IRS rebate scam

If you ever get somethign in your email that suggests it is the Government, your bank etc. Do NOT fall for these scams. Do not click on the links, and do NOT contact or reply to the sender.

Report the Email to IC3, the web server/host, etc. If more people reported these scams, less ignorant people would get scammed. Sure we may think only greedy, or ignorrant, people fall for these things. But the fact is I have recieved letter from my readers who have been effected by these scams. After the damage is done there is very little help I can offer, and in most cases the people lost money and their sense of security, which, they likely will never reteive.

To that I say it may be your child or grandparent that falls for one of these scams someday - Then what will you say? Talk to your friends, family, and the children. Inform and instruct them how to spot and deal with these problems.

IRS Scam Mail example

I got this in my Email today:

-----------------------------------------------------------

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $129.72. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to
process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here

Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service

Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding this email I held my mouse curser over the link to see where it went. The link pointed to the following adreess:

http://www.softics.ro/catalog/*******/redir.php

So I decided to type softics into google. I found 1,200 links. See the (".ro") at the end of the main web site address) This is called the "extension"/ Normally you will see a .com etc here. But there is also Country extensions here is a list of different extensions and what they represent:

http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles2/countrycode.htm

The web site is a Romanian

The Email "sender" was indicated as being from (according to my yahoo emial sender summary):

service@irs.gov

This is something the scammers do they will make it look like it was sent from a reliable source like Ebay or paypal. They lie. Also notice how at the end of the web address there is "/redir.php"?

Well the "redir.php" indicates that when you click on the link it will redirect you to a different web site, and not the website that you see if you place cuser over link (PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND DON'T CLICK THE LINK) At the bottom left of browser window - you should be able to see the website the link goes to.

Also I looked at the (full header) in my email browser. The full header indicated that the Originating IP address was - 66.252.160.48

Country: UNITED STATES (US) City: New York, NY

Another IP lookup address lookup software found this

mail.fsfm-law.com
 Country USA

The recieved Address was 213.42.26.139

I loked this one up and found

Host  : ?
 
Country  : United Arab Emirates
 

I also did a search to see who owns the domain name, here is what I found.

domain-name: softics.ro
description: PETRE Constantin
description: bd. Unirii bl. E17, sc. B, et. 1, ap. 28
description: Slobozia
description: RO
description: Postal Code: 920022
description: Phone: +40-743-117678
description: Email:
description: [...]
admin-contact: PC23-ROTLD
technical-contact: PC23-ROTLD
zone-contact: PC23-ROTLD
billing-contact: PC23-ROTLD
nameserver: ns3.inregistrari.ro 193.25.112.66
nameserver: ns4.inregistrari.ro 193.25.113.66
info: Registered via inregistrari_ro
info: object maintained by ro.rnc local registry
notify:
object-maintained-by: ROTLD-MNT
updated: 20050127
updated: 20050127
source: ROTLD
application-date: 20050126
domain-status: activ

person: PETRE Constantin
address: PETRE Constantin
address: bd. Unirii bl. E17, sc. B, et. 1, ap. 28
address: Slobozia
address: RO
address: Postal Code: 920022
address: [...]
phone: +40-743-117678
e-mail:
nic-hdl: PC23-ROTLD
notify:
object-maintained-by: ROTLD-MNT
updated: 20050127
updated: 20050127
source: ROTLD

Multiply - Algerian Bank Scam

OK well I didn't expect this but it has already happened. Here is a copy paste of the first scam phishing bank scam I recieved here. This type of scam (below) is called an Agerian bank scam.

Be sure not to click on the web site (actually I will remove their links from the paste) Be sure not to respond or open pages or web site from anyone who sends what looks like a scam. Even if it E-mailed from a friend. If you receive one from a friends E-mail, kick them a couple times, call them names, have them remove your name from their email list, and then educate them on computer security. If you open a web site from a phisher/scamer you are taking risks with your computer security. Flash and many friends / social networks do have holes that attackers can abuse, so be carefull out there in cyber space.

 

Dec 14, '07 10:02 AM for users ianbach and susnagbe

My Dear,

I know that this letter might be a suprise to you but do consider it as emergency. I am Miss Susan Markson from Liberia Monrovia 24 years old and i reside here in Senegal with my sick mother. We are here in Dakar Senegal because of the fund $5.5 million my late father deposited in the finance house which we want to transfer out from here to your country for investment. Please reply me for further clarification. I need your urgent assistance please. I do hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks.

Miss. Susan Markson.

 

Anti Cyber Terror Training - Michael Yon - Anti Terror Activist Groups

By Ian Bach April 4, 2007

I thought I would touch a little on the need for government funding in online and other Media News sources. Michael Yon metions the need for on the ground reporting of his type (an ethical nature). He also dicusses some of the online possibly private or possibly DOD influences that have remarked on his reporting. I read his views about the organization. I feel weather or not it is a private or DOD endeavor it does show the need for further education of those fighting the battle against terror propaganda. One thing to remember is his photograph that made him famous [the photo was of a US soldier helping an Iraqi child who had been a target of a sucide bomber or IED] was used in a lot of unethical ways and also used by terror propaganda as a reason the coalation forces should leave Iraq.

Sometimes it is hard to know what to publish as it can often be used by a terrorist wishing to coax public opinion to their will. Its is good to know there is people watching what is said and how, but without proper training most of these online anti-terror networks fail in some respect. They should also learn that reporting on positive changes is as inportant if not more than just taking down terror propaganda and information used by terrorists. I searched for a few weeks to find a reliable well informed and well constructed etity to train myself in online counterterrorism. But found very little that focused in this specific area. There are some good FBI and DoHS groups that train citizens on the ground to spot persons who apprear to be checking out potential targets within the US, but I found nothing on training to fight online terror propaganda until more recelty (yet much of the info and sites/groups focus only o n shutting down bad sites and not creating good web sites). Which in the least is scary. If you have read any of my links on terrorists tactics and couterterrorism you will see that propaganda/Media is a large part of the terror machine. It has been used by Al Qaeda and other terror groups more and more lately and some of it has become very sublime in many cases. Recently while I was looking for terrorists web propaganda to shut down, I found a few sites that at first looked to be respectable and for a good cause (we all remember the charitable organizations that were actualy terror fronts to help support Bin Laden and other terrorists - I hope we remember these?). But investigate further and you find terrorist qoutes and bad pictures and other text that is radical or extremist in nature. The next few years, I beleive we will see governments around the world pay more and clearer attention and funding to fight online terrorists. Online terrorists activities include bankscams, ID theft, hacking of government web sites, and terrorists posting of video and text meant to twists the publics knowledge/perception. - Ian Bach

Michael Yons latest Dispatch focuses on the need for our military to assist reporters in Iraq.

"Who suffers? Firstly, we are losing the war in part because we are losing public support for it. We are losing public support for it in part because there are so few reports that demonstrate enough progress being made and enough reasons to continue to fight until Iraqis are able to go it alone. Secondly, the soldiers suffer because their stories are not being told. Fox News, which reaches millions, just turned down an embed simply because they don’t want their cameras and computers stolen, and they need to actually work when they aren’t guarding their gear. Unlike yours truly, Fox News has deadlines to meet."

Here is a section of an Newsweek Article regarding hacking on both sides of the cyberwar:

Virtual Jihad

Radical Islamic Web sites are encouraging their supporters to wage holy war online. Their exhortations underscore U.S. vulnerability to cyberterror

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball

Newsweek

Updated: 9:40 a.m. PT Feb 10, 2005

"Almost every [Islamic extremist] Web site has a section on how to do jihad over the Internet," says Rita Katz, the head of the SITE Institute, a group that closely monitors Islamic Web sites. The postings, say Katz, advise would-be holy warriors: "If you can't do Jihad physically, do it on the Internet."

Here is some info on global terrorism and Al Qaeda influences in Saudi Arabia, as reported By Mahan Abedin:

(Click here for full Text)

"Dr. Saad al-Faqih heads the Saudi opposition group, Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), and is a widely acknowledged expert on al-Qaeda. Terrorism Monitor Editor Mahan Abedin conducted this interview December 12, 2005 in London."

"Mahan Abedin: What is the latest information on terrorism in Saudi Arabia?"

"Saad al-Faqih: The latest general trend is that the jihadis have abandoned their previous tactics of targeting Westerners and the security forces. The jihadis are now focusing all their attention on the royal family. Two factors have driven this change. Firstly, the jihadis had previously avoided targeting the royals for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities. But now they believe that the prevailing opinion in Saudi Arabia-and probably in the wider Muslim world-is that the royal family is infidel and deserves harsh treatment. Secondly, the jihadis have finally overcome their fear of a secular takeover in the event of the sudden downfall of the House of Saud. Somebody told me that in the late 1990s bin Laden used to say that if the House of Saud is removed, the country will fall into the hands of secular forces. But now al-Qaeda believes that the regime is behaving far worse than a would-be secular system, because it is gradually destroying Islam under the banner of a false Islam. Al-Qaeda has reached the conclusion that the sudden collapse of the regime will either invite foreign interference or chaos. Both scenarios are now favored by the jihadis, who have learned great lessons in the Iraq theater over the past 33 months. In fact the jihadis would welcome an American invasion, knowing full well that it will provide a massive recruitment opportunity for them and hence they will be the ultimate winners, as they think they are proving to be in Iraq."

"MA: How has the political transition (i.e. death of King Fahd) affected the struggle between the regime and al-Qaeda?"

"SF: The transition has little to do with al-Qaeda; in fact al-Qaeda is not in the least bit interested in these developments. The only way al-Qaeda would become interested is if a very serious and open dispute between the leading royals broke out. But this has not happened, not yet anyways. Moreover, there is no division in the regime when it comes to al-Qaeda; all the top figures of the regime, namely Abdullah, Sultan and Nayef, are determined to eradicate al-Qaeda. They are also in favor of maintaining the regime’s dependence on America. "

"MA: But presumably al-Qaeda is monitoring developments inside the regime very closely and the decision on the timing of any assassination attempt against a leading figure would surely be determined by .........."