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Scam News 2010

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Crimes of Persuasion

Internet Scams

This category covers reviews of some web-based companies that provide services or digitial products online. Being listed here does not necessarily mean that they are involved in any scam. In most cases, we would discuss about the offers, and general issues with globalisation - since internet is one of the known causes. In short, what we mean is that we are talking about those people who uses the internet to make quick bucks - not necessarily by cheating or scam - but by something lesser, e.g. (hint) quality of services Vs pricing, mis-information or rather lack of it, poor support, etc.

Review of LinkSimply.com

This report was pulled out from our quick submission comments:

-----

I'm reporting about linksimply . com scam

A website that claims to increase your website traffic through their various link services.
After having purchased this company's multiple services with a total value in excess of £180, I came to realize nothing was being done. After 2 weeks I got charged again for an additional £180 for a purchase I did not realized.

Needless to say that during all this time I've tried to contact this company through their contact form and no reply was given whatsoever. There is no other information regarding their headquarters address or phone number. Do not trust this company. They are scammers.

Canada: Thousands were scammed by poker site!

Full Tilt Poker

CALGARY - Potentially thousands of Canadian online poker players have been cheated by troubled gaming site Full Tilt Poker out of their holdings, alleges a class-action lawsuit launched Friday.

The lawsuit comes just one day after the site's license was revoked by regulators accusing the company of breaching regulations, included false reporting, unauthorized provision of credit and failing to report material events.

It is the latest development for the embattled company, which has been accused by U.S. federal prosecutors of running a Ponzi scheme and paying its directors more than $440 million while defrauding players, even after charges were filed against it in April.

Phishing site claiming $1.3 B has been recovered from a Madoff Hideout

Bernie Madoff

Although its a lot of money, only a handful of people (investors) are likely to be affected by this phishing scam.

What might happen next are 419 scammers who might make use of similar tactics to lure commoners with stories that "they have found Bernie Madoff's money, and please pay a fee to get a share". Pay money to get money scam.

Scams Digger: Scam Reports Dugged on 24 Feb 2010

In this report:

Twitter Phishing Scams - BoingBoingNet

Craigslist Rental Scam - WYSR

Twitter Phishing Scam - New Times

South Florida eBay scammer busted

Thanks to a complaint from a ticked-off consumer and follow-up by postal inspectors, a South Florida businessman will spend 5 1/2 years in prison for running one of the biggest eBay scams in history.

Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Refund Scam Mail

This is a scam simply because I am not an Australian. This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information. And that includes the attachments. 2010/2/10 ...

Fastest Track To MBA: Buy Your Degree and be a Professor for $210 USD

Buy Fake Degrees
Check this great sale coming up! It took me FOUR DAMN YEARS of hardwork to earn my engineering degree from an accredited university. The economy downturn has forced the jobless into scams like this: Buy a piece of fake paper (not even the price of...

Typical Affiliate Marketing - Your Gateway to Spam Database

This is one of the typical methods used by internet marketeer to sell their products: 1) In the front page, Report: Ponzi Schemes*A free look into the cheats! Money Morning is a daily newsletter that delivers stock market news and investment advi...

Tweeter Cash Starter Kit Scam: Pay $1.97 and learn how to make $10,000 a month

All you have to do is order a twitter cash starter kit for $1.95, but that's how they get your credit card info and then later charge you a monthly fee of $47. But wait, there's more. By signing up for the program you get to create your ow...

I have been scammed at job site and I need advice...

Original Question: I was stupid enough to pay membership for this supposed job service website and now they have my debit card number and all the info on it, and they also have a good chunk of my social security number. Even if the bank cancel...

Warning: Do not buy Apple IPAD from unknown source with high search ranking

I want an IPAD!
These scammers are using keywords on their websites to saturate the search engine results and get a high ranking. Just buy from known sites, and don't trust funny looking domain names. ------ Interest in Apple's iPad tablet is likely to spark a wa...

eBay Scammer makes $717,000 in 5,500 Bogus Auction

This is a simple way for eBay scammers to cheat other people's money: Take the money and run away. There is another group of scammers selling intangible rubbish and making use of Paypal's policy to protect themselves (Virtual or intangible items t...

Distress Scam: Warning! Hacked Yahoo Account Used to Scam Friends

We received this report from one of our readers. Her account was hacked, and the scammer was using it to sending a distress email to her boyfriend asking for money. Some quick advise to protect your email passwords: 1) Do not use the same login pa...

Lottery Scam: SBAL LOTTERY WINNERS - Scammer in China

Please see this report from another of our readers. The scammer is currently located in China. And in order to claim the fake $12.45m winnings, they would require you to pay for the "ATM card" which is $450 including delivery charges. Only fake...

Mad Girl Selling Drugs at Live.com

This is the first time we see someone setting up a "drugstore" within her space at live.com.

Scammer makes $6 billion in website scam

Read: A warrant has been issued for a Mesa man in connection with his role in a Web site scam that bilked 3,000 people out of $6 million by falsely promoting GPS tracking devices during a two-year period. Chester Frank Bissett, 56, who pleaded gui...

Email Scam: Watch the Email Addresses

How do we know its a email scam when we see one?

Most of the time, we can sense its a scam just by the content of the email. However, in some rare cases (or when we are tired) we might be temporarily "stunned" by certain emails, an example for me is the google phishing email posted several days ago.

IPod Scams on Craigslist

Someone informed:

"Scammers are running an Ipod scam on Craigslist. They are selling IPod clones that will fail within a week. They will not replace these clones and reply to your calls. Do Not Buy from them! (Dee 919-519-2996 and Keyma 919-671-1463) DO NOT BUY FROM THEM."

Video Warning: IncomeMembership and IncomeDeluxe Scam

Watch out! These are scams:

IncomeMembership.com

IncomeDeluxe.com

These websites uses the big names (Google, CNBC, etc) and logos in their website to boost confidence.

Teeth Whitening Scam

We received a warning:

"IF you order a free sample (and you pay the shipping), these sites will start billing your credit card for nonexistent purchases!"

www.buy-hot.com is a scam site

This is a scam site, do not buy from them! It is operated by Chinese scammers.

Your DHL Courier Company

A desperate scammer is sending an email with the title "YOUR DHL COURIER COMPANY", saying that some board of director has approved a reward money of $2.5million for "your hardwork and support".

eBay Protection: Keeping Safe Against Online Fraud

It is no longer uncommon to find a lot of individuals getting involved in scams and unscrupulous activities on the internet. The Web is full of opportunistic entities who only intend to get a quick buck from vulnerable and new users. You have to stay protected if you plan to set up a business on eBay so that you maintain your credibility and reputation.

About itshop-hot.com

We received a feedback regarding this site but this is not authenticated, and we appreciate comments, if any.

I received the email from a friend and hotmail contact advising this site, saying its really good value. I have been in email contact with itshop-hot choosing a tv and a wall bracket. They have priced it up now and emailed me an invoice for the goods and delivery. On their website the payment options are bank transfer, paypal, visa or western union money transfer. On the email invoice they only offered me western union or internet transfer as forms of payment which made me very wary, as I was planning on paying by Visa to protect myself.

How And Why Most Of All Online Income Opportunities Are Scams

By Tony Pescatore

This may sound shocking if I said to you how and why most of all online income opportunities are scams. They all seem to suck more money out of you, leading you to believe you are on the right path then one day it dawns to you that this isn't working. They are keeping you away of what really works.

You rarely make any money with those programs. What you have to do to earn money is shown to you incorrectly I point this fact you MUST INVEST IN YOURSELF.

Yahoo! introduces sign-in seals

Yahoo! has introduced a new seal technology using personalized sign-in seals.Once a User signs-up to use this protection, he will be able to see his seal whenever he is signing into Yahoo! The purpose is help the User identify that the website he is visiting is a real Yahoo! site, and not a password/credit card phishing site.

The User can use his own image or some text messages to be used as his personalised Seal. A point to note is that this only works on a private computer, and not any shared computers in the Cafe, etc.

It remains to be seen if such technology can totally protect Users from scamming sites. In any case, paypal and online banks should start to introduce new security features as well to help enhance consumer confidence.

New Credit Card Authentication Methods

Due to the widespread of scams, several internet companies have started new ways of authenticating the identify of their customers.

In the past, one of the usual method of verification is via automated or operator calls to verify the identity of a customer. Today, this has changed and a very common method is to ask the customer to fax or email a copy of their credit card (photocopy) over. While this method may help to reduce the risk of the Seller significantly, it does not help to allay the fears of some customers. Several years back, online merchants were proactive in trying to convince their customers that it is "Safe" to send their credit card information via the Internet. We were taught about SSL encryption, and checking for the "lock signs" on our browser.

Today, they are asking customers to send an entire copy of their Credit Card pictures over, but does little to convince customers that they would ensure the safe and secure handling of an important information - a complete copy of a credit card with the SIGNATURE of the customer.

We generally find that Credit Card companies should start to rethink about improving existing technology so as to boost the confidence of Both the Sellers and Buyers. New technology needs to be developed to identify anyone performing transaction over the internet, equivalent to a personal ID, failure which they would be debarred from any transaction. 

In addition, ISP can also help by channeling each logon person with a mandatory ID. This may also help in controlling the number of spam emails going around and taking up unnecessary bandwidth.

An idea is to have a separate network, such as a "Secure Internet" which is separated from the "Free Internet". Anyone that logs onto the Secure Internet must be authenticated at the point of connection via the ISP, and they would have a secure digital ID that accompany every transactions, including email etc. Countries whose ISP do not conform to such ID requirement should be banned from using the network.

In summary, the "Secure Internet" is a more matured network for businesses, while the existing internet would be considered as a "wild" network with very little control.

The "Secure Internet" is just like living in the city where there is law and order and businesses can strive. There will be crimes but it will be manageable by the police via contact tracing or positive forensic identification. 

The existing "Free Internet" would be similar to the jungle where there are almost no rules, and is loosely or not within the tight legal control. 

Just a thought for sharing.

Webhosting Companies

In recent years, the cost of webhosting has been dropping rather quickly due to the ease of market entry. The availability of OTS(off-the-shelf) webhosting control panel that simplifies the tasks of creating webhosting accounts on the popular Linux servers, has allowed any dedicated server owner to become a potential webhosting provider quickly.