COMPUTER SCAM

[Foureyes]

GENERAL WARNING
There is a computer scam doing the rounds in which the sender (always a friend of the recipient) sends an e-mail claiming to have been mugged while on holiday abroad and asking for an urgent loan of some £2,500 to tide him/her over this crisis. The sender helpfully includes details of the bank to which the money is to be sent.
I have been 'hit' on three seperate times over the past eight months and have learnt that:
A. The sender doers NOT know this is happening until one of the recipients tells him.
B. It works on the scammer somehow entering the sender's address list which then generates these messages at some preset time later.
C. Once identified, it is difficult to eradicate but I understand that BT knows how to do it.
The reason that I am posting this here is that all three of these messages that I have received were sent from computers owned by Old Blues (without their knowledge, of course).
I have told Margaret about this and she has told C.H. IT, but they say that there is nothing they can do about it.
Please be warned!!!
If any other Old Blues have been hit in this way they might perhaps post it here, but I have no idea what we can all do about it.
David

[sejintenej]

GENERAL WARNING
There is a computer scam doing the rounds in which the sender (always a friend of the recipient) sends an e-mail claiming to have been mugged while on holiday abroad and asking for an urgent loan of some £2,500 to tide him/her over this crisis. The sender helpfully includes details of the bank to which the money is to be sent.
I have been 'hit' on three seperate times over the past eight months and have learnt that:
A. The sender doers NOT know this is happening until one of the recipients tells him.
B. It works on the scammer somehow entering the sender's address list which then generates these messages at some preset time later.
C. Once identified, it is difficult to eradicate but I understand that BT knows how to do it.
The reason that I am posting this here is that all three of these messages that I have received were sent from computers owned by Old Blues (without their knowledge, of course).
I have told Margaret about this and she has told C.H. IT, but they say that there is nothing they can do about it.
Please be warned!!!
If any other Old Blues have been hit in this way they might perhaps post it here, but I have no idea what we can all do about it.
David

Here's another one in today's paper
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... ments.html

[J.R.]

I certainly haven't been hit by the CH scam e-mail - YET.

Out of interest, I use the free programme SUPERAntiSpyware alongside my anti-virus programme.

It specifically searches for malaware and spywear. and only takes a few minutes to run as and when you want. My local PC Doctor swears by it, and uses it on his home PC AT LEAST once a week !

To date, it has located and destroyed THREE potentially hazzardous attacks.

[DavidRawlins]

I use Superantispywear every morning,after down loading its new anti virus data. It produces a lot every day. It usually eradicates some 20 viruses etc every day; most of them are not serious.

[NTN]

I was recently "Informed" that 50 of my files had been "Infected", but if I logged on to a certain address, giving my E mail Address, and paying some money ---- ----

I rang my Computer Guru -- Raj, whoinformed me that ANY request for your Emai address and money is a "Scam"

I deleted the offending item, and the computer -- as you see is OK !

[sejintenej]

I was recently "Informed" that 50 of my files had been "Infected", but if I logged on to a certain address, giving my E mail Address, and paying some money ---- ----
I rang my Computer Guru -- Raj, whoinformed me that ANY request for your Emai address and money is a "Scam"
I deleted the offending item, and the computer -- as you see is OK !

Raj was absolutely right. Professionally I saw this far far too often. There are a number of dangers to watch out for:

- any request for your details (even name or address and especially any information about any type of account - store, bank ......... is a scam. Any statement that your bank is suspending access is a scam (IF your bank emails you it is probably a scam so go to your local branch and enquire) - do not open any message from a financial institution without a physical check (and if Barclays / Lloyds / NatWest etc. complains about this statement report them to the FSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- If you are offered a loan/ credit card etc. out of the blue it is almost certainly a scam: I had an email from a bank I know well but from what I knew to be a false address as an example.

- never ever open any email attachment unless you know the sender very well. If in doubt email the friend using the address already in your computer (NOT the return address on the message) and ask if the attachment is OK. A sensible friend will understand that you are being careful.

- ensure you have a self-updating anti-virus program. I use Avast and get updates at least 3 times a day. It is free and can be downloaded easily (Google the word avast). (There are several other free ones but it is advisable to use a couple at the same time. Each company strives to find a solution to each new virus and someone wins the race each time.

- ensure that you have a CD from which you can recreate your operating system. (This laptop on Windows 7 has an automatic popup which operated until I created a backup CD). This is in case you are invaded and have to wipe your hard disk.

- you need a firewall (blocks external access to your PC) but I can't advise you on that. If you don't have one, whilst your computer is switched on and connected any nasty bar steward could use your computer to access another; this is used for "denial of service" (by creating so many accesses that the target is swamped - a criminal action which was carried out by a foreign power to close down all internet communications in the western half of the USA a while ago).

OK, you might not be taken for "too much; I saw one self-made businessman taken for a mere USD6.7 million and others literally killed so be careful

I understand that the later versions of Windows have many of these protections built in but you must enable updates and it would not hurt to check with your "Raj".


HTH

[NTN]

On a similar line --- Dorset Police have been concerned again, about "Distraction" Burglaries,
But have praised an elderly Lady, who on being approached by "Water Board" Officials realised that "Water Boards" no longer exixt ---- took the van number, rang 999 and they are now behind bars !!
I love it --- geriatrics fighting back !

[jhopgood]

I was recently "Informed" that 50 of my files had been "Infected", but if I logged on to a certain address, giving my E mail Address, and paying some money ---- ----
I rang my Computer Guru -- Raj, whoinformed me that ANY request for your Emai address and money is a "Scam"
I deleted the offending item, and the computer -- as you see is OK !

Raj was absolutely right. Professionally I saw this far far too often. There are a number of dangers to watch out for:

HTH

This tip was probably included in your long reply, but I always run the cursor over the reply address or web site. Unless it shows as someone or web site I recognise, I immediately delete.
You must not click on the address or web site, since this will download it onto your computer, but just running the mouse over it without clicking should show you the address.
I am fortunate in that my internet provider filters almost everything out, (156 in the probable spam file on their server at the moment), so I receive relatively few.

[sejintenej]

This tip was probably included in your long reply, but I always run the cursor over the reply address or web site. Unless it shows as someone or web site I recognise, I immediately delete.
You must not click on the address or web site, since this will download it onto your computer, but just running the mouse over it without clicking should show you the address.
I am fortunate in that my internet provider filters almost everything out, (156 in the probable spam file on their server at the moment), so I receive relatively few.

I think that this is important especially now that apparently the simple act of opening an email message rather than an attachment as heretofore can give you a virus.

For various rerasons I use a number of ISPs, some OK and some not so good.
Free and Online show the entire sender address when you go to and before selecting a message to read
Yahoo does not show the sender and I have not been able to find out how to get the entire headers
Orange shows the sender's full address on the message automatically and full headers one click away; v good (in fact far more than the usual headers is shown making tracing even easier).
Laposte and Tiscali (UK version) are similar to Orange but classical full headers are shown after one click.

No, I don't use all those; Free was my dialup ISP and gives Online as a backup; I stilll use them. After Free I went to Alice who gave me Laposte as a backup; I have left Alice (TalkTalk France) and gone to Orange as French telephone service supplier. Yahoo is one of my main ISPs. Tiscali is used for spam

For me the message headers are useful; with them you can trace a message back to its real sender which is good for those bank messages which say your account is suspended unless you give your passwords, PIN numbers and mother in laws vital statistics...... There was a time when I suspect every admission message from Harvard University to would-be students came to me plus inter company messages. emails to the university quoting all sorts of private details had no effect so I went down the return path to their ISPs and from there public sources gave me ther home phone numbers of the responsible officers - who did not appreciate phone calls at 3am Colorado time - in one case!)

[LongGone]

At the risk of sounding overly pedantic, it is important to avoid mixing three different types of malware.

Straight scams (Nigerian bankers, widows of middle eastern sheiks etc.) are not really a computer problem per se, the computer just makes them easier to reach a lot of people. As long as you wouldn’t fall for a similar story if it came in the post, or face to face, then you should not be affected. Having said that, it is amazing how may people are really so gullible/trusting/greedy that they happily send the asked-for information.

Trojans and related programs vs real viruses are often confused.
Trojans usually require that you authorize the installation of the program by typing in your administrative password. Viruses bypass this and install themselves without your knowledge.

A virus is like a horde of flying armadillos that crash through your windows, make themselves at home, poop all over your floor, breed like crazy, and then send the young off to the neighbors to do the same. Trojans are like find a flying armadillo on your lawn with a note attached saying "please throw me through your window", and doing it.

One reason that in the ten years since the introduction of OSX there have been no viruses on Macs is that the system is based on UNIX, which is designed to make self-installation almost impossible. Prior to OSX Macs had just as many viruses as Windows-based machines, but none since the switch.