spam

If You Need A Hacker

3 Comments Posted on December 30, 2015December 27, 2015 by Snoskred

Sometimes I get some brilliant spam. The reason this one stood out to me, though, was the email address. It was quite similar to one The Other Half used to use when I first met him.

I have removed the email address obviously, because spamming that to the world was their entire reason for posting the comment. It turned out when I searched for the IP address it tracked back to Nigeria – so this is another new scam format.

I did leave in the fact that it is a gmail address – for the most part, real hackers would probably steer clear of gmail, I suspect. I could of course be wrong!

scams, spam

LCN Company Team Scam

621 Comments Posted on June 4, 2015November 4, 2015 by Snoskred

I received a new scam email today – I’m posting it here because when I search for LCN Company and LCN Team, the search results do not mention anything about scams. Hopefully this post will bullet to the front page for those particular terms and help people contacted by this company to know this is a scam.

Administrative Assistant is available today for full and partial position.

LCN Company is a worldwide goods retailer that is why your general tasks will be connected with sales customer support for operations held in Australia: keep the data of all the deals and orders payment; cope with customers in USA, Eastern Europe and Asia; give all the necessary service and support to our selling department.

You will be paid up to 3800 AUD per month plus bonuses for the part-time position and for full-time position – 5800 AUD per month plus addition.
We have a trial period, during this period you will be trained and guided. This period is also paid.

Minimum Requirements are easy. You just need to have computer with access to the Internet, also Excel skills (the software must be pre-installed), interpersonal and communication skills.

Interested prospects should respond directly to this email address. Our company will certainly contact you at our earliest convenience.

Have a great day!
Hawn Ferne
LCN Team.

They are using many different names with @outlook.com email addresses – anyone can sign up for free email at outlook.com – Also they seem to have a couple of urls now – lcnwork.com and email addresses used for further emails are using that domain name – lcn-premium.com, lcnjob.com, lcnrecruit.com and now lcn-hr.com are also being used by these same scammers.

Update 21/08/15 –

They are now using gmx.com email addresses. This is another place anyone can sign up for free email addresses.

Update 16/09/2015

They are now using the name RNT as well as LCN.

Mega Important Note!!

If you got this email from a different name and email address, please leave a comment asap, you can use a fake name and email address to post the comment if you like. I’ll regularly add in other names and emails used in to the post. It will help other people who are searching for the names. Thanks everyone who leaves a comment, it WILL stop people from getting scammed. :)

Second Mega Important Note –

DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT if you replied and they send you a second email with an attachment! If you did open an attachment, you must run a virus scanner and malware scanner ASAP. There are many different virus scanning programs out there, you probably have one you like to use, just make sure it is the LATEST version!!! and that it is up to date.

If you do not have a favourite, you could try AVG which has a free version.

Update – I’ve had two different people look at the files (safely because that is hugely important!) and it looks like they do not contain any nasties. Even so, you want to run antivirus and malware scanners, just to be on the safe side.

Keep Yourself Safe –

It is hugely important in future to remember – *never* open an attachment from someone you do not personally know. For me that means people I have actually met in the flesh.

Also, keeping internet browsers and phone apps up to date, using an anti-virus program, and keeping your anti-virus program up to date is important as well.

Using things like SMS verification for internet banking can be a good thing, too. ;)

I gave them my bank account details?

If you gave them the account name, BSB and account number, they can easily print fake cheques with that information. You definitely need to speak to your bank about this ASAP.

In this particular instance, you may find they deposit a sum into your account – or they may send your account a payment from a stolen credit card. If that happens, DO NOT touch that money, because eventually the bank will reverse that payment. It may take some time – in some cases 6 months to a year – but it *will* happen eventually and you will have to repay that amount of money to the bank.

If it were my bank details, I would close that account as a matter of great urgency. Speak to your bank as soon as you can, and they will likely advise you to do that.

I would advise anyone caught out by this scam to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. The scam victim may be able to sort out a deal with the bank where the bank pays some – or all – of the losses.

Don’t Tell Them!

It seems these scammers are using a template from LMP Company and they have switched names because the very first result for LMP Company now leads to scamwarners.

So – please – do not tell scammers that their company name is listed here or anywhere else on the web as a scam – it will take them mere seconds to change their fake details and their new details will not be easily searchable for any future victims to find.

All you have to say is that you know this is a scam – you do not have to tell them how you know.

Wait! I think I’m being scammed!

Did you receive this email and reply to it? This is a fake job scam. There is no job. Most likely, you will be sent a fraudulent check, and they will want you to send them money because your bank will clear the check at first.

Check? – Cheque? – Bank Draft?

These are all names for the same thing – the name used depends on which country you live in. I use the term check here on the blog because check is the most commonly used spelling in the USA, and people in the USA are the most targeted for these job scams.

If you have banked a check from them –

but you still have the money and have not sent it anywhere – PUT THAT MONEY BACK IN YOUR BANK RIGHT NOW. Do not send any money via Western Union or Moneygram.

If you have banked a check from them –

And you have sent the money via Western Union or Moneygram, then you may wish to seek legal advice. I strongly suggest that you do so as a matter of urgency, because..

In the USA, scam victims can be arrested for banking a fraudulent check.

See this article – Check from a scammer bounces victim into jail – Even the FTC in the US gives out incorrect information re check scams – they say “The bottom line is that until the bank confirms that the funds from the check have been deposited into your account, you are responsible for any funds you withdraw against that check.”

This is UNTRUE –

even if the bank confirms the funds have been deposited, the bank can undo the transaction at any time when they discover the check was stolen or fraudulent – even up to a year after they “cleared” it. But you did not know this, and nobody ever tells anyone this.

This is not your fault – it is the fault of the banks, who hide this fact deep within the terms and conditions booklet that you receive when you open an account – these terms and conditions you have agreed to abide by when you opened your account.

If you are not willing to seek legal advice, the only advice I can personally provide to you is to print out all the emails you received and the emails you sent, print out that page from the Federal Trade Commission and keep it somewhere safe for if/when the police eventually turn up on your doorstep.

but be aware –

and I want to make this very clear –

You will have to pay this money back to the bank eventually. The sooner you make arrangements to do this, the better.

Please Leave A Comment

If you have been in contact with these scammers, telling others about your experience, so that they can know they are not alone.

For more on fake job scams, fake and stolen checks, please see this post – Snoskred made 5 MILLION DOLLARS online this year!

What Now? Any Questions?

If you need further advice, or have questions about this post – please leave a comment on this post, or you can use the contact form to get in touch with me.

Update – The Next Email They Send –

We would like to offer position of Administrative Assistant at our company. Please, find more information about us and this position below.

LCN is a leading distributor of finest designer goods. Currently it is one of the most important specializing in online sales. With more than 5 years of experience in the designer goods industry. We offer a continuous renovation in our collections, following the latest trends in each country and season, thus satisfying the demand of clients. We always keep in mind that prices are an important factor when it comes to sales.

We are looking for a responsible person in Australia who will be ready to incur all necessary activities. Our candidate should be highly motivated. We believe that the experience is not the most important thing. The key to success is a fresh look and bold ideas!

The main duties of Administrative Assistant:

– Helping Entity’s Sales Department as a special projects support
– Data entry and other functions as specified in the instruction
– Running reports for all completed deals and wire transfers
– Providing overall administrative maintenance such as making of letters, processing purchase orders and transaction reports etc.
– Emailing correspondence every day

Hours: Full-time or part-time schedule possible. Your schedule can be irregular. For a part time variant – you will spend 3 hours per day average, from Monday to Friday.

Salary: Essential pay for a part time job is 840AUD on a weekly basis
plus 5 percent commission. Full-time job pay is 1300AUD on a weekly basis plus commission.

You will be on Probation period for your first month.

I’m sending you Application Form and short presentation of LCN(you can find it attached to this email). You can find full job description in the brochure(pages: 5,6,7). Please read it carefully, complete and send it back to me via email or by fax +1-832-218-1671. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thank you,
Amy Lane

Update – Another Email –

From: adelino gonçalves
Subject: Job Offer(8609H1208e1)

Location: AU
Citizenship or Work permit: AU
Required Education: High Diploma/College Diploma
Type of Employment: Part-Time
Pay rate: 4,250 AUD/month
Bonus: Available

Main information:
I have seen your CV on job board site and we think that you are perfect candidate for us. Our advertising company, which carries out the orders for international company’s agents, regional business and government organisations, would like to offer you post of Service Manager. If you are interested in collaboration with a strong leadership team, evolving our products and a group that looks more like close friends than colleagues, then this employment is just for you! Adaptable timing is possible.

Requirements are:
High School education necessary. Must have Computer and Internet
access, Microsoft Office or compatible. Must have proper writing and social skills.

If you are interested, please write to us at: nkigae1971@mail.com .
Thank you for your attention!

And Another Email –

Work Location: AU
Citizenship or Work permit: AU
Education required: High Diploma/College
Type of Employment: Partial
Base Payment: 4,250 AUD/month
Bonus: Available

Main information:
I found your Summury on job board site and we think that you are perfect candidate for us. Our advertising company, which carries out the orders for international company’s agents, regional business and government organisations, would like to offer you the position of Service Manager. If you are interested in cooperation with a strong leadership team, evolving our products and a group that looks more like close friends than colleagues, then this employment is just for you! Adaptable timing is possible.

Conditions:
High School education necessary. Must have Computer and Internet, Microsoft Office or compatible. Must have proper writing and social skills.

If you are interested, please reach us at: sorelyhotchar@hotmail.com .

And Another Email –

Important message for (your email address would be here)

Bill Pay transfer: 59N2YRHG4
Total Amount: 4669.87 Australian Dollars
Status: Processing

Please click the statement provided with this email to get more info about this transfer.

There is a .doc file attached which contains nasties, so if you opened that .doc file you will need to run a full virus and malware scan.

Update – names they are using –

– Wagner Etha – LCN company administrative assistant – Hardesty Shella haelrdestecyvashella@outlook.com – Danna Maire – Singh Kecia – diamond arie – ariojedociamuhond@outlook.com – Damon Jenna -jaocJhoennaDamon@outlook.com – Snelling Krystyna – Kwon Nanette – KfuwonomNandeette@outlook.com – Runkle Cristin – CrisihuftiornRunkle@outlook.com – Dickey Bernice – Carbaugh Freeda – FreednuziaCayprbaugh@outlook.com – Levy Delsie – LeimvyDelresulie@outlook.com

– Jump Lettie – JumuzpLilenettie@outlook.com – Mollie Bracken – etMollieBoxracbyken@outlook.com – beales reina – Luedtke Alyssa – wuLueerdtsukeAlyssa@outlook.com – Gober Kali – KaliGgoedoboner@outlook.com – Nakano Virginia – Lussier Jenelle – JneerineinlleLussier@outlook.com – Peer Linn – juzePwueerLinn@outlook.com – Macedo Marjory – MaceelmodixoMarjory@outlook.com – Roseberry Lessie – lessioveefruroseberry@outlook.com – Hanlon Jan –

HafunlneonbaJan@outlook.com – Rico Iona – ykRicxeoIoivna@outlook.com – fortner catrice – CatriceFixorartuvner@outlook.com – Donner Sharee – SharzeeeDookninner@outlook.com – Ake Gisele, erAkeGisehiible@outlook.com – Lasater Tess – LlaastyateutrTess@outlook.com – CordiaogPinoultyiot@outlook.com – Dunkle Meribel – Satchell Ingrid – Donohoe Aleen – DoavirnohoeAleyven@outlook.com – Corwin Benita –

CoverugwinehBenita@outlook.com – Bridgeman Ethel – enWardDiseajinn@outlook.com – Ward Diann – Durr Shawnna – DurrSughemawtonna@outlook.com – CorwoeygyynNeff@outlook.com – Wold Marva – WojaluvdMejarva@outlook.com – Neff Corey – Driskell Velma -edVucelmaDridaskell@outlook.com – Holcombe Penney – Cottingham Holly – Lockhart Michelle – ifLociskhartMichelvole@outlook.com – Cabral Leora – isifCabgiralLeora@outlook.com

– Mccera francie – qiMccrreeaFrwoancie@outlook.com – Driggers Laurette – LauusreyktekteDriggers@outlook.com – Gillenwater Delphine – Overby Lisandra LisandapraOvemeanrby@outlook.com – Mceachern Marva McaxeachernMcyaryhva@outlook.com – BrittnfieyWruhpyitted@outlook.com – Bardwell Justine – Aceves Mayra – ujAytcevesMbiayra@outlook.com – Cantwell Blanca – BlanexcapiCantucwell@outlook.com – Hesson Nerissa – daNeriuxsejsaHesson@outlook.com – Rush Kiesha – Nicolas Stephany – NicolasSohtepoghobany@outlook.com –

Catlett Vanda – heCatlefuttfiVanda@outlook.com – Hermann Carmon – CewarmceonHermaasnn@outlook.com – qeDsoeleybnaBono@outlook.com – Duke Kaila – ziKorakoilaDuke@outlook.com – BroaigdusysMinlaerva@outlook.com – Wendel Emmaline – yfEmmalineegWeezndel@outlook.com – Taliaferrygo Leutoniuwda – Kendricks Drusilla – KendrictiksydDrusapilla@outlook.com – Guston Allison – Hardesty Erna – mailto:ErnsiudaHardesiqty@outlook.com –

Hinkle Agripina – xiHabinkleAgripibina@outlook.com – Boland Audrie – AudajrarieBycoland@outlook.com – Loehr Luis – Stout Tijuana – Roush Dalila – oxDalilaRoyzuugsh@outlook.com – Johnson Karlyn – KarlevynJoxovyhnson@outlook.com – Sturges Meredith – izMeogredithSturgbyes@outlook.com – McKenney Luella – LuwoellaMcwakennsoey@outlook.com – Oswalt Ela – ElaOgesfiwyqalt@outlook.com – Gracia Charleen – Bejarano Erline – Candy Kobb – KifanvedmoyCobb@outlook –

Leopold Valene – VaeqleneLyceopoibld@outlook.com – Jenny Graham – Kerrigan Joycelyn – Alanis Loreen – Kershner Ami – Laskowski Maranda – MarandaLkeaskowsypemki@outlook.com – EdytjehBerogotin@outlook.com – Brim Debby – jyBrepimDebygby@outlook.com – Reed Rozella – Marotta Tisha – TyhekishaMarotjuta@outlook.com – Edmondson Margorie – AsvazehbeleyCindi@outlook.com – Ashley Cindi – OlimavaKelowumal@outlook.com – Lucero Sharmaine –

ShukarmaineLurucimero@outlook.com – Dreyer Nina – igNiwibunaDreyer@outlook.com – Dicopiveelutro@outlook.com – Morello Lea – MormeellsoogyLea@outlook.com – Lillie Chappell – LemillubisueChappell@outlook.com – YbarpiratoojMitsuko@outlook.com – Labrie Ashleigh – ovAwyshleighLabrbeie@outlook.com – Lockman Matilde – Dorsett Ouida – DorsdyetestfiOuida@outlook.com – Mcdaniels Carisa – CaxirisujaMcdaijniels@outlook.com – Sullins Refugio –

sullinsrexeiffugurio@outlook.com – Campuzano Diamond – Redmon Caprice – CilaprgyiceexRedmon@outlook.com – Rangel Alexa – Stubbs Sonia – Lauderdale Katheleen – LypaudehordaecleKatheleen@outlook.com – Cruse Jeanmarie – Michels Cecil – Lefler Camelia – Spitz Ardis – SeqpitikzArdowis@outlook.com – Lear Franchesca – LejeawpyarFranchesca@outlook.com – Hundley Luana opkyHundleweyLuana@outlook.com – Helmick Royce –

wiRounycaseHelmick@outlook.com – Curiel Johnsie – Mohamed Farik Kreslins – Denis Ranae –
GqyelibinaqusTamara@outlook.com – Sydnor chandra – syvydsunosorchandra@outlook.Com – Hoefer Nita – Moberly Tomika – TovimiutkaMobicerly@outlook.com – Desantis Willow – boWildoloucwdrdantis@outlook.com – Guardado Carey –
CanirhieyGuaunrdado@outlook.com OdiluwikinoaCisco@outlook.com – Bee Mary – BduexisueMary@outlook.com

– Cribbs Selma – seqaunimaugCribbs@outlook.com – Petrillo Cheyenne- ezPetrilloChekeikeyenn@outlook.com – Jennings Petronila JhuenniejngsPetronevila@outlook.com – Wiener Audra – Espino Hallie – HalliebyheEspodino@outlook.com – Dansby Bee – Hermes Leisha – GiycnderyjPaulepene@outlook.com – Ginder Paulene – Lerner Cecil – Franzen Patience – Stringer Christal – ceStringexorChrdeistal@outlook.com – boBilodeauqamyInocencia@outlook.com –

WoodsonChralujijystiane@outlook.com – Primm Shalonda – SjyhaijlonebdaPrimm@outlook.com – Duplessis Katharine – odKatharuvineDuplesessis@outlook.com – Leslie Carleen – LadeslixuepaCarleen@outlook.com – efHectygorLaveojra@outlook.com – Haggerty Vada – VadaHagpigsaerojty@outlook.com – Mccomb Marianna – MemariusannaMccoitmb@outlook.com – Orosco Melonie – MkyelowynieOroydsco@outlook.com –

Amy Lane – amy.lane@lcnwork.com – Kauffman Octavia – KehauniffmwoanOctavia@outlook.com – Lanham Syreeta – SyreekutaazLanhlyam@outlook.com – Toms Casey – arTomeksCvuasey@outlook.com – Putman Arlyne – Vannessa Moores – VannessatuMoadorhees@outlook.com – Zink Chastity – ChastoleriketyZink@outlook.com – Straka Thuy -StkyrtyakaTmohuy@outlook.com – Chesley Tenisha – TenisvohqaaChziesley@outlook.com – Dickinson Yaeko –

DehickisunsweonYaeko@outlook.com – Ogilvie Kelley – naimOgiemlvieKelley@outlook.com – Bocanegra Aleshia – AleshiayrBocanxoesegra@outlook.com – alacantra Eleanore – Global National Company – McpheruxsonCdyarmcuen@outlook.com – Michael Francene – MimychaeniyblFrancene@outlook.com – Towle Eunice – Dole Lavenia – Chun Jolyn – ysJoafcilynChun@outlook.com – Osborn Jama – CacerekokesYiqesenia@outlook.com –

beKehirkseheyRosy@outlook.com – Foxworth Thanh – Germain Shery – GeoxrmaelinycShery@outlook.com – Benz Tamica – Mize Zenia – ZenisoayderMize@outlook.com – Forsyth Marguerita – yfForsythMarydgueriexta@outlook.com – Oxley Essey – Kittrell Ruby – KiujttrellhuRuluby@outlook.com – Fulford Ilse – IlgyseFneulfolord@outlook.com – Futrell Karma – FudytrellKarrekoma@outlook.com – Dear Colene – deaarrxucoublene@outlook.com –

Hoppe Krysten – ebKrystmuenHoamppe@outlook.com – Paz Juliana – PreazyhJeculiana@outlook.com – tveomesbeizrnicoece@outlook.com – LavyngevedinGeoroxgene@outlook.com – Escobar Caitlyn – Leslie Breann – Claytor Paul – viugClinaytorPaul@outlook.com – amy.lane@lcnjob.com – koedachi1979@mail.com – ashika.raj@hotmail.com – daniellemarietaylor@hotmail.com – Alanna Simmons – kaishin1986@mail.com – Atatoa Viqasi – a.viqasi@hotmail.com –

nkigae1971@mail.com – Doss Katheleen – reggieronnie1@hotmail.co.uk – Lucien DENIS – denis13140@hotmail.com – amylane@lcncareer.com – Gerard Ferrigno – ferrignogerard@hotmail.com – jase.calvert@hotmail.com – yomiiki1971@mail.com – nicolebaker395+mbu@indeedemail.com – kochiiga1975@mail.com – estebantejeda10@hotmail.com – panteranegra2780@hotmail.com – mimonoko1982@mail.com – guchiana1985@ mail.com – bebo_911_2@hotmail.com –

ruiai1981@mail.com – ngorika1973@mail.com – tekiseyu1984@mail.com – gorjus_bella86@hotmail.com – Nicola.Goad@outlook.com – anum_i55@live.com – Trisha.Forney@outlook.com – Assunta.Brink@outlook.com – Higgins.King@outlook.com – f_linette@hotmail.com – Lukens.Ouida@outlook.com – menchie_o@hotmail.com – jewels-elisabeth@outlook.com – Bordelon.Jade@outlook.com – Herbert.Petterson@outlook.com – yinotoon_45@hotmail.com –

luis Leonardo – eln0ble@hotmail.com – Langford.Brigitte@outlook.com – lorena Gonzalez – lorena4948@hotmail.com – marykate345@outlook.com – Blossom.Mueller@outlook.com – sjwheatley1@hotmail.com – katheryn.barfield@outlook.com – kaufjm19@hotmail.com – neesiepeices84@live.com – purbeckmark@outlook.com – paulina.kowal@hotmail.com – Langford.Brigitte@outlook.com – Tonya wilkinson – McCauley.Berna@outlook.com – tcrockett1963@hotmail.com –

phil-j-latham@hotmail.co.uk – Katheryn.Barfield@outlook.com – Lukens.Ouida@outlook.com – Jeri.Gamble@outlook.com – Alicia Martinez – smiley.xd@live.com – keefer122450@hotmail.com – Herbert.Petterson@outlook.com – Tasha Crump – beautifulfaith@hotmail.co.uk – juliahaworth@live.com – Katheryn.Barfield@outlook.com – Mecham.Chia@outlook.com – terramadre1950@msn.com – Janene.Hamer@outlook.com – teefaa-02@hotmail.com – janetmoran2015janet@outlook.com –

Rebecca Fisher – dannynmai@hotmail.com – Goetsch.Dortha@outlook.com – Jeffrey Grant – Leal.Cyrus@outlook.com –
Briggs.Harold@outlook.com – babyblu3_1016@msn.com – Alicia Threlkeld – pedrosami213@live.fr – Bordelon.Jade@outlook.com – Lukens.Ouida@outlook.com – red_rubie@live.com – barisanjali@hotmail.com – Leal.Cyrus@outlook.com – Goetsch.Dortha@outlook.com – am111213@hotmail.com – McDermott.Shayne@outlook.com –

Higgins.King@outlook.com – amylane@lcnrecruit.com – mmforddy2121@hotmail.com – am111213@hotmail.com – McDermott.Shayne@outlook.com johnorchard87@hotmail.com – Lukens.Ouida@outlook.com – amylane@lcnrecruit.com – porekstad@hotmail.com – guchiana1985@mail.com – joel_engwall@hotmail.com – TigevhjyomasonTana@outlook.com – Jarrah Smith – Hearne.Federico@outlook.com – Trisha.Forney@outlook.com – care470@hotmail.com – jeri.gamble@outlook.com –

McCauley.Berna@outlook.com – julfen@msn.com – gabrielle_hosein@hotmail.com – Katheryn.Barfield@outlook.com – delmy_marroquin11@hotmail.com – Langford.Brigitte@outlook.com – msunshine70@outlook.com – maeking3@live.com – Herbert.Petterson@outlook.com – dianelawson@hotmail.com – chaserockcole@aol.com – coreyngtopperngza4989@yahoo.com – cnewtonchr@aol.com – veronalegaiettolexy3561@yahoo.com – dennisgoretic@aol.com – kingnewman30@aol.com –

chanohrichinsohab7437@yahoo.com – anthimecommare@aol.com – oliviagzheroldgzst7101@yahoo.com – frivolloserendo@hotmail.com – maeibconaryibuv5340@yahoo.com – jinaslflatteryslef4601@yahoo.com – jerilynkdkroellskdwx7307@yahoo.com – caridadkdmaineskdwx9711@yahoo.com – furnmaker2@aol.com – amylane@lcn-career.com – maryellenfyforneyfyrs4453@yahoo.com – kolekjohnson@aol.com – floridafyquinterfyrs9607@yahoo.com –

margartatgroetkenatmn1956@yahoo.com – arianneibclaaribuv1282@yahoo.com – mathildaqjmoberleyqjcd9912@yahoo.com – lillianqjlishmanqjcd6914@yahoo.com – astatinebfidn@hotmail.com – rebbeccaibfilipiakibuv4576@yahoo.com – nohemilefennylexy5477@yahoo.com – jacindatmreinsteintmfg6008@yahoo.com – arianneibclaaribuv1282@yahoo.com – nicoleaffi@aol.com – mcravn@aol.com – margartatgroetkenatmn1956@yahoo.com –

lintershirkfrag@hotmail.com – arianneibclaaribuv1282@yahoo.com – mrswwwclarkjr@aol.com – jasmincarson@outlook.com – coreyngtopperngza4989@yahoo.com – busterdou@aol.com – hienwpseelyewpij8542@yahoo.com – risk463@aol.com – ostbyjr@aol.com – jerilynkdkroellskdwx7307@yahoo.com – oliviagzheroldgzst7101@yahoo.com – Vylesj@aol.com – risk463@aol.com – weezie1119@aol.com – cirmensyversion@gmx.com – sadiemareanu@gmx.com – raymondmatloff65@gmx.com

catalinosagan53@gmx.com – berylgarganosj@gmx.com – dezellaalbanesea@gmx.com – tennesselorenzo87@gmx.com – tressaariosto42@gmx.com – cereliawomackyu@gmx.com – raymondmatloff65@gmx.com – tanyaetzkornlk@gmx.com – makedalivingstone02@gmx.com – jacouelynclark25@gmx.com – amylane78@lcn-hr.com – evapritzut@gmx.com – sadiemareanu@gmx.com – floridafyquinterfyrs9607@yahoo.com – raylynnbuck@aol.com – rachelecnduemmelos0877@hotmail.com

Thanks everyone! ;)

Angry Snoskred, fake checks, Internet Safety, scams, spam

Leaky

Leave a comment Posted on November 27, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

These spammers just keep getting.. more weird. :)

Today I received a comment from “leaky faucet pompano beach seafood festival” It said, and I quote –

Having said that, there’s way more required inside plumbing business which has resulted
in numerous kinds of plumbing profession paths that folks can pursue as expert plumbers.
These types of couplings are a great asset and can really help, get
the job done. This article looks at the importance
of choosing the right plumbing courses.

Well thanks, leaky faucet, for sharing this important information with us. Though I am still confused what it has to do with pompano beach and/or a seafood festival!

NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014, spam

Spam – NEVER Unsubscribe! NEVER Reply!

12 Comments Posted on September 27, 2007June 2, 2015 by Snoskred

We bloggers want to put an email address out there on our blogs for people to contact us with. The spammers have “data mining” software, which grabs those email addresses off the internet and loads them into their spam email programs. So how can you protect yourself from this deluge of unwanted email?

Never Unsubscribe – Never Reply

I got an email this morning from a friend of mine, who mentioned receiving a spam email from Romania. This one was actually personally addressed to their email address, which often tricks people into thinking they had actually subscribed to receive these emails.

The bottom line is, spammers send these emails out in the hope that people will unsubscribe – or reply to the email asking them not to email again. Can you figure the logic in people who reply to scammers and spammers saying “Don’t email me again, ever.” – You never asked them to email you and asking them not to email you makes no sense at all. Like they’re going to do anything you ask them to do!!!

Once they have confirmed there is a real human being reading emails at that email address, they can sell it on to other spammers and make big money out of it. So set yourself a policy of never reply, never unsubscribe.

Is It Possible To Not Get Spam Emails?

Yes it is. You just have to keep your email address completely private. As in, you don’t give it to anyone, anywhere. Of course, that defeats the purpose of having an email address! You want people to be able to get in touch with you – you just don’t want spammers and scammers getting in touch.

What Else Can I Do?

There are a couple of options which are relatively simple that may not stop the spammers and scammers completely, but at least makes it harder for them.

Make Your Email Address An Image –

You may have seen this kind of image around the place – note this email address I don’t use anymore so don’t ya’all email me at it!

This is easily generated online thanks to this wonderful website – Email Icon Generator.

The only trouble with this is, your email address needs to be simple enough that people can work it out from the image. Try to use letters only because numbers will be confusing. You will find some people will get the address wrong or simply not bother, though. It is almost as bad as those Captcha word generator things for comments.

Put An Extra Word Into Your Email Address –

Then tell people underneath which word to remove. For example (this is not a real email address) emailmePOOP@mail.com <--- take out the Poop to reach me. The only trouble with this is people find it annoying and troublesome and might not email you at all. People used to use NOSPAM as the word to take out - don't use that word anymore, the scammers and spammers have worked that trick out. They're not complete nitwits, ya'all! ;)
Use One Email For The Net –

This is the solution I have chosen for myself. Make an email address which is for the web only and which receives email only – never use it for subscribing to things or personal emails or responding to anything. Be very aware that emails which arrive in there can potentially be spams and scams, and never unsubscribe to anything sent to that address – because you never USED that address to subscribe.

Make another email address for personal correspondance and keep that one to yourself and friends only. There’s no limit on how many email addresses you can have.

I use 5 different email addresses for this blog. One here for people to contact me with, one which receives all the comments people post on my blog, one which I use to email people back with, one which I use for things I have signed up for which are blog related, and one which I use when I reply to comments.

Stumble It –

I hope this might be useful information and helpful to everyone out there on the net, if you found it to be useful please stumble it. ;)

Over To You!

What are you doing to protect yourself from spam and scammers? Do you receive a lot of scam or spam emails?

internet, scams, spam, www safety

Spam, Spiders And Do Follow, Oh My!

25 Comments Posted on September 4, 2007March 2, 2015 by Snoskred

Today on Think Tank Tuesday I’m taking a look at No Follow and Do Follow and how these relate to blogs and spam, and Sephy is going to let you know how to turn no follow off on Blogger, WordPress, and various other kinds of blogs. It is a lot easier than you think, you’ll be glad to know!

So what is NoFollow All About?

Most blogs come with no follow installed on the comments section automatically. This was originally done to prevent link spammers gaining anything from their spammy efforts. Unfortunately nofollow does not work – nofollow blogs still get spam comments.

That means anytime someone comments on your blog their link is not followed by the search engines. The commentor does not receive a link back on either Technorati or Google or Yahoo or any of the other search engines.

Is It Fair To Your Commentors?

By making a link no follow, you’re effectively saying to the search engines – I don’t trust this link. Given that most of us do actually trust the links of our commentors, this is not a Good Thing.

Choose Not To Give Link Juice –

When you have a blog, you can choose to make certain things no follow. For example, if I wanted to link to someone in a post but I did not want the search engines to see that link, I would put in a bit of code that turns the link into a no follow link. Why would I want to do that?

Link Bait –

Sometimes bloggers post controversial things in order to get links back to their blog. I can name a few who do this regularly. If you feel a blogger is link baiting but you still want to discuss their post there is an easy way you can make the link no follow.

Sephy has shown you how you can do this in his post on this topic – Say No To NoFollow, it is simple and easy to do.

You will still be giving their blog traffic if anyone clicks on the link, but it is better to do that than leave your readers wondering what the heck you’re talking about – and much better than giving the blogger what they are looking for by being controversial, which is backlinks to their blog. Don’t reward them by giving them link juice.

Links Mean $$$ To Some –

Why do bloggers link bait? To some bloggers, backlinks can mean money. The more back links your blog has, the higher ranking you get on Technorati, the higher your page rank, the higher price you can charge advertisers.

What Is Do Follow?

The Do Follow movement is basically people who have decided they want their commentors links to be followed by the search engines. These Do Follow bloggers have taken the time to remove no follow from their comments sections. Depending on what kind of blog they have this can be an easy task or a difficult one.

Sephy has explained how to make your blog do follow with instructions for Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, Movable Type and some others.in his companion post to this one, make sure to read it. Here is the link again if you have not already opened it in a new window or tab – Say No To NoFollow

Will This Increase Spam?

In a word, no. I was getting spammed before I became do follow, and I have been spammed since. What will add to your chances of being spammed more often is by joining one of the Do Follow link lists that exist on the internet. These are targeted often by spammers looking for a way to build backlinks fast.

The Bumpzee Community –

There is a No Nofollow | I Follow | DoFollow Community at Bumpzee. Being a member of this community is worthwhile if you are a do follow blog because your posts go out on the RSS feed for other do follow readers to view. It has meant more traffic to my blog.

I believe three times since I joined the community, which was some months ago now, I have been spammed by people who came directly here from the Bumpzee community. These are the paid commentors. Their comments are easy to spot and easily deleted. So as far as I am concerned the issue of being spammed by people who know you are do follow is not much of a problem for me.

What If I Get Spammed?

You can easily turn no follow back on – but that won’t stop the spam. Spam is a problem we all have to deal with here on the internet. We just have to be adults about it, set a comments policy for ourselves, and then follow it.

Since I put in a comments policy on the page where people leave a comment, I have only been spammed once. The paid comments people seem to have got the message – it is a waste of their time to comment here and they won’t get paid for the comment because I delete it quickly. If you can do the same thing, you can keep your blog spam free.

How Can I Tell When It’s Spam?

The number one give away is the link they are using. When I see a comment that is possibly spam, the first thing I do is copy the link and take the link over to Technorati. For example, this is one of the comment spammers that has been here recently – on Technorati and another one – and as soon as you search for the URL you can see they have a lot of recent reactions with different names – Tom Paine, Lais Edwards, Richard Andrews, Clebsch Gordon, etc.

Why It Works –

Looking at the backlinks, some of the bloggers I most respect got caught out by these spammers. There’s a lot of familiar names and blogs there. I didn’t have the time to email or comment on all the posts, otherwise I would have.

The two blogs mentioned above now have medium level authorities on Technorati – (one has an authority of 51) (two has an authority of 65). You’ll note I am not linking to the blogs themselves, only to Technorati. I do not want to give them any link juice.

Team Up With Fellow Bloggers –

The major mistake these spammers made was – they visited Sephy’s blog not long after visiting mine, and left similar comments. Sephy and I discussed them on Skype and figured out it was spam, and then deleted them.

Don’t be afraid to contact a fellow blogger who has received a comment you suspect is spam and ask what their thoughts are on it. Sephy posted about it here – Paid Comments Not Allowed

Search The Name or URL-

If you search the name or URL you may well find both listed in the search engines as spammers.

Post About It Yourself –

If spam has become an issue on your blog, it could be worthwhile posting about it so that other bloggers can be aware of it. When they google the names you keep seeing as spam, they will find your post and then they can delete the spam as well – and if they read your post, when those names turn up on their blog they can hit delete fast.

Just make sure not to give any link juice to the spammers – you can make individual links no follow easily (See Sephy’s Post for info on how) so please do so when referring to the links spammers leave, or use the name only, don’t put a link in..

Moderation?

From time to time all bloggers find themselves switching to moderated comments. I’ve had to do it here, when trolls have arrived. Using moderation takes all the fun out of it for them. You usually don’t have to leave it on for too long before they give up and go somewhere else to troll.

You can also use moderation to combat spam and this is a tactic some bloggers are trying out recently. If you are available most of the time to moderate comments, you may wish to try this but be aware – it tends to stifle discussion. And what happens when you sleep? Comments stay unmoderated for hours at a time. ;(

Moderation After The Fact –

I tend to stick with a moderation afterwards policy here. If I spot a comment which is inappropriate, unacceptable or spam, it is quickly deleted. Sometimes not quickly enough because the search spiders are here fairly often. So they may get a some link juice if I’m not on the ball.

Trusted People –

If you have a couple of people you really trust who live in different timezones to you, you may choose to make them an administrator on your blog. This gives them the power to moderate comments. You discuss with them what is unacceptable, and they keep an eye out, deleting anything which would be against your policy, or anything which is clearly spam.

What About Captcha?

Blogger users will be familiar with Captcha word verification, it looks like this –

The reason it is exists is to stop spam bots posting comments on your blog. However it could be stopping regular human people from posting on your blog. You only need to turn word verification on when you’re being targeted by a spam bot – as in you’ll be getting a boatload of comments in a very short amount of time – and this will stop the spam bot from posting more comments. May I recommend you turn it off in the meantime?

Julie Pippert recently posted about Captcha and if you read her post you will see you might be missing out on comments if you’re using it. I have turned word verification off here for now, we’ll see how it goes..

The Bottom Line –

Spam is an issue for all of us. We get it in our email. We get spammed in our comments section. Unless you are being targeted in a major way and receiving hundreds of spam comments a day, it’s not that big a deal to hit delete. Have a good comments policy, make sure it is visible on the screen where people leave comments (blogger users – find out how to display your comments policy) and be vigilant in deleting anything you suspect of being spam.

Internet Safety Part 4 – Use BCC

1 Comment Posted on April 2, 2007June 2, 2015 by Snoskred

From yesterday’s post, Em had a question –

What is your opinion of spam filters. My gmail one seems to work quite well and the spam doesn’t bother me because I don’t see it…

I’ve got about 40 gmail accounts actually. ;) Being a scambaiter, you tend to have a lot of email addresses. The spam stuff, like viagra and cialis and people trying to sell you stuff, gmail does reasonably well with. However, they do NOT do as well with the *scam* emails, and also phishing gets through on a regular basis.

You might not be getting much in the way of spam as yet, but if you have an email address which is anywhere out there on the internet, it will be coming to you as a surprise some time in the future. WHich leads me to an important point – *always* protect your email address by writing it like this – emailme at email dot com – mine you can see in the sidebar and it looks like this –

snoskred {at} gmail {dot} com

Here’s a screenshot from one of my email accounts which is on a scam blog. The people emailing it do not know it is on a scam blog because they use an email extractor program to get the addresses.

The emails you see there arrived over the space of less than an hour. That account regularly receives around 40 emails per hour. That’s 960 emails a day. Can you imagine how this would mess up your inbox? ;)

For most people, a single gmail account with a spam filter might work just fine – until someone gives out your email address somewhere. It’ll start out being 3-4 spam emails a day, and keep going upwards until you want to throw things at people you’re getting so much of it. If you have one email account which you use for everything, it’s a real nightmare when that happens. And you would be surprised at whom is doing what with your email address as we speak.

I’ve done a lot of email warnings to scam victims over the years, and many times some of these people have decided I am their friend and added me to their forwards list. They then send me any “joke” or “inspirational” email that they stumble across during their interweb travels. The trouble is, they add all the email addresses as “cc” – carbon copy, which means me and everyone else who got the mail can see who it was sent to! That means, if a scammer or spammer gets their hands on it, they have a bunch of new targets to email.

So there’s the lesson for today – use BCC when you want to email to more than one person. *Blind* carbon copy – it means nobody else can see who you sent that mail to.

The reason I am suggesting the email plan rather than just one gmail account is because if you break it down into groups it is much less of a hassle when that account is compromised. I say when because it is highly likely to happen. :( Spam and Scam is getting worse, and there really isn’t much that can be done to stop it, so it is much better to be prepared. ;)

I hope that answers the question. :)

email safety, internet, Internet Safety, scams, spam, www safety