Six Arrests in Phishing Scam
I was pleased to see this article on the BBC web site.
I suspect it might have been the result of one of the two phishing scams aimed at students, that I flagged up earlier in the year.
Both were fairly well designed scams and the success, shows how people are vulnerable, when they are embarking on a new phase in their life.
The perpetrators were caught this time, and hopefully new students will be more careful next year.
Anthony S. Holmes
I have received lots of spam from this guy. All of it was stopped by my ClamWin spam filter and ended up in the Junk Mail folder. But then it was so obviously spam, even a four-year-old could identify it as such.
There was a link to the BBC’s web page. It is from 2006 and talks about a Treasury plan to raid dormant bank accounts, which seems to have died with Gordon Brown’s government.
This was the main part of the message.
Good afternoon to you,
I am sorry for bothering you this early day, but bear it mind that you can never regret this day as I have an interesting profitable business offer for you to participate and share money with me.
Please read more on the under stated link
The English isn’t good too. I like the bit about good afternoon and then apologising for being early in the day.
This man won’t get very far in his career as a spammer. I can’t even work out how they get your money.
Where Is This Spammer?
This was the start of a spam e-mail, I received.
We wish to inform you that the diplomatic agent conveying the consignment box valued the sum of $2.5 Million United States Dollars misplaced your address and he is currently stranded at JFK QUEEN AIRPORT NEW YORK USA now. We required you reconfirm the following information below so that he can deliver your consignment box to you today Because his flight ticket is about to expire.
If you fall for this one, you deserve to be fleeced. Especially as it finishes with.
NOTE : The Diplomatic agent does not know that the content of the consignment box is $2.5 Millions United States Dollars and on no circumstances should you let him know the content. The consignments was moved from here as family treasures, so never allow him to open the box.and the package was registered here by Collins Emma since three moths ago and travel out of this country.
Obviously, as it mentions moths, it is a rather old message. His punctuation isn’t that good either.
Banks and Trusteer
There was an article in The Times last Saturday talking about how some banks ask you to load software called Trusteer on your computer to protect yourself.
I won’t! And if my bank insists I do, there are plenty more other banks out there.
Just having the software on your machine, is an indication, that you may have secure data there.
All of my secure work is done on a machine, which is unattached to my network and nothing is written down, that would be any use to a criminal. That is unless he could find where my passwords are stored in my safe deposit box with C’s jewellery. And that is ten miles from where I live!
I’m not saying that I know more about security than banks, but I mistrust deals like this, especially, where keylogging is involved. The banks should follow Zopa’s lead and create an unbreakable and totally secure login, that is impossible for a criminal to use, as unless he is a mind reader, he won’t know answers to the questions they ask.
Student Finance Agreement
I’ve just recieved an e-mail with the above heading and this message.
Dear Student,
Student Finance Application Year 2011/12-Information RequiredTo assess your application, your student finance agreement needs to be signed and returned back to us . This can be done through “MY ACCOUNT” session of your online account .
Failure to sign and return this to us would mean your next student loan payment and maintenance grant will be delayed.
Thanks for your co-operation.SIGN ON HERE
Yours sincerely,
Student Loan Finance England.
As it points to a web site in the United States with no contact address, it’s a scam. It also came to one of my trap e-mails, which seem to be passed around by spammers.
Academic Year 2011/12 Payment Access Review Alart
I received a phishing e-mail with this title today. Note how alert is spelled.
This is the body of the e-mail.
This is a message for all students receiving grants and loans from the Students Loan Company. You are required to verify your account information in order to avoid any delay in your loan/grant payments. You can do this by visiting http://www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/
Yours Sincerely
Student Finance England
Please do not reply to this email as it has been automatically produced from an address which cannot accept incoming mail.****************************** ****************************** ******************* The information from the Student Loans Company Ltd contained in this e-mail is private and privileged. If you have received this e-mail in error be advised that any use is strictly prohibited. Please notify us and delete the message from your computer. You may not copy or forward it or use or disclose its contents to any other person.
As internet communications are capable of data corruption it may be inappropriate to rely on advice or opinions contained in an e-mail without obtaining written confirmation of it. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses, however we do not accept any liability or responsibility for resultant virus infection. Opinions and views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and may not reflect the opinions and views of The Student Loans Company Limited.
The Student Loans Company Ltd registered office is at 21 St Thomas Street, Bristol, BS1 6JS and it is registered in England Company No. 02401034, VAT No. 556 4352
Note that the Student Loan Company details are correct, but that the e-mail points to a web site called gankotimata.com, which has these registration details.
Domain Admin (contact@privacyprotect.org)
ID#10760, PO Box 16
Note – All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Nobby Beach
null,QLD 4218
AU
Tel. +45.36946676
The phone number is actually in Denmark and the website is in Australia. Enough said!
Who is behind this I do not know, but please don’t contact them, unless you want to give them your student finance.
But these scams seem to be getting more and more sophisticated and believable.
Halifucked Or Spam From the Halifax
Over the last couple of days, I have received several spam e-mail from a marketing company, working on behalf of the Halifax. They all offered me a new credit card, which is like offering someone like Andy Murray a new tennis racket, as the ones I’ve got, are perfectly adequate for my modest needs.
So not only do we have bail out this wunch of bankers, but we have to endure their spam in our inboxes. Interestingly, it very much looks genuine and some of it has come to e-mail addresses, I’ve not used in at least ten years. I’ve kept them as spam traps for tossers like these and they’ve worked well.
Interestingly, the Halifax web site appears to have no means of contacting the bank on it, that is obvious to an irate non-customer.
Would Anybody Ever Use Western Union?
I had four spam e-mails this morning with a title of “You have $250,000.00 Lodged in our Western Union” and a body of “RESPOND FOR DETAILS”
I like the fact that they call it our Western Union!
Does it mean they own it or there’s another one, we don’t know about? The e-mails came from a supposedly Peruvian .pe e-mail address.
Western Union’s name is now so discredited that I and I suspect any serious person, who uses the Internet, would ever use it. I have never used the company in the past and probably never will in the future.
Although looking at the financial results of the company, they seem to be doing quite well.
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.
An Alternative Approach To Stopping Spam
This article based on research done by three eminent Universities; University of California-San Diego, the University of California-Berkeley, and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, shows that the best way to stop spam might be to go for the banks who process the money for the spammers.
It would appear that just a few banks are involved. Here’s what the article says.
However, when it comes to banking, the bottlenecks are far more severe, and switching is far more difficult. One bank alone was used to settle more than 60 percent of all transactions, and the top three banks—Azerigazbank in Azerbaijan, St Kitts & Nevis Anguilla National Bank in St Kitts &Nevis, and Danish-owned DnB Nord in Latvia—together accounted for more than 95 percent of all money paid to spam vendors. The implication is that many banks simply won’t deal with spam outfits. Even when switching does occur, it’s disruptive, with payment processors typically introducing delays of days or weeks for due diligence to be performed.
Surely, no honest person would trust these banks with their money.
So we shouldn’t give up on our spam filters, but constantly chase the routes that the money takes to get to the criminals. After all the researchers used just 100 purchases to obtain their findings. So shouldn’t Western and other governments pool some researchers and money to find more rogue banks and then eliminate them from payments systems worldwide.
The Anonymous Widower 