scam email to wrong address
Thread Starter
scam email to wrong address
I have received a scam reply email, about an advert I have on AFORS, but what I can't understand is how the scammer found out my business email address and sent to it when I only have my hotmail address in the advert.
Very strange, going to the trouble of finding another address when the one in the advert has proved to be fine for everyone else.
I have been quite careful to who I supply my business email address to. I give my hotmail address out widely, and then generally ignore anything that I don't expect to see in the inbox/junk mailbox.
How did the two addresses become connected together?
Rans6....
Very strange, going to the trouble of finding another address when the one in the advert has proved to be fine for everyone else.
I have been quite careful to who I supply my business email address to. I give my hotmail address out widely, and then generally ignore anything that I don't expect to see in the inbox/junk mailbox.
How did the two addresses become connected together?
Rans6....
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Scammers use sophisticated spybot programs to trawl many billions of webpages to harvest addresses. Poorly-regulated forums with a lack of security consciousness, are a classic. It only needs someone to make a comment that your business is recommended, and put up your complete email address on the forum with the ampersand included, and it can be harvested by spy bot programs.
Many businesses have a lackadaisical approach to internet security, and put up webpages with lots of useful info (for their own internal requirements), and then fail to understand that anyone with a computer and internet connection can access them.
I once discovered a webpage (easily) with a huge list of business owners names, addresses, phone no's, email addresses, etc., that had been put up by a business I had once purchased a small item from. I was stunned to find all my contact and personal details there. I was appalled, and immediately emailed them to get them to either take it down, or put immediate, controlled access restriction on it. It did get taken down eventually, but possibly not before a lot of scammers did some high-fives over finding it.
Many businesses have a lackadaisical approach to internet security, and put up webpages with lots of useful info (for their own internal requirements), and then fail to understand that anyone with a computer and internet connection can access them.
I once discovered a webpage (easily) with a huge list of business owners names, addresses, phone no's, email addresses, etc., that had been put up by a business I had once purchased a small item from. I was stunned to find all my contact and personal details there. I was appalled, and immediately emailed them to get them to either take it down, or put immediate, controlled access restriction on it. It did get taken down eventually, but possibly not before a lot of scammers did some high-fives over finding it.
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onetrack,
One of many techniques unfortunatley......
Don't forget about dictionary attacks, black market list sales, and marketing information sharing if you register somewhere with opt-out rather than opt-in.
Scammers use sophisticated spybot programs to trawl many billions of webpages to harvest addresses.
Don't forget about dictionary attacks, black market list sales, and marketing information sharing if you register somewhere with opt-out rather than opt-in.
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rans6andrew,
It's a fact of life on the internet that no matter how careful, you will eventually receive at least one spam message to your email address. Get over it. Sorry, but it's the honest truth.
Rather than wasting time "finding another address" ...seeing as it is a business address, invest in better anti-spam measures.
I have received a scam reply email, about an advert I have on AFORS, but what I can't understand is how the scammer found out my business email address and sent to it when I only have my hotmail address in the advert.
Very strange, going to the trouble of finding another address when the one in the advert has proved to be fine for everyone else.
Very strange, going to the trouble of finding another address when the one in the advert has proved to be fine for everyone else.
It's a fact of life on the internet that no matter how careful, you will eventually receive at least one spam message to your email address. Get over it. Sorry, but it's the honest truth.
Rather than wasting time "finding another address" ...seeing as it is a business address, invest in better anti-spam measures.
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Last week, one of my e-mail addresses, not one that is in regular use as it receives so much spam that Orange's spam filter can't cope, received an e-mail. It was correctly addressed and mentioned me by name. It advised me that my new laptop had been dispatched as instructed and my account would therefore be debited by $1100! eh? - I would expect my bank account to be debited by so many GBP, but naturally no account details were mentioned as the e-mail was insecure!
It is very hard not to take any action when receiving such an e-mail, particularly as I had no knowledge of placing such an order and certainly had no intention of my bank account being debited with an unauthorised sum! Naturally the e-mail contained links to contact te "vendor". Unfortunately I failed to resist the temptation to investigate the link given and on clicking on it, Avast immediately informed me that a website was attempting to download a trojan onto my computer. Thank heavens for a fully updated Avast! Naturally, no attempt has been made to debit my account with $1000 or any other unauthorised amount!
P.P.
It is very hard not to take any action when receiving such an e-mail, particularly as I had no knowledge of placing such an order and certainly had no intention of my bank account being debited with an unauthorised sum! Naturally the e-mail contained links to contact te "vendor". Unfortunately I failed to resist the temptation to investigate the link given and on clicking on it, Avast immediately informed me that a website was attempting to download a trojan onto my computer. Thank heavens for a fully updated Avast! Naturally, no attempt has been made to debit my account with $1000 or any other unauthorised amount!
P.P.
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
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Originally Posted by mixture
It's a fact of life on the internet that no matter how careful, you will eventually receive at least one spam message to your email address. Get over it. Sorry, but it's the honest truth.
Rather than wasting time "finding another address" ...seeing as it is a business address, invest in better anti-spam measures.
Rather than wasting time "finding another address" ...seeing as it is a business address, invest in better anti-spam measures.
Rans6 - are there any clues in either your hotmail name, AFORS name/advert or back-up address for hotmail that could do it?
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I just got my first one for a long time now....for a laugh, here it is.....it's the final line that is the funniest bit of it; they even want to assert copyright on the scam, in the name of the well known "HSBC Bank UK National Association, Inc!"
The worrying part is that I am an HSBC Bank cardholder. Now, is that a coincidence, or do they have the list?
Dear HSBC Bank UK Cardholder,
You have one new message. you are requested to
______________________________________________________
Thanks for your co-operation. Fraud Prevention Unit Legal Advisor HSBC Bank UK.
Please do not reply to this message. For any inquiries, contact Customer Service.
© 2010 HSBC Bank UK. National Association, Inc.
The worrying part is that I am an HSBC Bank cardholder. Now, is that a coincidence, or do they have the list?
Dear HSBC Bank UK Cardholder,
You have one new message. you are requested to
______________________________________________________
Thanks for your co-operation. Fraud Prevention Unit Legal Advisor HSBC Bank UK.
Please do not reply to this message. For any inquiries, contact Customer Service.
© 2010 HSBC Bank UK. National Association, Inc.
Last edited by Capot; 27th Jun 2010 at 22:17.
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OK, done that.
I just got another one, that began, for a few seconds, to wind me up until I saw the bit about "wireless banking" and then looked at the bottom...
[FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=-1]Dear Customer,
As part of our ongoing commitment to customer security we are constantly looking for
new and improved ways to protect you and your assets.
Your HSBC Internet Banking access has been disabled. You will not be able to access
your accounts,Billpayments Online or Wireless banking.
Due to security of your online account access we recommend you to reactivate
your access. Please use the hyperlink below for assistance.
Please note that to reactivate your access simply logon to our website:
HSBC Bank Middle East.
Copyright © 2010 HSBC Bank.
HSBC Bank Uk. Regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission © 2010
I just got another one, that began, for a few seconds, to wind me up until I saw the bit about "wireless banking" and then looked at the bottom...
[FONT=Trebuchet MS][SIZE=-1]Dear Customer,
As part of our ongoing commitment to customer security we are constantly looking for
new and improved ways to protect you and your assets.
Your HSBC Internet Banking access has been disabled. You will not be able to access
your accounts,Billpayments Online or Wireless banking.
Due to security of your online account access we recommend you to reactivate
your access. Please use the hyperlink below for assistance.
Please note that to reactivate your access simply logon to our website:
HSBC Bank Middle East.
Copyright © 2010 HSBC Bank.HSBC Bank Uk. Regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission © 2010
Click on the links and fill in false details. I love messing these guys around. Sent some Nigerian into Western Union twice last week, thinking he was getting USD$500. Soon the WU staff will realise what they're up to and ban them.
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Those links
Capot - the links still have the "hidden" URLs attached to them. simply removing the link text doesn't get rid of the URL that is opened if anyone clicks on them. You can see that if you hover over the link with your mouse pointer. Look at the foot of the window and you'll see the intended URL.
Please delete the links from your messages.
Ta
ST
Please delete the links from your messages.
Ta
ST
Thread Starter
firstly let me assure you all that I am not worried by this spam activity, I am just curious as to how an advert on AFORS, which ONLY has my hotmail address associated with it, appears to have caused spam in my business (non hotmail) email inbox. The content of the email, while referencing AFORS is in the usual spam style, ie "how much is your item?" which is clearly stated in the advert, "can you work with our agents in your country to arrange shipment?" and nothing to do with the aircraft for sale, which would seem to be the questions asked by genuine prospective purchasers.
As far as I can tell I have never used my business email in connection with selling anything on the www, something I very rarely do. I don't have a website or personal pages with my email address in, I have a life!.
I was in 2 minds about winding up the idiots that send this rubbish but in the end I could not be bothered. DELETE - SORTED.
Of course, as one responder noted, it might be someone who knows me going for the wind-up, in which case the DELETE button was the correct choice.
Rans6...
As far as I can tell I have never used my business email in connection with selling anything on the www, something I very rarely do. I don't have a website or personal pages with my email address in, I have a life!.
I was in 2 minds about winding up the idiots that send this rubbish but in the end I could not be bothered. DELETE - SORTED.
Of course, as one responder noted, it might be someone who knows me going for the wind-up, in which case the DELETE button was the correct choice.
Rans6...
I clicked on that link before it was deleted and had to go past two warning screens from my security software. I filled in a few random numbers which it took before redirecting me to the genuine HSBC site.
You can fill in swear words instead of numbers if you want to.
You can fill in swear words instead of numbers if you want to.
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I use a $10/annum service offered by Spamex. This gives me the use of 500 disposable email addresses. Use one, if you get Spam on it close it down and move to one of the other 499. I appreciate that this service might not be interest to people with high volumes of mail and who probably don't want to be changing their email address twice a month! It suits me as a low volume (30 a day) user
Last edited by A2QFI; 1st Jul 2010 at 07:51.
If you use Outlook there is a nifty program (free) called Pocketknife Peek that allows you to look at the details of any suspicious email, without opening it.
Have a look at PocketKnife
Have a look at PocketKnife
