Category: Phishing

July 4, 2020

Time-Wasters Update

‘Sophia Ellis’ wants me to believe that she is offering her expertise in email address verification, but the message doesn’t contain a company name and the email sender’s address is health.maketomopcom which does sound like a lazy scammer couldn’t even be bothered getting a decent sounding email address to send these scam messages from. No thanks.

As we get into summer, more air conditioning scam messages start to appear. This latest one claims “this personal air cooler can cool down any part of your home in no time”. It works from a USB lead so must be very small and have all of the air conditioning power of an asthmatic mouse attempting to blow the heat away. Air coolers normally work by blowing air over water which does cool the air but they only work in small enclosed places and cannot compete with any kind of real air conditioning.

Sam is trying to sell animation software called IllusionMage. Normal sales emails are sometimes honest but still effective and sometimes give false impressions and sometimes are just lies. This one is a con as it claims you can make the same quality animation as Pixar and Disney, but at home. Not true. It says the offer is only open for three days but these emails keep coming so that’s also a lie. If you want to buy anything online find a reputable seller and do your research and never trust unsolicited emails.

Some scams offer free products and this latest one using Donald Trump’s name claims to give away Donald Trump Keep America Great hats. Maybe they could give away promotional items to small groups for conventions etc. or maybe give away really cheap paper stuff at times, but the message claims the hats sell for $39.99 and they give them away to everyone who asks. Not true. Just a phishing scam to get your private information.

“Ancient invention generates energy on demand”. Sounds useful. Then it claims a crazy professor makes energy from the surface of the earth and everyone can, The video you have to click to see how its done will only be on the Internet for a day longer because big industry is trying to shut it down. All lies of course. There are many ways to generate electricity but they are well known and available already.

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June 27, 2020

Time-Wasters Update

Ms Reem Binty Ebahim Al Hashimy who says she is a cabinet minister and Minister of State for International Cooperation in the United Arab Emirates found my email address on an email database and wants to send me a large sum of money to invest in whatever I choose. That’s a nice thought but remarkedly ridiculous and hard to believe anyone would be dumb enough to reply.

“A breakthrough study has shown this odd vegetable reverses diabetes”. It is claimed to be 475% more powerful than exercise, 552% more effective than any diet and 820% more powerful than any medications. This scammer clearly believes people are morons as she has simply made up stupid claims that make no sense whatsoever. Many people are desperate for help in combatting diabetes but should stick to medical advice not that of a scammer.

Another standard unpaid invoice scam arrives in the email. I am kindly urged to pay the outstanding amount to avoid legal action. The message, as is usual, is full of spelling and grammatical errors. This is to exclude anyone with an IQ above their shoe size from replying. Many scammers want to attract only the dumbest of the dumb. It’s very sad that these criminals continue.

A standard phishing scam email arrives – pretending to be from Barclays bank and the scammer has spoofed the senders email address so it does actually look like it came from Barclays.co.uk but it didn’t. There is a link to click to ‘keep my account active’ and it goes to a website at btsa.co.id which is not Barclays. Never click on links in unsolicited emails.

There are many many scams involving supposed cures for diabetes and some try to use fear to hook people e.g. claiming that diabetes is caused by a common green vegetable. Then the message gives a list of green vegetables and urges you to pick which one it is or to click the link to see a video that reveals all. It is pathetic and sadly very common.

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June 20, 2020

Time-Wasters Update

“I’m Orko working as a producer at Advics. We can help you communicate local radio,localnews,greatmusic etc. with custom marketing video”. The radio station does get genuine such offers from video Marketing companies. But, this message stands out as a scam. It contains several links supposedly to show examples, make contact, show content options etc. but each goes to a different website whereas a genuine business would have their portfolio etc. on their own website. The poor grammar shows there is something dodgy going on and the email was sent to a fake email address at the radio station which must have been bought from a spammer.

There are endless phishing emails claiming to be from courier companies and usually they want you to open an attached file or to click on a link. Either way, the scammers game is to get your contact information which they can sell to other criminals. This latest one is very simple “Your package has arrived at our warehouse and due to the Coronavirus outbreak you will need to come to our warehouse to collect it”. The scammer has spoofed the email address so it does look to be from customer @ups.com but that’s fake. The attached file is in iso format which is totally unsuitable to send to customers and is intended to bypass the anti-virus scans on the customers computers. Failed.

Yet more scam emails offering thermometers but with random titles such as “Destroys viruses, bacteria and germs in seconds”. Scammers write anything they think will get someone to open their scam message. Pathetic.

Mr. Robert Goode is an alias used commonly by Advance Fee scammers. Seems stupid for them to reuse that one name but it does seem popular. The radio station on occasion gets more than a dozen emails to made up addresses at the station, claiming to be from Robert Goode but actually from different email addresses. The scammers send from multiple addresses, so they can track which emails get a response. The messages are all identical and something like “We have a private and urgent business proposition for you – please reply to my private email address below”. Just a straightforward scam.

“This video has left me speechless. Because it shows God’s plan unfolding before us. I promise you’ll never be the same.”. Typical unbelievable rubbish email for people who are too gullible for their own safety.

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June 13, 2020

Time-Wasters Update

Researchers have discovered the difference between thin people and people who can eat whatever they want and never gain weight and its down to a single molecule, claims the scam email. Perhaps many overweight people would love this rubbish to be true and choose to believe the scammer’s message. The message continues with a promise that this molecule can be activated in fat people and they immediately lose lots of weight. Entirely made-up rubbish for gullible people.

America seems to have more than its fair share of conspiracy theorists and the following email title is clearly aimed at them “The US government has hidden this cataclysm inside NASA for the last 4 years”. The message as is usual with these, does not specify the supposed problem just exhorts you to click the links to find out about this danger that has been kept from all of us. It’s just typical drivel as you would expect from someone selling their own brand of lunacy or just trying to get people to click a link that they get paid for.

As with all businesses, the radio station gets endless email offering search engine optimisation (SEO), web design and associated services. Some of these are from genuine small businesses looking for work but most are simply scam messages. This latest one appeals to business hit by Coronavirus. “Due to the recent global crisis with Covid-19 we are identifying businesses we believe we can help improve their online awareness. Maybe this is from a genuine business or maybe it’s a scam – either way it’s getting deleted. Anyone wanting SEO or web design or similar services should find a local business and work with them and definitely not reply to an email from someone you’ve never heard of and may be just a disguise for a crooked enterprise.

The old scam of Marketing companies offering a free supermarket gift voucher in return for filling out a survey is back again. This time it’s supposedly a £500 Morrisons voucher. However, there is no such thing as a £500 Morrisons voucher and Morrisons have no connection to these messages. The email addresses claims to be on behalf of Morrisons but is fact a random sounding company name made up for the purpose of the messages. You can choose to fill in the survey but don’t expect a reward for your trouble.

There are always Bitcoin scam emails in circulation. Every so often, on an almost regular schedule, new campaigns of Bitcoin scams appear. The latest ones are called Bitcoin Halving and talk about an ordinary Aussie guy who makes huge amounts of money from Bitcoin. There are also sets of these scam messages that use the name of the actress Kate Winslett, suggesting she is a believer in Bitcoin and has made a fortune from it. This is lies of course and the celebrities used by these campaigns do everything they can to stop the messages but it is difficult to do. Bitcoin investments have made some people into millionaires but far more people have lost money on Bitcoin – some their life savings. Bitcoin reached a price of $13,800 each in 2017 then fell to $3,400 the next year then rose to $10,900 in 2019 and in April 2020 fell to less than $200 each. It is incredibly volatile and should be avoided unless you have money you can afford to lose.

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June 6, 2020

Time-Wasters Update

Stanley Howard with the unpronounceable email address – tayyibtaslim66666 @gmail.com claims to be a lawyer and investor from a mineral rich country. He is seeking me out for my expertise in investment management and wishes to entrust me with his client’s wealth, for a sizeable payment of course. Unlikely as I have never worked in investments.

Another phishing emails trying its best to look like a TSB bank message. But the actual email sender is mike.eglin. That’s probably made up as well. Supposedly, I must click the link to read the important messages waiting for me. No. I don’t click links in scam messages.

Another phishing message arrived – claiming to have an outstanding invoice attached which I must pay or they will take legal action to recover payment. But the email is from an address I have never heard of and have never bought anything from and it’s an Indian domain name. Scam.

“Testers Needed. Free Q5 Military Tac Lite”. The company claims to be giving away military torches as part of their survival awareness campaign. Nope. All lies. The message is from footballstudio.rest which is supposed to be for restaurants. Just a scammer who wants to collect contact details and probably charge for delivery of the non existent products.

There are endless health scams advertised on websites, emails and social media. Chocolate seldom appears in health scams but this latest scam email focusses on chocolate and has some outrageous claims. “37 x healthier than broccoli. 12 x healthier than blueberries. 15x healthier than kale”. The scammer has just made up these numbers as the statement that something is healthier by 37 times than another product is meaningless without specifying by what measure something is healthier. The message claims that the chocolate made with Peruvian cacao is sweet without added sugar as well as those health benefits. Complete rubbish of course. Cacao is very bitter hence the need for so much sugar to be added in most chocolate blends.

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June 1, 2020

The Amazon Order Cancellation Scam

Most “phishing” emails are badly written and obviously fake, but some scammers take the time to make their scam message at least look genuine at first sight.

You receive an email that seems to be from order-update @amazon.com or a similar Amazon address. It is addressed to my email address, not ‘unknown recipients’ or blank as most phishing emails are usually addressed.

The title is “Amazon.com – Your Cancellation 139-216896-257848336”

This looks genuine.

The email describes the cancellation of an order yesterday and the relevant book title and details.

There is a link to the order to review it and at the bottom of the email there is a link to Amazon.

Both of these links are fake – they go to an address which is clearly not Amazon e.g. david5661store.com, elij29180872312.ru etc.

These phishing emails look very professional – an exact match for Amazon emails and no spelling mistakes or poor grammar.

Many people use a family account for Amazon so may not immediately recognise the email to be fake.

Do not be tempted to click on the links to see what happens or unthinkingly believing it will get you to the relevant Amazon page – because it won’t. The link is to a fake version of an Amazon page and it just wants your Amazon access details so the thieves can plunder your Amazon account.

What about the fact that the email appears to be from Amazon?

The senders have ‘spoofed’ the Amazon address so the email does appear to be from Amazon. This is more difficult to do than the average scammer will bother with but some do use this spoofing technique to make their messages seem more genuine. (http://www.fightbackonline.org/index.php/guidance/12-explanations/63-the-problem-of-fake-emails tells you more about spoofing)

What should you do if you receive one of these phishing emails that seems to be from Amazon?

Amazon say the best approach is to send the phishing email as an attachment to [email protected] and they will be able to establish where the email originated and hopefully stop the perpetrators.

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