Fight Spamming! Anti Spam!

Blogger Comment Spam

2012-01-18T03:14:00.001+08:00

One of the most common spams is through commenting of blog. Spammers use this trick to get free traffic to their websites and also, it may increase their website's page rank as well.There are some available software that can generate random comments that may sound logical but they are meaningless. These comments include complimenting your website or asking you about your website's RSS. Some spammers may choose to spam directly for hard-selling, which is the traditional way.For the new-age spam, some blog owners will probably think that the comments are typed by human and thus approving the comments. Blog owners should reject comments that include hyperlinks.Bloggers, please do not set auto-approval to blog comments. The spambots may be able to track your blog down and send more spam comments over to pollute your blog.Share this knowledge with your friends. Let's fight spam together!

Report Blogspot Spam Sites

2011-11-30T00:28:00.000+08:00

There are many spam blogs, which are also known as SBLOG.

Spam blogs are blogs that usually have many outbound links to the products or services the spammers are trying to promote. The contents are either duplicated from other blogs, totally irrelevant, purely about the products or services, or mainly hyperlinks.

Since there are many free blogging platforms available in the internet such as Blogspot, WordPress and Livejournal, spammers are able to create spam blogs easily. Minimal effort is required to register a free email address, create the blogs and edit the settings. One email address is allowed to create multiple blogs anyway.

Why do we even need to care about spam blogs?

The most obvious reason is that spammers will start to mass advertise for their spam blogs, which will eventually hit us. The most common spamming methods are through email or commenting at your blog. With the emerging of social networking websites such as Tagged, Facebook and Twitter, you can easily be added by fake users with hot profile photos, mainly just to spam the url of the spam blogs to you.

You probably will not want to land into a spam blog when you are digging for some useful information through search engines right?

What can we do to the spam blogs?

We can at least help to report them so that the host can remove them.

For spammers using Blogger (BlogSpot), you can report the website here.

Twitter Phishing Email

2011-11-14T00:44:00.001+08:00

We have reported about Facebook Phishing email earlier. Since social media has become part of our lives, other popular social media platforms are not spared as well.

Your Twitter account is one of the prime targets by scammers.

Many Twitter users have linked their accounts to Facebook. Since Facebook allows entries from Twitter to be posted there, having your Twitter account being hacked may cause double the consequence of your Facebook account being fallen to unscrupulous people.

Above is the print-screen of a phishing email from "Twitter". Thanks to GMail's technology, this email has landed into the "Spam" folder. Other email agents may not be able to filter such emails away.

It's not very obvious that this is a fake (phishing) email. The URLs as hyperlinks displayed seems to be point to the correct addresses, however, they are actually pointed to different addresses.

Please avoid being the prey of such evil tactic.

Facebook Phishing Email

2011-10-31T16:00:00.000+08:00

When you receive emails from "Facebook", do check the sender's email address. The hyperlinks inside the email may be fake as well.In this case, the link given is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?lost_message=8bee7cb1, but when you click on it, it will actually link you to another website where your password will be taken.

So, you should beware of such scam. Mouse over the link and look at your browser's status bar to see what url does it actually lead you to, before you click on it.

FBI Email Hoax Spam

2011-07-28T17:51:00.001+08:00

For your laughter, peace and joy:

Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20535
Tel: 206-339-5662

Attention: Email Bearer,
Customers Service Hours / Monday To Saturday
Office Hours Monday to Saturday:

Dear Beneficiary,

Series of meetings have been held over the past 7 months with the secretary general of the United Nations Organization. This ended 3 days ago. It is obvious that you have not received your fund which is to the tune of $850,000.00 due to past corrupt Governmental Officials who almost held the fund to themselves for their selfish reason and some individuals who have taken advantage of your fund all in an attempt to swindle your fund which has led to so many losses from your end and unnecessary delay in the receipt of your fund.

The National Central Bureau of Interpol enhanced by the United Nations and Federal Bureau of Investigation have successfully passed a mandate to the current president of Nigeria his Excellency President Good luck Jonathan to boost the exercise of clearing all foreign debts owed to you and other individuals and organizations who have been found not to have receive their Contract Sum, Lottery/Gambling, Inheritance and the likes. Now how would you like to receive your payment? Because we have two method of payment which is by Check or by ATM card?

ATM Card: We will be issuing you a custom pin based ATM card which you will use to withdraw up to $3,000 per day from any ATM machine that has the Master Card Logo on it and the card have to be renewed in 4 years time which is 2015. Also with the ATM card you will be able to transfer your funds to your local bank account. The ATM card comes with a handbook or manual to enlighten you about how to use it. Even if you do not have a bank account.

Check: To be deposited in your bank for it to be cleared within three working days. Your payment would be sent to you via any of your preferred option and would be mailed to you via DHL. Because we have signed a contract with DHL which should expire by June 30 2011 you will only need to pay $155 instead of $420 saving you $265 So if you pay before June 30 2011 you save $265 Take note that anyone asking you for some kind of money above the usual fee is definitely a fraudsters and you will have to stop communication with every other person if you have been in contact with any. Also remember that all you will ever have to spend is $155.00. And we guarantee the receipt of your fund to be successfully delivered to you within the next 24hrs after the receipt of payment has been confirmed.

Note: Everything has been taken care of by the Federal Government of Nigeria, The United Nation and also the FBI and including taxes; custom paper and clearance duty so all you will ever need to pay is $155.

DO NOT SEND MONEY TO ANYONE UNTIL YOU READ THIS: The actual fees for shipping your ATM card is $420 but because DHL have temporarily discontinued the C.O.D which gives you the chance to pay when package is delivered for international shipping We had to sign contract with them for bulk shipping which makes the fees reduce from the actual fee of $420 to $155.

To effect the release of your fund valued at $850,000.00 you are advised to contact our correspondent in Africa the delivery officer Mr. Daniel Alfred with the information below,

Email: dugbatejohn@yahoo.cn
Telephone: +234-8081669138
You are advised to contact him with the information as stated below:

Your full Name...
Your Age...
Your Occupation...
Your Address:..............
Home/Cell Phone:..............
Preferred Payment Method (ATM / Cashier Check)

Upon receipt of payment the delivery officer will ensure that your package is sent within 48 working hours. Because we are so sure of everything we are giving you a 100% money back guarantee if you do not receive payment/package within the next 48hrs after you have made the payment for shipping.

Yours sincerely,
Miss Donna Story
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possession of your ATM CARD, you are hereby advice only to be in contact with Mr. Dugbate John of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.

Interesting Spam Email

2011-03-23T21:27:00.002+08:00

It is really annoying to receive spam emails. Luckily, most free web based email providers do filter most of the spams.

Let's just laugh over how crappy the spammers can be.

Below is another interesting spam email:

from Prince Fayad S. Bolkiah
reply-to princebolkiah1@w.cn
subject My Good Friend/Please View Attachment For More Details

My Good Friend

I got your reliable contact from a business diary and further explicit investment information about your country. I am Prince Fayad S. Bolkiah, the eldest son of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, former Finance Minister of Brunei, the tiny oil-rich sultanate on the Gulf Island. I will save your time by not amplifying my extended royal family history, which has already been disseminated by the international media during the controversial dispute that erupted between my Father and his step brother, the sultan of Brunei Sheik Muda Hassanal Bolkiah.

As you may know from the international media, the sultan had accused my father of financial mismanagement and impropriety of US$14.8 Billion dollars. This was as a result of the Asian financial crisis that made my father's company Amedeo Development Company and government owned Brunei Investment Company to be declared bankrupt during his tenure in office

Reply from IDA Singapore Regarding Mobile Phone Spam

2011-02-11T17:11:00.003+08:00

We have sent an email to IDA Singapore to feedback about SMS spam and we have received this reply, and would like to summarise that mobile phone spamming in Singapore is currently still un-punishable unless you are really unlucky?..

We would like to explain that, as the regulator of the telecom industry, IDA regulates the behaviour of the telecom service providers. IDA, however, does not regulate the behaviour of the end users of telecom services, including those who use SMS to legitimately promote or market their services, or send unsolicited SMSes.

Regarding the issue of unsolicited SMSes received from other end users, we would like to share that the sending of bulk unsolicited commercial SMSes in Singapore is governed by the Spam Control Act ("Act"). While the Act does not outlaw the sending of such messages, there are certain requirements that senders need to comply with. This includes the need for such messages to include an “” prefix in their subject header and also a valid means for unsubscription.

The Act, however, adopts a civil-based regime for the enforcement of its requirements. This means that parties who have suffered loss or damage due to a sender's non-compliance with the Act, can take direct legal action against the sender. Please note, however, that due to this civil-based regime, there are no specific authorities which can take enforcement action under the Act. For more information on Singapore’s spam control regime, please visit http://spamcontrol.org.sg

Other than legal recourse, you can also consider contacting the company concerned to request them to remove you from their marketing list, if you have not already done so. Most responsible organisations would respect your request.

To minimise the risk of receiving unwanted SMS, consumers are advised to be careful with whom they disclose their mobile numbers to. For example, consumers should be careful when listing their contact numbers in the lucky draws, application forms and surveys, amongst others. These documents are sometimes used by marketers to obtain recipient information. When filling up these forms/documents, the terms and conditions should be read closely to understand how personal details will be used. Special attention should be paid to check boxes - by checking/unchecking such boxes, express consent may be provided for personal details to be shared with and used by third parties. In general, avoid providing your personal particulars unless you are confident that it will not be used for spamming activities.

For your information, while there is currently no generic data protection law in Singapore, the Government recognises the increasing importance and impact of data protection on consumers and is already reviewing Singapore’s data protection regime to address consumers’ concerns, business needs and national interests.

SMS Spam in Singapore - How to Complain?

2011-02-08T19:41:00.006+08:00

SMS spamming is an offense in many countries such as Singapore. It is illegal to send advertising SMS to people who do not grant permission to the advertisers. However, it seems that it is very difficult to find out the exact place to complain about the spam SMS in Singapore.

If you google for "complain sms spam singapore", "complaint sms spam singapore" or other related words, you probably cannot find the correct channel to file your complaint.

Our visitor has currently received a SMS spam from a number +6592378432. Knowing that such SMS spam is illegal in Singapore, yet he does not know the proper channel to complain to.

Does anyone know how to file a complaint for SMS spam in Singapore?

If anyone knows of the channel to complain about SMS spam in any other country, do update us as well and we will share it with everyone else here.

Very Outdated Email Spamming Hoax

2011-01-19T18:01:00.003+08:00

It has been so many years but lame spammers are still using the same tactic - email spam.

Though most of the internet users should have matured from such stupid crappy junk mails, there are however new internet users of all ages.

If you have kids or grandparents who have recently started using the internet, do warn them of such hoax.

Attached below is another example of the scam:

Hello,
I am Mr. James Reshma, the Foriegn Auditor Remittance Unit of Central Bank and I have had the intent to contact you over this financial transaction worth the sum of $10.5 million USD. It is an abandoned sum that belongs to one of our bank's foreign customers who died on a plane crash long ago, where this money can be shared between us in the ratio of 55/45 in event of our success.

You have the absolute authority to claim the fund hence you are a foreigner as soon as you reply,step to follow in order to finalize this transaction immediately would be declared to you.(reply to : jreshma@mynet.com).

Thanks
James Reshma

Domain Name Spam and Scam - for business owners

2010-11-17T20:27:00.005+08:00

Recently, there are some China companies trying to get more business by spamming and scamming.

If you own a website (domain name), you may become their target.

They would email you with concern to someone trying to purchase domain names related to your brand and domain name. They pretend to be trying to help you to sound good.

If you were to reply to their email, they would start asking you to buy up those domain names before that "someone" buys it. Each domain name, that is highly not important to your business may cost up to $50 to $100.

Please kindly do not reply or purchase anything from them.

An example of the spam email is as follows (credit to Smart Tuition Singapore):

from fnew@drc-china.org
sender-time Sent at 6:51 PM (GMT+08:00). Current time there: 8:17 PM. ✆
reply-to fnew@drc-china.org
to
date Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 6:51 PM
subject Concerning " smarttuition " Brand name

hide details 6:51 PM (1 hour ago)

Images are not displayed.
Display images below - Always display images from fnew@drc-china.org
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward to the right person/ department, as this is urgent, thank you.)
Dear CEO,
We are the department of registration service in China. we have something which needs to confirm with you. We formally received an application on Nov. 16th 2010. One company called "ATOM USA INC " is applying to register " smarttuition " as Brand name and domain names as below:

smarttuition.asia
smarttuition.com.cn
smarttuition.com.hk
smarttuition.com.tw
smarttuition.hk
smarttuition.in
smarttuition.tw

After our initial checking, we found the Brand name and domain names being applied are as same as your company! So we need confirmation with your company. If the aforementioned company is your business partner or your subsidiary, please DO NOT reply us, we will approve the application automatically. If you don't have any relationship with this company, please contact us within 5 workdays. If over the deadline, we will approve the application submitted by "ATOM USA INC " unconditionally.

Best Regards

Rensis Ho
Senior Consultant

Blogger Comment Spam Flood

2010-07-20T13:47:00.003+08:00

We mean Blogspot when we talk about Blogger here, and not a person who blogs.

Spammers have been eyeing on blogs to cast their spams. One way is to place the spam url as comment into the individual blog entry. Therefore, if you set to accept all comments without moderation, you will get to see random spams in your blog.

Below is a real example of spam in Blogger, but the blog is set to require moderation for its comments.

These spams usually come with compliments such that blog owners may be fooled. While some spam comments include the intended url directly, others may put the url as hyperlink to disguise it. The picture above shows 3 spam comments in Chinese. At the end of each sentence, there are many DOTs. Every dot is actually hyperlink that leads to a different url each.

What are the use of such spam, or rather, what is the spammer's intention?

If anyone accidentally clicks the hyperlink, it is an additional traffic hit for them. Whereas, the free linking from the spammed blog will somehow helps the spammers to increase their page-rank for all their lousy websites.

Anyway, judging from the spams, the spammers (or spammer) are probably Chinese from China.

JobsCentral is being Flooded by Financial Planners

2010-07-17T03:29:00.002+08:00

With our previous post in March 2010, regarding "Jobs finding website spam from insurance and MLM companies", it seems that the team of friendly staffs from job-seeking site JobsCentral cannot get rid of spammers before they start to haunt all the members.

Please refer to above image (click to view in full). Ever since opting in to receive requests for viewing personal online portfolio, no company representative has made request to view it, except for the full list of spams from financial advisors to recruit members.

If you wish to become a fulltime financial planner, you may try updating your resume there. You can probably leave it empty and the nasty financial planners will still approach you because it involves in almost no cost for them to employ more people. After you pay and pass the basic tests to get the certificates, you may become a financial planner as well to sell the basic insurance plans. You can start earning but you have to give part of your sales commission to the person who has recruited you, as overriding fee.

Oh... so.... it's easy money to start spamming to recruit more members so that you can sit at home and shake your legs.

Massive Facebook Spam

2010-07-16T03:54:00.004+08:00

One of the massive facebook spams just ended (hopefully) almost two hours ago. It was a massive spam from someone who had managed to find ways to create MANY fake facebook accounts and probably run an automated script to flood Facebook pages.

The targeted pages (and probably groups) had names related to "add me", such as the "Add me as friends" page.

The 7-hour's attack marked more than 150 fake accounts with different names and some randomly reused pictures, joined several pages to post the same message "add me for farmville and if you love your iphone, but be nice xx".

The intention of the spammer is unknown, but such "begging" attack is usually done by gamers who wish more people to join their clan in the facebook games, or website/product owners who wish to market their websites/products directly to their facebook friendlists.

The spammer could have done MUCH MUCH (I mean really MUCH MUCH more) better if the spam message posted by all the fake accounts are not the same, making spamming detection so easy by anyone with brain. However, some fools sure had fallen into the trick.

Even though some of the profile pictures were reused, it was not very obvious since the number of duplicates was small.

This is an interesting attack since Facebook has certain security features to restrict posting of messages for new members who did not verify their accounts. It seems that the spammer has his ways to avert all the verification codes requests.

Lastly, usual spammers would use hot babes' photos as their profile pictures, but this spammer seems to have different taste of girls.

It seems that none of the affected page/group owners has done anything, except for the "Add me as friends" page, which has gotten rid of all the fake accounts by removing, banning and reporting them to Facebook team.

Lame Facebook Spam

2010-07-16T03:14:00.002+08:00

As Facebook starts to become part of our everyday life, more spams are being targeted into it.

Website owners are beginning to create fake accounts to mislead users into their websites. Usually, the fake accounts are planted with hot girls' pictures but we get to see a guy's picture this time. And here he goes:

Troy Collier:

… add me as friends
_________________________
To view this message properly click here: http://www.[URL-HIDDEN-BY-US].com/facebook?r=58 [e65631,65632.gif,yo!,0]

The pathetic person who posted the above message in one of Facebook's pages must be trying to fool some really stupid users to visit his website because there is obviously no message except for some underscores.

Facebook Hoax Alert

2010-06-09T18:20:00.003+08:00

"You have deactivated your Facebook account. You can reactivate your account at any time by logging into Facebook using your old login email and password. You will be able to use the site like you used to."

If you have received an email with content like above, please kindly disregard it. The links provided in the email do not lead you to the actual Facebook site. It will instead bring you to a phishing site, which looks exactly like Facebook so that the person can trick you into entering your username and password.

Be a smart user.

Sweet and Simple Hoax Email from China

2010-04-11T02:47:00.004+08:00

Recently when I was checking my old email account which was, sadly, flooded by junk mails, I checked my "junk mail" folder to discover the following email:

Subject: Business proposal from China

Dear Friend,
I am Mr Jiang Jianmin.I have a secured business proposal of
$28,272,000.00.Contact me if interested EMAIL:mr.jiangjianmin10@[removed].cn
Sincerely,
Mr Jiang Jianmin

Are you tempted by the amount of money?

You know nobody has noticed any hidden talent of you, but, how did this guy discover your business talent and take the trouble to hunt your email down?

Jobs finding website spam from insurance and MLM companies

2010-03-11T17:29:00.004+08:00

If you are using services from jobs finding website such as JobsCentral, you can create an online resume. Employers who are in search for employees will be able to search the site for potential staffs.

However, these websites are being abused badly by all the MLM and insurance agents. They simply click on every resume on the site to get you notified as a form of advertising.

Why do they do this?

For such companies, the more members they recruit, the higher chance they can make money. For MLM companies, obviously for every member they recruit, the more commission they can get; whereby, for insurance companies, the manager or team leader can also get over-ridding fee on every case their team members closed. For both types of companies, there is no cost involved for recruiting new member and therefore, they do not hesitate to gather more people, including all the "aunties" and "uncles".

Dear xxx,

Thank you for using JobsCentral. An employer has made a request to view your full resume. Recruiters make use of this JobsCentral feature to reach out to jobseekers like yourself who possess valuable skills or talents they require. Below are the details :

Date of Request : 11th March 2010
Name of Employer : Prudential Assurance Company Singapore (Pte) Limited (Edwin Choo Associates)
Jobs Posted by Recruiter : View all jobs from the above recruiter

Funny Hoax

2010-02-20T14:42:00.001+08:00

Out of nowhere, someone sends you a message in your social networking site...

It's obviously a hoax!

Asalamalekum my good friend,I decided to contact you directly for sake of business.MY NAME IS Abdulahi Mohamed FROM DAKAR SENEGAL WHILE WORKING AS AUDITOR OF C.B.A.O BANK SENEGAL,There is $25 Million Dollars in our bank,The deceased operates an account with this bank but during the period of deposite,no name was written in his account documents as his next of kin or relatives.He died in Air disaster,alongside with his family members,I tried everything humanly possible to locate his relatives but all efforts failed.If his fund still left dormant in the next couple of months THE fund will be confiscated to SENEGAL government that is the reason i contact you for urgent and sincere help to get this fund transfered to your account,kindly provide your confidential contact for easy communication.Here is My privet email ID to enable me give you more details about the transfer of the fund (abddul.mmohamedd@hotmail.fr) waiting for your urgent reply. YOURS FAITHFULLY MR.Abdulahi Mohamed.

Spam: Extra income

2010-02-07T21:07:00.004+08:00

As networking websites such as Facebook and Friendster have become part of our lives, many scammers start their invasion into the sites. They create profiles and start adding friends. After you accept them, they will start to spam you with their plots...

hihi>> This is a jas here..>>>>>> Are u Interested in earning extra income cos my company is currently expanding and we are offering part time and full time and there are a few position available...Just wondering if u will be interested... Thanks :)>>>> Best Regards>> Jas

What kind of company can that be?
Insurance, property or MLM?

Hoax Alert!

2009-10-08T03:10:00.003+08:00

There are scams everyday. We receive all the fake emails to lure us into the traps. But this time, it is so despicable of the spammer to make use of the tsunami disaster.

I am Barrister Zaid Ibrahim , an attorney at law. A deceased client of mine,
that shares the same last name as yours died as the result of a heart-related
condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all
the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in
Sumatra Indonesia. And in the record there is no known successor to this
deposit of the deceased who died without a will.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake.

I have contacted you to assist in distributing the money left behind by my
client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where
this deposit valued at Eighteen million dollars is (US$18million dollars)
lodged. This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, I can be
reached on (zaid*****@gmail.com) for more information.

Best regards,
Zaid Ibrahim
Attorney at Law.

Tagged.com - Dealing with Scammer

2009-06-20T10:41:00.001+08:00

1. Click the Report link under their comments.

2. Report messages as Spam AND block the sender

3. Go to their profile and click the Report Profile link next to their profile picture (Don't forget you can block them there too).

4. Give them a bunch of Scammer & Spammer tags (Click the Give Tags link on their profile page and type Scammer in the "Search Tags" box to see scammer tags to give.

5. Report them to http://www.PigBusters.net/PBReportScammer.htm (That page also has links for reporting Internet Crime and Exploited Children etc.)

6. Post comments on their page telling other users that they are a scammer.

Creative phishing email: Mystery/Shopper [$850/week]

2009-06-08T16:17:00.001+08:00

Thank you for your interest in the Mystery Shopper position.
Our company conducts surveys and evaluates other companies in order to help them achieve their performance goals.
We offer an integrated suite of business solutions that enables corporations to achieve tangible results in the marketplace.

We get hired by other companies and act like customers to find out how they are handling their services in relation to their customers.
Mystery Shopping is the most accurate and reliable tool a business can use to gather information regarding their actual customer service performance at the moment of truth.
This moment of truth is not when the staff is on their best behavior because the boss is around - it is when they interact with customers during their normal daily routines.

This is where you, the Mystery Shopper, come in.
You pose as an ordinary customer and provide feedback of both factual observations (ex...the floor was free of debris)
and your own opinions (ex...I felt that the temperature in the establishment was too cold).

Mystery Shoppers must remain anonymous. You must act as a regular customer and be careful not to do anything that would reveal you as a shopper.
An inexperienced shopper could tip off the staff to his/her identity by asking for the manager's name for no clear or appropriate reason.
If you are going to be bringing someone with you on the shop, make sure you educate them about the process as well.
Beware that even whispers can be overheard by employees. If anyone notices you are a shopper,
you can bet that word will quickly spread around the establishment and you will get some of the best customer service in town.

No company can afford to have a gap between the promise of quality and its actual delivery, that's why leading corporations look to us,
the nation's premiere mystery shopping and customer experience measurement company.

In order for a business to effectively compete in today's economy, they must be prepared to meet the challenge of increasing sales by:
* Retaining existing customers
* Acquiring new customers
* Creating word-of-mouth advocacy
* Improving customer loyalty

Once we have a contract to do so, you would be directed to the company or outlet, and you would be given
the funds you need to do the job(either purchase merchandise or require services), after which you would write a detailed report of your experience.

Examples of details you would forward to us are:
1) How long does it take to get served.
2) Politeness of the attendant.
3) Customer service professionalism.
4) Sometimes you might be required to upset the attendant, to see how they deal with difficult clients.

Then we turn the information over to the company executives and they will carry out their own duties in improving their services.
Most companies employ our assistance when people complain about their services, or when they feel there is a need for them to improve upon their customer service.
Our company partners with you to implement proven mystery shop auditing and surveying strategies that provide critical information about customer experiences.

You will be paid a commission of $100 for every duty you carry out, and bonus on your transportation allowance.
Your task will be to evaluate and comment on customer service in a wide variety of restaurants, retail stores, casinos,
shopping malls, banks and hotels in your area.

Qualities of a good Mystery Shopper:
* Is 21 years of age or older
* Loves to go shopping
* Is fair and objective
* Is ON TIME
* Is very observant and able to focus on details
* Is fairly intelligent
* Has patience
* Is detail oriented
* Is practical
* Types well
* Is trustworthy
* Explains well in writing
* Is discreet
* Loves to learn
* Handles deadlines
* Has full internet access (at home or at work)

Mystery Shopping is fun and exciting but also must be approached very seriously and is definitely not for everyone.

If you are interested in applying for consideration as a Mystery Shopper do send in your information: Morgan@[removed].com
Full Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Phone Number:
Age:
Occupation:

As soon as we receive your information we will add you to our database and we will look for locations in your area that needs to be evaluated.

Thank you,
Michael McDowell
WA Surveys
410 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

No Subject Scam Email

2008-04-30T22:29:00.002+08:00

Another scam mail...

Dear Friend,

With due respect to your person, I kindly wish to ask for your
attention and consideration just for a while.I know this is certainly
not the appropriate channel to contact you but situation necessitated
this medium.However,I am sincerely sorry for any inconveniency this may
cost you.

I am a senior staff of BCF LONDON, and I have a business opportunity to
propose to you which would be of mutual benefit to both parties if
carefully executed.

I am the account officer and personal friend to William Wise who died
in the July 2004 London bomb blast. William Wise was a good client of my
bank,before he was killed in the 2004 London bomb blast;he ho wever
has a deposit of Nine million two hundred thousand British Pounds
(9.2Million GBP) with the bank and his family are not aware of this particular
account due to the perennial crisis in his marital life. As his close
confidant and an account officer,he warned me on the implication of
letting any member of his family have knowledge of his deposit with our
bank.

For more details and confirmation please try and visit this site below
for clearification:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/*******.stm

Based on the afore-mentioned, I am craving your cooperation to claim
this money for our own personal use.All I need to do is to present you as
the partner and next of kin to the deceased.The bank would transfer
the fund to you as the beneficiary for our mutual benefit.

Please note the urgency in this transaction and respond swiftly so that
we can beat their deadline. Please have no fear for I assure you that
all relevant documents needed to make this deal successful shall be
forward to you as soon as I receive a positive response from you.Note that
we need collaborative approach to make this deal successful.

I believe strongly that if diligently and judiciously executed,it would
be of mutual benefit to both parties.

Reply to: Email: bjoycee05@*****.com.hk

Waiting earnestly for your response.

Best regard,
Bill Joycee

Spam Alert - FROM MAIMUNA MOHAMMED

2008-04-18T00:38:00.001+08:00

Just another scam email that floods millions and millions of people everyday.

FROM MAIMUNA MOHAMMED

Dearest ONE
Assalam alaikum and may the peace of gracious Allah be with you,please I have a problem which I need help from you, however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honour it against your wish. I am MAIMUNA MOHAMMED, 18 years old and the only daughter of my late parents Mr. and Mrs.MOHAMMED.

My father was a highly reputable business man (a coacoa merchant)he operated in the capital city of Ivory coast during his days.My fathers died mysteriously in France during one of his business trips abroad on 12th.Febuary 2005.Though his sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded by an uncle of his who travelled with him at that time.
But Allah knows the truth! My mother died when I was just 4 years old on child birth according to what my father told me,The time for her delivery was complete and the doctor did not know because according to my father the doctor told them that my mother was not going through labour because according to his own prediction my mother had about one month more to deliver. So before they rialise she was on labour, it has taken about two days and she became very weak and could not make it during child delivery.Since then my father took me so special. Before his death on February 12/ 2005 which came to me as a suprise

I have stoped schooling because i cant afford to pay for school fees anymore. But i have gone to my fahers lawyer to find that my father have money to the tune of eight million, seven hundred thousand United State Dollars.(USD$8.700,000) left in a Trust company which according to he lawyer he propossed using for a foreign business transaction.

Upon this informatioin given to me by the lawyer i have also gone ot the Trust company where the money is deposited,to find out, according to what the lawyer told me.My fahter deposited this money and no name was given to them as the beneficiary. They are therefore asking me as the daughter to the depositor, to forward to them the name of Beneficiary of this money.
I will like to continue my studies but that will not be here again in cote d‘ ivorie. There is political unrest here and nobody knows what the next day will bring. People are now leaving in fear here.I know you may ask why didnt my father deposit the money in my name. I want you to know that our muslim rights by the almighty allah still permits him to mary more than one wife, which i know he has started making some moves towards marrying two more wives because he said he has morned my mother a long time.
I want you come and stand inn as my fathers foreign business partner who this money is made for. But please i want to beg you by the almighty allah to be faithull to me.And tell me you will not because am a girl cheat on me. I will like to come over to your country and finish my school get a better job and get a good husband and settle down for life.If you like we can as well go into a joint business of any type in your country. I like selling ladies wears and their makeups, i still like jewellries.So if this mail is acceptable to you i will like you to send to me the following informations:Pls
1. your occupation.
2. your age.
3 your home address
4 your telephone number
Thank you very much and may the almighty allah continue to protect you and your family.
MAIMUNA MOHAMMED

Sunsilk Shampoo Hoax

2008-04-13T17:00:00.002+08:00

Recently, there has been a circulation of "Sunsilk shampoo causing hair falls" excel file through emails.

We wish to highlight a point that the product shown is "Sunsilk Colour Lock", whereas the little girl, Jenny Tan, has black hair; which means this is probably another hoax to slaughter Sunsilk products.

Just Another Phlishing Email

2008-03-28T22:31:00.001+08:00

Below is just another example of phlishing email.

Dr Mrs Fareeza Al-Karbouli
House 922,Halal-Babel
Masbah,Baghdad,
Rep. of Iraq

Hello dear,

PROPOSAL FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

I wish to apologize for any inconveniences this proposal may cause you
as we have never met or known each other before.I know this will surely
come to you as a big surprise.

I am Mrs Fareeza Al-Karbouli,an Iraqi National from the northen
Kurdish town of Qaradagh.I am the wife of Dr Jamal Al Karbouly,formerly
Consultant and Principal Accountant with Al-Bayji oil refinery, situated
125 miles (200km)north of Baghdad.

I am writing to solicit for your assistance to transfer the sum of
seven million five hundred thousand US dollars(US$7.5M) which my late
husband deposited with a finance and security company in Europe.Due to
the political crisis in my country,I am unable to secure entry visa to
travel to Europe to collect the funds.This is why I am soliciting for
your help to transfer the funds to your custody,until I can come and
meet you in your country.I intend using the funds for investment
purposes in your country.

I will offer you 25% of the funds as commission for your assistance.70%
of the money is for me, whereas 5% of it shall be used to take care
of overall expenses incured in the course of the transaction.Though
there are still rooms for more negotiations on this.

I am expecting your urgent response to enable me furnish you with
details and all the relevant documents covering the lodgement of the
funds.I will equally issue a Power of attorney on your behalf, empowering
you to receive the funds on my behalf as the trustee.

For security reasons,you should reply to my alternative
email:*********

Please treat with utmost urgency and confidentiality.

Kind Regards,

Dr Mrs Fareeza Al-Karbouli

Spam Alert: Another Humourous Spam Email

2008-03-20T00:16:00.003+08:00

Sometimes, we have to "idolise" those tricksters who try so hard to con for money. They spend lots of time to think and type out stories, which is quite hardworking of them.

However, since all the tricks are identical and common, there is no impact at all; their worthless effort turn into mockery. The first time when you receive such email, telling you that a large sum of money is waiting for your collection, you may feel lucky for a moment.

If you have not received any phlishing email before, you may take a look at the following email:

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FROM MAIMUNA MOHAMMED

Dearest ONE
Assalam alaikum and may the peace of gracious Allah be with you,please I have a problem which I need help from you, however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honour it against your wish. I am MAIMUNA MOHAMMED, 18 years old and the only daughter of my late parents Mr. and Mrs.MOHAMMED.

My father was a highly reputable business man (a coacoa merchant)he operated in the capital city of Ivory coast during his days.My fathers died mysteriously in France during one of his business trips abroad on 12th.Febuary 2005.Though his sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded by an uncle of his who travelled with him at that time.
But Allah knows the truth! My mother died when I was just 4 years old on child birth according to what my father told me,The time for her delivery was complete and the doctor did not know because according to my father the doctor told them that my mother was not going through labour because according to his own prediction my mother had about one month more to deliver. So before they rialise she was on labour, it has taken about two days and she became very weak and could not make it during child delivery.Since then my father took me so special. Before his death on February 12/ 2005 which came to me as a suprise

I have stoped schooling because i cant afford to pay for school fees anymore. But i have gone to my fahers lawyer to find that my father have money to the tune of eight million, seven hundred thousand United State Dollars.(USD$8.700,000) left in a Trust company which according to he lawyer he propossed using for a foreign business transaction.

Upon this informatioin given to me by the lawyer i have also gone ot the Trust company where the money is deposited,to find out, according to what the lawyer told me.My fahter deposited this money and no name was given to them as the beneficiary. They are therefore asking me as the daughter to the depositor, to forward to them the name of Beneficiary of this money.
I will like to continue my studies but that will not be here again in cote d‘ ivorie. There is political unrest here and nobody knows what the next day will bring. People are now leaving in fear here.I know you may ask why didnt my father deposit the money in my name. I want you to know that our muslim rights by the almighty allah still permits him to mary more than one wife, which i know he has started making some moves towards marrying two more wives because he said he has morned my mother a long time.
I want you come and stand inn as my fathers foreign business partner who this money is made for. But please i want to beg you by the almighty allah to be faithull to me.And tell me you will not because am a girl cheat on me. I will like to come over to your country and finish my school get a better job and get a good husband and settle down for life.If you like we can as well go into a joint business of any type in your country. I like selling ladies wears and their makeups, i still like jewellries.So if this mail is acceptable to you i will like you to send to me the following informations:Pls 1. your occupation.
2. your age.
3 your home address
4 your telephone number
Thank you very much and may the almighty allah continue to protect you and your family.
MAIMUNA MOHAMMED

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....
...
..
.

HA HA.

MySpace Spam Alert - singingcell

2008-03-17T23:57:00.002+08:00

Recently, there is a massive MySpace spam circulating around. Many users seem to be infected. Please note that if any of your MySpace contacts sends any comment to you as below, do not visit the URL.

"hey there how are things? your myspace is looking awesome! anyhow, i just found some sweet new tones from www.singingcell.**** for FREE! they have the coolest stuff!"

Please disapprove or delete the comment if you have set auto-accept for comments, so that nobody else visiting your MySpace account will fall for the same trick.

What will happen if I have visited the website by chance?
Your MySpace account may be hacked by the owner of the spam site, and may be partially taken over, or, may be fully taken over if your account's password is changed. Then, the spammer would use your account to deliver the same comment with the URL to your contacts.

What do I do if I have visited the spam site?
Log into your MySpace account immediately and if able to, proceed to change your password immediately. Then, post bulletin to alert your contacts to not accept the comments from your account and to delete them immediately if they have already approved it on their pages. Otherwise, if you fail to log into your MySpace account, please contact MySpace staffs.

Spamming of Internet Telemarketer

2008-03-01T14:52:00.000+08:00

Most of the time, we would receive spam which try to confuse us to buy some goods, especially illegal items. There are university degree for sales and of course, viagra, replica watches, and even private part enlargement pills. The most dangerous of all is of course plishing emails.

Other than these, there is also another purpose of spam which is from internet telemarkers – they want you to join them.

Remember that these people would not help you for free. There are many forms of advantage they can gain from each of their preys. Some are looking at your money directly - they make you pay to attend their course or seminar. Some offer you free course but in the midst of the course, they psycho your mind to pay to know more or buy equipments from them.

There can be good people among these internet telemarketers of course, like someone who is really professional and is willingly to enhance other people’s lives without having to gain anything. After all, it is very difficult to judge. Most of the more successful internet telemarketers are equipped with psychology knowledge to brainwash you, especially when it comes to money issue when everyone has certain greed in them.

Therefore, during a seminar or other functions, make sure you do not anyhow give your email address to others. Internet telemarketers know it too well to keep bugging you till you give up your email accounts.

Below is an example of an email from internet telemarketer:

Hi there,

What has happened for you since we met at the Derek Gehl seminar? Has your financial life changed dramatically? Mine certainly has, and it has changed HUGELY ... for the Richer!

Somewhere late last year, I met a Singaporean internet millionaire who has made an obscene amount of money on the internet. Under his mentorship, my internet business has grew faster than Jack's Beanstalk!

For years, few have been able to meet him, much less listen to him because of his love for the quiet life.

But now, he is going to step out personally and share ALL his million-dollar Internet Million Dollar Secrets with you. But only for ONE SINGLE NIGHT!

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Spyware Spamming

2008-02-22T00:55:00.001+08:00

Every fresh operating system installation will certainly allow you to enjoy the high processing speed of your system. That is, with less registries and problems, and most of all, without any spyware infection yet.

Spyware are software or programs which collect your personal information or create popup, or both, and would slow down your system. They can be in your start-up, in which, the resource of your operating system would be taken up when you switch on your system. At the start of your browser, or in the midst of surfing, the spyware may create popup, and most of the times are advertisements, which will spoil your user experience. This form of spamming is irritating and time wasting.

How do these spyware infect your system? They probably come along with free software, which you install into your system. Other ways of infiltrating into your system are through viruses and Trojan. Spyware can get into your system simply through websites.

Some antivirus software like some editions of Norton Antivirus do have feature which can block spyware, however, definitely not a foolproof method.

How to remove spyware from your system? There are various software which can remove the spyware, easily available in the internet. Of course, since there are many free and good software around, we do not really need to purchase any of them; moreover, not all expensive stuffs are good stuffs.

Which are the more recommended free spyware removal software?
Spybot Search and Destroy – http://www.safer-networking.org
Ad-Aware - http://www.lavasoft.com

Since the scanning methods of different software differ, and none of them is perfect, we can always install a couple of them and run scanning regularly like antivirus software.

Spam for Thrill – Chain Letters and Mails

2008-02-12T02:42:00.000+08:00

Some people spam for the sake of selling service or product, or to create awareness of something, while amazingly, some people do spamming for thrill. One common practise of such spam is through chain letters.

What are chain letters? They are prank which are circulated around, demanding the receivers to duplicate and distribute to more people. Failure to spread the letters will be cursed.

Chain letters started long before emerging of the internet. During that time, it was very inconvenient to circulate the chain letters since the main media was through posting of letters, which required photocopying of the letter before you drop it into other people’s mailbox. Since chain letters used to be scarce, it seemed to be more mysterious and receivers were more frightened and had higher chance to oblige to the contents’ demand.

As internet and email surface, supposedly, to enhance our lives, chain letters transform into chain mails and diffuse into our inboxes speedily. Writing and forwarding a chain mail is so easy and convenient that more internet users start to join in the fun.

This style becomes a tactic and plot to circulate junk mails. The creators would give instructions at the bottom of the emails to curse receivers who do not forward the email. Thus, chain letters have mutated from religious into commercial and childish forms, and with more interesting contents.

At this day, more experienced and matured internet users will not forward any chain mail, unless the contents are useful or interesting enough. However, the circulation of nonsensical chain mails can never be eliminated.

If you happen to receive any interesting email from your friend, which you would like to share with other friends, turn the email into a non chain mail before you forward to your friend; simply remove the instructions at the bottom, for example - “Forward this to at least 3 persons to meet your dream girl”.

Do your part for the internet community from today onwards – stop spam and stop spamming.

Spamming for Preys - Beware of Phone Scam!

2008-02-04T03:30:00.000+08:00

It has been long since scammers first use despicable methods to con money in board light. We see stories in newspapers and documentary programmes, but there are still people who fall for the scams.

We cannot blame the victims for being gullible because the shameless tricksters are too cunning to use love as the ultimate weapon. The anxiety of parents and grandparents towards the younger generation simply drives them vulnerable.

The most well-known trick is to call the house during working hours when only the elderly are around. The scammers will claim that the owner’s son or grandson is kidnapped, detained or injured, in order to ask for money. Sometimes, the group of scammers may provide some background groaning sounds to pretend that the “victim” is in pain. If the person who picks up the phone is not calm enough, there is high chance to fall into the trick.

Of course, the scammers are playing with luck since there are possibilities that the owners do not have any child, or rather, the son is on leave and is at home. However, as long as one receiver falls to their prey, the success can be a great celebration.

My mum and relative happened to experience it a few days ago within a short period of time, but luckily, they were sharp enough to put down the phone immediately.

Please alert your family and friends of such scam. Let them know that their phone numbers are easily available through phone book directory or even from any lucky draw or survey. If possible, pretend to be fallen prey and set a place to meet up with the scammers, and inform the police immediately after putting down the phone. Your assistance would certainly do the society a great deed.

An Example of Phishing Email (Email Spam)

2008-01-28T18:03:00.000+08:00

As mentioned in earlier posts, phishing emails are emails which are sent to con you for your personal information, such as credit card number. It is a scam.

In order to give a clearer picture to you, we will give you an example of a real-life phishing email. Please do not enter or reply to any URL or email from this post.

(Maybe Mr. Michael Thomas is a pimp and Mrs. Ruth Peterson is a prostitute. Whatever.)

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Postcode Loterij.Nl"
To: "Sir/Madam"
Sent: Monday, 28 January, 2008 6:40 PM
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!(YOU HAVE WON)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!(YOU HAVE WON)
NATIONALE POSTCODE LOTERIJ.NL
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
www.postcodeloterij.nl
Van Eeghenstraat 70
1071 Amsterdam
KvK 41183598

RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS

Dear Sir/Madam,

Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice, the results of the Second Category Draws of Nationale postcode Lotterij Int held on the 26th of January 2008. We are happy to inform you that you have emerged as a winner under the First Category, which is part of our promotional draws. The results of the draws have been officially announced.

Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 emails addresses of individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our International Promotions Program.

Your e-mail address, attached to ticket number 758 46939, with serial number 472-97168 and lucky number W-91237-H67/B4 consequently won in the First Category. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of $1,110,000 (One Million One Hundred and Ten Thousand United States Dollars), which is the winning payout for Category A winners.

This is from a total cash prize of $10,000,000.00 (Ten Million United States Dollars) shared amongst the first Ten (10) lucky winners in this category.

In your best interest to avoid mix up of numbers and names of any kind, we request that you keep the entire details of your award strictly from public notice until the process of transferring your claims has been completed, and your funds remitted to your account. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by Participants/no participants of this program. Please contact your claim agent immediately for due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account Bank account of yours

NOTE: For easy reference and identification, find below your Reference and Batch numbers. Remember to quote in your correspondence with the following information's
Name
Age
Address
Occupation
Country
Telephone Number
REF Number: NM/BC921245/KY14
BATCH No: NM/207161/WOP.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Your Fund is now deposited with the paying Bank. To begin your claims, kindly contact our claims officer and legal adviser with the details below,

POSTCODE TRUST & SECURITIES,
Tel: +31-627-516-532
Tel: +31-204-601-497
Fax: +31-847-520-454
Email:postclaimsoffice@yahoo.de
Contact Person: Mr. Michael Thomas
***********************************************
NOTE: All winning must be claimed not later than 20 working days from this notification
Congratulations once again from management and staffs of Nationale postcode Lotterij International Promotion Program, and thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Ruth Peterson
(The Promotion Manager)

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Please do not enter or reply to any URL or email from this post.

Spamming - You and Me

2008-01-24T03:17:00.001+08:00

Different people may have different definitions and tolerance of spam.

Sometimes, spam and good intentioned advertising are just within a borderline; that is, by overdoing the latter may simply cross over.

Each of us will eventually want to promote some items or events in part of our lives. Be it for good or selfish intention, there should be a limit.

If you want to sell some items and you post bulletins in Friendster, MySpace or Facebook, and even email every friend, it is never an issue until you repeatedly do it.

You do it once and we all see it, and we know it. If we want to get it, we will. But if we receive the same message over and over again, it certainly turns into a form of spam regardless of our relationship.

Spam may not necessary be commercial related.

With an extra thought before you start to advertise or post any message, let your comments be delivered to only friends who are most likely to be interested and also, you should not repeat it until a period of time.

The temptation of spamming is no doubt a strong magnetic power, which sometimes you may not be able to resist, because it is almost costless. However, there are always cases where friends would block friends’ emails or delete the spammers from their networking websites’ accounts (example: Friendster, MySpace, Facebook).

Anyway, if you were to send any advertisement message to someone who does not know you, it is considered a spam.

The internet world is already in a big mess with so many cunning spammers around. If you cannot contribute, at least do not destroy.

New Credit Card Scam

2008-01-15T22:46:00.000+08:00

Other than spam emails containing scams, we do receive direct phone call from the spammers and scammers sometimes. We feel this is important though it is more of a scam than spam, and hope you will take note. As circulated through emails, you may find the following interesting or important:

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This one is pretty slick since they provide Y O U with all the information, except the one piece they want. Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it.
This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA and MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you'll be better prepared to protect yourself.

One of our employees was called on Wednesday from 'VISA', and I was called on Thursday from 'MasterCard'.

The scam works like this: Person calling says, 'This is (name), and I'm calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank) did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for £497.99 from a Marketing company based in London?' When you say 'No', the caller continues with, 'Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from £297 to £497, just under the £500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?'

You say 'yes'. The caller continues - 'I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 0800 number listed on the back of your card (0800-VISA) and ask for Security.

You will need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. 'Do you need me to read it again?'

Here's the important part on how the scam works the caller then says, 'I need to verify you are in possession of your card.' He'll ask you to 'turn your card over and look for some numbers.' There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security numbers that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him. After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, 'That is correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?' After you say, 'No,' the caller then thanks you and states, 'Don't hesitate to call back if you do', and hangs up.

You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA Security Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of £497.99 was charged to our card.

Long story - short - we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account. VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don't give it to them. Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or MasterCard directly for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the information since they issued the card! If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think you're receiving a credit. However, by the time you get your statement you'll see charges for purchases you didn't make, and by then it's almost too late and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report.

What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from a 'Jason Richardson of MasterCard' with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of these reports daily! They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this scam is happening.

Spamming and Phishing

2008-01-12T13:25:00.000+08:00

Phishing is a form of deception in which a message sender pretends to be a representative of a legitimate organization in an attempt to trick the recipient into divulging important information like a password or bank account number.

An example of a plot is to tell the recipient that he or she has strike a lottery. Other common tricks are to tell the recipient that a rich person is dying and want to inherit his or her wealth to the recipient or even offering of free insurance policy.

Such phishing messages can be sent through emails or even Social Media Sites (Networking websites) such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, Hi5.

However, since phishing has been so common that most of the tricks are already used over and over again, so that most experienced internet users are too smart for them. Dumb criminals often recycle the same email messages and even send them to the same recipients within short interval of time that the plot is even more obvious.

In another word, phishing emails are sometimes regarded as jokes. The senders are inviting mockery by providing entertainments through the fake contents. Thus, we can address the phishing messages’ owners as jokers or clowns.

Thanks to Google’s GMail, most of the phishing emails are filtered as junk mails.

Phishing sites have emerged as a trend over the years. They are using URLs which are similar to popular websites, in a way which users have high tendency to mistype the original address; or rather, they are sometimes unable to differentiate and thus entering the phishing sites.

Some of the most popular phishing targeted websites are MySpace, GMail and Paypal. The jokers copy the site design of the original site so that users will be conned. Once the users key in their usernames and passwords, the information will be recorded and soon, they may or may not even realise that their accounts are hacked.

The Trustworthiness of Spam Advertisements

2008-01-06T08:31:00.000+08:00

There are various purposes of spamming. One of the most common spams is commercial spam, which the spammers try to get you to buy products.

We consider commercial advertisements from sources which we did not subscribe from as spam.

How do they get your information to send you spam through the media, such as email or cell phone? They probably get your email or cell phone number through websites which you provide your details, like your personal site or a website you subscribe to, or through lucky draw participation after you purchase items from a shop, or even through a survey you took up on the street simply because you pitied the poor surveyor. Another method to get hold of your email address is to randomly generate characters or words as usernames and append the results to free email providers’ names, such as GMail, Yahoo Mail, or Hotmail.

Why do people spam? They want to get their products or services known to the victims using this cheapskate tactic. In some situations, the products or services are actually illegal and therefore, the spammers are unable to advertise through the proper channels. Two common illegal products spamming through email are viagra and replica (imitation) watches.

There are a number of hidden traps and threats in a spam. In cases of email spam, if the website is provided, clicking on the link may cause your computer to be vulnerable to trojan or virus attack, regardless of the types of operating system (eg. Microsoft Windows, Linux), internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Mozilla) and anti-virus software (Norton, Macfee) you are using. Whereas, replying to the sender’s email or another email address provided will definitely confirm that your email is in use, and therefore, the spammer will be able to send you more spams, inclusive of selling your email address to other spammers.

The spammers know most users are wary of their products or services; in fact, most users are not interested. However, as long as 0.01% or even less of the spam messages can clinch a deal, their efforts are worth it, because they probably mass spam to millions or more victims with little or zero cost.

We cannot change the fact that some victims are stubborn or stupid. Engaging the service or purchasing the products of the spammers would definitely boost their arrogance and greediness to continue their form of advertising to victimize more people.

We come to the final conclusion of the commercial spam based on the trustworthiness of the spams and owners (spammers). If anyone were to resort to unlawful or shameless acts, will you want to trust or believe the words, services or products of his? Are you going to risk your computer’s health or even your hard earned money?

Spam and ADV Signs

2008-01-02T23:40:00.000+08:00

In some countries, governments have regulated that all advertising messages and emails have to include the texts “ADV” or “” at the front. “ADV” is the short form for “Advertisement”.

The purpose is to allow innocent parties like us to differentiate between useful and nonsensical messages and emails that we receive, at the very first glance. For emails, we can even set filters and deliver those emails straight to the “bulk mail” or even “deleted” folder.

Is the new laws for placing the “ADV” or “” signs (texts) effective? Have you been receiving less email spam than before?

The fact is that most spammers are not law-abiding people. They have been spamming and yet nobody has done much to them; and why would they ever want to follow the new laws?

If you have realised it, most of the emails with the “ADV” text at the front of the subjects are from decent companies or corporation, which you probably have registered as their member. You can easily unsubscribe the advertisement or newsletter from them. To go deeper, you can block their email address or filter them away straight to the “deleted” folder.

How about those spam emails from die-hard spammers? They usually forge email addresses, such that it is impossible to block them. They would never want to include the “ADV” sign for you to filter their spamming emails away. This type of spam is the most commonly encountered one, and therefore, the new law does not seem to help a lot.

For cell phone’s short message services (SMS) spam, the requirement of the “ADV” signs seems even more redundant. Since SMS has limited characters, you can probably judge whether it is an advertisement at the first glance together with the unfamiliar phone number. In fact, this has somehow proven to be inverse effects on some stupid spammers who think that since it is lawfully to spam as long as they include the “ADV” signs, they have repeatedly put on their devil’s uniforms and gears, causing more irritations to us.

Luckily, SMS spamming is more expensive, less convenient and easier to be traced, that we receive fewer of them from the spammers.

In order to improve on the quality of our lives, governments should join hands to track down and punish the spammers. The trend of spamming should be eliminated as soon as possible; otherwise, there will certainly be a large increment of such cases in future because “monkeys see, monkeys do”. That is, more people are experiencing with spam harassment and the spammers are not dealt with, thus stimulating their temptation to follow the trend.

What is spam?

2007-12-28T23:57:00.000+08:00

There is numerous definition of spam over the internet, which are somehow identical. Everyone has their own understanding of spam as well.

To some people, spam is flooding of the internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who do not wish to receive it. However, some think otherwise, because spam may not cause flood to you, just one will do, and not all spam messages contains the same contents; moreover, spam does not only occur in the internet but also cell phones as text messages.

Most spam is commercial advertising and promotion, for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services.

Another type of spam tries tricking the search engines into giving a site a higher ranking. Common tactics include hiding keywords as white text on a white page background, submitting a web page to a search engine daily, and building doorway pages. Keywords used can be the combination of popular celebrities together with sexual words.

After all, spam is what everyone hates.

The Beginning of the Spam War

2007-12-25T02:29:00.001+08:00

Hi everyone!

This is the first entry of the Fight Spamming team. We hate and we are anti-spam.

The war against spams have lasted for as long as I start using the internet, which is around ten years ago. We have to do more to stop these ugly people from polluting our internet world.

Let us gather information about how to prevent and fight spam.

Come back for more updates, and we promise you we will be able to improve your web surfing experience with everyone's help.