Author: comptroller

August 5, 2019

Bitcoin Advance Fee Scam

Advance Fee scams , also known as 419 scams are very popular with scammers as they are very simple to invent and played well can lead to a stream of stolen money from people whose greed overcomes their common sense.

The basic idea of an advance fee scam is that the scammer promises a treasure of some kind – a box of cash stuck in customs or a consignment of diamonds willed to you or the estate of a long lost relative – anything that sounds impressive and starts the greed reaction in some people. Once the person is hooked then the scammer needs an advance fee of some kind – a customs release charge or transfer charge etc. And the victim pays up, then another such charge appears and so on repeatedly until the victim realises there is no ‘treasure’ – just a scammer stealing money from them.

There are various standard stories used by advance fee scammers – the most common being of a shipment stuck in customs or money left in a bank account when someone died, but the latest story includes Bitcoins.

Everyone has seen mention of Bitcoins in the news and the idea that Bitcoin makes people into millionaires is widely believed. So this scammer is using Bitcoins as the treasure (but converted into cash for release).

The story is really just an updated version of the money in a bank account that the scammer wil share with you if you follow their guidance and claim to be a long lost relative and you agree to share the proceeds with the scammer.

Of course there is no such treasure – just a greedy evil criminal trying to steal from you..

“My name is Richie Lia, a client relations manager at one of Canada’s foremost Cryptocurrency exchanges snd I am contacting you in regards to the Bitcoin of a deceased account holder which has been valued at $7.2 million”.

Common sense warns you the story is a pack of lies – don’t be deceived.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

August 4, 2019

Stupidest Scam of the Week Earth’s Magnetic Core

The idea of free or very cheap electricity has been popular with scammers for some time, with everything from Tesla machines that create energy to supposedly super efficient solar panels that the energy industry is frightened by to devices you plug into your wall socket and never need to pay an electric bill again.

This latest one is about free energy from the earth’s core.

“The Earth’s Core is producing 1 million times more electricity every second that mankind can consume”.

”This crazy professor invented a crazy device that feeds itself from the earth’s core”.

The only thing crazy is anyone who buys into such drivel.

This has the standard hallmarks of a scam

– focus on a problem that is significant for a large number of people and promises an end to that problem

– offers a magical or ‘weird’ or long lost answer to the problem

– makes sure the apparent answer is unexplained

– states that scientists cannot understand this

– this new answer will change the world

– the answer must be available to everyone at low cost or no cost

– big industry is trying to keep the answer a secret

– big industry is trying to take down the website with the answer – so you have to view it immediately

The only thing missing from the scam email is celebrity endorsements which are common in these kinds of messages.

All the usual rubbish from a criminal’s mind, intent on trapping people into paying something for nothing.

Sad.

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August 3, 2019

Time-Wasters Update

There are endless scam messages proclaiming some new method for generating electricity free of charge and this one talks about Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, but strangely never mentions his name, just his patents and inventions. It also claims that all of our forefathers used this secret method of getting free electricity based on a device created by the famous inventor. But it’s all nonsense. Edison did invent various electrically powered devices and several ways to generate electricity but they are powered by a fossil fuel in some form – coal or gas or oil. Nothing free in that and certainly no secret as patents are all available for anyone to read.

“The Kachin Tribe of Myanmar Live Diabetes Free – See How They Do It” is a catchy title for an email but it’s just another moron peddling drivel about a new magic remedy for diabetes and of course it’s a secret that Big Pharma is trying to stop you seeing and the website with the answer will be taken down any time. Entirely a fantasy by a scammer wanting to steal anything she can get.

An email to the radio station from Abdul Musau of The Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs Qatar. Sounds impressive but the email address is a give-a-way as it’s gnettelecom.net.br which is supposed to be a Brazilian Telecoms company. The email is a typical scam offering to buy lots of expensive products and pay me 5% of every deal. But Brooklands Radio doesn’t sell products and the whole things is a cheap stupid scam.

My billing statement is ready for download number 913E0565758394585786549RJK234890203948902302 and that’s quite a number. The company involved must have issued billions of billions of invoices already. The message claims to be from Microsoft Online Services team but is actually from invoicehome.net which is not Microsoft. No thanks.

Perhaps the next email scam message would play well in America or China but not in England. It claims that the man who killed the actor and martial arts star Bruce Lee has spoken for the first time and is demonstrating in a video how he used the Chinese Death Touch. It would be unbelievably stupid if true but obviously it’s a just a pack of lies to get idiots to watch a video for which the scammer gets paid for every thousand views.

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August 2, 2019

How to Protect Your Domain Name

Your Internet domain name e.g. mybusiness.co.uk can be very valuable and a key part of your business. You may think it’s impossible for someone to take your domain name but it does happen and the scammers are clever in how they do it, leaving you with the difficult task of proving you are the rightful owner.

For a hacker to take your domain name, there are two basic methods:-

They change your DNS configuration, to redirect traffic from your site to their site
They modify your registration contact information, which gives them full control over your domain.

There is a database called WHOIS that keeps track of the owner’s details and contact person for every domain name as well as the name server data.

A hacker can also change the registration data in the WHOIS database. This then makes it difficult for you to prove that you are the rightful owner, not the hackers. The hacker may also move the domain registration to another registrar which makes it more difficult to get your domain name back.

Domain Locking

The best protection for your domain name is to have it locked. This is a service provided by the domain registrars and it stops unauthorized transfer of your domain name to another registrar.

Once your domain is locked, it will be almost impossible for the thieves to redirect your nameservers or transfer your domain name.

Only with authorization from you, will your registrar will unlock the domain when you need to make changes, and then it can be returned to locked status.

WHOIS Data Entry Protection

Every domain registrar must maintain a publicly viewable “WHOIS” database. For every registered domain, the database must contain personal contact information, including each domain owner’s street address, telephone number, and email address.

Most registrars offer a security feature called WHOIS protection which replaces your contact details with those of the registrar. This maintains your security.

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August 1, 2019

Phishing a WiFi Password

Most people believe that using Wi-Fi in public places is safe as long as there is a password needed to access the service, rather than the public ones with open access.

However, there are assorted methods used by hackers to get into Wi-Fi services and in particular a set of software and techniques we’ll call Wi-FiX (not the real name).

Sadly, Wi-FiX is available on the Internet to anyone with programming skills.

The basic method used involves the software creating a fake Wi-Fi access point that mimics the real ones on the selected network. Then it jams any messages to the real access points and posts up a message requesting login and password. The user cannot get around this so enters their login and password and then the software relays on the messages to the real wi-fi access point so the user believes everything is OK again, but the fake Wi-FI access point is recording all of the traffic.

In that data may well be logins and passwords, credit card details etc.

The details are complex but below is a simple technical explanation

The victim is deauthenticated from their access point. WiFiXcontinuously jams all of the target access point’s wifi devices within range.
WiFiXcopies the target access point’s settings. It then creates a rogue wireless access point that is modelled on the target. It also sets up a NAT/DHCP server and forwards the relevant
The victim is requested to re-input login and password which WiFiX can use to access the genuine access point. The victim joins the hacker’s rogue access point.

The victim continues to use the Wi-Fi unaware that all of their messages are being copied and examined for confidential information etc.

Always be wary of using Wi-Fi outside of your home and office.

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July 31, 2019

The Cure for Drunkenness

People have been inventing cures for drunkenness probably since alcohol became such a public nuisance a long time ago.

The best cure of course is don’t get drunk in the first place as it’s expensive, damaging to your liver and can lead to stupid behaviour and possibly even dangerous behaviour.

Supposed cures do go back a long way as Martin Fone found out researching his book Fifty Scams and Hoaxes with his story of Antidipso. (links)

Arthur Pointing, born in 1868, claimed to have found a remedy to cure drunkenness and called it called Antidipso, made from South American herbs.

He advertised his product to women. “Drunkenness cured. It is now with the reach of every woman to save the drunkard”.

This miracle cure could be administered in tea, coffee or food without the patient’s knowledge thus secretly curing him.

Pointing sold this product for years and made a fortune, but when analysed there were no South American herbs – just milk, sugar and bromide which can make someone ill if taken with alcohol. But there’s certainly no long term remedy.

There have always been scammers.

Martin’s blog and links for purchasing his book are at https://martinfone.wordpress.com/

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.