Category: Fight Back

Macs Bait Store

http://macsbaitstore.com/

“Welcome to Mac’s Bait Store – Where we keep them wriggling like a worm on a hook…”

They say the website is dedicated to annoying, confusing, confounding, teasing, and aggravating 419 scammers who prey on the innocent because they are too stupid and lazy to get a real job.

That is perhaps a harsh attitude towards scammers but these people do steal from anyone, including the most vulnerable with no thought as to the misery they cause.

Mac says:

  • Does someone you never met and do not know want to give you millions of dollars?
  • Did you win a lottery that you never entered?
  • Did someone you just met on the Personals ask you for money?
  • Did you receive an offer that seems too good to be true?

These are all scams – these people want to steal your hard earned money!

Mac believes that reporting scams to the authorities maybe but that you can choose to have some fun with the scammers and waste their time.

Scambaiting

This typically means responding to a scam email and pretending that you are interested in what they are offering, and posing as a potential victim.

The key reason for this is to waste the scammers time so they cannot move on to their next victim.

It can also be fun. Lots of information and stories at Mac’s Bait Store about successful scambaiters.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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The Scam Survivors Website

https://scamsurvivors.com

The website says it exists because: Scammers will take your money with no cares about the lives it ruins.  People are nothing but a money amount to them – a living, breathing ATM machine.

The site is run by volunteers and has three goals:

  1. To make scammers’ lives harder by exposing their details and scripts to search engines.
  2. Educating the public, thus removing scammers’ sources of income as scams will continue as long as there are victims.
  3. Helping people to see that, even after being scammed, they CAN move forward and things DO get better.

They cover a wide range of scams including:- 419, fund transfer, tax refund, beneficiary/inheritance/next of kin, hitman, parcel, gold/diamond, charity, love/romance/catfish, dying widow/widower, military, lottery, secret shopper/work from home, business/investment/supply invitation, loan, ATM card, tax refund, recovery/compensation, conference, Craigslist, webcam blackmail, phishing, grandchild/friend in distress and car wrap.

The Scam Survivors staff say they offer non-judgmental help and advice for those scammed online.

For many people who have been scammed, the psychological effects are worse than the monetary loss.

There is an active forum with nearly 200,000  posts.

Do click on the Facebook or Twitter icons on top right to follow Fight Back Ninja.

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Avast Secure Browser

Avast Secure Browser is a web browser developed by Avast that focuses on Internet security and privacy. It is free and available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.

Features

  • Block malicious webpages and browser extensions
  • Advert Block
  • Bank Mode
  • A password manager.
  • Video Downloader
  • Anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting
  • Anti-Phishing

Bank Mode

Bank Mode creates an isolated Windows desktop session while you do your online banking. This is stop keyloggers from recording your keyboard access.

Bank Mode can give you secure privacy whenever any sort of payment info or sensitive data comes into play. Use it for:

  • online banking
  • online shopping
  • managing investments
  • managing cryptocurrencies

If you have any experiences with secure browsers by any maker, do let me know, by email.

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The Lazarus Heist

In 2016 North Korean hackers planned a $1bn raid on Bangladesh’s national bank and almost succeeded. It was only down to luck that all but $81m of the transfers were halted.

The hackers prepared meticulously for months, gained access to the systems then waited for months for the exact right moment that would give them the longest window of opportunity.

This was at the start of a weekend, at a holiday time giving them a clear 5 days starting in Bangladesh, then the Fed in New York then the Philippines where much of the money was intended to end up.

They carried out their plan meticulously, but bad luck got in the way.

  1. They had created a number of fake accounts at a bank branch in Jupiter street in Manila but Jupiter was the name of an Iranian ship and that raised red flags in New York and all but $101 million of the transactions were temporarily blocked for investigation.
  2. $20m was to be transferred to a Sri Lankan charity called the Shalika Foundation but the name was misspelt and the transaction blocked
  3. $81 reached a hotel and Casino in the Philippines to be laundered but much was lost in the process

The group got away with around $34 million of the $1 Billion they targeted.

Analysis of the digital fingerprints of the theft point to the government of North Korea, to a group of hackers known as the Lazarus Group.

These are the people believed to have spread the Wannacry ransomware that devastated the NHS in 2017 and also various large organisations around the world.

For more detailed information see  https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-57520169

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Government Secure by Design

The government department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is working to ensure consumer “smart” devices are more secure, with security built in from the start.

Matt Warman, Minister for Digital Infrastructure has said “This government wants you and your families to be safe online. In these extraordinary circumstances, we all increasingly rely on internet-connected products to socialise, work and live out our lives. You should be able to trust that those products – whether they be watches, speakers, doorbells or baby monitors – are designed and built securely”.

At the moment, many manufacturers concentrate on producing their products cheaply and leave security to be a minor feature, not worth investment. Their products are shipped with very basic security and little advice to the buyer. This puts people at risk as consumers will assume a product is safely setup and trust the seller has put in the effort to ensure safety, but this is often not the case.

The government say that Cyber security is at the heart of their approach to digital technology, and plays a critical role in ensuring people and businesses can benefit from the huge opportunities of technology.

In 2018, DCMS published a Code of Practice for Consumer Internet of Things Security and have been supporting the development of the first industry standard on consumer smart product security.

Despite widespread adoption of the guidelines in the Code of Practice for Consumer Internet of Things Security, both in the UK and overseas, change has not been swift enough, with poor security still commonplace.

In January 2020 the government announced the intention to bring in legislation to ensure stronger security is built into consumer smart products. This work has been progressing in collaboration with industry leaders and cyber security experts.

The government response to the 2020 call for views on proposals for regulating the cyber security of consumer smart devices was published on 21 April 2021.

We need this to move as so products can be safe by design not by accident or not at all.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Retrieve It Service

“Retrieve It” is an online service at www.retrieve-it.com

It was setup to counter the rise of online brokers who are scammers.

Retrieve-It say:

“After years of observing how trading scams have ruined the lives of tens of thousands of individuals – we decided to do something about it.

Unregistered brokers such as Forex, Binary Options, and Cryptocurrencies usually rely on your fear of losing your investment or an opportunity of making money, fear of the unknown and inexperience.

We can make a difference. Let us show you how.”

Is there a big problem with unscrupulous brokers? Yes.

investment fraud is estimated to cost Americans more than $10 billion a year. It is difficult to know the real figure as it is assumed that many people don’t report such scams for they feel foolish at having been conned.

The website at https://commodity.com/brokers/avoid-scams/ looks at a lot of the scams involved.

Retrieve-It services include:

New online brokers, new cryptocurrencies and new ways of scamming people keep happening and it is difficult for anyone to keep pace with the rate of change.

If you are unsure of a broker you want to do business with or need to recover assets from a dodgy broker – check out www.retrieve-it.com

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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