Diplomatic postage scam...

It has been quite a bit of time since, but we have a new scammer on the interwebs.

Name. NANA
SURNAME. POKUAA
Address. Hoogoorddreef,14, Amsterdam

This guy or gal, offered to send me two boxes full of money from Lybia through the diplomatic post no less, via Amsterdam to anywhere in the world for a small diplomatic cargo fee of 540€. 

I am sorry to say that it would be better, if they would open one box, take 1000€ pay the fees, keep the rest for their involvement, and send the boxes over. Sadly this isn't going to happen :(

They also were nice enough to include a lovely photo of stacks of 100$ bills. I would have prefered 500€ stacks, but $ are ok too.

"Dear sir

The diplomat has informed me that he has Arrived Amsterdam with the two boxes.
I am very very happy with this .
I have asked him to contact you so that arrangement can be made for you to receive the two boxes.

Immediately you receive the two boxes ,
I will cross the boarder egypt , from Edypt , I will travel to meet you .

Immediately he arrive , I will make arrangement to cross the boarder Egypt from Egypt , I will travell to meet you in Greece so that we can finalize the investment.
The money was counted before It was handed over to the diplomat .
I took the picture , I have sent you a copy .

Please keep this transaction confidential
sincerely
Dr Nai Ching"



"Dear Sir,

I have received your message and the name of the nearest airport .
The diplomatic cargo fee for the two boxes from Amsterdam to Athens is 540 Eur.

Please make arrangement to send this money by western union money transfer to

Name. NANA
SURNAME. POKUAA
Address. Hoogoorddreef,14, Amsterdam

Please send to me the numbers immediately you send the money

Immediately the money is received , I will send to you the arrival time so that
You can wait for me in the airport.

I will also send to you a copy of my passport so that you can know me on arrival"

The hunt of the internet bad guys

Gizmodo has an article about the hunt of the bad internet guys.
Quite a few stuff, other known other new tricks are revealed there.

"Essentially, these scammers can ruin their victims' lives and leave them totally blind to the fact that they opened the front door.

An Elusive Endgame

Unfortunately there's not too much that Segura can do other than simply raise awareness of active threats. Just putting in calls to the necessary authorities can occasionally shut down the phony sites, many of which operate out of India and pay workers more than they'd see in more legitimate jobs. Thanks to the efforts of Segura (and other security experts like him), the FTC launched a major crackdown on these very same tech support scams just a few years ago.

But while surges of enforcement are certainly helpful, the effects don't last long. Speaking with Gizmodo, Segura explained:

The crackdown really just shuts down some of [the scammer] domains or freezes some of their assets, and then these guys will just start on new websites the next day. It's not like they're going to jail, so they're just constantly switching between the dozens and dozens of websites that they register every day.

I think part of the problem is that some of the local police can be bribed, so [the scammers] have very little to worry about. And if something does happen, they can always just say it was a bad technician in their crew who's now fired. We won't do it again. And that's it.

And even though there's some personal satisfaction to be found in messing with these fake call centers a few times, you're playing a dangerous game:

A few [scammers] will get pissed off easily because some guys on the internet think they're avengers, so they'll ridicule them and waste their time on purpose. When they've been trolled by all sorts of people, they just don't have the patience and will just trash your computer. So I'm always cautious to keep it nice and clean with them; I don't want to insult them. I'd rather do it the proper way. But of course, they're still criminals. They're still scammers.

So at the end of the day, it pays to be kind. That's the only way Segura can get all the information he needs to expose their nefarious practices far and wide.

Almost as quickly as Segura an expose a scam, though, a new one will pop up in its place. A recent variant of the tech support scam actually attempts to convince unsuspecting Netflix users to call in to the fake hotline themselves—after entering their Netflix login information. If followed, this dastardly little trick could hit you pretty much anywhere it hurts, stealing money for fake services and your identity. And now, this same style of scam comes in way more flavors than just Netflix.

The bad guys keep innovating, but thankfully, Segura and others like him will always be on guard to raise the alarm. In the meantime, just be careful what you click—and who you let into your virtual home."

αυτοματα τηλεφωνηματα. robocalls

έλαβα ενα αυτόματο τηλεφώνημα σημερα που με ενημερωνε οτι κέρδισα  832 εύρω σε κουπονια και δωροεπιταγες.
ομολογώ οτι με τη λέξη "κέρδισα " είχαν την προσοχη μου. την έχασαν λίγο όταν άκουσα για κουπονια και τελείως όταν η φωνή στο τηλέφωνο με ρώτησε αν θέλω να με συνδέσει με κάποιον για να μου πει πώς να διεκδικησω τα κέρδη μου και να πίεσω το 1.
οι εικόνες που πέρασαν απο το μυαλό μου ήταν διαδοχικά ενός λαχείου, μιάς επισκεψης σε σουπερμαρκετ κρατώντας κουπονια όπου ξοδεύω άπειρο πόσο για να γλυτώσω 0,01 εύρω εδώ και εκεί και τελικα ενός boiler room στα προτυπα του λύκου της wall street. έκλεισα το τηλέφωνο σκεπτόμενος ότι δεν άξιζα  τον χρόνο ενός τέτοιουτετοι τύπου όποτε βάλανε αυτόματο τηλεφωνητη να κάνει το ξεσκαρταρισμα. λοιπόν. είχαν δίκιο. ο χρόνος μου ειναι πιο πολύτιμος απο τον δικό τούς και όμως μου τον στερουνε. μπορούν να δώσουν τα "κέρδη" στα @@ μου λοιπόν.
+302117703602

Update:

Μερικές μέρες μετά, ξαναπήραν τηλέφωνο και αυτή τη φορά το σήκωσε η πεθερά μου. Η οποία δελεάστηκε και προχώρησε με το τηλεφώνημα. Εκεί μετά από αρκετή ώρα μπλα μπλα, και αφού τη ρώτησαν ένα κάρο προσωπικά στοιχεία, της είπαν ότι τα δώρα ήταν ή ένα σετ ομορφιάς ή δύο άλλα που δεν θυμάμαι και ότι για να τα κερδίσει, έπρεπε να πάρει έναν αριθμό ο οποίος θα κέρδιζε αν ταίριαζε με τον κερδίζοντα αριθμό ενός λαχείου...

Atrazine affects the reproductive system

NewYorker has an excellent piece on how money and big companies manipulate science to say what they want to say.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/10/140210fa_fact_aviv?currentPage=all

In other words, Atrazine has negative effects on both wildlife and humans, despite a bucket load of money that says otherwise.

Advice on eshopping

I came recently across the following website with a couple of very helpful hints on e-shopping:

http://forum.zopomobileshop.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=658&fromuid=13374

among others it would be advisable on expensive orders to video the whole opening process so that you have proof of what arrived with the package.

Scam american express copy cat, Phishing

the following was send to me as a TXT file seemingly from American Express (fraud@aexp.com) however it leads to: http://zabel.fr/gloria/index.html instead of Amex.com or similar. Do not use.

http://zabel.fr/gloria/index.html

   
       
       
       
           


       
       
           


           


           


       
       
           


           


           


           


           


           


       
       
           


           


           


           
           

Irregular Card Activity

           
           


           


           


           


           


       
       
           


           


           


           


           

---

           
           


           


           


       
       
           


           


           


           
Dear Customer,

           
            We detected irregular card activity on your American Express
           
            Check Card on 16 January, 2014.
           
            As the Primary Contact, you must verify your account activity before you can
            continue using your card, and upon verification, we will remove any restrictions
            placed on your account.
           
            To review your account as soon as possible please.
           
            Please click on the link below to verify your information with us:
           
            https://www.americanexpress.com/
           
            If you account information is not updated within 24 hours then your ability
            to access your account will be restricted.
           
            We appreciate your prompt attention to this important matter.
           
           

           

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            © 2014 American Express Company. All rights reserved.
           


           
           

            AMEX Fraud Department
           

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ημελη απάτη δήθεν από το Yahoo; SCAM password change for Yahoo?

Μου έστειλαν αυτό το ημεηλ το οποίο με ανησύχησε. 

1. Δεν είχα ζητήσει επαναφορά κωδικού.

2. Ιανουάριος (;) really?

3. γιατί το yahoo θα έστελνε ημεηλ από λογαριασμό του τύπου cc.yahoo-inc.com και όχι από yahoo.com;

4. πρόσβασής ;

5. σε ποιον λογαριασμό ζήτησα να αλλάξει ο κωδικός;

Υπηρεσίες Μελών Yahoo! ;

Ζητήσατε πρόσφατα επαναφορά κωδικού πρόσβασης για έναν λογαριασμό στο Yahoo!. Για να δημιουργήσετε έναν νέο κωδικό πρόσβασης, κάντε κλικ στην παρακάτω σύνδεση:

Επαναφορά του κωδικού πρόσβασής μου

Το αίτημα αυτό πραγματοποιήθηκε την 16 Ιανουάριος 2014 στις 20:14

Με εκτίμηση,
Υπηρεσίες Μελών Yahoo!

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Παρακαλούμε μην απαντήσετε σ' αυτό το μήνυμα. Το ταχυδρομείο που στάλθηκε σε αυτή τη διεύθυνση δεν μπορεί να απαντηθεί.

με βάση τα παραπάνω, νομίζω ότι ο πλέον ασφαλής τρόπος ανάκτησης κωδικού είναι να στέλνεται στο κινητό με sms.