Beware of Fake Hallmark Cards

It's that time of the season when people might be still sending each other "New Year Cards."

Some these ecards will point to ecard sites where you'll find a card from a friend waiting for you.

Some others, however, are phishing messages. If you click the link, an executable program will start running on your machine and god knows what will happen next! At the very least, a spyware code will be embedded into your system (if you're using a Windows machine).

Here is one I received today, supposedly from Hallmark company.

(Image to be added later on.)

The giveaway is the URL address that displays on the Status Bar when you hover your cursor above the link WITHOUT actually clicking it (don't!).

The link is pointing at

http://neander-buertechnik.de/card.exe

a web site in Denmark! And ready to unleash the executable "Card.exe"

Clicker beware.

How to Tell Fake Phishing E-Mails from Real Ones

There is a very easy way to tell a fake phishing e-mail from a real one.

One immediate clue is to receive it from a bank where you have no account. That one is obvious (you would think) but still you'd be amazed how many people take such mails seriously despite the fact that they know they don't have an account at the said institution.

More importantly:

Such e-mails ALWAYS include a web URL link that they want you to click and visit to "update your critical security information" etc.

BEFORE clicking it, HOVER your cursor on the link and then look at the STATUS BAR at the bottom of your browser window to see the REAL ADDRESS that the link is pointing to.

If that address has nothing to do with the real-looking URL in the letter, then you can rest assured that you are the target of a phishing expedition that could drain your bank account before you know what.

Most of the time, such real addresses will have foreign country suffixes at the end since they are usually sent by scam artists from other countries. That would be a dead giveaway as well.

Remember: the e-mail address from where the e-mail seems to be originating from means NOTHING since it can easily be faked. Once I even received a scam mail from MY OWN E-MAIL ADDRESS! Wow... the scam operators really went overboard with that one without being aware of it.

The URL typed inside the body of the mail also means nothing because it is just plain text.

But the real web address to which that text is linked - that cannot be faked that easily.

Just hover your cursor over any link that you suspect and find out the real address the link is pointing at. That can save you a lot of unnecessary headache.

SCAMGLISH Gives Away E-Mail Scams

If you are not sure if an e-mail offer is a scam or not, just look at the English with which it is written.

Almost all scam letters have ungrammatical, awkward, stilted and sometimes outright laughable English (or, "Scamglish") since the text is copied and pasted many times over during the life cycle of the scam, without hardly any proofreading or anybody taking the time to make sure it is a grammatically correct letter. I doubt if some of them can even write or speak standard English.

Scam artists do not have the time for such niceties, thanks goodness. Otherwise how would we immediately recognize them?

Here are some recent gems that ended up in my mail box today... Enjoy!

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“You would be paid $450 every two weeks to a total of $900 per month.”

“Commission: 10% of every money order/check that is cashed instantly "cash in hand"
or "cash on counter" is what you get from the total cashed amount.”

“…our company supports any fees.”

“Thank You for taking your time to read our offer.”

“…we do not have a payment receiving personnel in these Areas.”

“I am very happy to inform you about my success in getting those funds transferred…”

“Furnish him with your informations like; Your full name.............”

Bad English (or “Scamglish”) Gives Away E-Mail Scams

I’ve yet received another “Lottery Winning Notification” – this time from Microsoft (!). Ho ho ho!

There are two items that give away these scams immediately:

1) The domain name of the return link is invariably registered in some foreign country (Hong Kong, Slovenia, Russia, UK, Netherlands, Japan, etc.) but never in the United States. Just check out the last two letters of the domain name and consult the following country list: http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/domains.html

2) Bad English is the second giveaway since these messages are copied and pasted many times over, sometimes by scam artists who do not even know any English! And the results show...

Here are some sentences written in Scamglish, quoted from the “Microsoft lottery” letter that I’ve mentioned:

“…the Lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you 1,000, 000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) DATE: 9/APRIL/2007 DRAW NUM: 1 It was held in London (UK) the claims agent assigned to you to, for the Release of your prize…”

“…a wide range of web hosts which we Enjoy their patronage…”

We are all lucky that, even though the bad guys are smart enough to come up with these schemes, they are never smart enough to proofread and edit their English copy.

E-MAIL SCAM ~ “Iraqi re-construction effort”

This is a new one… Someone with an Arabic name is sending e-mails on behalf of the “Iraqi re-construction effort” and “PM Al-maliki regime” to solicit “your co-operation in a multi million dollars worth of contracts to supplies on various goods /construction…”

Notice the bad English. Usually these scam letters contain grammatical or stylistic errors since they are copied many times over before being sent out, sometimes by scam artists who can barely read or understand English. Random errors made during such replications inevitably multiply over so many copy-and-paste cycles.

All scam letters claim they are trying to give you money (and millions of dollars at that) if only you would “cooperate”… And the kind of “cooperation” they have in mind requires you (eventually) turning over all your bank account information to parties you don’t even know!

But the first letter is always a “warm-up letter” asking only for your “direct telephone numbers and exclusive e-mail and a scanned attachment of your well articulated tender/products and prices.”

And once you do that and prove to them that you will follow orders like a sheep, you will be demanded in a subsequent letter to turn over your bank information as well so that they can “transfer” your “fee” in return for your “indispensable services…” etc.

The letter usually comes from an “intermediary” who speaks “on behalf” of someone rich and powerful. This other person, the “real boss,” is either trying to transfer money out of a troubled country or has a business offer for the taking. The “Iraqi re-construction” scam is of the latter type.

Another give-away in this scam is the country-code at the end of the return e-mail – “si”, which stands not for Iraq but Slovenia.

If you can convince yourself why Prime Minister Al-Maliki’s “director general of the budget department/debt management office (DMO) of the ministry of finance” would send you a job solicitation e-mail from Slovenia, then perhaps you deserve to be parted from your savings as well.