June 07, 2009
Warning: Have you been "Tagged"
Have you received email with a subject line such as: "John Sent You Photos on Tagged :)" -- except instead of "John" in my example, it is the actual name of someone you know?
If you were the suspicious type, and you should be, you would have sent an email to that friend or relative or business associate and first asked them if they actually sent it. If not, then you probably need to do the following things immediately:
1. Write to the person and tell them about the email you got.
2. Advise them to send out a real email to all the people in their email address book warning them not to open any such email (because it didn't come from them) and not to click on any links in such an email and definitely not to fill out anything on the website that link goes to.
3. Advise them to make sure their anti-virus, anti-malware, and anti-spyware programs are up-to-date and to scan their computer.
4. After you've done that, you will want to follow the exact same advice yourself.
5. In the future, you (and they) will hopefully be more careful and suspicious.
Additional notes:
Some folks who went so far as to click on the link and de-selected the entire list of email ids that this site captured from their address book thought by doing so no one else would get spammed. It appears that is not the case, since the site already has that information and has apparently used it to spam everyone in that address book.
Please be careful. And while I have your attention, if you are one of those people who forwards chain emails or things that really seem just too good to be true, please stop immediately. And even if you are forwarding real valid emails, unless it is in a work environment where showing who has been involved in the communication chain has some value, just cut and past the relevant part -- don't include the hundred other email addresses buried in the email. That's another way spammers get valid email addresses to use. And when sending email to a group of people who may not all know each other or wish to have their email shared with the world, use the BCC option.
Richard L. Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
* [Please post your job openings here] *
R.L. Kuper, Inc. - Management Consulting
If you were the suspicious type, and you should be, you would have sent an email to that friend or relative or business associate and first asked them if they actually sent it. If not, then you probably need to do the following things immediately:
1. Write to the person and tell them about the email you got.
2. Advise them to send out a real email to all the people in their email address book warning them not to open any such email (because it didn't come from them) and not to click on any links in such an email and definitely not to fill out anything on the website that link goes to.
3. Advise them to make sure their anti-virus, anti-malware, and anti-spyware programs are up-to-date and to scan their computer.
4. After you've done that, you will want to follow the exact same advice yourself.
5. In the future, you (and they) will hopefully be more careful and suspicious.
Additional notes:
Some folks who went so far as to click on the link and de-selected the entire list of email ids that this site captured from their address book thought by doing so no one else would get spammed. It appears that is not the case, since the site already has that information and has apparently used it to spam everyone in that address book.
Please be careful. And while I have your attention, if you are one of those people who forwards chain emails or things that really seem just too good to be true, please stop immediately. And even if you are forwarding real valid emails, unless it is in a work environment where showing who has been involved in the communication chain has some value, just cut and past the relevant part -- don't include the hundred other email addresses buried in the email. That's another way spammers get valid email addresses to use. And when sending email to a group of people who may not all know each other or wish to have their email shared with the world, use the BCC option.
Richard L. Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
Labels: anti-spyware, anti-virus, antispyware, antivirus, Kuper, kuper report, malware, richard kuper, spam, spyware, tag, tagged, the kuper report, virus
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June 27, 2008
Fraud Alert: Woman Gets Two Years for Aiding Nigerian Internet Check Scam
As hopefully all readers of this newsletter know, emails asking for help to cash checks are scams. Sadly, there are still a lot of folks out there who fall for these things every day. According to this article, at least one person in the United States was assisting in the Nigerian scam, and has been tried and convicted.
Please don't be taken in by such scams, and please pass this note along to all your friends, relatives, and business associates to remind them not to fall for them either.
Richard L. Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
* [Please post your job openings here] *
R.L. Kuper, Inc. - Management Consulting
Please don't be taken in by such scams, and please pass this note along to all your friends, relatives, and business associates to remind them not to fall for them either.
Richard L. Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
Labels: consumer, email, fake, fraud, internet, nigeria, scam, security, spam
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May 04, 2008
Updated: Privacy & Security Watch: Beware of fake emails appearing to be from the IRS
Richard Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
(Originally posted April 23, 2008)
I received the following email today. Beware! It is a fake!
===
From: "Internal Revenue Service"
(the associated email address was: easytref [at] tax.ref.co.us)
Subject: Tax return (Message ID IRS-9438-2825)
A Secure Way to Receive Your Tax Return
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have
determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $620.50.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-9 days in order
to process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To access the form for your tax refund, please click here
Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date
and time. Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.
Regards,
Internal Revenue Service
Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.
===
Also note that the link (not included here) seems to point to a website for a boy scout troop in Virginia!
Due to the hacking of that boy scout website, the ISP shut the site down.
Also, there are other scam emails out there regarding the Stimulus Rebate checks being sent out, also appearing to be from the IRS.
If you get any such scam emails, the best way to help the IRS track down the perpetrators is to first, if your email program has the option, choose "show all headers" or something similar. Then forward the email to the following address (and substitute the "[at]" with "@"):
phishing[at]irs.gov
Labels: data security, e-mail, email, fake, irs, Kuper, kuper report, privacy, richard kuper, security, spam
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June 28, 2007
Update: AVG Internet Security Suite
Richard Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
In case you missed the earlier review of Grisoft's AVG Internet Security Suite, you can read it here.
Nowadays, many product vendors give you only one choice in purchasing their product: download it from their website. Well, that creates several issues. First, you must dedicate time and space for downloading the files that will then be used to actually install the product. If you want the install files to also be available on CD, in case your hard drive dies or the computer one day decides not to work anymore, then you need to create this CD yourself. This can be very time consuming and inconvenient, and for the less sophisticated user, something they just cannot do or are afraid to do. So when a company also is willing to continue to make their products available on CD for purchase, I applaud them and encourage them to continue to provide the choice.
Grisoft has released a retail version of the AVG Internet Security Suite on CD. Note, however, that the CD is the only item in the box. The only printed instructions (which are pasted onto the CD sleeve), are to insert the disk into the computer, and what to do if the disk does not automatically start. There is no printed user manual or quick reference guide. My recommendation to all vendors is to at least include a printed quick reference guide of the most common tasks one might perform using their product.
So if you want to get this recommended product that will help keep your computer protected from the various forms of malware out there (spam, viruses, spyware, etc.), you can purchase it either on a CD or you can download it directly. Just click on any of the Grisoft links in this article for the downloadable version or an occasional special deal that will include a CD. Otherwise, you can find the CD version at many retailers, such as some of the stores found at ThisIsMyStore.com.
* [Please post your job openings here] *
R.L. Kuper, Inc. - Management Consulting
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
In case you missed the earlier review of Grisoft's AVG Internet Security Suite, you can read it here.
Nowadays, many product vendors give you only one choice in purchasing their product: download it from their website. Well, that creates several issues. First, you must dedicate time and space for downloading the files that will then be used to actually install the product. If you want the install files to also be available on CD, in case your hard drive dies or the computer one day decides not to work anymore, then you need to create this CD yourself. This can be very time consuming and inconvenient, and for the less sophisticated user, something they just cannot do or are afraid to do. So when a company also is willing to continue to make their products available on CD for purchase, I applaud them and encourage them to continue to provide the choice.
Grisoft has released a retail version of the AVG Internet Security Suite on CD. Note, however, that the CD is the only item in the box. The only printed instructions (which are pasted onto the CD sleeve), are to insert the disk into the computer, and what to do if the disk does not automatically start. There is no printed user manual or quick reference guide. My recommendation to all vendors is to at least include a printed quick reference guide of the most common tasks one might perform using their product.
So if you want to get this recommended product that will help keep your computer protected from the various forms of malware out there (spam, viruses, spyware, etc.), you can purchase it either on a CD or you can download it directly. Just click on any of the Grisoft links in this article for the downloadable version or an occasional special deal that will include a CD. Otherwise, you can find the CD version at many retailers, such as some of the stores found at ThisIsMyStore.com.
Labels: anti-spyware, anti-virus, antispyware, antivirus, AVG, cd, download, firewall, Grisoft, Kuper, kuper report, malware, richard kuper, shield, spam, spyware, virus, worm
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