12-07-2007, 04:23 PM
New Scam - beware/protect your friends
Of all the security issues there are to worry about, I never really gave much thought to e-mail. However just having had my e-mail compromised and seeing with the scammers did with it, it got me worrying. Once they had access to my e-mail, they changed the password. This was a nightmare for me to get fixed. But more concerning, they read my e-mails... big deal, right? Wrong. Any e-mail from any place that indicated I had an account they went there and entered my e-mail to get a new password. This included my e-bay account and my paypal account. Now, very fortunately for me, the guys who did my account were amateurs and idiots. From here a skilled person would change my e-bay profile to pint to a different paypal bank account or change the options to take money orders only. then put up a Wii or i-pod or i-phone or anything that will sell fast for a good price and put it up for sale on e-bay. Collect the payments and run. My jerkoff scammer just bought stuff and tried to pay with my paypal account, but, the balance was 0 (a few months ago it was $400). So he tried to get them to send the stuff before payment. (What the idiot didn't realize is that my paypal is backed by another bank account with over $30,000 in it.. whew).
So I fixed everything and then did a little homework. It seems that for e-mail hacking there is yet another scam. This one is potentially more scary, but not for you, for your friends... hat happens is, if you maintain your contacts on a web-client (I don't, I use my local fat-client, outlook) they break in, change your password then send out to everyone on your contact list a little e-mail begging for help that reads something like: "Help, I am in trouble, I am abroad and need some cash Anything you can send will be appreciated. $50, $100, $1,000. Please be sure that I consider you a great friend and will ensure you will get paid back the moment I return. Until then please send what you can and have the $ wired to this account: ......(nigeria)..... Thanks for your help. blah blah blah...
It seems that quite a few people have actually sent money.
Of all the security issues there are to worry about, I never really gave much thought to e-mail. However just having had my e-mail compromised and seeing with the scammers did with it, it got me worrying. Once they had access to my e-mail, they changed the password. This was a nightmare for me to get fixed. But more concerning, they read my e-mails... big deal, right? Wrong. Any e-mail from any place that indicated I had an account they went there and entered my e-mail to get a new password. This included my e-bay account and my paypal account. Now, very fortunately for me, the guys who did my account were amateurs and idiots. From here a skilled person would change my e-bay profile to pint to a different paypal bank account or change the options to take money orders only. then put up a Wii or i-pod or i-phone or anything that will sell fast for a good price and put it up for sale on e-bay. Collect the payments and run. My jerkoff scammer just bought stuff and tried to pay with my paypal account, but, the balance was 0 (a few months ago it was $400). So he tried to get them to send the stuff before payment. (What the idiot didn't realize is that my paypal is backed by another bank account with over $30,000 in it.. whew).
So I fixed everything and then did a little homework. It seems that for e-mail hacking there is yet another scam. This one is potentially more scary, but not for you, for your friends... hat happens is, if you maintain your contacts on a web-client (I don't, I use my local fat-client, outlook) they break in, change your password then send out to everyone on your contact list a little e-mail begging for help that reads something like: "Help, I am in trouble, I am abroad and need some cash Anything you can send will be appreciated. $50, $100, $1,000. Please be sure that I consider you a great friend and will ensure you will get paid back the moment I return. Until then please send what you can and have the $ wired to this account: ......(nigeria)..... Thanks for your help. blah blah blah...
It seems that quite a few people have actually sent money.
