How to detect fake reviews is a real problem in the digital age, and we’ve written before about how to tell fake reviews from real ones, and generally how to spot fake reviews. Now there is a new tool in the fake review spotting arsenal!
Category: Scams
If you get a text message supposedly from Wells Fargo, saying that your account has been temporarily locked for security reason, DO NOT click on the link! The message may come from 1410100007 or it may come from another number, it doesn’t matter. Again, do NOT click on the link.
Have you ever received a spam or scam phone call from your own number? This is a version of spoofing telephone numbers known as ‘neighbor spoofing’, ‘neighborhood spoofing’, or ‘neighbour spoofing’ if you are outside the U.S.. Neighbor spoofing involves the scammers spoofing telephone numbers such that it appears you are receiving a telephone call from nearby (that’s the ‘neighbor’ in ‘neighbor spoofing’) – and sometimes their computer will accidentally spoof your own number.
The number of scam calls claiming to be from either the IRS or the Social Security Administration (SSA), and claiming that they have found “suspicious activity” with your SSN, and that they are going to “suspend your social security number” seems to have skyrocketed in the past month. They come from all sorts of phone numbers (some included below), but they all seem to carry the same message.
The Internet Patrol was recently tipped off to a fake DHL notice that is making the rounds. The fake DHL notification is relatively easy to detect IF you do not have the use of ‘friendly name’ enabled, and instead see the actual ‘from’ email address, which is admin@vedadas.tk, or some version thereof. (The .tk domain is Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand.)
Microsoft has disclosed, over the weekend, that hackers have hacked into and accessed Microsoft users’ Outlook email, Hotmail email, and MSN email, over the course of several months, ending just last month (March of 2019).
Every webmail service out there, be it Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or other, encourages you to upload or merge your contacts with their system. And most Mac and PC email programs automatically cross-reference an incoming email sender with their entry in your contacts. The result is often that their contact profile picture, and ‘friendly’ name, is displayed as the sender of that email in your inbox.
If you have received a text message claiming to be from Netflix, and telling you that “We have a new policy in place, please visit and review today”, along with a link and, possibly, a random set of characters in parenthesis such as “(ybpldcjyop)”, it is definitely a scam, do NOT click on it! The text message may also appear to come from phone number 141-010-0001 or just 410100001, but even if it comes from another number, it is definitely a scam.
Online computer extortion and blackmail is nothing new. You may have heard about big companies being extorted for hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even more, in order to keep their companies from being blackmailed over something, and being brought down by a DDOS, or having some scandal (either real or fabricated) made public. Some such activity comes in the form of ransomware (where your files get locked or wiped and then you have to pay to be able to access them and get them back), and some comes in the form of plain old blackmail, such as the example below.
By now, in 2018, most people know that rental scams on Craigslist abound. But how to tell a Craigslist rental scam is not as well known. Below is an example of a Craigslist rental scam. The scammer calls himself Bob Osell, claims to be renting the house located at 2237 Kay St. in Longmont, Colorado, and to be reachable at (760)2378225.
WARNING: A mass SMS text message scam went out this afternoon that reads basically: “FRM: Account Service MSG: You are required to accept the new Terms of Service now:” and then it gives you a shortened link such as https://goo.gl/hdDpNE. The sample we received is from the phone number 1410200502, but yours may say something different.
If you received a text message or email telling you that “Account might be blocked for your security!” DON’T click on any link or respond to it! The spam message comes from text-pp.com-servicesupport@lsg.org, which should be a tip-off, but in case you’re not sure, it’s a scam!
A new malware scam is hitting email inboxes. The email sample that we have comes from an email address at thomaskeller.com (ours is specifically from gcromwell@thomaskeller.com), and claims to have received an invoice from your company. They even include your company name in the email, making it seem more legit. But it isn’t.
Automated vacation messages are often frowned upon for several reasons, including that they can be a spam vector, that if set improperly (such as being triggered with every single email from every single person) they can actually views as spam, and that they can actually cause legitimate email from you to end up in the spam folder. But as if that’s not enough of a reason to not use an automated vacation message, they can also be used with a bit of social engineering to steal your identity. Here’s how that can happen.
Confused by a confirmation of a new Amazon “Prime Acct Gift” order that landed in your inbox today, when you know that you haven’t placed any such order? You’re not alone. The order with the subject ‘New-order #20953735 – confirmed’ (although the order number on yours may be different) from aaroncasey@realoffersnow.com (although your ‘from’ address may be different) is 100% a scam.