Don't Fall For Phishing On Twitter

I had written many posts before regarding Phishing. However, all of these were related to spam mails. For a change, here's one I got on Twitter.

Your pw is 2341. @ShrutiKaushikIT You scored 1 entry to our $10,000 contest (not a joke!). Go 2 our linky to claim.
— Prize Spectacular (@TweetLotto35534) August 11, 2014

Note: The actual embedded tweet is gone because the account is now suspended. You can see the message if you click on the date. 

Now, most of us might be familiar with these kind of messages popping up while surfing the internet, especially on a song download website, in my experience. We choose to ignore them, but the fact that quite a lot of contests and sweepstakes are hosted on Twitter each day, it might get some people into believing this. Although, even when they are holding a sweepstakes, they still ask you to do something, like a 'Follow & Retweet' or redirect you to their website where they ask you to register via email. Nobody tags random people that they've won. Never. That's a total spam.

Secondly, if we look further into this particular case, the account holder has 75 followers. Also, when I did visit the link mentioned in the account, it led me to a blogger blog which had the following column in the middle.

Now, you must note that it is not advisable for you to actually visit such links as they might lead you to malicious websites. If you're very curious to know as to which website the generally shortened URL leads to, you can expand the URL at http://longurl.org/.

Coming back, I went on the link and submitted random numbers to it, which led to this website.

It asks you to download iLivid Download Manager. Now, for those who don't know of it, it's a malware in disguise of a Download Manager. You can read this article for a detailed idea.

It's quite a harmful Virus which not just slows down your PC, infects it and could even crash it but also steals your information (Usernames, Passwords etc.) by recording your keystrokes.

Ignore it whenever you encounter this 'Download Manager' for your own good.

Anyway, coming back to our main topic here, any legitimate organisation holding a sweepstakes of such an unbelievably large cash prize, not having it's own website and such few followers is just not possible.

The bottom-line is that we always need to stay cautious while surfing the web, be it spam mails or spam tweets.

You can also read my other posts on Phishing mails to learn about the typical characteristics of one.
There are ones which try to convince you into submitting money as in the case of Fake Hyundai Job Call Letter and Fake Microsoft Job Offer Letter, while a few would try to steal your identity as in the following cases-

Fake 'Abba Queens Hotel' Job Offer Mail
Fake Audi Promo Program
People claiming to make you millionaire

Microsoft Warns Of Fake Job Offers

Phishing, the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, is not a new trend. Only now Microsoft has also joined the list of those trustworthy entities whose name is being used by scammers.

Microsoft has perhaps recently received many queries regarding these fake job offer mails due to which they are warning everyone of it. Following is the message I received from them in my Microsoft account.

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Recruitment Fraud Awareness

April 9, 2014 -

We want to make you aware of some incidents whereby certain organizations or individuals, claiming to act on behalf of Microsoft India’s companies have contacted potential job seekers or candidates and made false offers or promises of employment with Microsoft India companies. These false offers or promises of employment can also involve requests to the potential job seekers or candidates for payment of money against ‘fees’ on account of placement fee, application fee, caution deposit, etc.

Please note that Microsoft (including any authorized agencies or firms that conduct recruitment on its behalf) do not, under any circumstances, require money or payment from applicants during the recruitment process. Any such false job or employment related communications, whether requiring payment of money or not, that appear to originate from Microsoft are unauthorized and fraudulent in nature. These could originate from fictitious or misleading email addresses, websites, portals or online social or professional networking sites. Such false or fraudulent communications may also be printed on forged Microsoft letterheads and stationery, refer to Microsoft’s office address or be copied to a Microsoft email id. You are advised not to respond to such fraudulent and unauthorized communications or offers from such persons. You are also advised to notify any such incidents to Microsoft at recfra@microsoft.com. If you are the victim of such fraudulent offers or promises of employment, please report it and file a complaint with the relevant police authorities. Microsoft will provide all reasonable cooperation, as required by you or the police authorities, in pursuance of your complaint

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Kindly be aware of any such mail, be it from Microsoft or any other company. No company would ask you to submit money for any reason. 

You can recognize a spam mail by certain obvious aspects. You can read Fake Hyundai Job Call Letter to get an idea.

Do not even provide personal information as your response could be used for identity theft as in the following examples.

Fake 'Abba Queens Hotel' Job Offer Mail

Fake Audi Promo Program

People claiming to make you millionaire

Also, if you're on Twitter, you might want to read this, Don't Fall For Phishing On Twitter.

Beware of Identity Theft: People claiming to make you millionaire

A friend of mine received this Phishing mail from a woman claiming to be an employee at Reserve Bank of India, asking her to be an accomplice in distributing more than 5 crores INR among them of an unclaimed bank account. You can read the whole mail yourself,

• 
  
• Even though it is a spam mail, here's why quite a few people could fall for it:
• The link mentioned, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/find-whereabouts-of-unclaimed-deposit-holders-rbi-tells-banks/909041 actually redirects to an article 'Find whereabouts of unclaimed deposit holders: RBI tells banks' on Financial Express and another link, http://www.korat-info.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18%20&%20t=1496#p6452 too leads to an actual plane crash news, in which according to the mail, the unclaimed account holder has died with his family. But, there is still no specific proof though.

Then again, here's why it is a spam:

• The mail has been sent via http://www.ciudad.com.ar/ . It is a Spanish website which is also a free e-mail provider.

• The mail doesn't address by a specific name, instead it says, 'dear friend', which means it is generalized mail sent to many.

As I've suggested in my previous blogs as well, that in case you receive such a mail,

• Do not reply, as your response will be used for identity theft.

• Do mark it as spam so that you don't receive any further mails from the spammers.

• One more thing I'd strongly suggest is that don't add your e-mail id to random websites as once it gets public, you become the target of spammers.

The purpose of this Phishing mail is identity theft but there are also a few which would try to gain money from you as in the case of, Fake Hyundai Job Call Letter and Fake Microsoft Job Offer Letter.

Also, take a look at a similar mail, Fake 'Abba Queens Hotel' Job Offer Mail and Fake Audi Promo Program.

And, if you're on Twitter, you might want to read this, Don't Fall For Phishing On Twitter.

Beware of Identity Theft: Fake Audi Promo Program

A few days back, my friend received this document in her e-mail:

Other than the obvious fake look, here are some other general points proving, it is fake:

• The mail has been sent via libero.it and not from any official website of Audi. It is an Italian website which is also a free e-mail provider. The mail asks you to responds at audiclaims@vf.vc. When I visited the site vf.vc, it says:

OooooPs.

We Just closed the registration at VF.VC

Because there is a lot of Spammers are using our service we decided to close it

For Abuse Reports : please contact us at anti-spam@vf.vc

• The +44 87 phone number is not a land line - it`s a cell phone or a redirect service.

As I've suggested in my previous blogs as well, that in case you receive such a mail,

• The best thing to do is first google about it like 'audi fake promo award'.
• Obviously, the above points should also be observed.
• Do not reply, as your response will be used for identity theft.
• Do mark it as spam so that you don't receive any further mails from the spammers.
• One more thing I'd strongly suggest is that don't add your e-mail id to random websites as once it gets public, you become the target of spammers.

The purpose of this Phishing mail is identity theft but there are also a few which would try to gain money from you as in the case of, Fake Hyundai Job Call Letter and Fake Microsoft Job Offer Letter.

Also, take a look at a similar mail, Fake 'Abba Queens Hotel' Job Offer Mail and People claiming to make you millionaire.

And, if you're on Twitter, you might want to read this, Don't Fall For Phishing On Twitter.

Beware: Fake 'Abba Queens Hotel' Job Offer Mail

A few days back, I received the following mail:

Please kindly read this letter on attachment file.

Abba Queen's Gate Hotel is recruiting interested candidate who wish to work in our Company. submit your curriculum vitae CV" to our recruitment department Via Email, These are the list of Countries needed for the Career job offered by the Company. AFRICA REGION: Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa & Sudan. ASIA REGION: India. Indonesia & Philippine. EUROPE REGION: Germany, Spain & France. SOUTH AMERICA REGION: Chile & Argentina.

along with the following attachment:

Here's why it is an obvious scam:

1. The mail has been sent via rediffmail.com and has been asked to respond to some careceo.com. Now, a 4 star hotel at London would never use a free e-mail id.

2.The letter does not address me by my name. Therefore it's a generalized mass email sent by spammers to hundreds of people hoping that a few would fall in trap.

3.The +44 87 phone number is not a land line - it`s a cell phone or a redirect service.

4. Note that the English is very poor and is not written by someone who's primary language is English.

5. It is impractical to believe of a UK based hotel sending job invitations to non-UK people and claiming that they'll take care of all expenses. This only lures people of developing or underdeveloped countries.

6. The payment listed is quite overwhelming. 

In case, you receive any such similar e-mail,

1. The best thing to do is first google about it like 'Abba Queens Hotel scam'.

2. Obviously, the above points should also be observed.

3. Do not reply, as your response might be used for identity theft.

4. Do mark it as spam so that you don't receive any further mails from the spammers.

When I googled about this spam, I found some results dating back to early 2010 as well. The fact that this letter is still circulating, it is certain that there are people still falling for it. 

You should be more alert of such spam mails if you hold an account on any job site like naukri.com. 

The purpose of this Phishing mail is identity theft but there are also a few which would try to gain money from you as in the case of, Fake Hyundai Job Call Letter and Fake Microsoft Job Offer Letter.

Also, take a look at a similar mail, Fake Audi Promo Program and People claiming to make you millionaire

And, if you're on Twitter, you might want to read this, Don't Fall For Phishing On Twitter.

Preventing Phishing: Beware of Fake Hyundai Job Call Letter

Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication(via Wikipedia). Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a variation on fishing, the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting.The fake Hyundai Interview Call Letter circulating on the internet from quite some time now is one example. Here's the one I received a few days ago.

Few things to be noticed about it are:

- The mail is from some isep.ipp.pt instead of some hyundai.com or hyundai.co.in
- The letter does not address me by my name. Therefore it's a generalized mass email sent by spammers to hundreds of people hoping that a few would fall in trap.
- The mail asks me to make a security deposit of Rs.18K, which no such established organization will ever do.

So, in case you ever receive such a mail, do not fall for it. Rather mark it as spam to avoid receiving any further mails from them.

Another example is Fake Microsoft Job Offer Letter.

Many-a-times the purpose of such mails is identity theft as in the following cases.

Fake 'Abba Queens Hotel' Job Offer Mail

Fake Audi Promo Program

People claiming to make you millionaire

And, if you're on Twitter, you might want to read this, Don't Fall For Phishing On Twitter.