Indentity theft via spam
This is almost a follow-up on a post I wrote a while back called Inventive Spam, but really this is much more serious.
Identity theft is something that many people worry about when purchasing things online. If you are unsure what the term “Indentity Theft” means, I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest description. Indentity theft is when someone, other than yourself, gets access to personal (and especially) financial information for you and then can act in your behalf. A very small form of identity theft is literally stealing your credit card from your wallet/purse and using it and signing your name.
The Internet, and technology in general, has taken this “art” to a whole new plateau. Hackers, really good ones generally, have the ability to intercept business transactions over the Internet to acquire things like cell phone numbers, credit card numbers, free phone cards, etc. etc. etc. This ability has been constrained over recent years, and I really do feel that security in this area has improved greatly and continues to do so.
However, spam has been affected “the connected” for many years and many people believe almost everything they get in E-mail. Don’t. Do me, and yourselves, a huge favor by not responding to E-mail dealing with any of the following: your bank account information, your paypal information, your eBay information or any personal or financial information.
Examples
A few examples to watch out for are E-mails from Wamu Bank, Paypal (or someone pretending to be such), and people looking to collected inheritences in our country from another country.
Below is an example of an E-mail, which is a fraudulent try to get my personal information from Wamu Bank:
Security Center Advisory!
Washington Mutual is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of buyers and sellers. To protect the security of your account, Washington Mutual employs some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud teams regularly screen the Washington Mutual system for unusual activity.
We recently have determined that different computers have logged onto your Washington Mutual Online Banking account, and multiple password failures were present before the logons. We now need you to re-confirm your account information to us. If this is not completed by 10 February, 2005, we will be forced to suspend your account indefinitely, as it may have been used for fraudulent purposes. We thank you for your cooperation in this manner.
In order to confirm your Online Bank records, we may require some specific information from you.
Please follow the link below and renew your account information :
https://linkylinkylinkylinky.moronicpeopleclickthis.com/Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure meant to help protect you and your account.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choise but to temporaly suspend your account.
Thank you for using Washington Mutual!
The best part about this is that I do not have a Washington Mutual account. Sorry fellas, not close and no cigar.
Here is an example of someone trying to have me collect an inheritence for them in the USA from another country. What do I get out of it? Supposedly I would get like 25% of $35,000,000. Trust me, if this were true, I’d be blogging from the back seat of a limo.
Dear Colin,
I am Barr.James Wani, solicitor and notary public the personal attorney to Mr.Mark Devroe, the president Diamond Safaries co. Ltd. Accra-Ghana Who is a national of your country.On the 21st of April 2002, my client, his wife and their only son were involved in a car accident along Accra / Kumasi express road.Unfortunately they all lost their lives in the event of the accident, since then i have made several enquiries to locate any of my clients extended relatives and this has also proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet, to locate any member of his family but of no avail, hence I contacted you.I contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind before
they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the security company where my client lodge these huge deposits.Particularly, the security company where the deceased had an account valued at about U.S$35million U.S dollars. Consequently, the security company issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within a short time.Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over some years now,I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you share the same surname so that the proceeds of the account valued at U.S$35million can be paid to
you for both of us to share the funds; 70% to me and 25% to you, while 5% should be for expenses or tax as your government may require. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to backup the claim.All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.Please get in touch with me through my e-mail to enable us discuss further.
Brilliant! Don’t believe this crap! Please.
Ok, now onto my favorite online bank, Paypal. Here is an example of a fake Paypal message.
Dear PayPal Member,
Your account has been randomly flagged in our system as a part of our routine security measures. This is a must to ensure that only you have access and use of your PayPal account and to ensure a safe PayPal experience. We require all flagged accounts to verify their information on file with us. To verify your Information at this time, please visit our secure server webform by clicking the hyperlink below
Click here to verify your Information
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
This example all comes formated in HTML with the Paypal logo, it looks like Paypal’s monthly newsletter and announcements, it’s a really good fake.
Now how to figure out if a spam is fake.
How to protect yourself
Didn’t your Health Class teacher tell you? Abstinence is the best policy? So if you do not respond to any E-mails pertaining to personal or financial information than you will be safe. However, there are some easy ways to discern that an E-mail is a fake.
Online banks will never ask, via E-mail, for your password. They may ask for your password on their Website, but never through E-mail. Always be sure that you are on the official company Website. Do not click a link in E-mail, but rather type the address in yourself. This way, you can be certain you are exactly where you want to be.
Paypal, as an example, will never address you (see above example) as Dear Paypal Member. Paypal will always call you by name, or business name. Since spammers do not have access to personal information, they do not have the ability (normally) to call you by name in the E-mail.
Another sign that all the above E-mails were fake, was that the spam message was sent to an address which I do not have setup for use with Wamu or Paypal. First of all, as I stated before, I do not have a Washington Mutual account. Secondly, the E-mail that was sent “from Paypal” was sent to an E-mail address which I do not have a Paypal account on. Always something to watch out for.
Oh yeah, and if someone is going to get a $35,000,000 inheritence, they won’t be E-mailing you and offer you 25% of it. Trust me, no one is that nice.
I hope you can use this information to help safeguard yourselves from Indentity Theft via E-mail.
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