Always use delivery confirmation!

More: http://www.kgw.com/business/money/stories/kgw_053008_news_paypal_scammers.457e8cfa.html

June 1st, 2008

Subpoena by email?

To All Eastern District of California Attorneys,

In recent weeks, thousands of high-ranking executives across the country received e-mail messages that appear to be official subpoenas from the United States District Court in San Diego, CA. Each message included the executive's correct name, email address, company name, and phone number, and commands the recipient to appear before a grand jury in a civil case. The link embedded in the message purports to offer a copy of an entire subpoena, but when the recipient tries to view the document, they unwittingly download and install software that secretly records keystrokes and sends the data to a remote computer over the Internet. This enables criminals to capture passwords and other personal or financial information and starts software that allows the computer to be controlled remotely so the attackers can obtain digital credentials, passwords, and electronic certificates.

The message directed victims to a Website with a URL that ended with "uscourts.com" instead of the official site ?uscourts.gov.? Misspellings in the fake subpoena lead investigators to believe that the attackers were not familiar with the U.S. court system, and might be based in a place that uses a British variant of English. The AOUSC, FBI, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), S/CA and C/CA have all posted warnings about the fake messages on their Web-sites after hundreds of phone calls from individuals and corporations were received about these messages. Other cases have involved legitimate businesses such as America OnLine, CitiBank, e-Bay and numerous others. The e-mails often contain logos that closely resemble those of the legitimate businesses. In this case the seal of the U.S. Courts was included.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/technology/16whale.html?_r=1&ex=1366084800&en=6440ba388ff2ce84&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=login

May 5th, 2008

Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes

More: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/

April 1st, 2008

Spotting fake listings on eBay and Craigslist

More: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Spot_a_Fake_Listing_on_Craigslist_and_eBay

February 25th, 2008

A phishing scam dissected

Here's a very nice explanation of the details and mechanics of a recent phishing scam which involved simultating a Better Business Bureau complaint. A scary mix of technical and social hacks are at work in the scam.

It's worth noting that a couple third parties end up being complicit in this scam. One is whatever mail server originally accepted the email; it didn't check the SPF records of bbb.org. If it had, it would have found that the scammer's zombie computer wasn't authorized to send email for bbb.org and would have rejected the message.

The second unwitting collaborator is the BBB itself. As the blog post details, their website has a security hole that allowed the bad chaps can craft a URL that not only looked like it goes to the BBB site, it did go to the BBB site -- then quickly redirected to the scammers' server where they do their mischief.

More: http://www.jgc.org/blog/2008/02/clever-targeted-emailweb-scam-with.html

February 8th, 2008

The Recruit Who Wasn’t Recruited

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/sports/ncaafootball/06reno.html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

February 6th, 2008

Help me make a better Purportal

More: mailto:pb@purportal.com

January 29th, 2008

How to avoid buying a bogus memory card on eBay

More: http://reviews.ebay.com/F?ugid=10000000001456539

January 27th, 2008

Don't believe everything you read on Craigslist

"Moving out ... House being demolished. Come and take whatever you want, nothing is off limits" .... People, thinking that they could remove whatever they wanted, grabbed the refrigerator, front door and kitchen sink, among other things, according to the documents.

More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003710460_craigslist17m.html

August 26th, 2007

Avoiding scams on Craigslist and elsewhere

More: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

August 25th, 2007

Need cash? Make big money shipping washers and screws for the US military

A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said. ... The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.

More: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aY5OQ5xv9HR8

August 16th, 2007

ATM magic

More: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/07/atm-reprogrammi.html

July 13th, 2007

UFOs... robots in disguise?

More: http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1252&category=Environment

June 29th, 2007

"Elderly opportunity seekers"

The thieves would call and pose as government workers or pharmacy employees. They would contend that the Social Security Administration's computers had crashed, or prescription records were incomplete. Payments and pills would be delayed, they warned, unless the older Americans provided their banking information. ... Many people hung up. But Mr. Guthrie and hundreds of others gave the callers whatever they asked. ... "I was afraid if I didn't give her my bank information, I wouldn't have money for my heart medicine," Mr. Guthrie said.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/business/20tele.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

May 27th, 2007

New feature: spam comments

More: http://purportal.com/spam/

May 26th, 2007

Phishing in-depth

Very often Internet users become aware of phishing attacks by receiving spoof emails themselves or viewing a recorded copy of a malicious web site below the headlines on a technology news site, long after the server temporarily hosting the phishing content has been taken down. These events tend to be viewed in isolation and purely from the perspective of the victim. One of the major benefits that honeynet technology can offer is the capability to capture all activity from the perspective of the attacker, allowing security analysts to build up a more complete understanding of the entire life span of a phishing attack. Members of the Honeynet Project's Research Alliance are fortunate enough to have captured a number of rich data sets that can help to illustrate the stages of such an attack, from initial compromise and phishing web site set up through to mass emailing and victim data capture. Three different examples of typical real world phishing techniques are presented and reviewed below.

More: http://www.honeynet.org/papers/phishing/

May 6th, 2007

Malicious AdWords

Google Inc. yanked paid advertisements linked to about 20 search terms that online criminals had hijacked to steal banking and other personal information from Web surfers looking for the Better Business Bureau and other sites. It was unclear how many people were affected before the breach was discovered this week, but computer security experts said Thursday that the attack appears to be isolated and targeting only Windows XP users who had not properly updated their machines.

More: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/313354_googleads27.html?source=rss

April 27th, 2007

Your cellphone can't make you sick

Mobile service providers in Pakistan have been inundated by calls from subscribers worried by a prank message that they could die of a deadly virus being transmitted via their phones.

More: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2113891,00.asp?kc=EWWMUEMNL041907EOAD

April 20th, 2007

US State Department infiltrated via Microsoft Word

The mysterious State Department e-mail appeared to be legitimate and included a Microsoft Word document with material from a congressional speech related to Asian diplomacy, Reid said. By opening the document, the employee activated hidden software commands establishing what Reid described as backdoor communications with the hackers.

The technique exploited a previously unknown design flaw in Microsoft's Office software, Reid said. State Department officials worked with the Homeland Security Department and even the FBI to urge Microsoft to develop quickly a protective software patch, but the company did not offer the patch until Aug. 8 — roughly eight weeks after the break-in.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070419/ap_on_hi_te/hackers_state_department

April 19th, 2007

The Storm Worm for Windows

Apparently a new email worm, a variant of the Storm Worm last seen in January, is running amok. Suspect subject lines include:

• Worm Alert!
• Worm Detected
• Virus Alert
• ATTN!
• Trojan Detected!
• Worm Activity Detected!
• Spyware Detected!
• Dream of You
• Virus Activity Detected!

An important fact omitted from the CERT reports I link to here: This is a Windows-only issue.

More: http://www.us-cert.gov/current/archive/2007/04/18/archive.html#stormworm2

April 19th, 2007

Home of 1,000 phishes

account email our please ebay me paypal information bank any address through contact security am money funds us million international prize winning because lottery online claim fund also access numbers dear help after good thank name work sum charity program receive lord message reply decided item member mr claims want here sent winners release click total category only agent america 2006 inform due congratulations batch link years next united dollars below assistance five department policy reference family service following update hundred banking note must lucky system thousand protect company cash soon last transaction should know addresses until sincerely award wish process once ticket payment over late business file details using computer husband avoid possible notification remember names log internet customer need won states result transfer relatives winner members cancer provide user notice limited best dont therefore respond never privacy immediately 2 regards order personal choose yours mrs lotto hope donate c world mail rights processing send full agreement lawyer reserved foreign death country fax verification upon keep ask selected promotion believe kin inc cole new credit before take matter being date always mrsstella manager 2007 ref id ensure under well response verify card private registered days confidential services password trademarks

More: http://purportal.com/spam/

March 10th, 2007

Money and Cocaine

As to how much cocaine will be on a contaminated bill, the expert witness in that 1995 court case charted results from as small as a nanogram (one-billionth of a gram) to as much as a milligram (one-thousandth of a gram). The Argonne National Laboratory study revealed that the average contamination was 16 micrograms (which is 16 one-millionths of a gram).

More: http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp

March 5th, 2007

How to steal ATM cards

More: http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/the-real-hustle-atm-card-catcher

February 25th, 2007

Give me ants or give you death

Death penalty over China ant scam

A Chinese company chairman has been sentenced to death for running a scam involving giant ants. Wang Zhendong promised investors returns of up to 60% if they put money into the fictitious ant-breeding project...

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6365123.stm

February 16th, 2007

What do you mean by "foreign", or, targeting stupid Americans

We recently noticed one or more attempts to log in to your PayPal account from a foreign IP address...

More: http://purportal.com/spam/search/?text=foreign+ip+address

February 15th, 2007

Canadian coins with tiny tracking devices found

More: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/10/rfid-defence.html

February 3rd, 2007

Massachusetts Attorney General gets her credit card number stolen

More: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/19/just_seated_ag_nearly_gets_burned_by_fraud/

February 3rd, 2007

Bank sends woman account data of 75,000 customers by accident

She received five packages each containing 500 sheets of 30 customers' names, sort codes and account details.

HBOS apologised and said it was carrying out an investigation. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it would probe the "negligence".

Ms McLaughlan said: "These packages were just dumped on my doorstep one day and I was really shocked because it was obvious the bank did not have a clue they had left them in my house or their contents.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/6310633.stm

February 3rd, 2007

Superbowl site hack might just be the tip of the iceberg

All the affected Miami Dolphins sites (see Alexa traffic data) have now been disinfected but there is evidence that hundreds of other sites have been hijacked and rigged with the malicious JavaScript code. I've confirmed that the one-line code has been planted on an internal page of the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health Marketing site.

More: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=15

February 3rd, 2007

There's no such thing as Google TV

More: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/28/google-tv-an-elaborate-prank/

January 29th, 2007

eBay shilling: how it's done

After being told that he had been talking to an undercover reporter, Paraskevaides denied that he had ever shill bidded on eBay and claimed he was talking about clients who sometimes bid on expensive items if they wished to protect the price.

More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2570050,00.html

January 27th, 2007

A malware glossary

...Malware, or malicious software ... is growing quickly. McAfee Avert Labs expected in 2006 to have recorded their 225,000th unique computer/ network threat, finding 50,000 threats between Jan and Nov of 2006 alone [2]. The motive for creating malware has been profit or spying in most cases, and as profits from creating malware have grown, paid professionals have begun to make new and ever more dangerous forms.

More: http://www.itsecurity.com/features/nastiest-malware-trends-011207/

January 23rd, 2007

Ignorance turns out not to be bliss

The longtime treasurer of Alcona County, Mich., has been accused in an embezzlement scheme in which he may have served as both perpetrator and victim, sending up to $1.25 million in county funds and his own life savings to con artists after falling for one of the notorious online Nigerian banking frauds.

More: http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/217474,CST-NWS-scam19.article

January 23rd, 2007

OK, so the Grand Canyon really *is* millions of years old

More: http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/07-01-17.html

January 17th, 2007

Yahoo boys

More: http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1691.html

January 3rd, 2007

Good reading: Fraudwar

More: http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/

January 1st, 2007

Scammy spam archive tops 500 messages

More: http://purportal.com/spam/

December 23rd, 2006

Not like in the movies

: OK here it is: I need an adjustment to my college GPA. Is this an absurd
: request?

Absurd no, difficult yes. Really depends on the college, security in place, the amount of databases required to truly update, log servers to compromise to remove evidence, type of access required to access the systems (internet? LAN? dialup? carrier pigeon?), and a dozen other things that come into play.

More: http://www.attrition.org/postal/z/033/0871.html

December 23rd, 2006

But at least he's $3 million wiser

Prosecutors say Mezvinsky used his connections to the Clintons and his son's social relationship with Chelsea to persuade people to give him money to participate in the scams.

Mezvinsky traveled to Nigeria numerous times and ultimately lost more than $3 million as a victim of the scammers.

Prosecutors say Mezvinsky fell particularly hard for what is known as the "black money" scam. Victims are told millions of dollars have been coated with black ink so the money could be smuggled out of Nigeria.

More: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/12/father_of_chels.html

December 12th, 2006

Nigerian scam for dummies

More: http://joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyimages/898.gif

December 1st, 2006

Worst spelling evar

The Bnak of America Billing Deptartment

More: http://purportal.com/spam/

November 7th, 2006

The Nigerian scam, AARP style

"He said he was from Massachusetts, but [that he] was supervising a construction project in Nigeria," says Smalley, a supermarket cashier in Middlefield, Ohio. Weeks into daily instant messaging, she knew she had lost her heart to Richie. By April she had also lost $2,700 to him.

More: http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/consumer/internet_romance.html

October 25th, 2006

SiteKey can't save you, apparently

More: http://bbaadd.com/blog/2006/08/why-sitekey-cant-save-you.html

September 4th, 2006

It's not really from the FBI

The e-mail appears to be sent from the e-mail addresses of mail@fbi.gov, post@fbi.gov and admin@fbi.gov. There may be other similarly styled addresses. [I've seen variants with @cia.gov addresses too -- ed.] The recipient is enticed to open the zip attachment which contains a variant of the w32/sober virus. If the program within the zip attachment is executed then the virus is launched and may affect the user's computer. The text of the email is as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.

Important: Please answer our questions! The list of questions are attached.

Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison
Federal Bureau of Investigation-FBI-

More: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel05/emailscheme112205.htm

November 23rd, 2005

When Astronomy Goes Bad

More: http://www.badastronomy.com/

November 15th, 2005

eBay, fraud, filtering, and Web 2.0

I'm 99% certain that this is fraud in progress, being worked via a hijacked user account. Maybe they even got access to the account via one of the phishing expeditions I was griping about six weeks ago. A fellow Well member reports seeing 20 other auctions in progress in a different area of eBay which also bear these identical red flags. Clearly somebody's got a little cottage industry going here.

More: http://e-scribe.com/news/128

November 4th, 2005

Is eBay doing all it can to fight phishing?

More: http://e-scribe.com/news/75

September 23rd, 2005

Fake Photos

More: http://oemagazine.com/fromTheMagazine/jan05/photofakery.html

August 25th, 2005

Beware of the Zotor

More: http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/998653

August 16th, 2005

The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick

This idea of genuine magic in a far-off place filled a void in the West. Physics, biology, geology and archaeology were challenging traditional beliefs, especially religion. Hungering for the unexplainable, but eager to consider themselves enlightened, Americans and Englishmen were turning to spiritualism, which promises ''scientific'' evidence of immortality, while providing satisfying shivers in a darkened seance room.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/books/review/13TELLERL.html?ex=1265950800&en=879db53767dd25c6&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

February 17th, 2005

Gmail fighting phishing

More: http://gmail.com/

October 18th, 2004

Free iPods?

More: http://people.bu.edu/jbrock/ipod_analysis.htm

September 28th, 2004

Fighting Spyware

More: http://www.netrn.net/spywareblog/

August 17th, 2004

Citibank tops phishing list

More: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1002975

August 4th, 2004

This week's reason not to use Internet Explorer on Windows

... a large number of popular Web sites were compromised earlier this week to distribute malicious code that targets a known bug in Microsoft Internet Explorer.... If a user visited an infected site, the JavaScript delivered by the site would instruct the user's browser to download an executable from a Russian Web site and install it ... "These Trojan horse programs include keystroke loggers, proxy servers and other back doors providing full access to the infected system." ... [Experts believe] the attack is the work of a sophisticated international spam ring.

More: http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/download_ject.mspx

June 25th, 2004

Pundit beware

More: http://neon.vortex.com/debate-fraud.html

June 24th, 2004

The Library of Larceny

• Where the Money Was: The Memoirs of a Bank Robber
• McGoorty: A Pool Room Hustler
• Ponzi: The Incredible True Story of the King of Financial Cons

More: http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/2004-06-20-2004-06-21-larceny_x.htm

June 23rd, 2004

Macintosh web browser security hole: real

More: http://saladwithsteve.com/osx/2004/05/well-this-is-historic-if-bothersome.html

May 18th, 2004

"For you all is lawful"

Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 21:30:22 -0700 (PDT)
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Offer

I suggest you to become my partner.

2 ways to earn:
1st way is I transfer money into your account, and then you send it back to
me through WU making 15-30%.
2nd way is that I take money from your account and claim it stolen and
bank repays the amount, I send 50%-60% back to you. This can only work once
though.

Or you may to find people for 1st and 2nd ways.

In any case you become a victim of fraud. For you all is lawful.

May 17th, 2004

Phishing list

More: http://www.antiphishing.org/phishing_archive.htm

April 25th, 2004

Automatically stopping scams

More: http://www.computerbusinessreview.com/todaysnews/a3525b218b412b9c80256e770032e055

April 15th, 2004

Area Man Duped

More: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63048,00.html

April 14th, 2004

Fixes for that Mac virus that doesn't quite exist

More: http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20040412074638849

April 12th, 2004

Free Energy

More: http://www.phact.org/e/dennis4.html

April 9th, 2004

Google: Fact vs. Fiction

Followup: see this Reuters story for confirmation.

April 1st, 2004

Phishing, Gone

The U.S. government said on Monday it had arrested a Texas man who crafted fake e-mail messages to trick hundreds of Internet users into providing credit card numbers and other sensitive information. Zachary Hill of Houston pleaded guilty to charges related to a "phishing" operation, in which he sent false emails purportedly from online businesses to collect sensitive personal information from consumers, the Federal Trade Commission said. According to the FTC, Hill sent out official-looking e-mail notices warning America Online and Paypal users to update their accounts to avoid cancellation. Those who clicked on a link in the message were directed to a Web site Hill set up that asked for Social Security numbers, mothers' maiden names, bank account numbers and other sensitive information, the FTC said.

More: http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4624987

March 22nd, 2004

eBay's anti-fraud vigilantes

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/20/technology/20EBAY.html?ex=1395118800&en=c98630a69f2d6655&ei=5007&partner=PURPORTAL

March 20th, 2004

New Russian twist on advance fee fraud

Our company sells the computer technologies and software developments for it. We work with clients in different countries of the Europe and in the United States of America. Our clients reckons with us through PayPal. However, the administration of PayPal does not co-operate with Russia, so we cannot open account in PayPal. We offer you to cash money from our clients through PayPal, transmit to us their through Western Union system, and take your percent.

March 19th, 2004

BMW/MINI robot hoax

More: http://slashdot.org/articles/04/03/09/222227.shtml?tid=159&tid=186

March 16th, 2004

This one's real: New Microsoft Office XP and Outlook 2002 vulnerability

More: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-009.mspx

March 11th, 2004

Market manipulation, Yahoo Groups style

More: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/8143917.htm

March 10th, 2004

Dear Abby Fooled Again

After the letter raised the suspicions of the newspaper editor, Universal Press Syndicate did some research and discovered that Gene seemed a lot like Homer Simpson's thoughtless character in an episode titled "Life on the Fast Lane."

More: http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEAR_ABBY_SIMPSONS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=ENTERTAINMENT&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

March 9th, 2004

Another crafty eBay spoof: "RE: Question for seller..."

From:   uaunwprc-xrqa@usa.net
Subject: RE: Question for seller -- Item #298507618
Date: March 5, 2004 5:49:38 AM EST

Hi, please add another $14 for shipping to Minnesota. 
uaunwprc-xrqa@usa.net wrote: 
Hello, what is the shipping cost to Newfoundland? 

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

Question from: gjdicue 
Title of item: 5 Motorola 3 watt Bag Phones  
Seller: uepredr 
Starts: Jan-29-03 19:51:23 PDT 
Ends: Feb-05-03 19:51:23 PDT 
Price: Starts at $92.15 
To view the item, go to: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=649476997 


Visit eBay, The World's Online Marketplace TM at 
http://www.ebay.com 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! SitedBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site desdign software 

• No reference your account or address in the message body (those addresses are randomly generated)
• Odd disconnect between the alleged question and the answer (Newfoundland, that's in Minnesota, right?)
• The item number in the subject line doesn't match the item number in the link
• Typos in the last line

More: http://pages.ebay.com/education/spooftutorial/index.html

March 5th, 2004

If my e-mail account is disabled, how did you send me that message?

From: management@example.com
To: you@example.com
Subject: E-mail account security warning.

Dear  user of example.com,
 
Your e-mail account has been temporary disabled because of  unauthorized access.
 
Please,  read the attach for  further details.
 
For security  reasons  attached file is password protected. The  password is "28571".
 
Cheers,
The example.com team                               http://www.example.com

March 2nd, 2004

eBay "Account Guard"

What this means is that, if you install eBay's toolbar (you need to be using Internet Explorer and Windows), it will alert you if it thinks you are visiting a spoofed eBay or Paypal page. It also gives you a handy way to report the fakery.

More: http://pages.ebay.com/help/announcement/4.html

February 23rd, 2004

New news page version for handheld devices

More: http://purportal.com/handheld/

February 18th, 2004

Beware of Doomjuice and Deadhat

More: http://news.com.com/2102-7349_3-5156105.html?tag=st.util.print

February 10th, 2004

How not to get rich quick

More: http://www.maximonline.com/grit/articles/article_312.html

February 10th, 2004

Biggest Nigerian scam ever goes to trial

More: http://allafrica.com/stories/200402060528.html

February 6th, 2004

Best eBay scam ever AAAA+++++

t has come to our attention that your eBay billing updates are out of order. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your billing records you will not run into any future problems with the online service. However, failure to update your records will result in account termination. Once you have updated your account records your eBay session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Failure to update will result in cancellation of service, Terms of Service (TOS) violations or future billing problems. To update your eBay records click here...

More: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/spoof-email.html

February 3rd, 2004

New eBay spoof e-mail

Dear eBay user,
during our regular update and verification of the accounts, your eBay account
appear as inactive. If you want to re-activate your account, you can do it by signing in below :

http://signin.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn

***Please Do Not Reply To This E-Mail As You Will Not Receive A Response***

Thank you, 
Stacey Cohen 
eBay Billing Department Team
...

More: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/spoof-email.html

February 1st, 2004

Finger MyDoom authors for $250,000

More: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114530,00.asp

February 1st, 2004

Pen pals

...I am a financial consultant based in South Africa. I have a client (a widow) she has USDM250, 000,000 With a private equity investment trust company for Safe keeping only, She wishes to invest in a stable Economy. Her interest is in companies with potentials for Rapid growth in long terms. My client is also interested In placing part of her fund in your company, If your country's bi-laws allows foreign investment...

Mr. Mbeki,

Your message was passed on to me by an esteemed colleague.

My country's bi-laws are currently on hold as the gay-laws are debated, and I am not really in the business of investment advising -- my specialty is more like research -- but I am still curious about the details of your proposal.

with interest,

Paul

Dear Paul,   Thanks for your quick response to our e-mail. I appreciate your interest and your capacity to invest my client’s money. We intend to open communication with you so that we can proceed immediately on the business.  In consultation with my client on your interest in investing her money in your project. After I had explained to her that you are very capable of handling this transaction she agreed to work with you.     The procedures are for you to endorse a draft agreement where our intended compensation and conditionality are stated.  On the receipt of the endorsed draft agreement, we shall commence negotiations with the Security Bank on how the movement is to be effected.    We shall pay all local charges over here, and we expect you to handles your side perfectly well to fruition.   The funds are currently deposited in a security bank in my country. The security bank has an affiliate diplomatic courier service company. This courier company has diplomatic immunity pass in Europe, they will help us to move the consignment containing the fund from our country to their office in Europe.     I shall send to you a draft of our agreement for you to review and sign, once you sign the said agreement the consignment will be registered into your name as the beneficial owner. Upon all modalities being agreed, the consignment will be shipped to Europe. You will be required to proceed to Europe and claim the funds for onward investment as agreed.     You should be aware that our line of business demands absolute confidentiality therefore let that be our key to success. My phone number is: +8821646652052. Also forward your phone number to enable me call you for more discussion. Awaiting your quick response to enable us send Draft Agreement. Regards.   Dr.Sam Mbeki.   Note: Do forward your full profile with phone number and  Identification. Call me immediately you receive this message for a detailed discussion.

More: http://scamorama.com/

January 31st, 2004

"MyDoom" is revenge-ware

More: http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5147605.html?tag=nefd_lede

January 27th, 2004

Citibank "phishing" scams

This email was sent by the Citibank server to verify your E-mail address. You must complete this process by clicking on the link below and entering in the small window your Citibank ATM/Debit Card number and PIN that you use on ATM. This is done for your protection - because some of our members no longer have access to their email addresses and we must verify it.

More: http://citibank.com/domain/spoof/report_abuse.htm?BVE=http://web.da-us.citibank.com&BVP=/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/&M=S&US&_u=visitor

January 26th, 2004

Sned me al yur mony

They're getting more sophisticated but they still have problems with grammar," said Citigroup spokesman Mark Rodgers.

More: http://www.nypost.com/business/15551.htm

January 15th, 2004

1984 Revisited

More: http://purportal.com/img/content/1984-before-and-after.jpg

January 7th, 2004

Ripe for mutation

More: http://www.mycert.mimos.my/advisory/MA-061.122003.html

December 31st, 2003

The next Nigerian scam

More: http://allafrica.com/stories/200312310417.html

December 31st, 2003

Growth industry: fake escrow services

More: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3078510/

December 22nd, 2003

2003: The Year in Spam

More: http://brightmail.com/pressreleases/121803_spam_2003.html

December 19th, 2003

Online financial scam dissection

More: http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1745

December 16th, 2003

Old-fashioned ALL CAPS Nigerian scamming

DEAR SIR, AUTOMATIC STOP ORDER ON THE RELEASE OF YOUR OUTSTANDING CONTRACT PAYMENT THIS IS TO FORMERLY INFORM YOU THAT I JUSTICE MUSTAPHA AKANBI, CHIARMAN INDEPENDENT CORRUPT PRACTICES COMMISSION IS THE PERSON WHO IS MAKING IT PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENT FROM THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT AFTER CONCLUDING YOUR CONTRACT SATISFACTORILY. THE REAL CAUSE OF IT, IS BECAUSE SOME TIME IN THE PAST YOUR SO CALLED LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES CAME TO MY OFFICE TO SOLICITE FOR MY HELP IN ORDER TO FINALIZE YOUR CONTRACT PAYMENT, WHICH I DID WITH THE AGREEMENT THAT THEY WILL PAY ME MY SERVICE CHARGE AFTER HELPING THEM, BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPEN AT LAST,THIS YOUR AGENTS REFUSED VEHEMENTLY TO PAY ME MY SERVICE CHARGE WHICH NECESISTATE ME TO PLACED AN AUTOMATIC STOP ORDER PENDING WHEN YOU WILL CONTACT ME FOR YOUR PAYMENT BE YOU ADVISE THAT BASE ON MY POSITION IN GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA TODAY I HAVE THE WHEREWITHAL AND PRESIDENTIAL FIAT/POWER TO RELEASE OR NOT TO RELEASE EVERY PAYMENT

December 10th, 2003

Pump and Dump

Often the promoters will claim to have "inside" information about an impending development or to use an "infallible" combination of economic and stock market data to pick stocks. In reality, they may be company insiders or paid promoters who stand to gain by selling their shares after the stock price is "pumped" up by the buying frenzy they create. Once these fraudsters "dump" their shares and stop hyping the stock, the price typically falls, and investors lose their money.

More: http://www.sec.gov/answers/pumpdump.htm

December 3rd, 2003

Not-So-Free Agent

has promoted a nonexistent writers’ conference in South Carolina, which she then cancelled without sending anyone their promised refunds on memberships they’d bought; faked her own death, masquerading as her own assistant and possibly as her own daughter as well; shut down her operation in North Myrtle Beach SC, and decamped to Canada; while operating under the name “Elizabeth von Hullessem”, fraudulently promoted and sold memberships in anonexistent literary conference in Banff (trading on the reputation of the prestigiousBanff-Calgary Wordfest), plus an equally nonexistent charity concert in Banff to benefit autism; and vanished from Banff with tens of thousands of dollars in convention fees.... The happy ending to this story is that she has now been tracked down and arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

More: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004041.html

November 19th, 2003

Yet another reason to fear mailworms

Online casinos appear to be a favorite target as they do brisk business and many are located in the Caribbean where investigators are poorly equipped to tackle such investigations. In 2001, cyberforensics expert Neil Barrett told Reuters that his firm Information Risk Management was working with Internet casinos to shore up their defenses against a spate of DDoS attacks. At the time, he said the denial-of-service barrages were followed by demands to pay up or the attacks would continue. He said the attacks appear to have come from organized criminal groups in Eastern Europe and Russia. Police said because of a lack of information from victimized companies, they are unsure whether these are isolated incidents or the start of a new crime wave.

More: http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-5106171.html?tag=st_lh

November 12th, 2003

More Phony Lotto

Trustline International lottery Agency Ref. Number: 132/756/4534 Batch number: 638901527-AMB/02 Sir/ Madam, We are pleased to inform you of the lottery result winners International programmes held on 12th October 2003. Your e-mail address was attached to ticket number 278511465896-6452 with your serial number 3772-554 drew you a lucky number 3-14-18-23-31-45 which consequently won in the first category, you are therefore been approved for lump sum pay out of US$ 1,000,000 (One million United states Dollars)...

More: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=278511465896-6452&btnG=Google+Search

November 10th, 2003

New Windows Worm: "don't be late!"

Will meet tonight as we agreed, because on Wednesday I don't think I'll make it, so don't be late. And yes, by the way here is the file you asked for. It's all written there. See you.

More: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.mimail.e@mm.html

November 4th, 2003

That's a Lotto Errors In One Sentence

Please be informed that NON RESIDENCE [that would be "non-residents"] of THE NETHERLANDS [terribly awkward construction; by the way,do you hear someone yelling?] will be required to make a NON DEDUCTABLE [that's "non-deductible," and I think they mean "non-refundable" anyway, not to mention the continued yelling] advance payment of [that is, "for"] processment ["processing" perhaps?] and legal documentation charges of 700.00 Euros to enable our legal department [to] acquire Naturalization [quaint Germanic capitalization] papers from the Court prior to award payment policy [Prior to policy? What? Speak sense, man!] as required by the paying Financial Securiry [known as "security" outside the Netherlands] Company.

More: http://www.bartleby.com/141/

November 3rd, 2003

Advance-free fraud sampler

Dear Friend. As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone will die someday. My name is Adams Abu a merchant in Dubai, in the U.A.E.I have been diagnosed with Esophageal cancer . It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts. I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone(not even myself)but my business. Though I am very rich...

I am Hope Daniels Esq., a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I am the personal attorney to Mr. Harold , a national of your country, who used to work with Shell Development Company in Nigeria. ... I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the fund valued at US$16 million left behind by my client.

... I am Michael Stevens Junior, the son of Mr Williams Anderson. Who was murdered few months ago in Zimbabwe, as a result of land dispute? Before the death of my father (Mr Anderson), he had taken me to Amsterdam and deposit the sum of Ten Million United States dollars (US$10,000,000) in a security company, as he foresaw the looming danger in Zimbabwe. The money in question was deposited in a box as Gemstones to avoid much demurrage from the security company. The proposed amount was meant for the purchase of new machines and chemicals for the farms and establishment of new farms on Swaziland.

I am the first son of a late rich black farmer from Zimbabwe. My late father, Mr. Marcus Tekere was murdered as a result of his opposition to the much heralded politically motivated land dispute between white farmers and the Zimbabwean government headed by the much dreaded President Robert Mugabe. As led by my instinct, I decided to contact you through the usefulness of the internet via e-mail as it is the only means I can contact somebody since I am cutting off ties with Zimbabwe for security and safety reasons. However, I apologize if this is not acceptable to you. The purpose of this letter like I did mention above is to seek your most needed assistance in a business venture as a partner in receiving the deposited consignment containing US$18.5 million made by my late father...

1. The expansion of the pipelines network within for a crude down stream products distribution and subsequent evacuation which cost Eight Hundred Million United States Dollars. 2. Contract for the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the various refineries in the country One Hundred and Fifteen Million United States Dollars. 3. The construction of storage tanks for Petroleum Products (Depots) One Hundred and Sixty Million United States Dollars. The original value of these contracts were deliberately over invoiced in the sum Sixteen Million, Four Hundred Thousand United States Dollars which has now been approved and is now ready to be transferred, being that the companies that actually executed these contracts had been fully paid when the projects were officially commissioned. It does not matter whether your company did the contract or not, the assumption is that your company won the major contract and sub-contracted it out to other companies...

The source of this fund is as follows: During the last regime here of General Robert Guei in Cote D Ivoire some government official's set up companies and awarded themselves contracts which were grossly over Invoiced in various ministries. The government set up a contract review panel and we have Identified a lot of inflated contracts funds which are presently Deposited in a BANK here in Abidjan,Cote D Ivoire .

Dear Friend, How are you and your family? I hope fine, I got your e-mail address during my search for reliable and trust worthy persons or companies to transact business whit. I write in request for your assistance with the clearance of my husband's consignments (fund) in a Finance company in Europe. My name is Louica Estrada, the wife of Joseph Ejercito Estrada, the former president of Philippines. My husband had problem with some members of his cabinet while he was still in the office. This problem made him to be impeached from the office and later put in detention, while myself was restricted and monitored. Since my husband was in detention, all the money that he saved in the banks here and Asian countries have all been confiscated by the Philippines government. My children right now are suffering that one cannot believe that they were once the children of a president. Before my husband was impeached from the office, he deposited some money in a Finance company ($35 million united states dollars) he enclosed this fund in two trunk boxes and declared the content of those boxes as exotic jewelries to the Finance company for security reasons.

October 29th, 2003

Dork Profits

Dear customer,
Recently we have received an order made by using your personal credit card information.
This order was made online at our official http://DarkProfits.com or http://DarkProfitsnet website. Our Fraud Department has some suspicions regarding this order and we need you to visit a special Fraud Department page at our web store where you can confirm or decline this transaction by providing us with the correct information.
But, if you have never visited our site or made a purchase, you can decline any charges from you credit card, by entering your personal info below. Or, if you feel this method of verification insecure - please visit our highly secure site http://darkprofits.com or http://darkprofits.net

More: http://darkprofits.com/spam.html

October 23rd, 2003

Statement from Authorize.net

Authorize.Net is aware of an email campaign scam requesting that the recipient provide confidential personal and financial account information. The email is being sent from asnofraud@authorize.net and claims that there was a global technical failure and that the recipient should provide full credit card information in order to avoid having their card "frozen in 10 days". This is an Internet scam designed to steal personal and financial account information. SUCH EMAIL AND ASSOCIATED WEBSITE (WWW.IDPROCESS.COM) IS IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH AUTHORIZE.NET AND AUTHORIZE.NET DID NOT SEND OUT THIS EMAIL OR REQUEST SUCH INFORMATION. Authorize.Net recommends that personal and confidential account information should not be provided to any business, organization or person you do not know or did not contact first. If you have any questions, please contact abuse@authorize.net.

More: http://www.authorize.net/

October 21st, 2003

God wants you to send me your banking information

I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Dr. Harry Jones who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2000. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again Christians.Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against.When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of$8.6Million (Eight Million six hundred thousand U.S. Dollars) with one finance/security company in Amsterderm Holland. Presently, this money is still with the Security Company. Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not last for the next three months due to cancer problem. Though what disturbs me most is my stroke sickness.

October 21st, 2003

Canadian ATM Scam

More: http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030812.gtatmm0812/BNStory/Technology

October 21st, 2003

Another credit-card harvesting scam/spam

Attention! In our global system of monitorinrg there was a technical failure. In avoidance of fauds with your credit card enter the full data for authorization, otherwise your credit card will be frozen during 10 day.

October 15th, 2003

Medical Misinformation

More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031007062521.htm

October 7th, 2003

I won again!

EL GORDO SPANISH SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY COMPANY CALLE AROYO NO 13, PISO 4G 28030 MADRID ESPAÑA TEL: 0034-659-002-957. DATE: 31th JULY 2003 FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT. INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD.. BATCH: EGS/ 22504002/03: REFERENCE: 15/0018/IPD ATTENTION: RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION. This is to inform you of the release of the EL-GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA LOTTERY held on the 5th of September 2003. The results were released on the 20th of July 2003. Your name was attached to ticket number 185-01523370-100 with serial number 99375-0 that drew the lucky numbers of 06 20 25 26 37 49, which consequently won the lottery in the 5th category. You have therefore been approved for alump sum pay of Euros 625,000.39c(SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND,THIRTY NINE CENTIMOS ONLY)in cash credited to file withREF:Nº.EGS/3662367114/13. This is from US $75,000,000.00 (SEVENTY FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS) in cash among the 26 participating finalist playing 6,000 full tickets. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

October 2nd, 2003

Lotto scams

ATTN: EL GORDO SWEEPSTAKES N.L BURDENSTRAAT 22 1053 DS AMSTERDAM. AMSTERDAM (THE NETHERLANDS ) FROM THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT. REF:WR/2311786008/01 BATCH:14/011/IPD RE:WINNING NOTIFICATION/FINAL NOTICE. We are pleased to inform you of the release today the 2nd of october 2003,of the El Gordo Netherlands Sweepstakes International program held on the 24th of August 2003. Your personal or company email address attached to ticket number 205-11465886-629 with serial number 3772-99 drew lucky numbers 7-14-17-23-31-44 which consequently won the lottery in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of $1,000,000.00(one million dollars) in cash credited to file Ref.No ELG/2311786008/02.This is from a total cash prize of U.S.$11million shared among several international lucky winners in this category. CONGRATULATIONS.

More: http://hoaxinfo.com/lotto.htm

October 2nd, 2003

Worm authors with a sick sense of irony

Microsoft User this is the latest version of security update, the "September 2003, Cumulative Patch" update which eliminates all known security vulnerabilities affecting MS Internet Explorer, MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express. Install now to protect your computer from these vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could allow an attacker to run code on your computer.

September 30th, 2003

Another PayPal scam

Please verify your information today! Dear Paypal Member. Your account has been randomly flagged in our system as a part of our routine security measures. This is a must to ensure that only you have access and use of your paypal account and to ensure a safe Paypal experience. We require all flagged accounts to verify their information on file with us. To verify your information, click here and enter the details requested. After you verify your information, your account shall be returned to good standing and you will continue to have full use of your account. Thank you for using PayPal! Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

More: http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/fraud-prevention-outside

September 29th, 2003

RSS feed is back up!

More: http://purportal.com/news

September 26th, 2003

You have not won a free XBox

The website www.giftstakes.com is in no way associated with Authorize.Net. The organization or person operating this website is not an Authorize.Net merchant and Authorize.Net is not processing any types of transactions that are submitted via this website. The purported drawing for a free X Box is an Internet scam designed to steal debit card numbers with their associated PIN. This has been reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Authorize.Net strongly recommends NOT providing any confidential account information on this website. If you have already provided your account information, Authorize.Net recommends that you contact your bank, inform them of the incident and cancel your account...

More: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=24&threadid=219495&lastpage=1

September 26th, 2003

Another eBay scam

More: http://e-scribe.com/tools/whois/?domain=211.47.194.125

September 24th, 2003

Not really Hurricane Isabel

More: http://www.snopes.com/photos/isabel.asp

September 24th, 2003

Yet Another Microsoft-based worm

More: http://www.cert.org/current/current_activity.html#swena

September 18th, 2003