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Emails, Nigerian Scams, etc.
www.DavidFilm.com
Email, Nigerian Scams
Dangers of "Opting Out"
Prevent Worms from Affecting Your Address Book
Area Code 809
Penny Brown
Typical Email Hoax
A link that Claims
False Promises
Dangerous Virus
JDBGMGR.EXE
Bill Gates Tracking
James Dobson Petition 2493
Too Good To Be True
Nigerian Scam Letters
A New Nigerian Twist
Gullible Users & Manually Driven Worms
Take time out
Check out the facts
If You Are in an Enterprise
How to Prevent Harvesters
Harvested Address Spam
Is Your Email Published on a Website?
Virus Spam
Domain Name Spam
Hacked mail service spam
Hoax Spam
More tools and tips to prevent spam
Not 100% Effective?
Many spammers like to…..
Domain Name tips and scams
Another
Website Promotion Scams
Website Marketing Spam
Quote from Google.com
Example of an email marketing spam message
On most search engines…..
Internet and Email Scams
Have you heard someone say, "I don't know if this works or not, but it is easy and seems harmless, so I did it!". That kind of mentality gets one in trouble. When in doubt, don't.
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Have you received this? "To stop any future mailings, just reply to this message with a subject of REMOVE". Unless your receive this from a known reputable source, beware:
If you reply to this, you accomplish three things:
1-You verify an email address for the spammer as valid.
2-You verify to the spammer that you actually read the mail, and took the time to reply to it.
3-You demonstrate your lack of anti-spam knowledge to the spammer, by falling for this trick.
All of this means that you are more likely to receive more spam by replying. This scheme is also known as a opt-out mailing list and actually causes you to OPT-IN.
Prevent worms from affecting your address book
Worms are viruses that get into a specific area of your hard drive to do it's damage. One in particular works in your email address book. It sends out an email to everyone listed, which multiplies the virus in each one that opens the email. To prevent this, do the folloring:
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Add a new conctact, but call it AAAAAAA#AAA.AAA
Now, here's what happens:
Obviously, this address will be first in your address book. For that reason, the worm will start there, attempting to send a "worm email" to that address.
However, when it does, your email sortware will render it "undeliverable" due to the phony address. Once this happens, the worm goes no further and no one in the address book will get this worm.
Not only this, but you will then be notified of this in your inbox, which will alert you to the fact that you have a worm in your system. Click on left title "Free Help" to download free software to get rid of it.
Pass this on to your friends. If everyone takes the above steps, the worm will become extinct!
FYI: Another way...found this while doing a web search:
Put as the first email adress in adressbook the name:!0000 and the the email adress must be ONLY !0000 (So no @ and a name only !0000
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Area Code 809
Email alerts circulating since 1996 warn consumers not to comply with phone, pager or email requests to dial numbers beginning with the 809 area code to "settle an unpaid account" or "collect a wonderful prize," etc. According to these alerts, that area code covers the Caribbean and can be set up as a "pay-per-call" number (like 900 numbers in the U.S.), with the result that people who respond to requests to dial the numbers can get stuck with whopping phone bills for international calls.
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Penny Brown
A good friend of mine recently sent me an email regarding an alleged missing child, Penny Brown. When told the message was a hoax, she responded in an all too familiar fashion: "I thought it might be, but I sent it just in case." Likewise, I often receive email from readers who became infected after opening an email attachment. Their familiar refrain is, "I knew I probably shouldn't open it, but it came from my cousin/sister/friend." Paul Schmehl, Supervisor of Support Services at the University of Texas at Dallas, reports he often hears:
"I know it used to be a hoax, but I was wondering if it still was."
"I thought it might be bad, but I really wanted to see what it would do."
"It was sent by xyz corp's system admin, so I figured it was genuine."
"I didn't send that mail, so I couldn't be infected."
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Typical Email Hoax
"A virus will be spreading in 48 hours from now!!!! PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL: This message arrived today, Microsoft just announced it.
The information said: If you receive an e-mail with the subject Help, don't open it, don't even move your mouse over it or clean it because with only that action a virus will be activated without the necessity to download any file, it is a cyber-terrorism!!
Wait 48 hours after you receive the virus in order to clean it, otherwise it will erase your hard disk and BIOS. This action doesn't have a cure because the computer startup system is affected and you are not to be able to get in the operating system.
Note: It can arrive with an unknown name or with one of your contacts' name. VERY URGENT, PASS THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO HAS YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS!!!!
This above email is a hoax. A virus cannot get into your system unless you open attached files. Simply dragging your mouse over an icon is not an active command.
A link that claims
to take you to the PayPal (or any other) site could point to a fake site, but thanks to the Microsoft bug it will still say www.paypal.com in your address bar.
If you do not regularly update your operating system from the Windows update site, this bug will still be in your internet browser.
DO NOT assume that by copying the supposed URL (website address) in the body of the email will avoid fraudsters. Although the URL may look genuine, it could have unsuspecting URL's imbedded in it.
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False Promises
Tips by email promising you'll never have to worry about opening email again. The reality is, the tip doesn't work and believing that it will can lead to a very hazardous false sense of security. That in turn, can lead to infection which in turn will be spread to friends and collegues
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Dangerous virus
attachments, and unsuspecting instructions
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This (below) was the latest email I have received in my SPAM box. If you receive this email, DO NOT click on “HERE”. It is a link or attached file to do malicious damage, or lead you to a fake website (see also "Phishing". Even if they tell you your child is a hostage in a school gymnasium, do NOT click on “HERE”
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Dear Chase Member:
We have processed your request to change your e-mail address, based upon the information you supplied.
Beginning immediately, we will send all future e-mail messages,
excluding Alerts, to you at allenbauer@aol.com. Any e-mail addresses that receive Alerts about your accounts will need to be updated separately.
If you did not request this e-mail address change or have any
questions, please cancel this action and reactivate your account HERE.
Please do not respond to this confirmation e-mail.
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Sincerely,
Online Services Team
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If you receive the above text in your email, DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY.
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JDBGMGR.EXE
If you receive an email instructing you to delete “JDBGMGR.EXE” from your computer DO NOT DELETE IT. It is a system file to run Windows.
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Bill Gates/Microsoft Tracking
Do NOT respond to E-mail claims that Bill Gates, Microsoft and AOL are giving away cash and merchandise to those who forward an e-mail message.
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James Dobson Petition 2493
Do NOT respond to E-mail petition #2493 from Dr. James Dobson protesting proposed ban on religious broadcasting. This is a HOAX. If you receive this email, you will find that there is no “Electric_Yellow@Hotmail.com” email address.
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Too Good to be True
Virus hoaxes, scams, and chain letters abound in email. Before forwarding that dire sounding warning or too good to be true promise, check the validity of it here. Chances are, it's a hoax. Virus hoaxes and myths waste time and money - and can make the sender look foolish. Don't fall victim to a virus hoax. Check the list of hoaxes below to find out the facts behind that email.
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Nigerian Scam Letters
There are 540 different examples, and counting.
For some time these Nigerian emails and letters have been sent out. Do not reply to any specific addresses listed here.
The email contends that there are millions of dollars in a bank, usually in Africa. They need you to send money to cover expenses required to transfer this money to your bank account. It is a bait technique to make the risk appealing. After the victim agrees, he is subsequently asked for more for another stage in the process. It is a technique to milk the unsuspecting victim until he no longer cooperates. Often he is even convinced to fly to Nigeria personally
These fraudsters get your email address through "Harvester" software, or "Dictionary" spam which query servers for sequences of email, starting with AAA100 and on. These spammers also circulate CD Rom's of this data to others for profit, even to Nigerian scams.
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Beware a new Nigerian twist!
This one has an attached file, and very likely, the attorney he speaks of to "click on" to contact - could do maliciaous damage. If you get this, DO NOT FORWARD to friends. If you must, copy and paste into a word processor, then save it as a text file - thus getting rid of any attached exe files:
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Mr.James Mathew
Dear Brother/Sister's in Lord Christ Jesus.
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,I am former Mr Ali rasaq,now Mr Mathew James,I am now a new Christian convert,suffering from long time cancer of the lungs. From all indications, my condition is really deteriorating and is quite obvious that I may not live more than six months, because the cancer stage has gotten to a very severe stage.My Wife and our only son was assasinated in a cold blood on the 15th of November 2005………………
………………..So now i am willing to donate the sum of $19.500,000.00 Million US Dollars to your Church/Ministry for the development of evangelism and
also as aids for the less privileged around you.Please note that, this fund is lying in a Security Company in Europe and the company
has branches, therefore my lawyer will file an immediate application for the transfer of the money in the name of your ministry……..
Blah blah blah…….
His Particulars are.
Name :Advocat LEO ADDLER
Contact telephone number: 0044-703-194-8863.
E-mail: leoaddler@netscape.net
Thanks for your assistance may the Lord almighty be with you.
Yours in Christ,
MR MATHEW JAMES.
FROM KUWAIT.
Gullible users turn hoaxes into manually-driven worms
The first worm appeared in cyberspace in 1988, called the infamous Morris Internet worm, the first hoax began circulating. Because the average internet user is often naive, the hoaxes appear more believable than the warnings to avoid them! Ironically, when someone becomes victimized by these, they not only avoid risks to others, but also avoid warning alerts and how to avoid them.
A worm is a computer code that duplicates itself, and passes onto other hard drives, usually on a network or the Internet. It is secretly imbedded in a convincing email that people click on and open attached files.
These worm viruses have one goal: to duplicate itself as much as possible to as many people, the same way a real virus does in our world of sickness and disease.
Calculated out, the manpower and work hour equivalent of dealing with these worms and viruses costs us as a whole over $40 million, even if each person only spent one minute dealing with it.
If someone falls victim to believing a hoax, the embaressment causes them to ignore real warnings of hoaxes or viruses when the do come along. It is much like the man who cried "wolf" so often, that people didn't believe him when the "wolf" was a reality.
Take time out
You have heard the expression "If something is too good to be true, it probably is." in the same way, if the e-mail sounds like a hoax, it probably is. Do not instantly react to save the world. You can be certain, if it's a real threat, the news media and legitimate antivirus sources will publish all the necessary alerts.
Check out the facts
The Hoax Information Center provides a comprehensive list of the most common hoaxes.
1-If you are in a business with a network
ask your system administrator to verify its accuracy.
2-Try a simple search
on a search such as Google to see what information there is about it.
3-When in doubt, don't sent it out.
How to prevent spammers
To prevent "Spy-bots" from harvesting your email address on your website, click on "Free Help" at left. This will make your email address "blind" to spammer software that harvests email addresses, yet will be displayed to the average website surfer.
There are two methods to preventing spam:
1. Harvested email addresses
The spammers use computer software (spider or spam-bot') to scan websites. The "Spam-bot" looks at the html code of every web page, looking for the "@" symbol.
When it finds one, it collects the data on either sides of the "@" character, capturing your email address.
How to find out if your email address is published on a website
a-Go to www.Google.com and type your email address into the search field.
b-Google can usually show if your email address is on any website.
c-If google can find your address you can be sure the spammers have got it.
d-Sometimes the website-page with your email address may be very long, from Google. click the link that says 'Cached' and you will see the page and your email address will be highlighted.
Notify website owners not to publish your email address, even in an innocent comment you may have sent them.
2. Virus Spam
a-A friend of yours sends you an email from his computer which is not virus protected. It was an email sent to him (which contains a virus) by a good friend of his - without either of them knowing it.
b-The virus may search his computer email address book.
c-It then sends emails as an attachment to all those in the address book, without anyone knowing about it.
d-However, the virus changes the 'From address' in emails it sends to disguise where the emails actually came from.
e-The virus looks like it came from someone else. This is why someone may tell you they received a virus from you even though you know your computer is protected.
f-People who are sincere in alerting others of viruses will never inform the original sender that he is sending viruses, since NO ONE knows where the virus originated from.
3. Domain name spam
a-If you own a domain name for a website you are probably getting domain name spam. Spammers use www.whois.com to obtain a list of most of the domain names in the world (ie .com, .net. org).
b-Spammers expect most website owners to set up generic email addresses such as sales@... or info@... They simply send spam to all of the standard generic words @email to every domain name in the world.
How to prevent it.
Do not use a generic email address such as sales@ or info@. Instead use a unique address. Here is a list of all of the generic words the spammers are using:
- info@
- mail@
- sales@
- contact@
- contacts@
- root@
- home@
- contacts@
- enquiries@
- webmaster@.
Note: do not use "catch-all forwarding" that forwards anything@ your-domain. Block everything except specific names at your domain.
4-Dictionary spam
You can sometimes receive dictionary spam when you use a well known email service. The spammers know that there is going to be a johndoe@anyone.com. They setup computers to spam billions of names at that mail service simply by targeting every persons’ name.
How to prevent it:
Hopefully your email service provider has put anti-spam systems in place to prevent this kind of spam. If they haven't then you may have to find a better email service provider.
5. Windows Messenger Spam
Do you get pop-up boxes on your screen with the words "Messenger Service" in the title bar? If so you may be getting Windows Messenger Spam. See below to learn how to turn off Windows Messenger Service
6. Hacked mail service spam
Some ISPs or webmail services may be hacked by spammers or the addresses may be sold to spammers. Read the fine print when signing up for an email account. Watch for “we provide information on this site”. If you can't change your email address, click on "Free Help" at left
7. Hoax Spam
These are messages that innocent people may forward to you with some kind of hoax warning or way to "get rich quick". Never respond to or forward this kind of message. They are hoaxes.
If you 'CC' (carbon copy) your friends and contacts, you may be providing a way for spammers to harvest the email addresses of your friends or contacts.
Typical example: Microsoft tracking hoax, offering cash.
What have you got to lose?
Once you respond to it, YOUR email and others is collected by their database.
More tools and tips to prevent spam
* Anti spam software: There are many tools you can use that check incoming mail and try to detect which is spam and which is not. The spam emails are sent to the recycle folder on your computer. This is the spam filter I recommend and its free: www.electricmail.com/splash/?q=spam
* MailWasher.net is a free tool to check and manage your e-mails before you download them. I used to use this tool when I received a lot of spam. Its easy to use and free. The main benefit is that you can review your email before downloading it, and delete the spam remotely.
* Avoid CC (carbon copy) for group emails that you send out.
If you send an email (to a group of people) that might be forwarded on and on, it could get into the hands of a Spammer, who you can be sure will add the addresses to their spam address database.
Instead use "BCC" (blind carbon copy), this means the recipients do not see the list of email addresses that your message has gone to. Also encourage others to use BCC for groups instead of CC.
* Never add your friends email address to a mailing list.
You will not get a free prize and your friend will not thank you for the extra spam they receive.
Why doesn't
my anti-spam software prevent all of the spam?
Much anti-spam software identifies spam by the following methods:
* Blocking email from known spammer addresses.
* Identifying obscene words in the email.
* Identifying a form e.g. 'click here to buy this rubbish'.
* Identifying certain sales/marketing words.
Many spammers
use systems to do things like the following
* Each individual spam email of the millions they send appears to come from a different address.
* The invite to buy something is actually an image of text, not real text, so it can't be read by your computer. The text behind the image is random words that you don't see but look innocent to your computer.
The invite is to click a link for a website, so there is not a form on the email. The form to buy something is on the website.
Domain Name tips and scams
Be careful about letters warning that your Domain Name will expire
Do not send money to a company you have never heard of. This seems obvious, however a huge number of domain owners send money to domain scammers without question, even though they have never heard of the company requesting payment. Here's how it works:
1-You may receive a letter by post or as email spam saying something like the following:
* Your domain name is about to expire!
* You must renew your name now or it will be lost...
* Failure to renew your domain name by the expiration date may result in a loss of your online identity making it difficult for your customers and friends to locate you on the web...
2-If you receive this kind of note first check it comes from the company you bought the name from. If you are not sure call the company you bought the domain name from.
3-If the letter is not from either of these it is probably just an 'advertisement' to persuade you transfer management of your domain name to the sender. The problem is that many of these advertisements do not look like an advertisement they are worded to scare you into thinking that if you do not pay the sender (by credit card) immediately then your domain name will be lost.
4-Instead check with the company you bought your name from, and ask them about the expiration of your name. You will probably find they will contact you in due course to let you know it is time to renew your domain name.
5-How do they get your address? Companies can use the whois database to find addresses and information about most domain names.
Example: Court Bars Company from Misleading Consumers in Domain Name Services.
6-You do not need to buy every variation of your domain name
Another kind of spam
is to tell you that you can buy .biz, .org, .info and many other variations. They tell you that you must buy these now otherwise your competitors will buy them, or they may say you can make millions online if you have all these extra domain names. In reality they just want you to buy extra names for their profit. In my opinion most people / companies do not need 20 domain names, in most cases one domain is enough for your company / website / email.
It may be wise to buy very similar names to prevent your competitors from doing so, e.g. if you own your company.co.uk you may wish to buy yourcompany.com. Buy extra names if you want, but not because a spam or name seller has scared you into it.
Website Promotion Scams
This page is for website owners / managers.
Are you inundated with phone calls or emails saying things like: "Let us promote your website...." or "Add your site to our highly popular directory...". There is a dramatically increasing number of so called website promotion companies. Many of them have teams dedicated to calling every website they can find (on the search engines). Others send you spam email. Here is my basic rule:
a-If a promotion company finds you, they are probably bad.
b-If you find them they are probably good.
Think about it: Why would a website promotion company need to cold call/email? If they were so good they would promote their own website effectively and their market would find them!
* They often find your email address by harvesting it from your website, see harvested address spam.
* or via domain name spam.
* Links: Some of these companies offer to arrange links for your website. Hiring companies to arrange links can also be very dangerous! Most of them will get bad links which will result in a 'search engine rank penalty' ie your site losing its rank. The best way to get good links is for you to arrange them carefully and honestly from high quality websites e.g. some of your clients may write a recommendation (link) on their site about your services.
Website Marketing Spam
* If you have a website you may receive emails from companies that claim to have reviewed your website and offer to market the site to thousands of search engines. The email looks like a real person has checked the site. What really happens is an automatic system visits millions of sites and harvests the email addresses from the sites. Then 'it' sends a message offering to promote your website e.g. to submit your site to 500,000 search engines.
Any company that sends spam email has no credibility. These tools do not get good results and can get your site banned from the major search engines.
* These so called 'marketing opportunities' are sent to millions of people by a computer NOT A REAL PERSON. The message may look personal, it may have your email address, your website name, even a picture of your website - this is all done with mass-scanning systems that crawl the internet.
Quote from Google.com
Google.com says such services are bad. Google.com is a major search engine. This is what they say about email marketing spam:
Be wary of marketing firms that send you email out of the blue.
Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:
"Dear google.com, I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."
Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for "burn fat at night" diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.
Example of an email marketing spam message
Hi:
I visited WWW.YOUR-SITE.COM, and noticed that you're not listed on some search engines! I think we can offer you a service which can help you increase traffic and the number of visitors to your website.
I would like to introduce you to TrafficXYZ.com. We offer a unique technology that will submit your website to over 300,000 search engines and directories every month.
You'll be surprised by the low cost, and by how effective this website promotion method can be.
To find out more about TrafficXYZ and the cost for submitting your website to over 300,000 search engines and directories, visit www.TrafficXYZ.con.
I would love to hear from you.
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Our advice is: DO NOT USE THESE SERVICES! they can get your website penalized on the important search engines!
About searching online
There are many search engines to choose from, here are some of the popular ones:
1. Google.com Probably the world's most popular search engine.
2. Yahoo.com Yahoo and MSN seem to be following Google’s lead in how search results are provided.
3. MSN.com Microsoft's search engine.
On most search engines
some of the listings are sponsored (those who pay the most are listed higher) and some of the listings are 'natural' (the search engine 'found' those sites and ranks them highly). A few years ago almost all search engine listings were free. However, in the last year or two, paid search engine listing has become big business (for the search engines). This means that increasingly the results pages on the big search engines includes more and more sponsored listings. The huge potential profit in the search business means you can expect the search 'landscape' to change a lot over the next few years as the big search engines fight it out to provide more popular engines are better ways to make money.
It’s not that there is anything wrong with the sponsored listings, its just that you may want to know and understand why certain sites are listed. So, if you see a note saying 'Sponsored' (or something similar) then you know those sites are listed there because they paid to be in that position.
Internet and Email Scams
More internet and email scams.
* Lottery win scam
You receive an email (fax or letter) to say you have won a substantial amount in a lottery. However you have to pay to get the money. Guess what happens to the money you pay...
* Cancer fundraising scam email
You receive an email: This person is suffering from cancer.... Go to this website... buy $100+ of products there... all sales commissions will go towards treatment... No it doesn't, your money goes to the pond-life scammer!
* Renew domain name scam
Owners of a domain name receive a letter to say renew it urgently by sending a check/payment to this company (a company you have never heard of).
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