Are Fake Job Adverts Returning?
I haven’t seen any for some time, but this one turned up this morning.
Hot Jobs from Reliable and Successful Company Running its business since 2005, Company has several openings for goal-oriented and independent individuals looking for excellent career opportunities.
Requirements
– 25+ years old
– UK citizenship
– No criminal record
– Good credit history
– Basic computer skills
– A proven level of secondary educationWhat we offer
– high and stable income
– exciting career opportunities
– two weeks’ paid holiday a year
– great team to work with
– bonuses and our private employee loyalty programme benefits
– and many other thingsWhat you do is just work from home and get advantage of all these opportunities, as the job we offer requires only a few hours of your time spent on your computer.
You are full of energy, learn fast and seek for best career opportunities? Do contact us at xxx@xxx.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
We look forward to welcoming you as a new employee.
Sincerely,
irvine thierry
It was a bit better than most of the previous scams, which are designed to get your bank account details, so you can donate large sums of money to the criminals. It was even sent from what looked like a valid UK e-mail address, although mine was addressed to a man called Fidole Shem, who is definitely not me.
It was also marked by my anti-spam system as spam.
But what was a real giveaway was the low level of paid holidays. I wouldn’t get out of bed for a job like that!
So it went the way of the others and I dispatched it humanely with the delete key.
I’ve Just Been Spammed By Pitney Bowes
I thought they were a respectable company, but an e-mail from them has just ended up in my spam trap.
So they’re now on my “Never do business with this company” list! It won’t make any difference to them, as far as I’m concerned as I use proper stamps anyway.
But when will these companies ever learn?
Has HMRC Moved To Brazil?
This spam e-mail wasn’t written by the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Tax Refund Notification
After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 973.90 GBP. Please submit the refund request and allow 5-7 days for processing.
Click Here To Claim Your Refund http://ocenomato.com.br/pantanal/galeria/xxxxx.xxx
Best Regards,
HM Revenue & Customs
But it might fool someone. Let’s hope it’s not you! After all, they’d stop sending them, if they didn’t find a mug in each batch they send.
But do note the Brazilian web site! The xxxx’s hide a dangerous web page, so don’t try and access it.
Phishing Scams From Someone Claiming to be HMRC
We all get these and some look like they come from sensible addresses like alert@hmrc.gov.uk.
Here’s a typical content.
Date 21/05/2011
A tax refund of 1560.10 GBP .(Still Pending) Due to invalid account record we were unable to credit your account Please submit a verified tax refund request.A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
Click the “Refund Me Now” link below and follow the on screen step in order to have us process your request.Refund Me Now Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time,Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.
Best Regards,
HM Revenue & Customs
They are all a scam designed to get your login asnd password to the HMRC web site.
They show all of the typical mistakes of scammers.
- Why would they say 2510 GBP, when the £2510.00 would probably be used?
- The English is a bit clunky. But then so is a lot of Civil Servant-speak!
- I especially like the last bit saying “Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.” What do they mean about indicated? Does a nice young lady all dressed like Lady Gaga in leather come round and give you a ticking off? Now that will be fun!
- And then there’s the Best Regards bit! Very HMRC! I don’t think!
So what should you do with these e-mails, other than comply with what they say?
The real HMRC have a page which says what to do.
Note this clear statement on the page.
HMRC will never send notifications of a tax rebate by email, or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email.
You should never disclose your personal and/or payment information in reply to an email that may look like it’s from HMRC, you may well be revealing your details to a fraudulent website.
It also says you should forward them to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
I shall be sending a few today, so let’s see what happens.
Beware of Order.zip
I’ve got another of this nasty things this morning. This one was actually addressed to one of my main e-mails, so perhaps the spammers have modified them to make them more likely to get through. The structure of the e-mail always seems to be similar.
The title of those I have received is usually something like ORDER and a number.
All of the bodies are similar to this.
Dear customer.
Your order has been accepted. Your order reference is 94636.
Terms of delivery and the date can be found with the auto-generated msword file located at:
http://www.xxxxxxx.xxx/order2/Order.zip?to_client: zzz@zzzzzz.zzz
==
Best regards, Tel./Fax.: (168) 000 52 337.
Obviously the xxx’s and zzz’s obscure the danger. The zzz’s in one case were my e-mail address.
Note the phone number at the bottom, which doesn’t mean anything to me.
This form of the e-mail is the first I’ve seen. It will change in the future, once the anti-virus companies get their systems updated to stop these e-mails.
The last e-mail I got used a domain registered in Germany. The e-mail came from Russia.
Another Scam Like The CFX Group
I have just received an almost identical e-mail to the one I received from the CFX Group.
Hello!
Your order has been accepted. Your order reference is 198668.
Terms of delivery and the date can be found with the auto-generated msword file located at:
http:\creacioweb.net\xxxx.xxx
Best regards, Tel.: (734) 687 65 784
The e-mail I received was actually addressed to a legitimate company who supply milking machines. Note the xxx obscure the dangerous bit.
One characteristic of the e-mails is that they contain a link to a file called Order.zip. This file probably contains some sort of virus. There are more details here.
Interestingly, the web site http:\\www.creacioweb.net is registered in Spain. The site containing the virus in the CFX Group case also was registered there!
CFX Group
I’ve just had this e-mail from someone purporting to be the CFX Group.
Dear Customer
Your order has been accepted.
Order id: 879305.
Terms of delivery and the date can be found with the auto-generated msword file located at:
http:/www.noarconsulting.com/xxxx.xxx.xxx
Consult2 Group. Tel./Fax.: (831) 842 06 366
The link which I have replaced with safe xxx’s, pointed to a .zip file, which probably would have infected my computer with who-knows-what!
I have since heard from the owner of the URL and they have said this.
Our website was recently hacked by spammers to distribute malware.
You can safely ignore any email referring to an order placed with us.
We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.
So whatever you do, don’t click the link.
A Proven Scam: Engineering and Consultancy Services
I few days ago I had an e-mail purporting to come from a Bryan Green at this company.
Hello,
It’s Bryan Green, ENGINEERING & CONSULTANCY SERVICES, HR manager.
We found your e-mail in the base of applicants for a job. If you are not in search of a job and not interested in extra earnings, ignore this letter please and I’m sorry for mistake. If you need a job, you have a good chance to work in our company.
We are searching for:
– Financial Department Associate.
ENGINEERING & CONSULTANCY SERVICES (U.K.) LIMITED is connected to many technology purchases and sales, global distribution, manufacturing and consulting. We are concentrated on buying and selling technology in Europe and United States. We offer generous salary for our part-time employees and also some discounts and benefits.
Get in touch with us and join our company. E-mail : hr@engineering-and-consultancy.co.uk
Yours respectfully,
Bryan Green,
HR manager
It had all the hallmarks of a scam, especially as I haven’t applied for any jobs lately.
I have now found out that it is a proven scam, with at least one person having had money stolen from their credit card. The UK Police have been informed.
For that reason the original post has been protected with a password. This is so the police can have access to the original post.
Google 10th Anniversary Awards Centre
I received an e-mail saying I’d won.
It’s a scam.
If you don’t believe me! Just think why it’s not been on the news!
The Anonymous Widower 