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Posts with tag e-mail scams

New E-Mail Scam Targets the Previously Scammed



As if you didn't feel bad enough about yourself after being taken in by that e-mail from the Nigerian prince enlisting your help to gain access to nonexistent millions, now you've got to worry about guarding yourself against a scam targeted at those who have already fallen victim to Internet con-men.

Those infinitely malleable 419 scams that harvest personal info from the less cautious among us are now targeting those who have already fallen for the scheme. E-mails are starting to land in in-boxes promising cash compensation to those who have been fleeced by a Nigerian based scam before.

Cory Doctorow from Boing Boing received one recently that read:
THIS IS TO OFFICIALLY INFORM YOU THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AMONG THE 40 LUCKY VICTIM OF SCAMMED TO BE COMPENSATED WITH $500,000.00.FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS,THIS WAS CONCLUDED BY THE SENATE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA,SENATOR wALLIS KELLY WITH DELEGATE FROM THE UNITED NATION AND WORLD BANK AT THE AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT WHICH TOOK PLACE IN ADDIS ABABA IN (ETHIOPIA) AIMED AT REDEEMING THE COUNTRY'S IMAGE AND ALSO TO TRY TO PUT ANEND TO THE INCESSANT SCAM REPORTS BY FOREIGNER ESPECIALLY FROM USA AND AROUND THE GLOBE.YOU HAVE BEEN LISTED AND APPROVED FOR THIS PAYMENT AS ONE OF THE SCAMMED VICTIMS TO BE PAID THIS AMOUNT.
As usual, you should never give out personal information via e-mail, but if you feel so inclined, you can save your fellow human some trouble and engage in a little scam baiting. Every minute spent replying to your e-mails is time the fraudsters aren't trying to prey on someone else. [From: Boing Boing]

Would You Fall For This?


We understand that there are people out there who are gullible or uninformed, and that's why we try to help as much as we can. That said, we have never, ever seen a scam this obvious, at least not a real one. The sad thing is there are probably enough people that are dumb enough to fall for it, and therefore scammers who would try it, so it's not out of the question that this ruse actually exists. Scoff if you like, but halfway intelligent people still send money to Nigeria or think that a random link will really show them nude pictures of Jessica Simpson.

Thanks to sites like 419eater.com, we know that many of the criminals out there aren't exactly masterminds, which makes us wonder what other examples of unintelligent Web fraud are out there? There are all sorts of Fail sites, so we here at Switched propose that Scam Fail become the latest genre of captured stupidity. If you have any good examples of this, leave them in the comments below. We can't wait to see the depths of idiocy you've encountered on the Web.

Oh, and by the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, don't put your credit card number into anything like that. Ever. [From: FAIL Blog]

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Spam Numbers Plummet by 66% After McColo Shut Down


Thanks to the busting up of spam purveyor McColo Corp., about which we reported Wednesday, Internet spam decreased by nearly 66-percent on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post.

This massive decrease is not particularly surprising, as experts had estimated that McColo was responsible for 75-percent of daily spam.

While these figures will surely help spam victims to breathe easy, we wouldn't get too comfortable, quite yet; the Post points out that, after September saw the abolition of major spammer Intercage, spam figures remained low for only a few days, as the result of spammers simply moving on to other operations. One expert foresees spam resuming previous volumes by next week.

Is it fair to call spammers human cockroaches? [From: The Washington Post]

Nigerian Scammers Hitting Up Facebook Users

Nigerian Scammers Using Social Networking SitesWe've covered the various Nigerian scams again and again, yet the hits keep coming as those crafty fraudsters come up with new ways to try to separate you from your cash illegally. The latest? Hijacking peoples' Facebook accounts and sending messages asking for money!

Karina Wells, an Aussie Google employee, received a Facebook message from a friend claiming that friend was trapped in (where else?) Nigeria and needed her to wire $500 so that they could get home. Thankfully, Wells didn't fall for it and, should you see something similar, make sure you don't either! That's not to say you shouldn't help friends in distress, just make sure that it's actually those friends before you start sending cash.

As far as Wells' case goes, she turned the case over to the authorities for investigation, but as these things usually go it's unlikely anything will come from it. [From: CNet News]

Sending Spam E-Mail Is Fast-Track to Riches, Study Reveals

How Spammers Profit
If you're anything like us, you get dozens and dozens of spams per day. If you have multiple e-mail accounts, that's a lot of spam and, when you think of everyone else you know, that's an awful lot of unwanted messages. It certainly seems like spamming can't be worth all the effort and that spammers couldn't possibly make any money from it, right? Well, they certainly do, and a group of researchers have just released a study showing how, which amazingly indicates that one click among 12.5 million e-mails sent is enough for spammers to turn a profit.

Students at the University of California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego all participated in the research, using a variant of the Storm Worm to set up their own zombie network -- purely for research purposes, of course. They had control of 75,869 machines to send out 469 million spam messages, all pointing to a fake pharmacy site that raised an error when users entered their credit cards. From all those messages, the researchers got 28 attempted "sales," which they figured would equate to about $7,000 per day in proceeds for those who run the full Storm network. Not mountains of cash by any means, but quite a steady stream of money when there's not a lot of work involved. [From: BBC News]

Latest Facebook Fake-Video Virus Takes Over Your Profile

Facebook's Fake Video Viruses Getting More ProblematicWe've talked about viruses hitting Facebook before, but it seems they're getting a little more serious now. A new one is making the rounds, W32.Koobface.A, which not only installs itself into the background on your PC, but takes over your profile on the site and sends itself to all your friends!

The virus uses the same trick we've seen before, the fake-YouTube page that says you're missing a plugin. It prompts you to download something and, if you do, you're infected. The virus will then e-mail your friends and also update your profile to include links back to the virus, hoping they'll do the same.

For its part, Facebook says it is working to remove the links, but even if it manages to quash this virus, surely another one will pop up shortly. As always, watch where you click. [From: NEWS.com.au]

Beware the Fake Microsoft Patch E-Mail -- It Contains Malware

Beware the Fake Microsoft Patch E-Mail

Updating your computer to have the most recent software patches from Microsoft is almost always a good idea -- it doesn't take long for a system flaw to go from new discovery to critical exploit. However, as with everything else online, you have to be careful where you get those patches. Some malware pushers are currently doing their best to trick you into downloading a fake patch that, go figure, installs malicious software instead.

The patch is delivered as an attachment to an e-mail purportedly coming from Microsoft itself (shown above) indicating that you need to run the file to fix some system flaws. Instead of fixes, you'll get yourself a Trojan capable of capturing -- and broadcasting -- your personal info.

As we always say, don't run attachments to e-mails unless you're absolutely positive they're clean, and now we'll add that if you're going to be updating your Microsoft software, make sure you do so from the Windows Update site. [From: ZDNet]

As Economy Falters, Phishing and Spam E-Mail Scams Surge

As Economy Falters, Phishing and Spam Scams Surge
These are scary times for those with retirement savings tied to the markets. As things plunge faster and further than they have in years, many are crying recession and worse, while some others are seeing a boom. Many of those in the latter group are scammers, preying on people looking for answers to make a quick buck. Phishing attacks are surging now as people are being a little more emotional in their online banking habits, and a little less careful.

Phishing attacks -- essentially fake e-mails from familiar banks and other institutions masquerading as the real thing -- are on the rise, preying on people's panic about potential bank failures to get them to click through and enter their log-in details. Recent scam e-mails purporting to come from banks such as Chase and Washington Mutual are currently making the rounds.

Modern browsers like Firefox 3.0 and Internet Explorer 8 will warn you when you hit such bogus sites, but you can never be too careful. As always: Be wary of where you click, and if you're unsure that a given site is legit type in the URL to your bank by hand and log in from there. Think twice before reacting to some provocative e-mail subject line that's somehow related to protecting your financial assets, since those are precisely the sorts of phrases that are being used as bait by evildoing phishers. It's all too easy to fall prey to these tricks, so better to be safe than sorry. [From: USA Today]

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12 Most Dangerous E-Mails

The 12 Most Dangerous E-mails



Yes, we know we've covered the biggest e-mail scams before, but criminals never stop coming up with new ways to mess you up via the Internet, so we've decided it's time for an update -- this time focusing on specific e-mails to watch out for (that is, if you want to avoid everything from garden variety financial scams and computer viruses to flat-out ID theft). As always, remember there are variations on each of these cons, so be wary of anything even resembling what you read in the following pages....

E-Mail Spammers Using Fake News for Scams

Fake News Coming to a Spam Near You
It's all fun and games when something like 'The Daily Show' or a site like The Onion picks on the world, creating fake news for the sake of humor. When spammers and phishers do it, though, it's not quite so funny, but that's exactly what these slimy e-mail predators have been up to lately by using sensationalist fake news headlines to try to get you to install their sleazy applications and divulge information about yourself.

The e-mail messages have subject lines like "Barack Obama pulls out from Presidential Race" or "Heath Ledger awarded posthumous Oscar," which are a bit of a change from their usual tact of offering free sexual enhancing drugs. The senders, of course, hope that you'll be intrigued enough by the messages to click on the links within and then enter your personal information. Once they have that the people who send these messages are just a few clicks away from stealing your identity. Clicking the links could also install a trojan horse application, turning your computer into a pawn to send more spam e-mails to more people! So, as always, be careful what you click on. [Source: USA Today]

More on the latest e-mail scams to watch out for here.

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