Fake ‘Scam’ Website to Educate Consumers.

Posted on 20 Jan/2012 by mxw

A new initiative has been launched by the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) to educate consumers about the pitfalls of internet scams. They have recently launched an educational campaign that includes a fake ‘scam’ website.

There are two components to this website: the first is a “teaser” page that appears to sell the consumer an irresistible deal. It has been modeled to look very much like many of the websites that promise guaranteed results, but in fact deliver nothing in return for the consumer’s money, or result in identity theft of consumer’s personal information. On clicking any of the links to find out more information, the consumer is directed to a second page that reveals that the first page is an example of a scam and is brought to the consumer by the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs.

Most importantly, there is information about spotting similar fake advertisements. The website contains valuable information about how to protect yourself as a consumer, and a number of resources to consult if a consumer has become a victim of a scam.

Here is a link to the fake scam website: Fake Scam Website from OCABR


If you have any questions regarding this initiative or the efforts of the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, contact visit their website at www.mass.gov/consumer.

Posted in Anti-Scam Protection, Email Scams, Identity Theft, Scam Reports | Leave a comment

Phishing Scam of the Day (PenFed)

Posted on 16 Dec/2011 by mxw

We received an email today with the promise of a $50 credit to my Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) account if I completed a customer service survey. The “survey” was sent as an attached HTML (web page) file, which, when completed went to the homepage of PenFed.

Apart from the simple questions, the final part of the form asked for the online account usrname and password and also the PIN number for the bank. If anyone did fill in this form, they will have handed over the keys to their bank account and should expect it to empty pretty quickly.

This is a common enough scam, but stands out for the clever use of bait ($50) and the simple but plausible task required to receive the bait. Enough to blind the recipient to the dangers.

What actually happens when you click ‘Continue’ in the form is that the detalils you entered are sent to a Texas-based Comcast computer –
IP Address 98.195.57.33 (Information on this IP from DomainWhitePages Information) and then immediately redirected to the PenFed website where the user will feel comforted by the secure website url (https://www.penfed.org/)

The only real mistake this scam makes is to use untargetted spam to deliver the message. Non-PenFed members are unlikely to click through and the chances are that websites such as Scamdex.com will pick it up and close the operation down. As of this post, the server is still up and running………

Posted in banking, Email Scams, Identity Theft, Phishing, spoof websites | Leave a comment

‘You knew it would happen’ Dept. – Ghadaffi 419 Scam Email Arrives

Posted on 23 Oct/2011 by mxw

It was only a matter of time – three days it took for me to see this, perhaps there were earlier versions….

Anyway, this one follows the standard set my the poor widow, Mariam Abacha, of the infamous General Sani Abacha.

Well, they want to move a considerable sum , USD 16 million out of Thailand and into ‘Your Country’ (presumably so long as your country is not either Thailand or Libya).

The header appears to show the origination to be Bangkok, Thailand, which is the only reason I could see to connect the two countries.

A good first attempt and I’m sure there will be many more in the coming years, I reproduce the email for your delictation:

Dear managing director,

Before i proceed, may i introduce myself to your goodself. My name is Mrs. Safiah M. Abdulhafiz, an Libyan. My late husband was one of the personal aid on Armed Forces Commander to the late former president of Libya, Leader Moamer Gaddafi, who is killed, my husband was killed by the NATO forces at Bani Walid on 7th October 2011.
Prior to the killing, we inherited the sum of (usd16 million) This funds were originally gotten from my husband proceeds. My late husband was able to safe guard the fund with a very good diplomatic contact from my Country and deposited it in Thailand. I have decided to contact you because i am interested in investing in your country which is investment friendly. Please guide and assist me in making the right investment. I am also interested in buying a residential property as i will be moving with my only son Khaled in over there as soon as everything regarding technical and logistics details is worked out and ascertained to our respective satisfaction.
In view of your participation, i am ready to give you a good negotiable percentage for your assistance or better still commit it into viable joint venture projects with you. As soon as I get your consent, i will quickly move this fund to your country for investment. Please contact me with my private e-mail safiahmabdul00000@yahoo.com more information.
I strongly believe that associating with you to embark on this and other business ventures will derive a huge success here after, please keep this confidential and include your private contact telephone number for regular contact.

Yours Sincerely.
Mrs. Safiah Masoud Abdulhafiz

Enjoy!

Posted in Advance Fee Fraud, Email Scams | Tagged , | Leave a comment

‘Stop Art Scams’ blog

Posted on 3 Oct/2011 by mxw

A California artist, Katie Moe, who describes herself as an ‘Artist and Anti-Scam Samurai’ has a blog devoted to informing fellow artists and other people about a common emailtype scam, the ‘Art Scam’.

A spam email will ask to buy something from your website or for you to source and provide products (usually high value items or a large number of items that add up to a high value. Payment is a (stolen) credit card or a (counterfeit) check and in most cases, there is a requirement to ‘forward’ an overpayment to a third party, usually a shipping or customs agent. The overpayment is always demanded by Western Union and is always overseas. Often this is the payload. Everything else is just window dressing. If you are stupid enough to send the products you will probably lose them.

The joy at getting a lucrative, large order can blind people to the sometimes obvious red flags. This is when the scammers win big!

Read her blog, she specializes in this type of scam and has seen them all!

http://stopartscams.blogspot.com/

Posted in Advance Fee Fraud, Classiified Ads, postal scams, shopping scams | Leave a comment

Secret Shopper Scam Described

Posted on 10 Sep/2011 by mxw

“The Consumerist“, a website that highlights the persistent, shameless gaffes of modern consumerism – and the latest scams, rip-offs, hot deals and freebies, encourages their readers to tell them about their everyday experiences with absurdities of consumer culture – and suggest ways for them to fight back.

They explain in detail how the ‘Secret Shopper’ scam works and the comments are interesting too, especially the one from a persone who actually did the job for real.

There are legit Mystery Shopper jobs. A friend did it for years.

A Legit company, has a physical office,
Pays Unemployment insurance.
Offers Insurance and maybe a 401k
Supplies you with a company credit card to offset employee purchases required to do the job.
Handles corporate accounts for big names such as Pepsico, or Marriott.
Reimburses all employee costs and pays mileage.
You DO NOT get to keep your purchases required to do your job unless its staying in a hotel you are “shopping”
Food is tested for temp, drinks for proper mixture.
You will be observing cleanliness and going to the bathrooms.
You may eat your meal but your probably shopping 20 places that day so most of it must be disposed of, it cannot be given away.
You WILL be traveling the country, sometimes 1000 miles a day in all types of weather.
You WILL be away from home 2-3 weeks a month.
You WILL NOT be payed in advance.
You will get a salary on top of compensation for your purchases.
You WILL spend many a night sleeping in your car.

Anything that does not meet these criteria is most likely a SCAM.

So, it’s not as exciting or lucrative as it sounds! :(

Posted in Advance Fee Fraud, Job Scams, postal scams, shopping scams | Tagged | 3 Comments

Facebook Phishing Attempts and How To Spot Them

Posted on 29 Aug/2011 by mxw

Facebook users often use the email notification service to inform them of events on the site, whether it’s a new friend request, a reply to a comment or a photo tag. The notifications always have a handy button to get to the exact point in the site of interest. The problem is trying to work out whether to trust the links.

FaceBook doesn’t exactly help it’s users to feel comfortable – it uses long complex strings in it’s URLs, odd domain names and a range of different email formats and senders. If it just sent a link to the item (eg. http://facebook.com?id=987112) then we could be sure we’re not going to suddenly become friends with a scammer or perform some other action.

Ed Bott over at ZDNet has compiled a set of real and fake Facebook notifications and invites you to try to see which is which. The fact that this is so difficult is a perfect illustration of the problem.
The simple answer is to never click on links purporting to come from Facebook unless they have some obviously personalized information that you recognize (and perhaps not even then). Scam/Spammers don’t often have the time or skills to hand-craft each email so they will be very generic.

Best practice to avoid phishing attempts is to NEVER click on any links received by email. Always type in the URL yourself or use a bookmark then you won’t get any nasty shocks!

Read Ed Bott’s article in full Here

Another good tip is to keep your computer updated with the top cloud security software to make sure that your data does not get phished or other computer data attacks occur. It is less likely to have that happen if you have a good security program installed.

Posted in Email Scams, Facebook, Phishing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Preventing Identity Theft by Credit Bureau Monitoring

Posted on 15 Jun/2011 by mxw

Lifelock LogoLifeLock was arguably the first online business to provide consumer-targetted Identity Theft Protection. Since their start in 2005, LifeLock has provided a useful service providing consumers with the tools they need to help protect themselves from identity theft and manage their credit. Scamdex was and continues to be a firm proponent of organizations like LifeLock and there are many imitators out there. You may have seen the early ads where the CEO showed his Social Security Number.

LifeLock are now continuing their consumer protection services by a new product called LifeLock Credit Score Manager. This service monitors the big three credit bureaux on a  daily basis, sending alerts when changes are made to the member’s credit files. The service also provides members with monthly updates and online access to their TransUnion credit score, and annual updates to credit scores and reports for all three credit bureaus.

Credit rating downgrades can be due to errors, high balances, too many credit inquiries or Identity Theft (Someone takes out a loan using your ID).  Low credit ratings can cause higher interest rates or denial of credit or even employment.

If your continued credit-worthyness is important to you or your business, it makes a lot of sense to have the most up-to-date information and this product seems to provide a solution.

They have a 30 day free trial – If you signup from this link, Scamdex will benefit financially :’)

Get Credit Score Manager from LifeLock for FREE for 30 days!
Manage and monitor your credit score at LifeLock.com

Posted in Anti-Scam Protection, Email Scams, Identity Theft, tools | 2 Comments

IRS Lists it’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ Tax Scams

Posted on 3 Jun/2011 by mxw

Hiding income in offshore accounts, identity theft, return preparer fraud, and filing false or misleading tax forms top the annual list of “dirty dozen” tax scams in 2011, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

“The Dirty Dozen represents the worst of the worst tax scams,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. “Don’t fall prey to these tax scams. They may look tempting, but these fraudulent deals end up hurting people who participate in them.”

The IRS works with the Justice Department to pursue and shut down perpetrators of these and other illegal scams. Promoters frequently end up facing heavy fines and imprisonment. Meanwhile, taxpayers who wittingly or unwittingly get involved with these schemes must repay all taxes due plus interest and penalties.

Following is the Dirty Dozen for 2011:

Hiding Income Offshore

The IRS aggressively pursues taxpayers involved in abusive offshore transactions as well as the promoters, professionals and others who facilitate or enable these schemes. Taxpayers have tried to avoid or evade U.S. income tax by hiding income in offshore banks, brokerage accounts or through the use of nominee entities. Taxpayers also evade taxes by using offshore debit cards, credit cards, wire transfers, foreign trusts, employee-leasing schemes, private annuities or insurance plans. Continue reading →

Posted in Identity Theft, Job Scams, Scam Reports, Tax Scams | Leave a comment