Monthly Archives: February 2009

Maybank Phishing Email

Posted by on 7 February, 2009 3 comments

Another phishing email claiming to be from Maybank. As usual it starts with a story about something happening to your account. It gives you a link to click on and asks you to enter your personal banking details.

Please read the previous post on how to identify phishing emails.

Below is the text from the email:

Dear Maybank customer,

We are hereby notifying you that we’ve recently suffered a DDos-Attack on one of our’s Online Banking server. For security reasons you must complete the next steps to verify the integrity of your Maybank account. If you fail to complete the verification in the next 24 hours your account will be suspended.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Log in to Maybank online account (click here).

2. You must request for TAC via Maybank online banking – your TAC will be sent via SMS to the mobile phone number you registered. ( you can find the "Request a TAC" button in the Utilities menu of your account )

3. Logout from your account and close the browser.

4. When you have received the TAC (Transaction Authorization Code) on your mobile phone, go to our secured verification server and submit the requested information (Username, password and TAC). (click here) to go on our secured server.

5. Please allow 48 hours for processing.

Please comply and thanks for understanding

If you see this email just delete it.

Another PayPal Phishing Email

Posted by on 6 February, 2009 No comments

Phishing is when someone sends you an email designed to trick you into handing over personal details such as your passwords. Below is a new phishing email. At first glance it looks like it came from PayPal. It’s designed to trick you into clicking their link – it does this by coming up with a story about your account being locked.

Below is the email. At the end of this post I’ll explain what you can do to avoid falling for these things.

We are constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features will be limited. We would like to restore your access as soon as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience.
Why is my account access limited?

Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s):

We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party. Because protecting the security of your account is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

(Your case ID for this reason is PP-0XD2-0XBC-0XDA-0X37.)

How can I restore my account access?

Please visit the Resolution Center and complete the "Steps to Remove Limitations."

Be aware that until we can verify your identity we will have no other liability for your account or any transactions that may have occurred as a result of your failure to upgrade your account as instructed above.

Sincerely,
Account Departement.

What can you do to avoid phishing emails?

  1. Do you have a PayPal account? If not then you should immediately suspect it’s fake.
  2. Is the email poorly written? If you look carefully you’ll find grammatical errors in the email shown above. Scammers generally have poor English skills.
  3. Use one of the newer web browsers. For example, I clicked on the link in the email to see what happens. Google Chrome immediately identified it as a phishing email and displayed a large red screen with a large warning that this is a phishing site. Opera does the same. Internet Explorer didn’t try to stop me (80% of Windows users still use Internet Explorer, it’s time to upgrade). So alternative browsers are safer to use.
  4. Install a good anti-virus package. For example, Trend Internet Security checks which web sites you’re visiting and it will stop you from going to known phishing sites. There’s a small subscription fee to buy and keep using Trend Internet Security and I think it’s a good investment (it’s cheaper than having someone take all the money out of your bank account).
  5. When you see a suspicious email, don’t click on the links they provide. If you’re really concerned about your account being locked, open a new tab in your browser and type in the address yourself. Then you know you’ll be going to the real PayPal site (or your bank, etc).
  6. When there’s a link embedded in an email you can place the mouse pointer over the link and wait a second. Usually you’ll be shown the address it points to. If the address isn’t exactly what you expect then it’s fake. Read more here about recognising fake addresses.
  7. Some email services include spam filtering. Sometimes you have to pay extra for this service. Spam filtering usually also filters out phishing emails. This removes these bad emails before you even get to see them.
  8. When you see a suspicious email, copy some of the text and paste it into Google. Then look through the results to see if it’s a known scam. (This is why I copy & paste all these bad emails into FraudO, to help Google find them).

Paper Fliers Spreading Malware

Posted by on 5 February, 2009 No comments

Here’s something new. In North Dakota, USA, pieces of yellow paper were placed on the windshield of parked cars with the following text printed on them:

PARKING VIOLATION This vehicle is in violation of standard parking regulations. To view pictures with information about your parking preferences, go to website ….

The website that was printed tells people they need to download a program called PictureSearchToolbar.exe. This program then downloads malware onto people’s PCs. The malware can change but at the moment it tells people their PC is infected and asks them to download more malware.

This is a new way to trick people into downloading malware.

car windshield wiperYou can avoid these tricks by being cautious on what you download. The rule of thumb is that you never need to download anything to view a picture or video on the internet, unless you either know what you’re doing or really trust the company giving you this information (e.g. if you’re using Windows you could trust Microsoft since they made the operating system you’re using).

You can also install a good anti-virus package that scans web pages. This needs to be updated daily which generally means you need a paid subscription. It’s a good investment.

Are RFID Passports Safe? (No)

Posted by on 3 February, 2009 1 comment

Passports these days have a small chip inside called an RFID. Governments who issue these passports say they’re secure and safe to use. And for years hackers have been saying they’re not secure. So who’s right?

Chris Paget, a white hat hacker (the good kind of hacker), recently did an experiment to see how many passports he could copy using some very simple tools. His aim was to see if he could read the RFID inside someone’s passport. The results?

In 20 minutes he managed to find 2 people carrying a new RFID passport, and was able to copy the contents of the RFID chip.

He did this from his car while driving around San Francisco. The people carrying the passports have no idea this happened. There’s no way for them to know. He made a video of his experiment that you can watch here:

(If the video above doesn’t play click here)

So what can we learn from this?

  • The RFID chip inside passports are not secure
  • The RFID chip inside passports can be copied from a distance

What can you do?

  • If your governments wants to tag people using RFID, e.g. by embedding RFID chips in drivers licenses, be aware of the ramifications.
  • It’s technically possible to shield your RFID passport by using a metal film. Some companies have started selling passport wallets that can block radio signals, stopping people reading the chip remotely.

Below are some passport wallets that can shield RFID signals (Click here to view in a full page)


Money Mule Scam

Posted by on 3 February, 2009 2 comments

I was sent the following email. It’s called a money mule scam, basically money laundering. Taking part in these scams is illegal, and in some cases they even ask you to buy things to get you started (making it an even greater scam).

The email looks like:

Point Focus LLC is  now expanding! To deal with the international payments processings we are now looking for people willing to facilitate  establishing of our all-round-the-globe business connections and assist saving considerably by tax disbursing reduction. This position of the Financial Assistant involves accepting payments from our Australian, UK and US ( rarer Spanish) clients to your account and resending to our partners.

You are getting paid right by the moment you cash the payment. It’s the commission in amount equal to 4% out the sum posted on your account. This very amount you’re deducting before sending anything out. So,estimated roughly, you can make up to 2000$ extra monthly.  

Plus, you get: 
- flexi-time (usually 2-3 hours a day)   
- Saturdays & Sundays off    

Requirements:    
- Have to be aged 21 or above   
- No criminal record 
- Regular Internet access    
- Ability to accept payments using your bank account 
- Ability to resend the money through Western Union    

If feel qualified, please, attach the following info to start up with:   
-  Fist Name:
-  Last Name:  
-  Age:
-  Sex: 
- Country  
- State, City, Zip   
- Phone number (home and cell)
- Valid email address

NOTE!!!! the email address you use to contact us for the first time is: pointfocusgo@—.com , in the subject field put “interested”. Please, use only mentioned email address, otherwise we’ll fail to receive your response.

Remember if you receive an email like this delete it, don’t reply to it.