Phishing Activity Has Never Been More Active

Are You receiving more fraudulent e-mails from the FBI, Bureau of Finance/Money/Wealth/Petroleum, or Oil? 'Ministry of Money' is another strong-sounding agency name I have seen used before.

Well, you are not alone.
Just today I received three more demanding and mildly insulting notices from the FBI [sic] stating that they have

intercepted and are holding in custody a woman at JFK airport in NYC whom claims she was acting as a delegate courier and that she was apprehended with a large sealed box of cash intended for delivery to me.

The e-mail further stated that the woman did not know that the parcel she was carrying contained a large sum of undeclared cash.The e-mail states that her instruction was to deliver this diplomatic parcel directly to my doorstep (in Toronto, Canada via JFK in NYC? -Like we don't have major airports in Toronto! d-UH!)

The e-mail further states that I have three business days to respond with a note stating that this money is mine or else they (the FBI) will keep the money for themselves and furthermore, arrest and charge me with money laundering.
Me, and the woman they claim to have detained, will will be charged with this illegal activity? Do I look scared? However, the e-mail offers an amicable way out.

-If I respond within the next three business days and claim that the money is mine and that it is legit (apparently just my word will be sufficient proof,) she shall be set free and allowed to continue her delivery of said diplomatic package of cash directly to me.The e-mail provides an e-mail address of the lady apprehended for me to respond directly to, and she will show this e-mail confirmation to the FBI -Sounds fishy and obtuse to you too, yes?

More Phishing E-mails

I also received two more e-mails today from Chase Bank marked URGENT requesting that I refresh and re-verify my account information with them immediately, -never mind the fact that I don't even have an account with Chase Bank.I get those from Chase just about every week.C'mon really, -are these inbred idiotic scammers really as dumb as this? Oddly enough, yes.Too many demands, to much urgency, too often!

When you receive any communiqué from any institution (and this include e-mail providers,) you area advised to be immediately wary if the instruction requests you do any of (and not limited to) the following:

• Provide personal information directly, or via any link provided in the e-mail;
• If they threaten or insinuate account closure or suspension if you fail to take immediate action
  in regards to forwarding the personal information they request;
• Claim that your account has been compromised or accessed by a third-party and thus
  require that you confirm your account data with them;
• Claim that they have spotted unauthorized activity or charges on your account.
  Again, asking
  for verification of your account information;
• Phishing emails often use generic salutations like Dear Customer, Dearest or Dear account holder instead of your full legal name which they already have if they also have your e-mail address;
• The address from which the email was sent is often not one from the host company claims to be, especially true if the e-mail provider is from a know 'disposable' and free service (e.g., chasebank@hotmail, etc.);
• Asks you for your User ID, Password or any account information no matter how small, billing information or numbers, -even if they have already some information about you that may be correct such as your full name, a former address, current or any previous employer, etc.This is information which can be found in public records and be used by scammer to trick you into providing more information than they already have.Do not verify any existing data or provide them with anything additional.
• Beware of trick questions like "According to our records, your wife's name is Deborah?" do NOT validate this with either a yes or no.Also, do not make any factual correction by revealing your actual spouse's (or child's, relative's, other family member's, etc.) name, age, address, marital status or etc.

Any of these requests (and others) can and likely are an automatic flag to be wary of.

Do not click any link on that page, even if the company name is one familiar to you (e-bay, PayPal, your e-mail provider, Chase Bank or any financial institution that you may actually have legitimate dealings with) still, do not click any link on that page! You should close-down that e-mail, open a new client window and go directly to the site in question, the REAL site, and check your status there.

Also, -credible institutions will not attach files to their e-mails either.So an e-mail from any institution that has an attached file for you to open/read/download is probably suspicious.The attached file could be a virus payload that if clicked to download or open will attempt to examine your private data.This is why it is important to have an anti-virus program resident and running in real-time in case you err and click on links in suspicious e-mails.

An Actual (and VERY INEPT) Nigerian Scam E-mail I Received:

1st floor, Metro Police Head Quarters Building 118 Church Street, Pretoria West
Abuja Nigeria   

Hello Sir/Madam,

We bring to your notice to inform you the news after the crusade with the President Good Luck Jonathan and others President in Africa in conjunction (UN) ageist corruptions in Nigeria and fraud alert going around the nation, base on this information you are hereby to stop every further communication with any office or bank here in Nigeria Africa for you not to be a victim of scam till we have done with our investigation from the right source on how you will receive your funds from this country.

We do advice all the foreigners to follow the right source and the better way to receive your funds from this country and if there is, we are on our searching to find out if you are the really Beneficiary to the said funds so that you will not be deceived by any one again and after our investigation if you are the rightful person to receive the said funds we will advice you the better way you can receive your funds without any further delay.

To help us in fasting this searching and investigation you are advised to give us this information bellow.

Your full name

Your address

Your country

Direct phone line

Occupation

Age

Amount you have spent so far and how long you have been dealing with, the name of the person you are dealing with his information you may have, we do this to protect the image of this great country Nigeria .

Thanks for your understanding I will look forward to receive your prompt respond immediately.  

Sir Ogbnna O.Onovo OON, NPM

(INSPECTOR GENERAL OF NIGERIA POLICE FORCE)

Seriously! Can you see all the hallmarks of the quintessential scammer? A sense of urgency, an aire of authority, and the promise of easy riches to me for just a very small amount of trust and effort upon my part? And of course, -the grammar is terrible too.It is generally believed that intentional 'bad grammar' lends some authenticity to this, being that the letter allegedly comes from Nigeria where English would not be their native language.The message actually resembles the crap that computers spit out when fed keywords and instructed to 'write' an article using provided keywords and phrases.

And if that wasn't bad enough, it is addressed to the ubiquitous Sir/Madam which is an immediate give-away that this is bulk mail and fraud.

Several times now I have received similar phishing e-mails that  '...your PayPal account is suspended due to suspicious activity' and the e-mail instructs me to click the link provided and 'sign-in to re-verify' my status.I do not do so.This will only validate to the scammer that my e-mail address reached a real person and of course, reveal my account and password to the scammer whom would immediately suck all the funds out of my account and leave me in debt.

You should always open a NEW WINDOW in your browser and visit the actual site by typing-in manually the REAL site URL in question, sign-in/log-on and verify your status that way.

Avoid Phishing Scams

Report suspicious e-mails directly to abuse@(provider_name).com, and also remember to flag the suspicious e-mail using your local e-mail client under phishing attempt.This alerts your e-mail provided to the scam, and they often forward these messages to the proper authorities as well (esp.the ones were the scammer is using THEIR e-mail hosts to perpetrate these frauds.)

Stop these thieves and scammers before they steal your money, your credit, your reputation and your personal identity.

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