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Doc
Keeper of the Scrolls
2010 Posts
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 Posted -
10/10/2006
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17:24
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Recently the site has been targeted by numerous spammers and email harvesting robots, Some of you wil have received many of their emails offering long lost money, pledges and downright begging letters.
A lot of these were initially conducted by automatic email harvesting robots, who automatically registered as new members, thereby giving them access to the member listings. I stepped up the security on the registration page to overcome these robots, by requiring them to enter a return email address, before they could be accepted as a member. The robots are now history.
However, individuals from the Ivory coast, Samalia, Botswanna and other african countries are continuing to target the site and register as ligitimate members, again giving them access to the member list where they send individual Private messages using the sites software, luckily because this will be a manual process, only a few will recieve these messages.
I can step up the security another level (or 3), however the security process will reach a point where legitimate new members will be turned away because of the rigourous registration process, hence my reluctance to impliment the more secure method.
What I am asking is that you have patience with these troublesome annoying people and just delete their messages, if they do not get a response, then they will quickly ignore this site and move on.
In the last two months I have identified and banned more than 20 of these so-called members and will continue to do so, I am continually on the site throughout the day and patrol all new members and topics as they appear.
Don't give their messages the light of day, just delete them.
best regards
Doc - webmaster
TTFN - Doc
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frankwilk
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Posted - 09/08/2008 : 19:25
I down loaded the Firefox Browser last night and this morning in my e-mail I had From CNN Alerts Subject CNN Alerts My Custom Alerts I thought it was maybe the front page of the browser . I didn't open it just dumped it. I now use Avast after being dumb and opening an e-mail from UPS which cost me £64 .63 to have cleaned out of my computer
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy  |
pluggy
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Posted - 09/08/2008 : 19:59
£55.00 + VAT - about what I used to charge when I could be bothered. It got to the stage where all I seemed to be doing was cleaning cr*p off peoples computers. I tell everyone to buy a Mac now or point them at my deputy who is happy to take their money for delousing Windows PCs.
The wife got one from supposedly from UPS at work which contained a nasty. Her AV jumped on it before it got loose.
Need computer work ?
"http://www.stsr.co.uk" 
Pluggy's Household Monitor |
Tizer
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Posted - 10/08/2008 : 10:33
The CNN spam emails are being generated in enormous numbers by what's known as a botnet. People who click on links in the spam but haven't done their Windows Updates and/or kept their antivirus up to date will get their PC infected. Then their PC becomes part of the botnet - a vast network of computers generating even more spam messages. This can only happen because people don't do their computer housekeeping.
Watch out at the moment because a lot more spam is being put out to coincide with the Olympics - so be especially careful of clicking on things related to the Olympics even if they come from a friend. Or following directions in emails to go to web sites and then clicking on links.
This BBC news web page has more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7548870.stm
NB. I'm just relating what I see in the news. I'm not a computer expert and I leave that to people like Pluggy. At least he can point out if I get anything wrong!
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 10/08/2008 : 16:42
It makes you wonder if it ought to be compulsory for all PCs to be equipped with AV protection as standard and the first year's sub included in the price. If there was some form of link that meant that if the AV sub wasn't paid the OS shut down that would get people's attention. It's irresponsible to run a computer without protection and the careful people pay just the same as anyone else even though they have done their best. Not fair........
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
pluggy
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Posted - 10/08/2008 : 17:10
I don't have AV on my PC........
You could level the same argument at people who run out of date operating systems.
Need computer work ?
"http://www.stsr.co.uk"
Pluggy's Household Monitor |
frankwilk
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Posted - 10/08/2008 : 19:13
What's the gain for someone who sends trojans etc ?? Is it just a good feeling like I trashed someones computer hahahah ???
If they could track the person to his living room, who hacked into the US systems. Why not track spammers and fine them or crush their computers ??
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy |
pluggy
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Posted - 10/08/2008 : 22:10
10-15 years ago they were pranks, now they are about making money. Botnets can be hired out for substantial amounts of money, the bigger thay are the more money they can be hired for. At the lower end, they can be used to skew advertising and make money for the bandits through ill gotton refferals. Only the careless leave trails to their living room, the real pros are very good at hiding.
Need computer work ?
"http://www.stsr.co.uk"
Pluggy's Household Monitor |
Tizer
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Posted - 11/08/2008 : 11:31
You can also put Georgia's military computers out of action by directing lost of hijacked PCs to send spam at them. Or make a company's share price rise or fall.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 11/08/2008 : 13:27
I have decided I am to busy to worry about that!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Julie in Norfolk
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Posted - 12/08/2008 : 07:57
Tizer, Couldn't help but see the irony in your response at 10.33 on 10 August 08. Beware of following links, by the way, here is a link!
Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe. |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 12/08/2008 : 09:41
Ahhh Julie, but we know each other and I would trust just about any link from a member I knew.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 12/08/2008 : 10:24
Julie, I thought it was Belle who looked for the opportunities to hoist me on my own petard! As a one-time editor I always relished a critical letter from a reader - you knew you had a reader then.
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Big Kev
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Posted - 08/10/2008 : 10:15
Latest email scam to watch out for is from HMRC offering you a Tax Rebate. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm
Big Kev
It doesn't matter who you vote for, you always end up with the government. |
moh
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Posted - 08/10/2008 : 15:34
Seems a strange place to have Spammers and email rogues on New Members Introducing themselves topic!!
Say only a little but say it well |
Tizer
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Posted - 08/10/2008 : 20:15
[Moved from the New Scam" thread by Tizer]
BBC News, 8 October 2008
Fraudsters 'target bank accounts'
The credit crunch is causing identity fraudsters to target bank account holders, a report says.
The all-party parliamentary group on identity fraud says thieves are finding it more difficult to use fake identities to open new accounts because of restrictions on credit. The group warned that fraudsters are now targeting existing accounts.
Its chairman Nigel Evans MP said people were "not being smart enough" to protect themselves. The Home Office said it was "committed" to tackling the harm of identity fraud. Since the group's last report, a year ago, it says there has been a fall in traditional forms of identity theft, including "application" fraud, in which people use stolen or false documents to open an account.
But the report says there's been a "vast" increase in cyber crime, where fraudsters use the internet and e-mail to tap into existing accounts or to find out credit card details. "Ensuring people opening accounts are who they say they are is an important step in tackling crime and makes the whole system safer for everyone". One scam involves a bogus e-mail from Revenue and Customs, asking for bank account details to receive a tax rebate.
Mr Evans, a Conservative MP, said criminals were being forced by the credit crunch to "focus on individual accounts which offer a guaranteed financial resource", as financial institutions began to take a "firmer line" on offering credit. He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "Certainly the fraudsters are investing in their technology to clone the information so the fraudsters are being smart, we're not sufficiently being smart enough. "And in this time, of course, when the credit crunch is there, whilst other people are losing their jobs, the fraudsters will be sure not to lose theirs."
The British Bankers' Association (BBA) said there were "simple steps" customers could take to prevent identity theft. These include keeping cards and Pin numbers secure, being up to date with their internet security, securely disposing of statements and letters and reporting any suspicious activity on their accounts. A spokeswoman for the BBA said: "Ensuring people opening accounts are who they say they are is an important step in tackling crime and makes the whole system safer for everyone."
A Home Office spokesman said: "The government is committed to tackling the harm caused by identity fraud, which causes distress and harm to individuals and their families when identities are stolen by criminals to facilitate fraud." The Home Office estimates that ID fraud cost the UK economy £1.7bn in 2006.
The parliamentary group's report also warns that the 2012 Olympics will present a "golden" opportunity for identity fraud, and urges the government to give the information commissioner powers to act as an identity fraud tsar. But the Metropolitan Police's Olympic Security Directorate said there were "many proactive fraud prevention measures are already in place" for London 2012, and that these would continue up to and during the Games.
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Spammers and Email Rogues
