Blogbuzz

I got another one of those emails today. Well, actually I got about nine of them, I just picked one to talk about. I’m talking about one that comes with a subject line: “This glitch will assist you to create-wealth on a cellphone.”

The idea behind this is that there is allegedly a glitch of some kind in cell phones (or the cell phone network, it actually doesn’t say up front) that somebody has allegedly figured out how to make boatloads of money by exploiting it.

Out of pure morbid curiosity I went ahead and clicked on the link in the email to have a look at the site. The link in the email: http://jpdkq.lechterstrap.com/bqjhkzy/nbqnvwgyn/ redirected me to http://appscem.com/cb102.html?refer=CD15567

The page is simple, making claims that this cell phone glitch that wireless companies don’t want people to know about is making millionaires. There’s a standard “name and email” opt-in form that you have to fill out in order to go farther into the site.

Just above the form is a statement “Only 500 available! Total remaining:” and a counter that starts at 137 and begins to count down from there. There’s a trick here though. I left that page open for a couple hours because I had to do something away from the computer. I was able to look in once in a while and my suspicions were confirmed. The counter decrements for a while and then if you wait long enough, it resets and starts counting down again.

This means that it’s NOT counting down some mythical limited inventory of something. It’s just there to add a little “you’d better hurry” pressure to get you to opt-in quicker.

OH, and about that opt-in form, Don’t give ‘em your name and email unless you want a crapload of spam. I had a look at their terms and conditions page (the link was all the way at the bottom of the page in small type). If you give them an email address you are agreeing to them basically doing any blasted thing they want with it. Here’s the privacy policy section of their terms page:

Privacy Policy: We may share or sell your Information, including your nonpublic personal information, for compensation with third parties; such third parties may include, but are not limited to, our affiliates, marketing companies, advertising agencies, data compilers, advertisers, data companies, data brokers, and, to the extent permitted by law, individual reference and look-up service programs. Such Information may be used by such third parties to provide you with information, advertisements, commercial communications and materials on products and services that may be of interest, for direct marketing or any other business.

I don’t know if there even IS any such cell phone glitch like they’re making claims about but that paragraph makes clear what the true purpose of that page is. To collect email addresses to both sell and use for their own email marketing campaigns. Giving them an email address is going to guarantee you a flood of spam that you’re going to have a hell of a time getting stopped because you have no idea how many companies are going to get your address added to their list thanks to these people.

BTW- if there actually is such a “glitch” and you know anything factual about it, I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say about it.

Technorati Tags: cell phone glitch, pressure tactic, email address collection, sell email address, cell phone scam

I think that anyone that’s been online for more than a few weeks has probably seen those emails that promise a free Del XPS Laptop. I got four of them in my email just this morning and decided just for the heck of it to take a closer look at their “offer”. I was not surprised at what I found.

This particular offer took me to “GadgetCenter.us.com” Where the first text (actually it wasn’t text, it was an image with text painted into it) on the page said “Answer this brief survey and receive a free laptop”. Under that in smaller type it said “participation required, click here for details”.

Here’s what you have to do to get that “Free” laptop:

1) Be a U.S. resident at least 18 years of age or older
2) Register with valid information
3) Complete 2 Silver offers, 2 Gold offers, and 8 Platinum offers
(Of course, most of these “reward offers” will either require a purchase or apply for, qualify for and receive a credit card which you then have to activate by making a purchase, transferring a balance or taking a cash advance)
4) Then you have to refer not one but TWO unique households, that also complete the program requirements
5) Finally, you have to do all this within sixty days of signing up.

Obviously, they’re making their money from the “reward offers” that they require you to complete. This has got to be one of the sleaziest ways to make affiliate money that I’ve ever seen. They get people completing offers like mad trying to qualify for that laptop, knowing full well that very few (if any!) will ever manage to complete all requirements, especially the one where you refer two unique households that ALSO complete all requirements. That requirement alone makes certain that they’re NEVER going to have to come up with that free laptop!

Conclusion, train your email program’s junk filter to nuke this sucker and avoid “offers” of this kind like the plague that it is. Frankly, you’d be ahead of the game to just buy the freakin laptop in the first place. For that matter, in my opinion you’d have a better chance of getting a free laptop by writing Dell and asking for one than you would by driving yourself (and your friends and family) nuts trying to complete these impossible requirements.

Technorati Tags: shady marketing tactics, free laptop scam, dell xps laptop, laptop survey scam, laptop scam, phony laptop offer

What is vishing? “vishing” is a socially engineered means of stealing information and / or money from people using the voice telephone network. The term is short for “voice phishing,” and is the telephone equivalent of online scams designed to get people to reveal personal information.

How does it work? Attackers use caller ID spoofing to make their calls look like they are coming from a legitimate number. Because people typically trust caller ID, spoofed phone numbers can be especially damaging.

Like online phishing attacks, that direct victims to bogus Web sites, vishing attacks usually include a recorded message telling victims to call a toll free number. They’re then asked to enter a credit card number or some other personal information. For example, in warranty scams, victims are asked to buy a phony extended warranty for their car, costing them anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 or more.

There’s several companies that offer commercial spoofing services, like SpoofCard. For that matter, VoIP services, like Skype and others, allow people to pick their area code and even the prefix number they want when setting up a new number. These numbers can then be used to hide where the calls are coming from.

Strangely enough, caller ID spoofing is not illegal. Yet. However there is legislation proposed that would make spoofing a phone number to look like it’s coming from somebody else illegal.

On the other hand, there are actually some legitimate uses for spoofing. VOIP providers by definition have to use spoofing, or some other kind of number manipulation, to create their users phone numbers. There’s other legitimate uses, like as doctors and other professionals that may want to return calls from patients / clients without revealing their home numbers. Online dating services that allow people talk to potential matches without exposinging their real phone numbers use spoofing. ID spoofing is also used to hide the location of victims in domestic violence cases.

Some sophisticated attacks combine vishing and phishing. Typically starting with a phishing e-mail saying there’s been a problem with some online account such as a bank, credit card company, online retailer, Etc. The victim is directed to call a number and enter their information to verify their account.

Some Vishing advice

Be wary of all unknown callers. Don’t trust phone calls any more than you would e-mails that ask for personal information.

Don’t trust caller ID. Remember that just like the From line on an Email, it can be easily faked.

Call them back. When someone is selling something or asking for personal information, say you’ll call them back, then get the company’s number from a third party like directory assistance. If it’s a bank or credit card company, use the contact number from your bill or or statement. Never give credit card information or other personal information to someone who calls you.

Register your number with the National Do Not Call registry at donotcall.gov

Technorati Tags: Dating Services, Skype, Scams, Vishing, Caller Id Spoofing, Voip Providers, Telephone Network, Phishing Attacks, Phone Number, Attackers

On of the tons of items that land in my junk mail folder is this little gem that announces in the subject line “You’ve Recevied Dell XPS !!”. In the email itself (which is in html format with remote loading images), The main image shows the laptop with the words “Test and keep a FREE dell laptop”

Going to the site and looking over the rules you find out that this “prize” really isn’t one at all. Not only that but the only place I saw anything about testing a Dell laptop is the text in the email image which is repeated on the site itself.

The TRUTH about how you’re supposed to get this allegedly “Free” laptop is that once you sign up, you have to complete a total of Eight sponsor offers, wait for the advertisers to confirm that you’ve completed their offer, give them your shipping address, possibly have to complete another offer Etc.. etc.

Even after all that, there’s still every chance that one or more of the offers you complete will end up being disqualified. If you manage to avoid that pitfall, then some eight weeks after you give them your shipping address, you finally get the laptop.

The big problem with this kind of “offer” is that in meeting the requirements it is entirely too easy to end up spending as much as or more than what you would have spent just going to Dell and buying the thing outright.

Therefore, my advice is when this kind of email arrives, use your email program’s junk filter to mark it AS junk and let the thing get auto-deleted because, to paraphrase an old tv commercial, “Dude, you are SO not getting a free Dell!“.

Technorati Tags: Email, Dell, Junk Mail Folder, ps, Truth About, Old Tv, free laptop offer, Pitfall, Advertisers, Junk Filter