Thursday, February 11, 2010

"Danger! Danger! Will Robinson"

We've written before about various e-mail scams to get to 'click here' and make you wish you hadn't... Most of us know that there are "Ethiopian" money scams. But the latest and nastiest are:

  • CraigsList Verifier - The way this one works is to LOOK as if it's from the CraigsList people, asking you to verify your 'membership' and click here to avoid a scam. Devious, but effective. Tens of thousands have clicked the link.
  • Shipping Company Delivery - From 'FedEX' or the like...Hey, you WANT to get your delivery, right? Even though you can't remember having ordered anything? Well, just click the link and...and you're screwed! Sorry, but there's no nice way to put it. This was NOT a note from a shipping company.

Both of these viral scams have had a variety of results ... None of them pleasant. It's really a shame that a growing amount of my business is undoing these avoidable scams for nice people. Be warned, and be careful about clicking ANYTHING in e-mails you weren't expecting to get. Your bank, your brokerage firm, shipping companies and your friends don't operate this way, so be careful out there.

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