UAE Central Bank Warning Email Scam

There's been a sharp decline in email scams this past few weeks, particularly because there have been lots of crackdowns of botnets in areas around the globe. That's not stopping the "UAE Central" from sending you warnings of an "email scam" though.

The UAE Central Bank email scam looks nowhere convincing, but these guys are learning. First off, they're using a convincing sender address, in this particular case a 'supportcrwt@centralbank.ae' address. They've also thrown in transaction IDs, of course for a more authentic feel.

Needless to say, as I've said time and time again over lots of posts tackling the same subject: Do not download the attachment that's included in the email. You'll just get your computer infected with malware.

Anyway, there's lots of telltale signs of a message being a email scam laced with malware: 1) The message itself doesn't identify your name; 2) the message makes you scratch your head because you don't live in the area the message is addressing or you haven't had any transaction with the sender of the email ever and; 3) the message lands in your spam folder.

Just another public service message for the UAE Central Bank Warning Email Scam.

'Till my next installment.



Searches related to email scam:
419 scam
yahoo email scam
email phishing scam
nigerian scam
email fraud
email hoax
report email scam
nigerian email scam

Realwritingjobs.com Scam Legit Review

It's time once again for a discussion on "high-paying" jobs offered on the internet. In this episode we have a work online website called Realwritingjobs.com. We're going to try and find out in this review if Realwritingjobs.com is a scam or legit.

I got into the Realwritingjobs.com website and from the looks of it, it has the average spiel of most make money online programs that do not materialize. The pitch of "urgency" in the front page surely would make first timers in the make money online field buy immediately. It also has a golden seal on the lower-left portion of the page which most users will associate with the word "official" or "legitimate" since most trusted sites—like PayPal—carry a similar seal. This is a very typical way of convincing potential customers to trust their brand. (Click image to enlarge)

Now, I signed up for the service using a fake name and email address e.g. John Smith at johndoe@doe.com and what popped out later raised another red flag on my work online scam list—a pay-to-be-paid system. It was asking for a $2.95 membership fee for the first 10 days. And—bear with me here—after 10 days you will be automatically charged an obscene $47.00 per month until you cancel. Just check out the tick box on the image below: (Click image to enlarge)

Now, this is nothing new. This is actually a sly strategy being employed even by the most legitimate of companies. No matter how conspicuous a TOS (Terms of Service) is, even if it's placed right under the sign-up box, no one's going to read it. Let's face it: Nobody reads these things, except people with just enough knowledge to pass by. Ticking that single tick-box right there effectively relieves Realwritingjobs.com from all liabilities that could arise from scam complaints of a $47.00 auto-charge in your credit card or on your PayPal account. They'll just slap this on your face and then you'll all be no chase.

Another thing to point out is the claims of some websites that the $47.00 charged on your financial medium is a one-time payment that would make you a permanent member of Realwritingjobs.com. That is definitely not true, as least at present As you can see, the website itself openly declares that it will charge you that amount every month until you cancel.

Now, I've read other Realwritingjobs.com scam reviews and user comments, and based from all those I have read, I can conclude that:

1) Realwritingjobs.com effectively became a money-milking machine when it changed its one-time payment scheme of $47.00 from 2009 to a recurring monthly payment of the same amount today. It seems that they want to take advantage of those people careless enough not to read their terms and unsubscribe to their services.

2) Realwritingjobs.com will just stonewall you when you file for a refund. Forget their "money back guarantee." They will use delaying tactics and might totally ignore you for that one last cash-in they will get from your financial medium. Worst of all, lots of former members of this site claimed that they didn't get a refund after days of asking, which is very alarming. Some also claimed that their PayPal accounts got deducted for $80.00+ by this website without having any idea of what they were charged for.

3) Realwritingjobs.com is just an aggregator of online jobs, jobs that you can readily find in the internet without paying for anything. One such website where you can find work online jobs for free—and may I say where Real Writing Jobs is getting their job listings from—is oDesk.com.

Sadly, even after all this, I can't call Realwritingjobs.com a total scam even if it feels like a total scam (a 50% scam maybe). I'm no legal expert but in my opinion, their scheme, no matter how sly and dirty, is a legitimate business model aimed at careless people who are quickly attracted to promises of wealth and fortune. They have properly set up disclaimers to protect their interest and like I said above you'll not be able to chase them for your loss even if you wanted to. And even if you can, you stand very little chance because they are located in India.

In fairness to them, they have quite a bundle of freebies to help you earn more once you join in. That said, it doesn't even out the fact that you're paying for crappy and duplicated service that is free elsewhere. Plus, you won't even earn enough here to cover the $47.00 they're charging you every month.

Summing it all up, stay away from Realwritingjobs.com or other websites employing this model for that matter. Lots of people have already been tricked by the promises of this Indian website. Nonetheless, it's not your typical scam. Also remember this rule of thumb: YOU SHOULDN'T BE PAYING TO WORK FOR JOBS FOR. JOBS SHOULD BE PAYING YOU.

I hope this Realwritingjobs.com scam legit review helped you. Share or like this post to help other online job seekers protect themselves from scams.

'Till my next installment.

Tuko Gecko Scam

This Tuko Gecko Scam has just recently been aired at a local TV station's news program. I knew about this tuko gecko scam for quite some time now. Actually it has been on the internet for more than two months, and it was known previously as the Tokay Gecko scam, the tuko's English name.

Now, the myth behind this scam is that inside a tuko or gecko's innards lies a powerful enzyme that when consumed will cure the incurable HIV/AIDS and magically poof away the dreaded cancer. But is there any truth to the myth? Obviously no. If there was, don't you think scientific communities all around the world—such as America, Japan, and the EU—would have verified it by now? It's the audacity of the claim that astounds me.

Another thing beyond belief are the prices being offered for these lizards on the internet. In the past months, these tuko or geckos have been only fetching five-digit amounts e.g. P10,000.00, P55,000.00, etc. Now, it's being sought for ten to twenty to sixty to a hundred to a billion pesos. Just look at the screengrab below, courtesy of buy & sell website sulit.com.ph (Click to enlarge):

These images are in no way edited or manipulated. These are for real. And with those audacious prices, don't you think something is so wrong here? I'll prove to you why it's a scam.

First of all, these are tens of millions of pesos we're talking about. These amounts when aggregated are more than enough to build more or less twenty Jollibee franchises. Imagine that. Don't you think that P1 billion is too expensive for a single lizard?

Let's have things in perspective here: P100,000,000.00 is equivalent to $2.3++ million while P1,000,000,000.00 is roughly $23.8++ million. Meanwhile, Manny Pacquiao makes about $15 million per fight. The guys buying these tuko or gecko for medicinal purposes must be richer than Manny Pacquiao, Lucio Tan, and Henry Sy put together! And gee would you look at that, they are no-namers or have totally fictitious names. If they had that plenty of money, they'd probably be better off flying to the US investing in huge corporations. But no, they decide to stick to buying lizards for millions of pesos. Actual comment of a tuko buyer below:

"500m for your 700grams tuko and 100m for the 400grams.. sure buyer aq at direct.. pki txt nlng aq 09487968202 pki handa ng picture deal asap"

Wow, P500,000,000.00 for a 700-gram lizard? Really? That's more than 70% of the P700+ million lotto jackpot here in the Philippines a few months ago. Totally unbelieveable. 

Second, don't you think that it's more economic for these "tuko gecko scam" people just to hire lizard hunters for their very opulent enterprise? Let's face it: If I had a business as huge as this, I won't buy tuko from other people for P20 million or even P100 million. I would just hire employees that would catch geckos for me, and in the process I'll pay them premium wage, say P50,000.00 a month or P10,000.00 per lizard. The people running this scam are totally preposterous and are complete numbskulls.

Third, if I had billions of pesos to spare, don't you think that I'd have better grammar and writing skills? Look at this one, who writes in high and mighty colors. The poor guy even scares would-be tuko sellers that the last date of selling their geckos is up to July 13, 2011 only because the Philippine Government would take over the trade, which coincidentally starts today. This moron even deleted all comments on his comments box, apparently "for privacy purposes." I smell something fishy.

Fourth, this fad is akin to the sale of dried seahorses to dried tigers paws for medicinal purposes in China. Thing is, those are way cheaper than these tuko or geckos. These lizards have 0% medicinal value and could probably just worsen your health.


The Tuko Gecko Scam Scenario

Scammer 1: We're buying 400 grams and up of tokay gecko or tuko for P25,000,000.00. Any parties interested in selling their tuko can reach me through this number 09077777777. Do you have one? I'm very interested in buying.

Victim: I don't currently have one, but I'll look for it. I want to have P25 million.

*Scammer 2 enters the scene*

Scammer 2: Sir, I have a pet tokay gecko. I'm selling it for P75,000.00. Would you like to buy it?

Victim: What is it's weight?

Scammer 2: About 600 grams. I just really need the money for the birth of my son. Otherwise I won't sell my beloved pet.

*Victim thinks it's an awesome deal that would make him a millionaire*

Victim: Sure I'll buy that immediately! Let's meet up!

*Scammer 2 and victim meets up at a place. Victim pays P75,000.00 in cash. Victim dials Scammer 1's cellphone number.*

Victim: I've been calling the dude who wants to buy this gecko for P25 million for two hours straight now. He doesn't answer his phone.

*After a whole day of trying to contact Scammer 1, Victim realizes that he has been conned. Victim now has possession of a worthless lizard that can be found in the jungles of the Philippines.*

Be very wary of these scammers. They will tell you all the reasons in the world just to sell you a worthless lizard. I even heard of one trying to sell gecko that would be immediately sent to Japan to cure the people who have been exposed to the radiation of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant.

To read more about the tuko gecko scam, go to the links below:

http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+topic/id/83149/*TUKO*+or+GECKO+scam...+kaunting+ingat+dito.


http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/link/u/http%3A%5B%5D%5B%5Dwww.istorya.net%5B%5Dforums%5B%5Dgeneral-discussions%5B%5D397302-beware-of-the-gecko-scam.html/m/ringo03


There are a billion reasons more why this tuko gecko scam is just that—a scam. Unfortunately, most of the Filipino populace are still completely ignorant on how scammers work. The common Filipino folk now genuinely think that the NBI, the DENR, and the PNP are involved in this illegal activity, that these government agencies would try to undercut them in selling these lizards for hundreds of millions of cash, which is totally bull by the way.

Nonetheless, consider this as your tuko gecko scam red flag. You have been warned.

'Till my next installment.

P.S. If you're someone who would try to defend these scammers by saying that I'm lying and they're really buying tokay geckos for 8-digit amounts, show your proof. You're probably in cahoots with scammers anyway.

Police Agency UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET Scam

Looks like spammers are at it again.

After the IRS notification emails I received almost two weeks ago, I'm now receiving spam allegedly from a police agency in New York. Wait, isn't that the NYPD?

By now you should be already very used to receiving these kinds of email spam, as I from time to time explained that these are nothing more but shots in the air from spammers and scammers trying to steal personal info from your computer or, as Krebs on Security puts it, someone trying to build a botnet by zombifying your PC. The actual message's screengrab is at the section below:

These messages are simply trying to hit someone living in New York, scare the sheep out of the poor guy, and confuse him into downloading that malware-filled .zip file at the top of the message.

Anyway, here's my what to do list when receiving email scams like this:

1) Quickly check the sender's address. If it came from someone using free mail services like Yahoo! or Google Mail, it's probably fake. Now, if it's using high tier domains such as .gov or .edu or country domains, read the message further;

2) Check the message for funny looking words, misspelled words and wrong usage of punctuations and grammar. Official letters do not and should not contain these kinds of errors;

3) Check if it is asking any personal information from you such as your name, birthday or social security number. If it is, it's a high risk phishing message. Do not reply to it. Report it to the proper authorities;

4) Check if the message has any attachments with it. If it does, it's a scam message containing malware.


Don't forget, no matter how official looking an email is, there's always a high risk of it being a notification email scam, especially in the internet—where everything is dangerous.

Police Agency UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET my hand. No mention of the NYPD anywhere. Worst of all, I don't even live in New York.

'Till my next installment.

IRS Notification Email Scam

It's time again to discuss email scams that dupe people into downloading certain files and installing malware(s) unknowingly in their PCs.

A couple of hours ago prior to this post, I received an email from a certain "no-replyciiu@irs.gov" which shows up as "IRS service" in my inbox notifying me that they were unable to process my tax return. Now, the message was neatly constructed take some misspelled words. It even uses the official IRS logo as the header message. It would've fooled me if not for some very obvious giveaways which we will discuss at the next paragraph. Just then did I conclude that I've just received a fake IRS notification email scam.

First of all, I have not registered for the IRS nor do I have any of the documents the message was asking. Two, I'm not even American, have never entered the USA, nor did I have any scuffle with the IRS regarding any unpaid taxes or anything that concerns its services. And lastly, and this is the most important of all: THE IRS DOES NOT INITIATE TAXPAYER COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH E-MAIL REGARDING EFPS OR TAX ACCOUNT MATTERS. They don't "request detailed personal information through e-mail" nor "send any communication requesting your PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts."

The fake IRS notification email

Now, if you are a resident citizen of the United States of America and if you received a message via email from someone claiming to be from the IRS, go to the IRS Phishing Guide by clicking HERE.

Anyway, here's my what to do list when an IRS notification email scam message or anything similar to this arrives in your inbox:

1) Quickly check the sender's address. If it came from someone using free mail services like Yahoo! or Google Mail, it's probably fake. Now, if it's using high tier domains such as .gov or .edu or country domains, read the message further;

2) Check the message for funny looking words, misspelled words and wrong usage of punctuations and grammar. Official letters do not and should not contain these kinds of errors;

3) Check if it is asking any personal information from you such as your name, birthday or social security number. If it is, it's a high risk phishing message. Do not reply to it. Report it to the proper authorities;

4) Check if the message has any attachments with it. If it does, it's a scam message containing malware.


Don't forget, no matter how official looking an email is, there's always a high risk of it being a notification email scam, especially in the internet—where everything is dangerous. I also made this post especially long because fake messages like this IRS notification email scam are high profile risks which could steal very sensitive personal data from innocent internet users.

'Till my next installment.

Realtranslatorjobs.com Review – 100% Scam

Update: As of June 6, 2011, this post has been totally removed from the Google SERPs. I don't know the reason behind it, but obviously this post has a lot of potential to damage the sly scheme of the people behind realtranslatorjobs.com. If you manage to fall on this page by any means and you like what's written here, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Thank you.

I just finished posting an article about Google AdSense's surprising change to the AdChoices label when I got into this Indian site and somehow the phrase "Earn P10,000 a day as a translator" caught my eye. It was from a realtranslatorjobs.com website.

So I got into the site. It had a spiel saying that many companies are in need of translators yada yada yada, that you'll earn this amount when you join them. It even had random testimonials with six dollar figures, implying that if you work with them you'll have a chance to earn this huge sum too. Honestly I smelled something fishy but I continued on. Whatever, right?

But as I scrolled down through the window, I saw a coupon code click box and a PayPal and Visa link text with Clickbank connected as the link page. At this instant I knew it was a scam. The website realtranslatorjobs.com was asking me $68.00 as membership fee, that I need to pay this amount in order to earn. When I entered the 50% coupon code beside it, the amount suddenly turned to $34.00. I mean, what kind of idiot would not see through this scam? Come on, you're telling me that I have to pay $34.00 first before I could work for this website as a translator knowing that they'll also have a cut on my translation work fees? Man, these people are duuuuumb.

So anyway, I googled for the phrase "realtranslatorjobs.com." Guess what? The first 10 pages you'll see in the SERPs about the said website are all fake review websites saying that realtranslatorjobs.com isn't a scam. There's more: Each fake .com site has a hop link to Clickbank. This means that if you click through these fake website links to realtranslatorjobs.com and you pay $34.00 as a membership fee, the owners of those fake websites will also get a cut of your money. Wow, is that pure greed or what? But wait, there's absolutely more!: All these fake websites literally are copies of each other. It's copy-pasting text at its finest.

By simply flooding the SERPs with fake websites saying "realtranslatorjobs.com isn't a scam" with Clickbank links plastered all around it, you're just convincing people more that REALTRANSLATORJOBS.COM IS A SCAM. And even if you go to page 15 of the SERPs, you'll still get lot of fake review websites. And if you still signed up and paid $34.00, I'm sorry to say this but you're a moronic idiot buffoon living in a cave with your momma.

Realtranslatorjobs.com has a Page Rank of 0 and an Alexa Rank of 1,834,794. Meanwhile, this blog ranks 267,176. The reason why all these fake websites are topping the Google SERPs is that no one gives half a mind with this scam.

What, you really think you'll earn $180,000 as a translator? If this was such a hot job then it would've hit the news and everybody would've been translators by now. Heck, that's three-fold the average annual salary of accountants in the United States of America! Also, check THIS.

It's funny how hard people would try to swindle money from other people by creating a ruse and lots of fake sites. I know I shouldn't have bothered creating a post about it seeing that nobody even knows that realtranslatorjobs.com exist, but I don't roll like that.

I hope that this post will reach the number one post in the SERPs for the phrase "realtranslatorjobs.com scam" just to warn people before they get ripped of a good $34.00.

'Till my next installment.

Facebook Abuse Department Change Password Email Scam

Every now and then I get emails from someone supposedly representing Facebook. Usually it says that my password was changed for safety reasons and that I can find my new password in the attached document. Usually the message comes with the caption "Facebook Abuse Department" from the email Thomas@facebook.com. The usual modus operandi of these kinds of messages is to shock you and get the better out of you, that there's an attached document you need to download immediately, that the message itself is addressed to multiple email addresses, and that the message's grammar is a wee bit off. Always observe these red flags and you'll be safe.

Anyway, here's the verbatim message of the Facebook Abuse Department Change Password Email Scam:

Dear client

Spam is sent from your FaceBook account.

Your password has been changed for safety.

Information regarding your account and a new password is attached to the letter.
Read this information thoroughly and change the password to complicated one.


Please do not reply to this email, it's automatic mail notification!


Thank you for using our services.
Your Facebook!

See how plain the message is? That's another red flag. No picture, no username, no nothing. This is also how the UPS, Fedex and DHL email scams work. Be careful, especially if you love your Facebook account. These scammers are just shooting blindly, they really don't know if you have a Facebook account or not.

Consider yourself warned.

'Till my next installment.

DHL Global Express Services Notification Email Scam

In my continuing series of email scams/trojan-containing messages, and when you think it's already going to be over, another burst of trojan-y notification emails blast their way through the internet. This time, it's from DHL Global Express Services.

If you've been following this blog, you'd know that I've recently posted about the FedEx and UPS notification email scams. Thing is, that was a few days ago. They're still going at it today. And the same goes with this new DHL Global Express Services notification email scam. I very well think the people responsible behind this DHL forgery were the ones behind the previous two too. Just for emphasis (and if this is your first time to be reading this message), here's the verbatim statement lifted directly from that trojan-y notification scam email from "DHL Global Expres Services":

Dear customer

The parcel was sent your home adress
And it will arrive within 10 business days

More information and the tracking number
are attached in document below.

Thank You

© 1994-2011 DHL.S Express Services, Inc.

Now, like I said in my two previous posts about these kinds of fake emails from courier services, these messages come with .zip attachments which will infect your computer with a trojan once downloaded. The attachment this time is called DHL.zip. Do not download it. Instead, DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY. If you really have a package coming from DHL, UPS or FedEx and you receive an email like this, better call up your courier and confirm your package with them. It's better that way.

Also look for obvious grammar errors in  the message itself. Look for even the smallest error: A missing punctuation mark, a missing dot, an out of place apostrophe. Also look where the message came from. If it came from a joinmess@dhl.com or a supportletter2@dhl.com, it's fake. Damn DHL Global Express Services notification email scam. Hope none of you fell prey to this again.

'Till my next installment.

United Parcel Service (UPS) Notification Email Scam

A few days ago I posted something about the circulating FedEx Notice Email in which the alleged message from FedEx tells you something about an arriving package and you should download the attached .zip file to know more about it. Well, it seems that these "FedEx" guys shifted their delivery service to UPS, or United Parcel Service. Why do I think they're the same guys? It's because the message both mails contain remain essentially unchanged. The only thing that changed was the FedEx to United Parcel Service of America. Read the verbatim trojan/scam message below:

Dear customer.

The parcel was sent your home address.
And it will arrive within 3 business day.

More information and the tracking number are attached in document below.

Thank you.
© 1994-2011 United Parcel Service of America, Inc.

Like I said in my previous post about the FedEx email, this message likely contains trojans or malware that will zombify your computer. If you see any "notification message" from FedEx or UPS and you have no delivery coming, DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY. Better to be safe than sorry.

'Till my next installment.

FedEx Notice Email Scam

A lot has been going on in my inbox lately, and this sham is just one of 'em. I like to call it the FedEx Notice Email Scam.

I was messaged lately by a FedEx service (infopu@fedex.com) mailer which states that:

Dear customer.

The parcel was sent your home address.
And it will arrive within 7 business day.

More information and the tracking number are attached in document below.

Thank you.
© FedEx 1995-2011

Thing is, I don't have any parcel headed for me, not that I know of any anyway. And if I did, I didn't give my email address to someone in FedEx.

I googled for the FedEx Notice Email Scam and found out that there have been lots of variations since God knows when. Also attached with the message is a file called "Fedex docs.zip", which infects your computer with a virus or a trojan once dowloaded. Now, if you see a FedEx notice message in your inbox telling you something about an unknown parcel with very vague description, DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY. Chances are that's a trojan and it's going to infect your computer.

'Till my next installment.

Philippine Prudential Life Scam or Not?

Starting some-more than a year ago, clients of Philippine Prudential Life began to be concerned about a disastrous write-ups per a company’s offered strategy. Prior to that, a little of a largest as well as most creditable pre-need companies in a republic had been incompetent to encounter their contractual obligations to long-standing clients. This resulted in most pre-need planholders to record cases opposite these companies. Years later, these planholders go upon to live in doubt as well as have been still wondering if their pre-need companies would ever compensate their obligations.

With most of a ubiquitous open still treacherous pre-need with insurance, it is no consternation afterwards which most people go upon to be wavering as well as some-more discreet in shopping policies from bona fide as well as creditable word companies. If pre-need firms, generally those which were owned or run by heading word companies, can fall in a wink of an eye, how can we certitude newer as well as less-known word companies to pledge a word of their policyholders?

Such is a box of Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Company or PPLIC. It positively does not assistance counts which it has a identical name with a pre-need organisation called Prudential Life Plans, which stopped handling as well as offered pre-need skeleton over a year ago. This has done things some-more formidable for PPLIC to infer a credit in a face of swelling headlines about Philippine Prudential Life scam.

I conducted my own investigation, given a disastrous write-ups did not prove or have clarity to me, as well as detected a little little-known truths about PPLIC. Despite assorted speculations as well as disastrous write-ups about it, this organisation continues to mount clever as well as respectable. Just to be clear, PPLIC is not Prudential Life Plans. The latter happens to be a pre-need company, an wholly opposite sort of commercial operation underneath a opposite set of owners, which carried a name Prudential in a company’s name.

The decision to invest in your future is entirely up to you. Whether you want to manage your future with your own hands or let an insurance company take care of your investments, just always make sure that you have taken proactive steps to ensure that the future holds great promise for you and your family.




—————
Philippine Prudential Life Unveils New Product