyone because they are embarrassed - but they really don't want you to tell anyone because then you'll figure out it's a scam and they won't be able to steal your money.

And today's news had a clip of an even more despicable Grandmother scam - the kind where it was actually her grandson who WAS doing the scamming. Heartbreaker.

He stole $200,000 from his 78-year-old grandmother in order to buying himself drugs, a motorcycle, and a ring for his girlfriend (who actually split town when she found out what he was doing - smart girl).  He told his grandmother that he needed money to pay fines and court fees before he could be accepted in the army, and she gave him the money because she thought it would keep him out of jail for late fees.

According to investigators, he would then call and even have his friends call and call and call his grandmother and pretend to be employees of the Seminole County courthouse, even a judge, demanding late fees, fines and other penalties from her. And she kept paying. And when she ran out of money, she borrowed it.What grandmothers will do for their grandchildren, and clearly even one who didn't deserve such love and support.


I am happy to say he was arrested but think of the emotional and financial devastation he left behind.

And now he really IS in jail, but he won't be able to work the scam now.

Grandmothers - you have a lot of love to give, and the world needs you... just double and triple check with others before wiring money to anyone or giving out any of your bank or credit card or social security information.

Internet Scam: Voicemail Over Email Scam

This is a twist I hadn't heard of before, but it doesn't surprise me. It will probably work as a scam for awhile just because of its novelty.

For those of us who have phones at work that can email us notifications when we get a voice message, and even provide us a link to click on to listen to that voice message, we feel efficient and connected. Scammers see an opportunity. You knew they were going exploit it.

The fake notification emails appear to come from Microsoft Outlook referencing a call from an anonymous person. Some scammers are able to leverage the company catch-all email so it might say voice.mail@yourcompany.com but some scammers don't even make this effort to trick people. The email attachment appears to be a .WAV file but it is really an HTML file that will redirect you to a scammer's bogus website where it will either download malicious malware software to your computer (which will then scan your computer seeking passwords and logins to your banking account) or it might attempt to collect personal financial or login information from you right there on the fake site.

There's always that basic advice to not click on ANY links in emails that you are not 10,000% sure of it's origin.

Internet Scam: Locksmiths

The Locksmith Scam is pretty simple. Scammers are placing ads online and using email to promote really low-cost services. Then, when you need to change your locks, they come and take the lock you have and disassemble it and then tell you they have to charge a lot more to change your locks. That way, you no longer have a functioning lock and you are upset but more likely to pay the increased amount just to get any working lock back on.

Watch out for this one.

Blocking Mobile Phone Text Spam

Here are some tips if you have AT&T wireless service and you are getting text spam. I'm here to spread the word about item #6, which sounds so convenient! Just forward your text spam to code 7726 (SPAM).

1. Block all text messages from specific email addresses and/or Internet domains

Create a Message Preferences account to manage your email-to-text messaging options and block/allow lists.
To block messages from a specific email address and/or Internet domain:

- Set up Block lists online, from your Message Preferences account.
- Add an email address to your Block list directly from your handset whenever you receive a spam text message by replying with BLOCK in the body of the response.

2. Block all email messages sent to your device's default email address (i.e., your-10-digit-wireless-number@txt.att.net)

Create an email alias for your phone in Messaging Preferences, then change the Mobile Number Control settings so that only those text messages addressed to your email alias will be delivered to your wireless device.

3. Stop email-to-text messages from being sent to your handset

Reply to unsolicited short codes with STOP in the body of the response to prevent future messages from that sender.

4. Block all calls and text messages from specific phone numbers

Sign up for AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless and create a Blocked Numbers list. With Smart Limits you can designate up to 30 numbers to block, and designate how many texts can be sent.

5. Other sources of unwanted text messages

Opt-in alerts are sent to your wireless device via text message. If you've signed up for this type of alert, either knowingly or not, you have to proactively cancel or opt-out of your subscription to stop receiving unwanted messages. Learn more about opting out of text alert services here.

6. Additional Support

If spam continues to be a problem for you, contact Customer Service at 1-800-331-0500 for assistance with your issue. It is impossible for us to determine if a message is unsolicited unless you bring it to our attention. When you receive text spam, forward it to short code SPAM (7726) from your wireless device. There is no charge to report mobile spam. Messages forwarded to 7726 do not count toward your data usage or voice package.

SPRINT Mobile Users: To stop texts, Sprint customers can text various commands to 9999. The range of options is wide. For example, customers can block all messages from one Internet domain, like example.com, by texting “block @example.com.” Specific e-mail addresses can be blocked by texting “block” followed by the address, while text senders who use numeric short codes can be stopped by texting “block” and then the code.

Similarly, customers can create a list of e-mail addresses from which they’d like to receive messages by substituting “allow” for “block.”

A complete list of Sprint commands can be found at here.

T-MOBILE T-Mobile subscribers can block all text messages at no charge, but cannot selectively block texts from specific senders — with one exception.

If spammers are using PCs to send text messages, users can block specific ones based on content. To do so, you use the E-mail and Text Tools tab on the T-Mobile Web site to set up filters that look for specific words in the “from,” “to,” and “subject” fields.

For example, any spam texts that ask you to “lose weight fast, let me show you how” could be blocked by designating the word “weight” as a red flag.

VERIZON The nation’s largest carrier offers perhaps the most extensive palette of spam-blocking tools, and does so at no charge.

Verizon customers can block unwanted messages from individual cellphone numbers as well as e-mail addresses by using the company’s Spam Controls tools, found in the Verizon Safeguards area of its Web site (see this link for more information).

Up to 15 e-mail addresses and Internet domains, plus five phone numbers, can be blocked from sending text, picture or video messages.

All blocks expire 90 days after they are set, but they can be reactivated by revisiting the Spam Controls page.

--------------

And don't forget to check apps like Anti-SMS Spam, Call Blocker, Handcent SMS, smsBlocker, SMS Filter and Mr. Number.

Scam Email: Bruce Miller

Here is an email forwarded to me from a reader. He was selling4 dodger tickets on Craigslist and the first email from this fake buyer came from bruce.miller05@gmail.com. When the seller replied that the tickets were still available, here is the next email he got:

From: Bonnie Reich [bonnie.symmetrycloset.com@gmail.com]
Subject: RE: Order Inquiry-I want to place an order

Am glad it's available. I'm going on a vacation but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail your payment which I'm sure you will get in about 4 - 5 business days. I'll add $50 extra for the delay. I'll pay by MO or cashier check so send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment.Please take the posting off craigs list today and consider it sold to me.Expecting to hear from you soon.
Thanks

You can see it is from a completely different made up name and disposable email account - they often can not keep their fake identities straight...

Internet Scam: PayPal Account Problem

Here is an email I received this morning that looked super dangerous. It's a common scam, one that I discuss in my book, Top 10 Email Scams. It is a phishing scam (the email is set up to look exactly like an email coming from your bank or in this case from paypal.com) where the emails says there is a problem with your account and you need to click on the link in order to reactivate or resolve the problem. It's usually focusing on your bank account or paypal account, where they can get access to your money.

This email also looks loaded with a link that will do damage to your computer - it was written in HTML so the actual link is hidden from the user (unless you mouse over it without clicking on it) but look at what the actual link says - reboot.php... gads, that can't be good at all! And in the headers, it looked like they were set up to be falsified by the scammer but he didn't even bother to do that, because all he wants is for his victims to click on that link. Lord help the people that do.

Paypal is targeted so often for these scams that they have trouble sending legitimate emails to their users. Whenever I get an email from what looks like my bank or from paypal, I NEVER ever click on the link in the email. I open a new browser window and manually type in paypal.com (don't cut and paste from the email either) and track down if there is actually a real problem or not. Almost always, there is never a real problem. Worst case, pick up the phone and call them to check if the email is real or not.

Please be careful with these emails!

Received: by control.yourdomain.com (Postfix, from userid 0)
    id D65398EF53; Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:22:21 +0300 (EEST)
To:
Subject: [Ticket ##204496300##] - Your PayPal account has been limited
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From: PayPal [service@secure.com]
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Message-Id: [20120828092614.D65398EF53@control.yourdomain.com]
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:22:21 +0300 (EEST)
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Dear Valued Member,

Following an audit of your account, we must advise that your account has been limited. PayPal is constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features will be limited. We would like to restore your access as soon as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience.

- Why is my account access limited?

- Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s):

We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party. Because protecting the security of your account is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

- Please follow the link bellow and restore your account access

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run [actually links to: http://erpdev.4iapps.com/paypal.com-us.gi.bin.webscr.cmd/reboot.php]

Please accept our apologies for any possible inconvenience,however PayPal must adhere to strict security standards which are there to protect your account privacy. Please be aware that your account will remain limited until you comply with this request.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

Kind regards,
PayPal Account Review Department 

When Good Credit Cards Are No Good

Scammers use a particular "sweetspot" with credit cards and I wanted to write a post about it today, so that more people understand and are not exploited by this.

Scammers love their stolen credit card numbers. They rarely have the card itself but just the numbers. They are stolen in a variety of ways but typically hackers break into systems and get large volumes of credit card numbers and then sell them, or more often than you'd like, scammers are tricking people into providing the number themselves by going to bogus "phishing" websites where they think they are logging into a real and secure website but it is not.

When scammers pretend to buy something (when they have no intention of actually paying), they used to go the route of sending a counterfeit check or money order. Some still do this. But more and more scammers are using the stolen credit card number route because they save even more money not having to pay to mail a check to their potential victim.

Here's how it works: the scammer will ask if an item is still available for sale and if so, they would like to purchase it (sometimes the story is they are moving, sometimes the story is they are at sea and buying for someone else, etc.). They need to explain why the amount is going to be for more than the price of the item - typically the story includes something about a shipper who is handling their items and will pick up your item as well - so they overpay with a credit card number and ask you to forward the difference on to pay the shipper as well. The difference is often a lot - $1000 to $5000.

Here's where people are getting trapped - the credit card will actually clear. That is because scammers love stolen credit card numbers NOT yet reported as such. So they do as much damage as they can with it before it gets reported. So for you, you'll think its a good card, because it cleared, and then proceed to forward YOUR money on to their shipper (who is non-existent). How do they pull off this part? There will be some reason why the shipper can only receive the payment via wire transfer (typically Western Union) and who is really at the other end of that transaction? The scammer... who is untraceable once he's picked up your good money.

And still you think everything is ok. So you ship out the product. And then - days or sometimes even a week or so later, the credit card company comes back and says the money was fraudulent and we are doing a chargeback in behalf of the real owner of that card. So suddenly you are out your money and your product, with no payment.

That is how it works.

Even if a credit card clears - it doesn't mean its good!

How can you avoid this scam? A couple of ways.

1. always ask for the billing address, even if their lame-ass story includes that they are moving or "at sea".

2. NEVER NEVER NEVER take an overpayment or use wire transfer services in your business dealings. The scammer's scam can not exist without this step, so if you avoid overpayments and refuse to use wire transfers, you should be good.

Here is a real-life story, a cautionary tale, an email I received this morning that prompted me to write this post. Too many good people are falling for this scam - because these stolen credit cards are clearing at first. Be on the lookout for the overpayment and the request of the wire transfer.

Hi,

Found this blog a little to late i'm afraid!

Julie Smith & her daughter Valerie approached us in June with an email. Could they buy goods, would we pay shippers direct etc etc. I did speak to the organisation that manages our credit card payments but as the cards appeared legitimate they saw no cause for concern.

The payments, 4 in total, where all authorized via Worldpay and after waiting to ensure the credit card money hit our bank account we did transfer the money i'm afraid, but only after checking with CTT/Worldpay once again that the cards were legitimate.

Sure I don't need to tell you that some 6 weeks later we get a call to say a chargeback has been applied and yes the cards are stolen/cloned.

Reported them to Fraud Action in the UK, who told me they see an awful lot of this, for all the good it will do us, we are firmly out of pocket for the shipping money we transferred.

As it took so long for the Credit Card transaction company to notify us does anyone know if we have any way of holding them to account?

In short - if it looks to good to be true then it is to good to be true and no one needs to say what an arse I am for falling for it as I have called myself that and a lot worse!

Internet Scam: iPhone Phishing Scams

A weakness in iPhone text messages could leave a backdoor open for scammers to fake those headers and make the text appear like it is coming from your bank, much like they do with phishing emails, where they pretend something is wrong with your bank account and tricks the user into clicking on the link to reactivate their account - going to a bogus page where the scammer will collect your login information and gain access to your bank account.

So if scammers extend their reach from email to mobile phone text messages (and I have no reason to believe they won't figure out how to do this), you'll need to use the same caution with your text messages and you do with your emails. Don't click on links in text messages and log into your bank account MANUALLY or call them and double-check if there is a problem with your account. Be cautious. Scammers will find their way into every nook and cranny of technology.

Internet Scam: PayPal Purchase

This scam is really prevalent and easy to fall for when you are working fast and multitasking in processing your orders. The lesson here is SLOW DOWN and make sure everything has been thoroughly checked out. The scammer is counting on people not double checking the truth of the matter.

This scam is used in all ways paypal transactions are used - on eBay, on Etsy, Craigslist, your website - any place you are accepting paypal payments. The scammers are typically targeting high ticket items and things like electronics. iphones is a favorite one, but you can see this scam being used for just about anything the scammer wants.

Here is how this particular scam works:

The scammer pretends to buy something from you saying they will make their payment through PayPal.

The scammer waits a little and then sends a bogus email looking like it came from the paypal system saying the funds will be deposited into the account once a shipping tracking reference number is provided. But it is a bogus email and no money will be deposited and if the seller is not paying attention, they go ahead and ship out the product. Some scammers set up a bogus paypal page and provide a link in the email to click and enter the shipping reference number (and they get an extra opportunity to trick you into logging in with your paypal login and then they get access to your account and money) - other scammers are lazy and don't provide anything, figuring their scam is already complete because you've already shipped out the product.

This is slimy and successful because eBay has that whole annoying wait period to have your funds accessible while you have to enter shipping tracking numbers to prove you shipped within a certain period of time. The money HAS been deposited but they have a hold on accessing it (I never did feel that was somehow legal or right to do, given paypal is collecting the interest on the money in that hold). So the scammer is exploiting the confusion of that policy and sending a fake email saying the money is not being held but will be deposited when a tracking reference number is provided.

So many sellers falling for this scam.

You just have to get yourself into the habit of slowing down and taking the time to manually log into paypal yourself (don't click on any link in an email) and do not ship anything until you see that paypal has deposited the money in your account - whether they have a hold on it or not.

Internet Scam: Free Credit Service Website

The IC3 has received over 2,000 complaints regarding a particular website that is claiming to offer free credit services such as credit scores and credit monitoring. Customers reported being charged a monthly service fee. However, the terms of the agreement advised that the "free" report only lasts for a limited time. At the end of the free term, the website used the customer's supplied financial information to charge a monthly membership service ranging from $19.95 to $29.95.

The terms and agreement from the website states the following:

"For Subscription Services which include a free-trial period, if you do not cancel your free trial within the free trial period, you will be charged at the monthly rate in effect at that time for the Subscription Services for which you enrolled. Your debit or credit card (including, if applicable, as automatically updated by your card provider following expiration or change in account number) will continue to be charged each month at the applicable monthly rate unless and until you cancel the Subscription Services."

The website, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), has been given an F rating for the following reasons:

- 1037 complaints filed against the business.
- 8 complaints filed against the business that were not resolved.
- 17 serious complaints filed against business.
- Advertising issues found by the BBB.

Internet Scam: Fake Political Surveys

The IC3 has been notified of a scam involving telephone calls conducting a multiple-choice "political survey." Following the survey, the recipients are told they have won a free cruise to the Bahamas. After providing a website address for legitimacy, the caller requests the "winner's" email address for notification purposes and credit card information to cover port fees.

The bogus website itself has very limited information, but does contain a few photos, testimonials and a "Caribbean Line" banner in an attempt to convince visitors it is legitimate. But it is not legitimate.

Internet Scam: BBB Phishing Emails

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) can often be used by scammers to try and steal money and/or identity information from victims. Scammers also use this phishing approach to install viruses on people's computer systems.

This is particularly tricky for small business people who, upon receiving this scam email, will be surprised that someone has lodged a BBB complaint against them and they'll want to click on the link to see what the complaint is about. And that is exactly what the scammer is hoping the victim will do.

If you run across one of these emails, DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS!!!! (Did I say that loud enough??)

If you are unsure of its validity, call the BBB on the phone or open a brand new browser window and *manually* type in bbb.org and see if you can verify the information yourself. But really this is a scam and all the information is made up to try and trick people into clicking on the link. Notice the randomized headers lines for 'Received' and 'Message-ID' below - not from the BBB...

Return-path: [complaints@bbb-email.org]

Received: from [33.4.55.57] (account complaints@bbb-email.org HELO cwofmesekt.akbtcwxwc.net)

From:    "Better Business Bureau" complaints@boston.bbb.org

Message-ID: [8879614814.KRL1FO0J147911@wkueyrdhnfyxxsx.axfwuvj.net]
Subject: Case# 9863703: Terrance Kendall

August 10, 2012 RE: Case# 9863703: Terrance Kendall

Dear Company:As you are aware, the Better  Business Bureau contacted  you regarding the above-named complainant, seeking a response to this complaint. Your position  is available  online.The following  URL (website  address)  below  will take you directly  to this complaint and you will be able to view the response directly  on our website:

http://complaint.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/9863703/b/163980832f (don't click on EITHER of these links, but in the HTML, this link actually goes to: <a href="http://www.11pacific.com/4jdkLnTb/index.html">http://complaint.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/9863703/b/163980832f</a>)

The complainant has been notified  of your  response.The BBB believes  that  your response adequately addresses the disputed  issues and/or  has exhibited  a good faith  effort  to resolve  the complaint. The complaint will close as "Administratively Judged Resolved"  and our records  will be updated.If you fail to honor  your agreement or if the consumer  has information that  disputes  the accuracy of your firm's  response, we will notify  your  office with  substantiation to support  the consumer's position  and the case will be re-opened.  Cases will not be re-opened without documentation or good cause.The BBB appreciates  this opportunity to serve you. Dispute  Resolution  Department.

This is a common scam. There was a massive flurry of them in 2007 and again the BBB warned of these in 2011. Here is their warning from 2011:

Better Business Bureau is issuing an urgent scam alert to local businesses about an e-mail that looks like it is from BBB. Businesses nationwide contacted BBB’s today after receiving an e-mail with the subject line, “BBB Case #64168176 (or other combination of numbers).”  A sample is reprinted below.

This e-mail is fraudulent. Recipients should ignore its contents and delete it immediately. If you clicked on the link in the e-mail message, BBB recommends you run a full virus scan of your computer.

Messages urgently request that recipients click enclosed links to handle pending consumer complaints. Recipients have reported that phishing e-mails are coming from "manager@bbb.org," "admin@bbb.org," "risk@bbb.org" and "alert@bbb.org." and appear to be from the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the national office of the BBB system. They also contain the BBB logo. A link to a non-BBB web site is embedded in the message.

“I suppose we should be honored to have our name used in this scam since this type of fraud typically targets respected organizations.” said David Weiss, President of Cleveland BBB.  “Regardless, it is a serious abuse of our organization and we wanted to alert the business community to this attack.”

While BBB does notify businesses by e-mail when a consumer complaint is received, the e-mail always comes from info@cleveland.bbb.org.  The subject line will be “You have a new message from the BBB Serving Greater Cleveland re: Complaint #XXXXX.”  Also, our phone number is included in the e-mail message – not the contact information for the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

National BBB authorities are working with law enforcement to determine the source of this attack and to stop the fraudulent campaign.

Guess they haven't been able to do much to stop the scammers from using this particular approach because here we are seeing emails exactly like this today. Don't fall for these!

Facebook Has New Phishing Email

Facebook has created an email address for people to report scams.

The address is phish(at)fb.com. Anyone - even those who aren't on Facebook - can use it to report malicious emails that pretend to come from Facebook.

Known as phishing, such emails attempt to get passwords and other information by pretending to come from a legitimate business. Because many people use the same passwords at banking and other sites, someone who gets account information for Facebook can log on elsewhere.

Facebook Inc. says scams tend to contain information that's more vague than what's in legitimate emails from Facebook.

Facebook says it will report scams to outside security companies and notify blacklists that Internet companies keep to block malicious websites. It will also prevent users from posting such links on Facebook.

Please use responsibly so Facebook can continue to provide this service, though I can't imagine how the scammers are not going to try and flood this address....

Internet Scam: Lawyers Can Be Victims, Too

So many people who fall victim to internet scams feel shame and embarrassment and, frankly, they feel stupid. Like how could they have fallen for something like that. Here's a story to make you feel better.

Lawyers who warn clients against risky transactions are not supposed to get drawn in themselves.

But some are turning out to be easy prey for email swindlers using a sophisticated Internet scam that has bilked millions from law firms across North America, as the WSJ reported Monday.

The scheme isn’t new — essentially, scammers posing as would-be clients living abroad convince lawyers to cash counterfeit “settlement” checks, take a cut as attorney fees, then wire the balance to overseas bank accounts. The money is gone by the time the law firm’s bank figures out the check was fake.

Sounds pretty transparent, right?

But federal investigators say the scams are so elaborate — and targeted to mimic the way many lawyers now get online client referrals — that attorneys continue to fall for them.

In a first here in the U.S., an alleged ringleader of one such scam is set to go on trial this fall in U.S. district court in Pennsylvania. Federal prosecutors say Emmanuel Ekhator, a Nigerian national, bilked firms of at least $32 million that way. Mr. Ekhator, who prosecutors said was living in Canada at the time of the alleged frauds, has plead not guilty. His lawyer declined to comment.

Despite the publicity surrounding the Ekhator case — and numerous warnings over the years from law enforcement and bar associations — the victims continue to pile up.

“We have this wide-ranging scam that continues even though we have made these arrests,” said Christy H. Fawcett, an assistant U.S. Attorney in Harrisburg who is prosecuting the case. “We continue to have victims, both here and in Canada.”

Internet swindlers can reap much as $100,000 to $400,000 each time a law firm is duped, according to court records and federal law enforcement officials.

The schemes span the globe, authorities say. Scammers set up pop-up bank accounts in Asia that open and are closed before lawyers realize they’ve been had. Others blast out solicitation emails from Internet cafés in Nigeria and elsewhere that function as “boiler rooms” for the scam. Much of the activity is coordinated by scammers living in West African expatriate communities in Canada, Ms. Fawcett said.

“Many of them belong to a particular social club in Toronto,” Ms. Fawcett said. “They’ll hear this has been a good scam, this is a good bank account number in Asia.”

More indictments are pending for suspected co-conspirators of Mr. Ekhator who are currently in Canada and elsewhere. “There are a number of other individuals that are going to be indicted,” she said. “We are working with law enforcement in Nigeria and in Japan, and in Korea.”

How To Beat Nigerian Scammers

While the premise of the article in the link at the bottom of this article is interesting - I've always thought the time you spend using up a scammer's time with you - who will never send them money is time they are not spending on other people who may fall for sending them money, somehow I wonder if this is just an escalation of the "war".

There are scam baiter sites already (I don't recommend their advanced techniques to the casual person), but also the idea of software sending false account information from phishing pages to muck up their databases is interesting. I admit to really enjoying the photos of how the scam baiters get the nigerian scammers to hold up these fuinny signs and take a photo of themselves, not knowing what the signs say because they don't understand english but they'll almost do anything thinking that money is forthcoming (when it's really not).

In the early days of spam, we used to use software scripts to send fake email addresses to spambots collecting up visible emails on websites, until they bandwidth got too intense just delivering those "false positives" back to the scammers databases. And after a while, the odds of randomly generated emails actually matching a real person became a real problem. I began crashing my own server sending the scammers so many fake email addresses.




And really, if you are going to "play" with the scammers and mess up their money-making activities, you want to do it in a way that they can not easily track you down, because they will unleash unpleasant things on you, like take down your website or do a denial-of-service attack on your server. So you would want to be as sleuthy and difficult to track down as they are.

But interesting to contemplate creative ways to muddle up a scammer's activites online.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443931404577548813973954518.html

Internet Scam: Fake Online Coupons

I saw a news report today that is unusual in that the scammer caught was a 22 year old college kid (okay, that is not unusual at all), a computer security student (that also doesn't surprise me) but that he is in the U.S. (Texas). Certainly there are scammers in the U.S., but they are more likely to operate outside the reach of law enforcement in other countries. They found him working at McDonald's.

In this same, it did not immediately appear that this kid benefited financially from his scam, but various companies lost some money as users cashed in very real-looking coupons and cashiers at the grocery stores accepted them. Now he's pleaded guilty and is facing up to three years. Such a waste.

Counterfeit coupons are a growing problem. It's more about saving money for groceries than a scammer making money, but scammers have been selling counterfeit coupons online for some time. Scammers will always find a way to make money illegally.

Some tips to keep in mind:

- Never pay money for a coupon.

- Only print coupons from a brand's Web site or other reputable sites. Here are a few to try: www.coupons.com, www.coolsavings.com, www.redplum.com.

- Look for special software to download that can ensure bar codes are printed correctly.

- To check if a coupon you want to use is counterfeit, visit the Coupon Information Corporation's Web site.

Internet Scam: Email Account Phishing Scam

Here is an example of where scammers try and collect up your email account information, mostly to get into your account so they can send out more spam emails to catch other people's personal and financial information, until they can hit on getting credit card numbers, or access to their paypal account. It does typically happen more with the web-based email services like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.

Never click on links within emails when you have received a notification that something is wrong with ANY account. Always open a new browser window and manually type in the url and check yourself. And make sure you have a good password. And that you change it periodically.

From: Yahoo! Account Service! [churchofgoddc@sbcglobal.net]
Date: July 26, 2012 12:36:37 PM PDT
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: ACCOUNT UPDATING!!

Dear Valid User,

This is for your own safety to avoid your account closed,you will have to verify your account by Clicking Here (actually links out to http://erteresrhergeeg.3owl.com/siaxxxsia1.html which is definitely NOT yahoo). We apologies for any inconvenience.