Tag Archives: Advance-fee fraud

When Phishing Cuts Communications

Phishing has made it inadvisable for institutions like banks and financial sites to use email to communicate with customers. Doing so would just confuse them more and raise the likelihood they would be fooled by a phish. But what about ordinary institutions like schools and colleges? The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported earlier this week (payment… Read More »

Anti Phishing Tools And The Lull Of False Security

From Buzz Bruggeman, here’s another tool that may help fend off phishing attacks (here’s an earlier post on similar software): SpoofStick, a browser extension that sits in either IE or FireFox and tells you what website you’re really visiting. It works like this: Many phishing scams conceal the real website in a link behind tricks… Read More »

Meet The Mule, Or Correspondence Manager

Here’s how Russians and other scammers are getting their illicit gains back home. The BBC website reports on a scam where (probably Russian) scammers are posting job ads claiming to be charities looking for people to forward donations made by hi-tech firms. Those responding to the job ads — usually for something like a “correspondence… Read More »

Is The Era Of The Nigerian Scam Over?

The Register says that Nigerian scammers are getting run out of town by vigilant ISPs and greater user awareness. The article points to how scammers are having to use more obscure free email addresses — Elvis.com, Irangate.com, Handbag.com, for example — to avoid getting shut down before they can reach their target audience.   They’re… Read More »