Subscribe in a readerAnother Scam Job
Emails like this are scams. They are not legitimate jobs and you should not contact the sender – it’s part of a money mule scam.
Some words in this email can change but the general part of it remains the same:
Hello,
My name is Earnest and our company currently has several positions it needs to fill in your region.
We are a well known company with offices throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
Our current turnover is over 130 million annually and we are still seeking for expansion.
I have 12 vacancies of Financial Assistant that need to be fulfilled immediately.Major operational duties are prompt receiving and processing customer’s payments for their further transfer according to the specified method. Detailed work scheme will be provided upon request.
I am looking for self-motivated individuals with strong work ethics and ability to schedule work hours effectively.
Requirements:
* Expert skills in managing payments and transfers between our company and clients
* Knowledge of basic payment systems
* Bank account (personal or business)
* Advanced PC and Internet skills
* Minimum 24 y.o.Benefits:
*Salary plus commissions
*Full reimbursement of banking and Western Union fees.NOTE: This vacancy is valid for American residents ONLY.
Contacts: <removed>
So if you see an email like this delete it. Don’t fall for the scam.
ICS Monitoring Team
Another email designed to scare you and possibly make you curious enough to open an attachment.
The attachment has a virus, of course. And the email has all of the usual traits such as poor spelling and grammar. Below is what it says,
Your internet access is going to get suspended
The Internet Service Provider Consorcium was made to protect the rights of software authors, artists.
We conduct regular wiretapping on our networks, to monitor criminal acts.We are aware of your illegal activities on the internet wich were originating from
You can check the report of your activities in the past 6 month that we have attached. We strongly advise you to stop your activities regarding the illegal downloading of copyrighted material of your internet access will be suspended.
Sincerely
ICS Monitoring Team
If you receive this email, delete it. Do not open the attached file.
Facebook Groups And Toolbars
There is a facebook group that promises some special abilities but it’s actually a bit of a scam. The group is called:
NOW YOU CAN SEE EVERY 1 WHO VIEWS YOUR PROFILE
Apart from the annoying all-caps writing, the group suggests you install a toolbar to make this possible.
You should never install toolbars unless you completely trust the company who made it and really need it. In this case, Facebook didn’t make the toolbar. A stranger did. And you don’t really need it (and it doesn’t do what’s promised).
So do people fall for these things? I looked at this group in Facebook and 146,604 have joined it. That’s a lot of gullible people who don’t understand how Facebook’s privacy works.
There isn’t much information on what the toolbar actually does but it seems to spam your friends. Spamming is not nice (and possibly illegal in some places).
An Interview with a Nigerian Internet Scammer
The Nigerian scam goes by a few names and I’ve explained how it works before.
Here is an interview with someone who really scammed people using this technique. He explains how the scam operations work, how much work they put into building people’s trust and eventually take their money.
It’s an interesting read and it’s certainly a different way to learn about these scams and avoid them. It would be useful to show this interview to people who might be new to the internet. Then hopefully less people will fall victim to it.
The full interview is split into three parts:
Fake CUA Email
The following email is a phishing scam. It tries to trick people into handing over some account details. The usual trick for phishing scams is to make the email sound important, and there’s a link in the email to make it easier to get to the scammer’s web site.
The phishing email says:
Dear member:
We have recently updated our Online system to include new layer secure authentication. This is intended to provide you with the best security possible when accessing your account.
You will need to update your account in order to continue using your card.CUA Update
Your ticket code is L690545X.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding.
Member ID 690545
The domain name they use is cua-members-australia (.com). After doing some simple research, CUA is a credit union in Australia. Their real address is www.cua.com.au so the one provided is obviously fake, even though it might sound real. Further research shows that the fake address was registered in USA (even though these details could also be fake).
Below is a screenshot of the phishing scam site:
They get straight to business asking for a card number and a PIN. Very private information that no one should ask you.
Microsoft Does Not Send Updates By Email
Companies do not send updates by email, including Microsoft. They use other methods to tell their users about updates then expect users to download the updates themselves. Attachments in emails are generally bad.
So the following email I received is clearly an attempt to spread malware. It’s an email that claims to be from Microsoft – a quick look at the email’s header shows that it came from branchen4u.de. Not Microsoft.
So apart from the suspicious attachment and forged sender address, the other thing that tipped me off is that I don’t actually use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.
Below is a copy of the infected email:
Brief Description
Microsoft has released an update for Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express. This update is critical and provides you with the latest version of the Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express and offers the highest levels of stability and security.Instructions
* Install Update for Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express (KB910721). To do this, follow these steps:
1. Run attached file officexp-KB910721-FullFile-ENU.exe
2. Restart Microsoft Outlook / Outlook ExpressSystem Requirements
* Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000; Windows 98; Windows ME; Windows NT; Windows Server 2003; Windows XP; Windows Vista
* This update applies to the following product: Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express
There was a zip file attached that contains the Bredlab trojan. If the trojan were installed it runs quietly in the background downloading viruses and other malware.
So again, don’t trust unsolicited emails. I didn’t ask Microsoft to email me patches so this one was unsolicited. And it turns out it contained a trojan.
You should also have a good antivirus package installed.
Texaco Money Mule Scam
I’ve written about money mule scams before, here’s another one.
When a scammer has a large amount of money to move, such as stolen money they want transferred into their own bank, they don’t do it themselves. That would make them too easy to get caught.
What they sometimes do is ask other people to transfer the money. They tell these other people that it’s a legitimate job, and trick them into making these bank transactions.
They even go so far as to invent a company in order to recruit innocent people, or sometimes borrow the name of a legitimate company.
One such example is a job ad that claims to be from a US company called Texaco. The scammers sent a forged email with a link to a fake website, made to look like the read Texaco.
The scam email says:
Texaco/Chevron Downstream Europe
1 Westferry Circus Canary Wharf
London E14 4HADear Job Candidate,
The TEXACO Online Employment System wish to inform you that your posted information onlinehas been carefully and confidentially reviewed by our Recruitment Team Professionals and we have considered under our current vacant opportunities within the Firm to employ you for work in our company.
TEXACO Online Employment System is affiliated to various job recruitment websites and your information was submitted to us by our online agent that submit job candidate resumes for consideration of employment depending on the vacancies we have in any branch of TEXACO Company Worldwide.
As regards to this, you have been automatically granted this employment to work in TEXACO Oil & Gas Field with a monthly salary of Eight Thousand
Five Hundred Pounds (£8,500).Kindly acknowledge the content of this message by reconfirming your interest in working for us and indicating your area of job interest, ensuring that you
have quoted your vacancy title below or send your CV with a covering letter.For further details relating to your employment, kindly send an email to
Texaco/Chevron Downstream Europe H/R Recruitment Service Department
texaco@post.com / http:// texaco.us.ms / http:// texaco.com/portal_default.asp/.Regards,
Paul Matins
HR Recruitment Manager
This email is a scam. The web site that they give ends with .us.ms – this is not the real Texaco’s domain name.
So the next time you see a job ad too good to be true, consider if it might be a money mule scam. Does the job ad promise to pay an unusually large rate? Is the work unusually easy? Is the job description vague? Is the web address correct? Did you receive the job ad in an unsolicited email? These are all questions you need to ask yourself.
Facebook Un Named App
Here’s a combined hoax and malware. Let’s start from the beginning.
People have been posting notes on Facebook about something called “un named app”. It tells you to remove something from Facebook. It’s a hoax. Don’t believe what it says, don’t follow the instructions, and don’t pass it on.
Below are some quotes of the hoax:
ALERT >>>>> Has your facebook been running slow lately? Go to “Settings” and select “application settings”, change the dropdown box to “added to profile”. If you see one in there called “un named app” delete it… It’s an internal spybot. Pass it on
this is real.. i checked and found this app and deleted it… hopefully, my facebook will run better now.
Cannot believe how much quicker mine is running after doing this….
I don’t have this app on my Facebook account but if you do, don’t worry. It’s a normal part of Facebook and you shouldn’t delete it.
Now the second part of this hoax is a real trojan. If you go to Google and search for “facebook unnamed app” you’ll see quite a few results. Some of these results are fake antivirus programs.
A fake antivirus program is actually a trojan. It pretends to scan your PC and quietly installs malware in the background. It goes under the name of Security Tool, it has a fancy detection screen and everything. But it’s definitely bad.
The rule of thumb is that if a web page tells you that your PC might be infected, don’t trust it. Go and get your own antivirus program, not something that pops up on your screen (see here for a good free antivirus program).
There’s a lot to learn here. Basically, be careful who you trust. These days scammers have to trick you into installing malware and they’re good at it (it’s called social engineering).
Avast 5
Avast 5 is the latest version of a great (and free) antivirus program. It’s designed for Windows PCs and does a pretty good job. And did I mention it’s free? There’s no excuse not to have an antivirus program installed on any computer.
There’s also a paid version which extra features such as a personal firewall. I personally use and trust Trend Internet Security, but Avast would be my other choice (especially the paid version called Avast Internet Security).
The free version can be downloaded from here.
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