Robert L. Weiner: Nonprofit Fundraising Technology Consulting » Spam

Phishing Scam: Habitat for Humanity fundraising

Robert — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:20:40 +0000

I received the following phishing email today. It's a variation on the "your email inbox is too large" scam I posted in June. It plays Habitat's name, Haiti relief, and pure greed -- it claims you can earn big tax-free commissions as a fundraiser. There are so many things wrong with this pitch. Fundraising (at least in the U.S.) doesn't work this way -- commissions violate the Association of Fundraising Professionals' code of ethics. The income wouldn't be tax-free just because it's from an international charity. An organization like Habitat wouldn't look for employees by sending mass emails to "undisclosed recipients." And they wouldn't use a Gmail address.

I hope no one falls for this.

==========================

Subject: Important Message(Job Offer)

Hello Prospective Employee,

At HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL, we work hard to improve and provide training, technical expertise and support in fund-raising to the national organizations in all the regions of the world. However, the actual work of HABITAT is carried out at the community level by affiliates that have been officially approved by the HFHI Board of Directors. The International Board of Directors (IBOD) are volunteers from around the world who share a deep concern for the problems of poverty housing.

This is demonstrated in our role as a corporate sponsor for the HAITI RELIEF PROGRAM with money raised going towards helping displaced and disabled children and their families.
We are an organization with a remarkable heritage.

You've got a chance to be one of our representatives and earn a commission for funds raised plus an ANNUAL UPFRONT ALLOWANCE paid at the beginning of the fiscal year in early January .This Could earn you an average of $500 - $1500 weekly and as much as $5000 (TAX FREE) in a month depending on how active you are.

You can be rest assured that you WOULD NOT be required to pay any fees upfront and this won't affect your current job earnings or disability payments in any way and you can conveniently work from your desk at home.

Private donations will be made in your name from our esteemed Voluntary Donors in your region and other parts of the world and you'll be allowed to deduct 10 percent (10%) of the total amount on these donations. This serves as your remuneration for the great service you would be rendering in support of saving lives in the third-world countries. Balances (after the 10%) shall be required to be forwarded to the Regional Co-ordinators of the various charitable projects we are involved in around the Globe.

Please Note: You won't have to do any travelling and WILL NOT be required to pay any fees, this position won't affect your present employment.

To apply, Kindly forward the following info: to our Human Resource Department at the email listed below for further instructions.

FULL NAME :
FULL ADDRESS :
CITY :
STATE:
ZIP CODE/POSTCODE: ..
PHONE NUMBER (S) must be valid) would be called to confirm.
GENDER : ..
AGE : ..
EMAIL ADDRESS:...
COUNTRY : ...

Your prompt response is solicited
Coordinator's Desk,
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL
+44(0)7031883958, +14092915940
Registered No. MHQLTH1084442
REPLY TO BE SENT THROUGH : habitatcareers1@gmail.com

Digital Wallet Helps Prevent Phishing

Robert — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:47:08 +0000

I've used a digital wallet for years to keep track of my passwords (I use Roboform but there are other choices). Recently I found that it serves a purpose that hadn't occured to me: phishing prevention. Here's the deal: I got a message from a friend with a link. Without thinking too much about it, I clicked on the URL and was taken to a fake Twitter homepage asking me to log in. Roboform knew this wasn't a real Twitter page, and so wouldn't log me in. That made me realize that I was being scammed. Thanks, Roboform.

Phishing scam: Dear Webmail User

Robert — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:02:08 +0000

This is such a lame phishing scam that I can't imagine anyone falling for it. But I received three of these messages in the past two days so I'm passing it along. I reported this account to Google, so I hope they'll disable it.

Dear Webmail User,

This message was sent automatically by a program on Webmail which
periodically checks the size of inboxes, where new messages are
received. The program is run weekly to ensure no one's inbox grows too
large. If your inbox becomes too large, you will be unable to receive
new email. Just before this message was sent, you had 18 Megabytes (MB)
or more of messages stored in your inbox on your Webmail. To help us
re-set your SPACE on our database prior to maintain your INBOX, you must
reply to this e-mail and enter your:

email:helpdesk.account01@gmail.com

Current User name: { }
and Password: { }

You will continue to receive this warning message periodically if your
inbox size continues to be between 18 and 20 MB. If your inbox size
grows to 20 MB, then a program on Bates Webmail will move your oldest
email to a folder in your home directory to ensure that you will
continue to be able to receive incoming email. You will be notified by
email that this has taken place. If your inbox grows to 25 MB, you will
be unable to receive new email as it will be returned to the sender.
After you read a message, it is best to REPLY and SAVE a copy.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Webmail Help Desk.

New phishing scam: Please Update Your Email Account

Robert — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:33:26 +0000

I just received two identical messages with the following text. There's no URL -- the only way to respond is to reply to the message. Replies go to updatweb1 at aol.com I hope no one's foolish enough to fall for this.

-----Original Message-----
From: apache@net.lg.ua [mailto:apache@net.lg.ua] On Behalf Of Webmail Support
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 9:12 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: PLEASE UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT

Dear Webmail Users

We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center i.e
homepage view. We shall bedeleting old email accounts which are no longer
active to create more space for new accounts users.we have also
investigated a system wide security audit to improve and enhance our
current security.

In order to continue using our services you are require to update and
re-comfirmed your email account details as requested below.

To complete your account re-comfirmation,you must reply to this email
immediately and enter your account details as requested below.

Username : ( )
E-mail Login ID( )
Password : ( )
Date of Birth : ( )

Failure to do this will immediately render your account deactivated from
our database and service will not be interrupted as important messages may
as well be lost due to your declining to re-comfirmed to us your account
details.

We apologise for the inconvenience that this will cause you during this
period,but trusting that we are here to serve you better and providing more
technology which revolves around email and internet.It is also
pertinent,you understand that our primary concern is for our customers, and
for the security of their files and data.

COMFIRMATION CODE: -/93-1A388-480 Technical Support Team

Major Spammer Haven Shut Down: Spam Volumes Drop by Two-Thirds

Robert — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:59:04 +0000

The Washington Posts's Security Fix blog reports that spam volumes declined by 2/3 after an ISP that was hosting spam operations was taken offline. The story: