Another phishing email

[groovicus]

Just saw this one, hadn't seen it here yet.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=4044775&p1=0

[Tedob1]

while "%00&#x01@" can make a false link look believable an email of this nature should never look believable. Something of this importance would only be sent by certified snail-mail with a return receipt requested.

[jenjen]

good find groovicus.. scary even..

Tedob1.. you're quite right but the problem is there are way too many gullible people on the net.
How can one protect innocents from well thought out and executed schemes ? You can't.. all you can do is try to educate the masses by providing info.. and that's the reason we're all here. I, for one, am planning to email my friends and post warnings on the multiple forums I visit at.. It's all we can really do, to help spread the word on "being smart" about what you see/read.. tell folks to take the time to investigate things before blindly trusting..

thanks groovicus..

[Tedob1]

Jenjen I completely agree with you. And I thought that’s what I was doing by saying “Something of this importance would only be sent by certified snail-mail with a return receipt requested”.

As a matter of fact ive put up a web page to do just that. Ill PM you with the address. I made it at work very fast in notepad before I went home friday. It reads terrible, the grammer sucks, spaces are not where they should be so im not publishing it yet but I want you to see that I do care.

P.S.
If you do email your friends make sure you request that they cut and paste your statements into a new message to avoid the “FWD;FWD;FWD…” that spammers love to find

[jenjen]

Thanks Ted.. I've gotten your pm and will make further suggestions..

I'm just concerned that folks who are total noobs to the net (ones not smart enough to visit here) will be duped.. as this email was very carefully written.. as the article pointed out "they did their homework" and to see one that has no grammatical or spelling errors is fairly rare indeed. Those are the general warning signs we typically see.. it kind of "raises the bar" to a whole new level.. and that is what scares me.

Now as the the "FWD" thing.. I always tell my friends NOT to just forward my emails, as I generally hate to have my email addy passed on.. I always tell them to use the blind cc and have only their own name in the TO: field.. but, do they listen ? heh... sometimes. So, that is one of the main reasons I use disposable email accounts . Once the spam starts hitting the inbox to intolerable levels.. I can always just abandon that email addy.. but thanks for your advice, it's well taken..

[darkes]

A related point is that this type of email with malformed HTML code will get detected by a decent AV scanner, as it will object when it tries to write a temporary copy to disk.
McAfee for example detects this as a 'trojan'. Won't detect other phising emails that just point to the spoof site of course.

One thing I always insist on for PCs that I support in my unofficial sysadmin role for friends and family is that they run a decent AV scanner, amongst other things, which I offer to configure for them if required. A couple of them have received other phishing emails recently, but at least they had the sense to panic and ask me what that red warning box meant and was their PC still OK

[576869746568617]

I wouldn't mind seeing the site, Ted. I'll understand, however, if you don't snd me the URL.
(Can't trust everybody nowdays!)


Yep, I'm paranoid. Makes my job easier and the hacker's job harder!