Category Archives: Fraud

Foxtel SMS

Posted by on 2 March, 2009 No comments

I just received this one. I haven’t worked out if it’s a scam or how it works, I’ll update this post when I find out (please post your comments here if you know anything). (Update: it’s legitimate)

The SMS was received in Australia and reads:

When you are home please call FOXTEL on 1800882016 (12pm to 8pm) so we can help you check whether your dish requires a component upgrade (no charge).

I don’t have a Foxtel dish and never requested any kind of service or upgrade. My guess is that if I call that number I’ll be charged at a premium rate, or someone will ask me for my credit card number.

Update 1: Someone pointed out that I should be able to call the 1800 number from a pay phone for free. So I’ll do that tomorrow, I have nothing to lose.

Update 2: Pay phones are rare these days. After finding one I called the free number, it’s an electronics engineering company that services Foxtel dishes. Seems like it’s a legitimate SMS, just sent to the wrong person (me). I also received a second SMS exactly the same.

So there we go, it’s not a scam.

Facebook Get Rich Quick Scheme

Posted by on 23 February, 2009 2 comments

There were some ads on Facebook promising to make you rich by signing up to a Google advertising program. The ads had bogus testimonials, trying to make it look real.

If you click on the ad it takes you to a page branded "EMillionaire". It tells you to submit your details to see if you’re eligible to join the program.

The details it asks you for include your credit card number. It said that you would be charged US$1.90. Maybe some people were ok with this charge.

However, instead of being charged a small amount and being told the secret of becoming a millionaire, they charge US$197 to your credit card.

This is a scam. Facebook said they’ve removed the ads but people have reported that some still exist.

Also watch out for "Work at home" ads, they’re usually a scam as well.

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.

FIFA World Cup Lottery Scam

Posted by on 23 January, 2009 7 comments

The FIFA World Cup is scheduled for 2010 in South Africa and scammers have already started using this news to trick people into giving out their personal details.

Targetting peopleA new scam email is sent to people telling them they won a lottery. The email is full of interesting things to catch people’s attention such as a large dollar amount ($850,000) and social tricks such as asking them not to tell anyone about their winnings.

At the end they ask the recipient to send them a few personal details, which the scammers then use to steal money from your bank accounts.

The email uses broken English and is full of "official looking" random letters and numbers.

Below are some quotes from the scam email. If you receive this email just delete it.

South Africa FIFA World Cup 2010
Government Accredited Licensed!!
Online National Lottery South African
2009/REF:EAASL/941OYI/04&
Batch: 12/25/DC34 RE:LOTTO

Your email have luckily won the sum of USD$850,000.00

Which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e. match 5 plus bonus. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of $850,000.00 USD… In cash credited to file KPC/9080118308/02. All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 union associations and corporate bodies that are listed online this promotion takes place weekly.

Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program your request to fill the information below.

And it goes on and on.

Some people who fall for these things have never entered a lottery, but they want to believe it so much that they don’t stop to consider why they were selected.

Now you might be wondering who could possibly be so foolish to fall for lottery scams. In fact, a large number of people fall for these things. In Australia alone (and with a small population of 21 million) 329,000 people lost money to lottery and phishing scams in one year. 3.6 million people fell for these scams in USA. Imagine how many people worldwide fall for these things.

Not everyone in the world reads Fraudo.com. You can help by talking to people about lottery scams, making them aware of what they are and how they work (there’s more information here). Help educate people, especially those who are less tech savvy or might be desperate for money. You could also help them subscribe to Fraudo.com – get them to enter their email address in the top right corner of this page, sometimes email is an easier way to receive these updates.

Keep the wolves at bay

Credit Card Fraud – Fake Confirmation Number

Posted by on 20 January, 2009 2 comments

If you work in a retail store or any other business that accepts credit cards in person, please be aware of the follow fraud tactic that was recently used.

  • 2 customers walk into a retail store
  • They select $8000 worth of products
  • At the checkout they present a credit card
  • The credit card is rejected
  • The customers say something along the lines of

    "Oh I knew that would happen. Please call my bank, here’s the number"

  • The store attendant calls the number provided by the customers
  • The person at the end of the phone approves the purchase and gives the store attendant some kind of confirmation number
  • The customers walk out of the store with $8000 worth of products

The number they gave wasn’t a real bank’s phone number. It was their friend answering the call.

Lesson to be learnt? Don’t call the number given to you by the purchaser. Look it up yourself or call your phone company’s directory service.

The full article is here.

Malicious Firefox Add-On

Posted by on 11 December, 2008 No comments

One of the best things you can do to avoid falling victim to malware is to use an alternative browser.

poppies Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) is very popular. Not long ago almost everyone used IE, it comes setup with almost every new PC sold (Windows PCs). And malware writers targeted IE because they could attack a majority of users just by concentrating on exploiting one browser. You could call it tall poppy syndrome.

Today Firefox is extremely popular. It’s gone from a small minority of people using it to an amazing 44% (depending on which statistics you read – I used this one). This makes for a fairly large demographic, and malware writers are taking notice.

There’s a new trojan that hides in a Firefox add-on. Once installed it waits for you to go to an online banking site. When it detects that you’re using online banking it starts recording your actions (account details, your password). Then it sends this off to cyber criminals who auction off your details and eventually someone can log into your online banking and transfer money. This isn’t good.

There are a few things you can do to avoid this:

  • If you want to install an add-on for Firefox, make sure you get it from a well known site. This is the official Mozilla site for Firefox add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
  • Use a good anti-virus package (it’s a small investment you make to protect your PC). Make sure it’s kept up to date.
  • Once a web browser becomes too popular it’s time to start looking at less mainstream alternatives. At the moment you should consider Opera, Safari and Chrome (these are available for all the popular platforms)

In summary, Firefox is a very secure browser. It’s also fast and powerful, explaining why it’s become so popular. You just shouldn’t take its security for granted. Most malware infections happen when users are tricked into clicking something they shouldn’t have.

Fake McDonald’s Survey

Posted by on 1 December, 2008 1 comment

There’s a new phishing email that takes readers to a fake survey claiming to be from McDonald’s (the fast food company). It’s similar to this one seen recently.

The email suggests that McDonald’s will give you $75 for filling in the survey. Clicking on the link takes you to a web site with a survey and some McDonald’s images.

When you submit the survey form it then asks you for:

  • Your full name
  • Your email address
  • Your credit card number
  • Your credit card’s expiry date
  • Your credit card’s security code

This information is collected and later used for fraudulent purposes (i.e. to make purchases using your credit card). If you receive this email or similar ones just delete them. Don’t be tempted by whatever they promise to give you.

And remember that to fill in a survey form there’s never any reason to give out your credit card details. It’s always a scam.

Fake Survey Emails

Posted by on 17 November, 2008 1 comment

A fake email has been sent claiming that JP Morgan Chase (a financial services company) will pay you $50 for filling in a survey. Sounds tempting, except that the link they want you to click on does not take you to the real JP Morgan Chase’s web site.

Instead it takes you to a fake web site with a form asking you a few questions (the form looks like a real survey). At the end it asks you for your full name, credit card number, expiry date, and PIN number! This kind of trick is known as phishing. Any information you enter here is collected and eventually used to steal money from people’s accounts.

The idea is to entice you with filling in a survey by promising a reward ($50), making their site look like it’s from a large company, then collecting private information that you really shouldn’t be giving out to anyone.

The email reads:

Online Survey – Add 50$ to your account in 2 minutes!

Dear Customer,

You are invited to take part in our nation-wide 5 question survey. Your time is very important to us so $50 will be credited to your account upon the completion of this survey.

Please note that no sensitive information will be required, collected or stored. The information will be used to further improve our services

To take part please click here

So if you see any emails like this just delete them. Also keep in mind that a good anti-virus package can often detect you’re going to a fake web site and stop you.

Western Union Emails

Posted by on 26 August, 2008 24 comments

The following email pretends to be from Western Union. It contains an attachment and the body of the email asks readers to open the attachment.

The attachment is malware. This is another malicious email that uses a creative story to trick people into opening an attachment and letting a malicious program install itself. Don’t fall for it.

Below is an extract of the email:

Hello!

Attention! The wire sent to Kiril Fadeev, Moscow, Russia has been blocked by our security service.

Your credit card issuing bank has halted the transaction by the demand of the Federal Criminal Investigation Service (case No. 43125 since the recipient has been undergoing the international retrieval by the InterPol.

Please contact the closest Western Union office and make sure you have your ID card, the credit card that was used for making the payment, and the invoice file with you.

(The invoice file is attached to this message; please print it out and hand it to our agent.)

You can find the address of the closest Western Union agent on our website at http://www.westernunion.com

Thank you!

Just delete and ignore these emails.