Monthly Archives: May 2009

New Ways To Subscribe

Posted by on 29 May, 2009 No comments

We now have 2 new ways to subscribe to FraudO.com so that you don’t miss out on important announcements. Keep up to date on fraud, scams, malware, etc with these new options:

1. Twitter – You can follow us on Twitter by clicking here http://twitter.com/fraudo and clicking on Follow. You’ll need a Twitter account first. You’ll also be able to ask us questions and take part in more interactive conversations.

2. Facebook – We now have a Facebook group you can join, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=85420406438 . You can ask questions here, share articles you come across, and learn more about everything FraudO stands for.

And of course we have all the other ways you can subscribe and follow our news:

3. You can subscribe by email. Near the top right corner of our website is a place to enter your email address. You’ll be sent a confirmation email to confirm your address. And we promise we won’t spam you, you’ll only receive updates of new articles and posts.

4. RSS – If you use an RSS newsreader you can subscribe to our feed at http://fraudo.com/feed/ . If you don’t have an RSS newsreader you can starting using one for free at http://www.google.com/reader . You just need a Google account (also free).

so many connections And of course you could refresh our page every day or two. There are now 289 articles on this site. To save you the time and effort of always refreshing this page try out one of the systems shown above.

We also rely heavily on search engines such as Google. Many people receive a scam email and copy & paste it into Google to work out if it’s a scam or not. Google usually puts FraudO articles near the top (Google is showing a bit of faith in us). Then they’ll be able to read our article explaining the scam. In fact we get thousands of enquiries through Google, so that’s thousands of people we’ve helped identify scams.

At the end of every article on FraudO you have the chance to leave comments. Some people like to share their own experiences, or to ask questions. Whatever it is, you’re welcome to add your own comments.

We also have a live chat system. This is hosted by Quayport, our affiliate and IT services provider. You can chat with an engineer about any security or scam concerns you have. It’s available for a few hours a day. The chat system can be found at http://fraudo.com/support/chat/

Then there’s our enquiry form. Replies can be a bit slower but you’re more than welcome to send your enquiries. Please use the form provided at http://fraudo.com/support/contact/

We also tried a forum type system but it hasn’t been very successful. It’s still up but we’ll eventually replace it with something better. It can be found at http://fraudo.com/support/forums/

Well, that’s enough for an admin update. As you can see we’ve made it as easy as possible for you to keep on top of scams. It’s a dangerous world out there on the internet. The best thing you can do is to keep learning about all the scams, fraud, etc, and how to keep your PC safe from malware. Help spread the word and to fight the good fight.

TwitterCut is a Scam

Posted by on 29 May, 2009 1 comment

There’s a message being sent on Twitter that tells people they can add 1000 followers in one go. The message has a link to a website called twittercut [dot] com.

Don’t click on this site, it asks you for your Twitter account name and password. If you were to hand over your Twitter account details it then sends the same message from your account.

Always be very careful when handing over your account details to unknown web sites.

Govt Grant Scam

Posted by on 29 May, 2009 No comments

The email below suggests you can receive $20k from the US government. cashThey ask you to send an email with your personal details. These type of scams then ask you for more details.

Your details are then used for fraudulent activities, under your name (this is called identity theft). It’s also common for the scammer to start asking you for money – there’s usually an excuse that they need to pay lawyers or some other convoluted story.

Below is the scam email, if you see this just delete it:

Hello

Secure $20k in Govt Grants and you never need to pay it back.

All American residents can apply for Govt Grants.

Allotment of grants doesnt depend on your credit history.

The strength of our firm is grants writing.We’re doing business since 1999 and we have helped around 20,000 people obtain grants.

Our company is taking fees of 10% only after our clients receive funds from Govt.There’s no risk for you at all.You’re paying our fees only when you’ve received grant money in your bank account.

Send us details including first name, last name, address, profession, date of birth, annual income, reason for govt grant.

grantswriting27@mail.com
Reply back to this email.

Regards

Johnathon Hodge

Fake Anti-Virus

Posted by on 23 May, 2009 No comments

There are many fake anti-virus products out there, they try to convince you there’s something wrong with your PC or Mac then either ask you for money to fix it or install real viruses.

This new one’s the kind that asks you for money, it’s called System Security. It begins when you download the program believing it’s a new anti-virus product. It’s designed for Windows PCs.

System Security

When you install it, it pretends to scan your PC, then informs you it found a whole lot of malware on your PC including viruses, adware and spyware. This part is meant to scare and shock you.

Then it does something truly evil, it stops you doing anything on your PC until you “activate” the anti-virus. And by activate they mean pay them money. So at this stage the only thing you can do with your PC is go to the scammer’s website (which looks nice and professional), hand over your credit card details, and they’ll supposedly make your PC work again.

If you happen to download and install this fake product and it blocks your PC from working, don’t give them your credit card details or otherwise pay for it to be unlocked. You will be able to boot your PC in Safe Mode – ask for a PC technician to help you with this if necessary. You’ll then be able to remove the fake anti-virus.

This highlights the importance of using a good anti-virus product, one that’s known and respected in the IT industry. I generally try not to recommend one product over another but below are some of the trusted anti-virus companies available today:

  • Trend Micro
  • Symantec / Norton
  • McAfee
  • F-Secure
  • AVG

There are many more and the market’s always changing. Feel free to write about your preferred products in the comments below. These days you can buy them online or walk into a computer store and buy one.

Hello My New Friend – Scam

Posted by on 21 May, 2009 No comments

If you receive an email similar to the one shown below, it’s a scam. Delete it. 

With this type of scam the sender tries to start a conversation with you, sending you many emails with similarly broken English and a collection of photos. There’s also a tale about how poor she is and eventually she’ll ask you for money.

In reality it’s probably a guy, not a girl. And the emails generally have Russian addresses.

Again, remember not to reply to these or fall for the story. It’s just a scam, one of many on the internet.

Here’s a copy of one of these emails:

Hello my new friend! You probably will be very much surprised to my letter. And where I could find your electronic address. One of these days I was registered a site of acquaintances. And today to me from him there has come the reference with your address. In it it was spoken, that we with you harmonious pair. And I have decided to write to you this letter. My name is Elena, me of 27 years. My growth of 168 sm, my weight of 53 kg. I the quiet, romantic girl. I want to meet in the life the present love. In my opinion, At all a variety of nationalities occupying our planet. In the world there is that uniqu person, With which I can find happiness and family rest. My dream, it to create family, To leave in marriage for remarkable the man, to give birth to children. And together with the loved person To aspire to bring up ours with it children that they became the most remarkable people. Actually I very modest girls and vulnerable. To me to not like, when people to face speak one, And behind a back another is completely. And I think, that from the very beginning of ours with you of acquaintance. We should be fair with each other. As in the first letter, I want to send you the photo. I hope that it to like you. If you were interested with my letter. And you as well as I want to meet the present love in the life. That I think to us with you it is necessary to begin ours with you acquaintance. Who knows, it is possible we are really harmonious with you. Also we shall create the best in the world a pair.

Western Union Uncollected Money

Posted by on 21 May, 2009 No comments

Another Western Union scam email is being sent to people. The email claims that you sent money with Western Union and that it has been returned to you (this is the incentive designed to catch your attention, free money).

The email has an attachment that is supposed to be an invoice. Instead the attachment infects your PC with a virus that waits for you to use internet banking then steals your password.

The email reads:

Dear client!

The money transfer you have sent on the 12th of April was not collected by the recipient. Due to the Western Union regulation the transfers which are not received in 15 days are to be returned to sender.

To collect money you need to print the invoice attached to this email and visit the nearest Western Union branch.

Thank you!

If you see this email, or one similar to it, delete it. Western Union didn’t really send it. And don’t open the attachment.

Tell-tale signs of a scam email:

  • There are a few grammatical errors in the email. It’s common for scammers to have poor English skills (though they’re getting better)
  • Did you send money with Western Union in the past 15 days? If not then it’s almost definitely a scam. Don’t be tempted.
  • If you’re unsure, copy & paste parts of the email into Google. Then read through the results looking for evidence of known scams.

You should also be scanning your email for spam and malware. This will filter out most of the scams before you have a chance to read them.

There was another Western Union scam that has been quite popular, read about it here.

Windows 7 RC on BitTorrent

Posted by on 20 May, 2009 No comments

Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) was released recently by Microsoft. It’s free for anyone to download and test it before the final version’s finished. A few days before the official release someone posted a copy on a BitTorrent network. Unfortunately this copy was infected with a trojan that downloads more malware. This is very bad. When you install an operating system such as Windows you have to trust the installation. If you can’t trust the operating system then you shouldn’t be using it. dark stranger What’s wrong with Torrents?

  • Don’t download Windows from file sharing systems such as BitTorrent. Get it from Microsoft or one of their vendors.
  • If you download free operating systems such as Linux from torrents know how to do a checksum test.
  • Don’t use pirated software. Apart from being immoral and illegal, pirated software is often plagued with malware.

What if you already downloaded Windows 7 RC from BitTorrent? The safest thing to do is to download it again from Microsoft’s site, reformat your PC, and reinstall the official version. It can be safely downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/Windows-7/download.aspx As a side note I’d like to point out that Windows 7 RC is a test version, it’s not the finished product. And while it’s free for now it has a couple of restrictions:

  • on 1 March 2010 it will start rebooting every 2 hours
  • on 1 June 2010 it will completely stop working.

Update: There are now 25,000 PCs infected with the malware as a result of downloading the wrong copy of Windows 7 RC. These 25,000 PCs are being controlled by hackers as part of a botnet.

M&A Companion Touch comes with malware

Posted by on 19 May, 2009 No comments

companion_touch M&A makes a mini tablet PC (also called a netbook) called the Companion Touch. It’s been found to come with malware pre-installed. If you’ve bought this model after February 2009 you should scan it for viruses. You should also scan any devices you might have plugged into it, such as flash drives or other removable drives.

The malware found on this device is designed to steal passwords. More detailed info here.

It’s unfortunate that these days many devices have been shipped from the factory with viruses and other malware, such as digital photo frames and MP3 players.

Facebook “151” Phishing Attack

Posted by on 15 May, 2009 No comments

There’s a new phishing attack on Facebook (phishing is when people try to trick you into providing your personal details). It begins with a message that simply says:

Hello

If you click on it, it links to a site called 151-im. Don’t click on this message. It takes you to a copy of Facebook, asks you for your Facebook username and password, then steals that information.

Facebook’s response to this was:

"This is a phishing attack. We’re well aware of it and are already blocking links to these new phishing sites from being shared on Facebook. We’re also cleaning up phony messages and Wall posts and resetting the passwords of affected users…”