Monthly Archives: January 2010

Fake banking App For Android

Posted by on 13 January, 2010 No comments

Android is a system used by some smartphones (similar to iPhone or Windows Mobile, but made by Google). Like other smartphones you can install apps on Android.

One Android app that showed up recently is a free banking app. It looks like it supports US banks. But instead of logging into your bank it sends your online banking details to a scammer. Then it won’t be long until someone steals money from your bank account.

Google has been notified of this malicious app and they have removed it. But for some people it may be too late.

There’s a lesson to be learnt here. Smartphones are cool, installing apps on them is cool. But we shouldn’t let our guard down and trust everything to them. Know what you’re installing, know who wrote the software, and how it stores and sends your login details.

As more people buy smartphone scams are only going to become more common.

Another Adwords Scam

Posted by on 6 January, 2010 2 comments

I just received the following email. It’s a scam made to look like Google Adwords, however the web site was registered just a few hours ago to somebody else.

If you go to this site and enter your Google account details you’re actually letting a stranger (hacker) know your account details. It’s a scam.

———————————————
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does
not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.
Message id:388520237785520
———————————————

Hello,

You have a new text alert from adwords

Please use the link below to login:

http://www.adwlordls.com/Selects/Login/static/index.html?ref=56105007342

Advertise your business on Google

Best regards, Google AdWords Customer Team © 2009

———————————————
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does
not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.
Message id:847914946168909
———————————————

So if you see this email or one like it, delete it. Google did not send this email.

Update: another version of this scam is,

This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does
not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message. If you
have any questions, please our Help Center to find answers to
frequently asked questions.
————————

Hello,

Please update your primary and backup payment information, even if you
plan to use the same information. Please follow the steps
below to update your information and trigger our billing system to try
processing your payment again. We’ll attempt to process your balance on
whichever card you update first.

1. Log in to your AdWords account at <link removed>
2. Enter your new or updated payment information.
3. Click ‘Save Changes’ when you are finished.

To update your backup credit card:
1. Visit the ‘Billing Preferences’ page, as described above.
2. In the Backup Credit Card section, click ‘Edit’.
3. Re-enter your backup credit card details.
4. Click ‘Save’.

To update your bank account:
1. Visit the ‘Billing Preferences’ page, as described above.
2. In the Bank Account section, click ‘Edit’.
3. Re-enter your bank account details.
4. Click ‘Save’.

Thank you for advertising with GoogIe AdWords.
Grow your business with us.

Sincerely,

The GoogIe AdWords Team

If you see this email delete it, don’t click on the link, don’t give them your Google password.

And yet another version:

Dear Valued Customer,

You have a new alert from Google Adwords.

Sign in to your AdWords account at http://adwords.googlxmcn.com/Select/login

Yours Sincerely,
The AdWords Team

Notice the domain name above, googlxmcn.com. This is not google.com, it’s spelt differently, so it’s a scam.