Comments on: Gone Phishing

By: TechSay

TechSay — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:39:37 +0000

I cannot believe people still fall for Ebay and Paypal scam email. I get four or five a day.

techsay.com

By: smithkarl

smithkarl — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:21:46 +0000

Hi,

I never even open such emails, but your point is interesting.

They are all phising attacks if they don’t welcome you by your name or username. Ebay, paypal, alertpay and so contact you by saying:

Dear Karl Smith
not Hello or Dear Webmaster …

That is another trick :)

Karl

By: cranial-bore

cranial-bore — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:13:56 +0000

I should add that at least Thunderbird flagged the mail as a scam before I’d even read it

Thunderbird also does that to all the Sitepoint newsletters I receive, and other legitimate mail. I’m in the habbit of clicking that “Not a Scam” button pretty quickly.

By: AlexW

AlexW — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:58:04 +0000

I wouldn’t of trusted ebay to begin with that path in the URL. Thanks for explaining that.

As a matter of course I tell all my friends and family to never click on a link in an email; if they want to visit the site then type the address in manually.

Yes, I think applying a normal level of healthy online cynicism should protect most people, and I should add that at least Thunderbird flagged the mail as a scam before I’d even read it. I suspect Outlook would too.

Still, for the many people who relatively active on eBay, I would think this email would have a decent chance of blending in with the dozens on legitimate eBay messages they receive.

By: Octal

Octal — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 11:15:21 +0000

I heard about this trick a while ago but have never seen it in actual use by a Phisher. Thanks for highlighting the issue Alex.

As a matter of course I tell all my friends and family to never click on a link in an email; if they want to visit the site then type the address in manually.

By: Bonzo_CS

Bonzo_CS — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 09:45:07 +0000

Well said, although us developers can recognise more than most such a scam, the issue seems to be becoming more popular these days and no doubt the scam will evolve to new techniques. I hadn’t heard of that DNS trick myself, although I wouldn’t of trusted ebay to begin with that path in the URL. Thanks for explaining that.

Cheers