More Internet Scams & How to identify them

by

scam-alertTwo ‘old’ scams have started doing the rounds again:

  • Parcel carrier receipt &
  • Log in to collect tax refund scams

You might have been suspicious of either – not expecting a parcel and, even less likely, not expecting a tax refund – but all scams are not the same so its worth noting how these particular ones give themselves away.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

In this scam using the famous UPS brand the initial and clinching give-away is the e-mail address of the sender kuwaiesu37@gmail.com – clearly not UPS nor any business address.

The UPS logo is not correct: – this you may not know but most corporations are fanatical about preserving their image across all communications.

Then none of the text of the e-mail gives any details of me the recipent, the office address, date of sending (thus starting the 30-day clock) all  encouraging me to click the link to see the ‘receipt’.

So, click the link … NO! You will see that this is a zip file – anything can be hidden in a zip file, probably an executable and in that exeutable there’s likely to be a virus, trojan or some such nasty.

3 areas that say – ‘Delete Me‘!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Again the sender’s address is not a HMRC address – black.com describing rather well the ‘black hat’ (the scammer) so immediately this is  ‘wrong’.

The e-mail contains no reference numbers names etc. and curiously uses 632.25GBP rather than £632.25. Tellingly a warning is made that I will not see the refund on my account for a few days … a few days for them to transfer funds OUT of my account and disappear into the night.

How? – you will see a link to somewhere where I will be invited to supply my banking details at sign in 

well, hovering the cursor over the link shows where it will take me and that is certainly not an HMRC site but  a web site called www.need.vn (probably in Vietnam) where a mock-up screen would take my details and make off with my money asap.

These are simple errors of design/method the foolish thieves make that make most of them stand out … but sadly many people still get caught.

Mike Bean