Damn those Scams

The Washington Post is running a nice article about how the current tax season in the US is increasing the number of “relevant” phishing emails everyone will be getting in hopes of scamming us out of our bank account numbers, social security numbers, or anything else a scammer can use to steal our money,credit and/or identity.

“Usually these things peak around the time taxes are due,” said Dan Hubbard, senior director of security and research for the Internet Web security firm Websense. “Basically it’s another timely current event that’s on top of people’s lists and another lure to deceive people into giving away credentials in some way.”

And scammers are capitalizing on the fact that more than half of all tax returns are expected to be filed electronically this year. Consider this recent e-mail claiming to be from the IRS: “You filed your tax return and you’re expecting a refund. You have just one question and you want the answer now. Where’s My Refund? Access this secure Web site to find out . . .”

The Web site looked like the real IRS site. But it wasn’t.

NPR’s On The Media program has a pretty interesting story on the Nigerian scammers and why they’re never getting the justice for being such annoying scammers. Its a good listen, so take a listen and then take a look at their site to make a comment.

The Longest Con
It’s estimated to the third largest industry in Nigeria, grossing hundreds of millions a year, and it may be the most successful confidence game in the world. It’s the Nigerian e-mail scam. Victims are often left with no legal recourse, due to corruption in Nigeria and the high price of international investigations. And so they’ve banded together to take the law into their own hands. Legal Affairs contributor Josh Rosenblum explains to Bob how an online posse was formed.

I got a call yesterday for a defunct domain I used to own and another woman on the other end with an Indian accent butchered my name and then proceeded to ask me if I owned the aforementioned domain. Again, butchering the domain name pronounciation. I told her it was expired, and that I did not want to continue this conversation and hung up.

Seriously people, are they that hard up to make a buck that they’re dumpster diving into expired domain registrations? I’m also wondering who’s selling these lists. Is it Yahoo? Since that’s who I registered the domain with (back in 99 or 2000, I don’t even remember.) Is it Network Solutions or ICANN that handles most of the domain registrations? I don’t know, but its making me pretty peeved that once I pay these hucksters for my domains, they feel completely feel no responsibility to guard my privacy.

Another 001819 scam? Sounds like it after I googled it and found so many people having the same issue. I just got the call from this phone number, 866-383-0986, and I didn’t know, so I picked up. Luck was on my side though, since I was out at one of my favorite burger joints in Virginia (Elevation Burger) and it was extremely loud, so I couldn’t hear anything. From what I could decipher, it sounded like an Indian accented woman, but I kept screaming, “I can’t hear you” into the phone. After a few seconds, I guess she gave up and hung up. Karma was on my side for once.