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Admin Comment by John Williams on February 5, 2012 at 10:42pm

Admin Comment by John Williams on October 18, 2011 at 9:38am

All great info, these days we have to be extra careful not just virus but scams too.

 

Thanks for all the warning and safty tips.

 

 

Admin Comment by Pat Patteey, Admin on October 17, 2011 at 5:16pm

Grover,

Thanks for that area code alert.  I can see that tricking folks into calling the number.  Many are none the wiser that those ara codes will produce the charges.  I will spread it where I can.  As a norm, I don't return calls that I don't recognize the number; but, how many people really refrain from doing this out of curiosity.

Again, thanks much!!!

 

Admin Comment by Pat Patteey, Admin on October 17, 2011 at 5:09pm

Good grief, David, people are so desperate that they are coming out of every crack and "black" hole that they can crawl out of and are trying so hard to scam folks; some do succeed which is why they keep doing it.

 

MWF Comment by David McKendrick on October 17, 2011 at 3:27pm

I recently got an email supposedly from Western Union but when I forwarded it to western Union they confirmed that it was a scam and gave me their "spoof" email address to forward future questionable emails to.

I'm still getting emails on a daily basis from lawyers who want to share $15 million with me if I just send them my bank details.

Admin Comment by Grover LeBlanc on October 17, 2011 at 11:08am

Hello everyone,

Tho this is a general alert it is a serious one.

This is really scary!  Put a notice to yourself at your phone. 
 
BEWARE Costly New Area Code: 
  
  
This is for your reference. Beware!  
BEWARE Costly New Area Code 
 
 
New Area Code - PLEASE READ Be sure you read this and pass it on.

809 Area Code
We actually received a call last week from the 809 area code. The woman said 'Hey, this is Karen. Sorry I missed you- get back to us quickly. I have something important to tell you.' Then she repeated a phone number beginning with 809. We did not respond. Then this week, we received the following e-mail:

Do Not DIAL AREA CODE 809, 284, AND 876 from the U.S. or Canada .

This one is being distributed all over the US ... This is pretty scary, especially given the way they try to get you to call.

Be sure you read this and pass it on.

They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc..
In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.

If you call from the U.S or Canada , you will apparently be charged a minimum of $24.25 per-minute.

And you'll also get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.

WHY IT WORKS:

The 809 area code is located in the Dominican Republic ....
The charges afterward can become a real nightmare. That's because you did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.

Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam.

AT&T VERIFIES IT'S TRUE : http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045

SNOPES VERIFIES IT'S TRUE:
 http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

Admin Comment by Pat Patteey, Admin on October 14, 2011 at 12:23pm

You even have to be careful about clicking on links in instant messengers.  If you don't know the person who is sending you a link, it is a good idea not to click on it until you confirm it with the sender; if you do not reach the sender, don't click it.  Even if you know the person, you can still receive phishing links in your instant messenger that lead to viruses or hackers gaining access to your computer.  This has happened to various people whom I personally know.

Fortunately, so far, I have not been a victim; but, with all the advanced tactics that are circulating throughout the Internet, anyone can be victimized, even the person who thinks he/she will not be or cannot be because they think they are doing everything so right.  Beware!

Admin Comment by John Williams on October 14, 2011 at 8:36am

Thanks Scott  for posting this, it's a good reminder to us all to be careful about answering emails.  

A few months ago in the UK there was one that went around from an online bank asking everyone to change their password. One of the boxes they at to fill in was what was the old password. once they d0ne this then the scammers had account number and password.

MWF Comment by Scott Shannon on October 14, 2011 at 4:41am

I was recently a victim of a PayPal phishing scam via email. The email looked genuine, of course, and I clicked on a link in it. Then I signed into my account. As soon as I did that I realized I shouldn't have clicked on the link. I saw that the URL I was taken to had PayPal in the address, but it wasn't www.paypal.com. That's a sure sign that it is a scam. I immediately signed out, then rebooted my computer, and went to PayPal.com. I changed my password and signed out. I sent the email I had received to spoof@paypal.com and copied the complete address of the sender. (There is often a button or link you can press to reveal this information.) I then monitored my PayPal account every few hours for the next few days to make sure that there were no fraudulent charges. There weren't, so it worked out OK.

Admin Comment by Pat Patteey, Admin on September 23, 2011 at 1:00am

The Virus Bulletin has some pretty hot topics showing right now especially these two:

Trojan steals money from bank accounts via 'training session'

Bank's Twitter account hacked to send phishing messages

 

To see more hot topics, visit the Computer and Software Alert group.

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