Email Scams
There are so many email scams these days. And there are a few that just seem to never get old, recurring themes in the scam-o-sphere: free porn, “male enhancement” drugs, investment advice, and my favorite, the old “please tell us your username and password” trick. I believe the official term is phishing, although I’m pretty old-fashioned and conservative so I won’t be using that word until it shows up in my Webster’s dictionary. And I only buy a new one every 20 years or so. 
Anyway, we put the OpenXmlDeveloper.org site up last week, and within a few days I got this email message. It was sent to the administrator address for the site, and it’s a classic “send us your username and password” message. (OK, phishing will start looking pretty good after I type that phrase a few more times!)
Look close at the email. The link in the middle of the message doesn’t really go to the address it shows: instead, it goes to the IP address you can see in the tooltip that popped up when I hovered the mouse over the link. And I looked at this message pretty closely, just for fun: every link on it points to that same page.
What does that page do? It asks you for your Ebay username and password, of course. In a very official-looking way that presumably looks familiar to Ebay sellers everywhere. Then they store that info, and an actual human can log in to your account later and sell your junk for less than it’s worth or send nasty emails to your friends under your name or drain your bank account, or whatever.
I say “presumably” looks familiar to Ebay sellers, because I’ve never sold anything on Ebay. They have some kind of problem with my debit card, and I have some kind of problem with companies that don’t have a human being I can call and talk to, so the Doug-Ebay business relationship got off to a rocky start and has never recovered. Too bad, really, because I tried to play along and give the scammers an Ebay login, but I had none to share.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 at 5:50 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on March 29, 2006 at 4:55 am Tarun wrote:
Dear Doug,
I hope you are doing well.
Doug, where can i get my hands on the Beta Release of Office 12?
As you know we are going to handle the Office 12 file format in our Application, so we would need to generate as many sample documents as possible. It is a huge ask and would take time.
If you could guide me as to where I could download the Beta release, it would be a great help.
Thanks
Best Regards
Tarun
on March 29, 2006 at 5:00 am Tarun wrote:
Well Doug,
Phishing is old now and I am sure most of the people are aware of the same.
I first heard of it while doing a course in Cyber Law. So that made me aware. I did get a few mails for hotmail account confirmations and eBay account confirmation, but never tried them out.
I guess knowledge of Law does help after all!!!
He he
on March 29, 2006 at 6:09 am Scott wrote:
I’ll bet I get a dozen such scams each day, all perporting to be from eBay, PayPal, or any number of banks. Some are pretty clever. One of the newest ones involves a supposed message from another eBay member demanding payment for something you have not purchased. Naturally, it includes a bogus log-in link for your user name and password.
Those kids really need to get off Mommy’s computer and go do their homework.
on March 29, 2006 at 10:54 am Doug wrote:
Hey Tarun, to get the Office 12 beta you can contact Pali. Each of the regional DEs handles signing up ISVs in their area, so in India he can help you.
The Beta 1 Tech Refresh (B1TR) build is out now for those on the beta program, and then the publicly available Beta 2 will be out later this spring. When Beta 2 comes out, it’s the “public” beta, so anyone can sign up for that one.
on March 29, 2006 at 11:02 am Doug wrote:
You know, another form of juvenile hacker attack that’s the bane of blogs is these spam-bots that post comments on blogs. Most of them seem to be for on-line casino sites, although there are some for how-to-get-a-green-card scams and similar things.
On a low-volume blog like mine (think “boutique” instead of Wal-Mart :-)), I’d say I get 50% comment spam for online casinos — which I always delete — and 50% comments from “real” people. Don’t know how that ratio looks for higher-volume sites.
One thing people do to prevent the spam is have one of those textboxes where you type in some characters that appear in a distorted image on the page. That assures that you only get comments from actual human beings, but it’s a usability issue (that’s MS-speak for a “pain in the ass”), so I’m not going there. Besides, I sort of enjoy reading the mindless drivel that the casinos wrap around their links.
on March 29, 2006 at 5:21 pm Tom wrote:
MR. DOUG: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND ‘TOP SECRET’. I AM SURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR ABILITY AND RELIABILITY TO PROSECUTE A TRANSACTION OF THIS GREAT MAGNITUDE INVOLVING A PENDING TRANSACTION REQUIRING MAXIIMUM CONFIDENCE.
WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE ILLINOIS GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORATION OF GOODS INTO OUR STATE WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED BY THE RYAN TRIAL. IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TRANSFER INTO YOUR ACCOUNT THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS.
THE SOURCE OF THIS FUND IS AS FOLLOWS; DURING THE LAST REGIME HERE IN ILLINOIS THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SET UP COMPANIES AND AWARDED THEMSELVES CONTRACTS WHICH WERE GROSSLY OVER-INVOICED IN VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS. THE PRESENT CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT SET UP A CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL AND WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A LOT OF INFLATED CONTRACT FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY PENDING PROSECUTION IN ILLINOIS AND ARE READY FOR PAYMENT.
HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS CIVIL SERVANTS AND MEMBERS OF THIS PANEL, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS MONEY IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE PANEL TO LOOK FOR A SEATTLE PARTNER INTO WHOSE ACCOUNT WE WOULD TRANSFER THE SUM OF US$21,320,000.00(TWENTY ONE MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS, PLUS A PARKING SPACE AT THE THOMPSON CENTER). HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE ACCOUNT OWNER 2. 70% FOR US (THE OFFICIALS) 3. 10% TO BE USED IN SETTLING TAXATION AND ALL LOCAL AND HIRED TRUCK EXPENSES. IT IS FROM THE 70% THAT WE WISH TO COMMENCE THE IMPORTATION BUSINESS.
SINCERELY YOURS
TOM KEPLER
on March 29, 2006 at 6:38 pm Doug wrote:
Oh yeah, those pesky letters from Nigerians and Chicagoans.
And what about “forward this to X people and/or Y will happen”? So many people have dilligently forwarded the requisite number of copies, only to have nothing happen. It’s as if the computer … doesn’t even remember you did it.
on March 30, 2006 at 2:28 am Tarun wrote:
Dear Doug,
Dont you just delete such mails???
Or do you enjoy reading such mails?
Tarun
on March 30, 2006 at 10:46 am Doug wrote:
Well, Tarun, I like to check things out for myself. For example, here’s a story my friend Jeff likes to say sort of sums me up …
Back in the summer of ‘82, my brother Ken came to visit me at my new apartment in Chicago, and a few of us guys were up late drinking and carrying on. We walked down to the shore of Lake Michigan in the darkness, and a typical Midwestern thunderstorm was brewing; lightning was striking the lake occasionally nearby.
We discussed whether you’d feel the lightning if you were standing in the water, and none of us knew the answer for sure. We decided the fish probably didn’t notice, but maybe if you were grounded under the water you might feel something. So, emboldened by a belly full of cheap beer, I kicked off my shoes and waded out into the water. Then I stood there until the lightning struck the water again. “No,” I yelled to my friends on shore, “didn’t feel a thing.”
Clicking on the buttons on these scam emails is the logical extension of that sort of behavior, wouldn’t you say?
on March 30, 2006 at 1:00 pm Megan wrote:
I figure Bill Gates owes various members of my family many thousands by now for testing Microsoft’s new e-mail system.