Ridiculous Spam: I get Brandnew Car at Super-Saving Price!

December 15, 2011

Even by broken-English standards, this one I got today is a real mess:

Subject: The cheapest way to buy new car, once a year

Hi Regional Federal Credit Union, this is an Incredible Opportunity for You to get Brandnew Car at Super-Saving Price

Last Chance to get up to $7000 off on all Vehicles Model 2011 Blowout Sales.This happens only Once a year.
Register now for Free and get your price quote for all possible saving brandnew autos.
Hurry up, only few days left to win those crazy deals.

Start Saving up to $7000 by spending 2 minutes to fill out the registration form here

Rule #1 of dealing with spam: if they’re using the name of the place you work as if it’s your name, there is no logical reason to click on anything within the message or to respond in any way other than to delete the message.

Leave a Comment » | Spam | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Clint

Text message scam: there needs to be a word for this

December 5, 2011

We need to come up with a word for “scams that arrive via text message, but are not phishing attacks, which already has a word (SMiShing).”

Crooxting? Because they’re crooks, and they’re texting you. Something tells me this is going to be an uphill endeavor. Sort of like trying to make ‘fetch’happen.

Anyway, this showed up on my phone the other day, in two parts:

FRM:ci2 h5j8
MSG:Bestbuys giving away
Leftover Cyber-Monday
$1000 giftcards at:
goo.gl/6u2nQ?QQHEJ go
claim yours

ci2 is texting
you for free using Textie
app. You can reply or text
‘stop’to block, Get Textie
free in the iPhone App
Store.

I’ll give you a shiny new penny* if you can find five things that DON’T scream “absolute scam” about this, because I sure couldn’t.

I also won’t be texting ‘stop’to anyone, either; I don’t want to confirm that mine was a genuine phone number.

If you get one of these, just delete it.

*Disclaimer: Not a genuine offer. I don’t have a shiny new penny. Which is making this Penny Racer totally unfun to play with, by the way. No wheelie action at all.

1 Comment | General Scams, SMiShing | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Clint

Shady Online Advertisements

December 2, 2011

If it wasn’t part of my job, I’d completely ignore online banner advertisements like these, but here we are…

Example #1:

This one showed up on Weather.com today (without the arrows and giant NO, obviously; those are my additions).

Now, that’s a pretty reputable website. I mean, generally you look at your city’s weather page and it says SNOW, and you look out the window and hey presto, it’s actually snowing. But the site is just littered with ads like this. You’re not getting a gigantic TV for 60 bucks, and you’re not getting car insurance for $9, unless they mean per day. Don’t click.

Example #2:

This one came from CNN.com, another reputable website. Nobody is selling an iPad for $14. Nobody. Apple doesn’t discount. Know why? They don’t have to. They could come out with a $7,500 Macbook tomorrow, in this economy, and it would be a hit with their core users.

Once again, just ignore these ads. Do what I would do if I wasn’t paying attention to this junk for the purpose of writing about it. (I’d also ignore that noise about “penny stock rockets” and “Royal Caribbean whatever”, too.)

2 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Clint

Holiday reminder: beware of charity scams

November 30, 2011

The holiday season is a time when many people think about ways to help those in need. However, scam artists have been known to exploit this tendency and set up fraudulent charities to skim money from generous people.

Never give money or personal information to a person who calls, emails or approaches you out of the blue. If you receive a request to donate, research the charity before you respond. www.bbb.org and www.charitynavigator.org are a great place to start.

Beware of charities with names that are similar to well-known organizations, and never make a check out to an individual. Also never make a check out to “CAS,” no matter what “CAS” allegedly stands for; a crook has simply to add an “H” and they’ve got a check from you made out to “CASH.”

Better yet, decide now which charities you’d like to support, and make your donation early. When asked to donate to others, politely explain that you’ve completed your budgeted giving for the year.

Leave a Comment » | Charity Scams | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Clint

Retired couple gives away $11 million lottery win, but not to you

November 4, 2011

This message was waiting in my inbox this morning. It may actually be one of the best examples of social engineering I’ve yet come across:

Dear sir/madam
 
This is a personal email directed to you. I and my wife won a Jackpot Lottery of $11.3 million in July and have voluntarily decided to donate the sum of $500,000.00 USD to you as part of our own charity project to improve the lot of 10 lucky individuals all over the world. If you have received this email then you are one of the lucky recipients and all you have to do is get back with us so that we can send your details to the payout bank. Please you have to help me in prayer for my wife, You can verify this by visiting the web pages below.*(allen.violet.large01@filipinos.ca)*
 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40009180/ns/us_news-giving/t/retired-couple-gives-away-million-lottery-win/
 
Note: YOU HAVE TO CONTACT MY PRIVATE EMAIL *( allen.violet.large01@filipinos.ca )* FOR MORE INFO
 
Goodluck,
Allen and Violet Large
Email: allen.violet.large01@filipinos.ca

Here’s what was so brilliant about it: you know how these scam email messages always contain disguised links (e.g., the link says “chase.com” but really takes you to some spyware-infested website with a .ru domain)?

The website shown in the message wasn’t disguised at all. Furthermore, it really takes you to an MSNBC article. Further furthermore, there really was an elderly couple from Nova Scotia named Allen and Violet Large, who really won $11 million playing the lottery, and who really did give it all away. I didn’t remove the link from the message quoted above—it’s safe to go ahead and click on it (it’s actually kind of a neat story).

So how do I know it’s not real, and is in fact just another Nigerian 419-style scam?

First off, it arrived via email. To me, it’s already suspicious. Secondly, it’s an email that’s telling me I’m going to get a large amount of cash for doing nothing. At this point, I’m already one thousand percent sure it’s fraudulent.

But let’s really make a case against it, shall we? Read the first paragraph of the MSNBC article (emphasis mine):

An elderly couple who won around $11 million from a lottery ticket in Canada have given the money away to good causes and family, according to media reports.

Have given. Not “are giving.” It’s a done deal, dude; if you’re not a good cause or related to the Larges, and if you haven’t already received money from them, you’re not getting any ’cause there ain’t no more.

Finally, the senders made a rookie mistake: the “from” line didn’t say Allen Large or Violet Large, nor did it contain the “filipinos.ca” email address; instead the message appeared to come from a completely different name with a scasd.us email address (it’s that of a real person, so I won’t give any more details than that).

I don’t know where this scam is coming from, so I can’t say if it’s just a plain old Nigerian 419-style scam or a Nigerian Nigerian 419 scam, but I noticed the signature at the end uses the word “Goodluck” instead of “good luck,” and it only stood out to me because I know that the President of Nigeria is actually named Goodluck Jonathan.

Then again, that could just be a typo; since we already know it’s a scam, we’re really just sort of nitpicking at this point.

16 Comments | Nigerian 419 Scams | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Clint

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