MetaChat - I've been getting a lot of phishing email lately.

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31 January 2006

I've been getting a lot of phishing email lately. PayPal, banks, etc. Do you guys ever report to admin at the originating email address? I've been increasingly annoyed.

post by: kmellis at: 11:30 | 19 comments

If it orginates from a major ISP (hotmail, yahoo, etc.) forwarding it to abuse@... usually kills their email account toot sweet.

posted by warbaby 31 January | 11:37

I've been getting tons of it, but don't report it because I assume they know and can't really do anything anyway. Recently I've been getting ones disguised as questions from Ebay bidders, since I sell on Ebay sometimes I really might fall for these. I really have to scrutinize them. It's really fucking obnoxious. I am generally pro-petty crime and scams in general (in the abstract) but I think these should be ruthlessly hunted down and punished corporally.

posted by Divine_Wino 31 January | 11:37

Almost everything about those emails is generally forged, so it's hardly worth it unless you take the time to automate the process.

Even then, there's no evidence that the complaints are more than a placebo.

posted by mosch 31 January | 11:40

Isn't it funny that DOHS and the NSA can screw with honest people's email, but won't lift a finger for this sort of cyber-terrorism? Not that I'm suggesting the feds take this on; that collection of crooks, grafters and political hacks could fuck up a 15-ton iron ball.

posted by warbaby 31 January | 11:43

Missed it on preview: mosch, the phishing sites still have to have a place to put the phoney page. The address is visible when you hover over the links or look at the source code. The providers should be nuked. That would stop it quick.

Cops: soft on crime, but big on showboating.

I initiated the very first federal web fraud investigation (Fortuna Alliance) and they had to be dragged kicking and screaming every step of the way, as did the local authorities. I handed them the entire case complete with inside informants and they still fumbled it and let the perps get away with about a third of the loot.

posted by warbaby 31 January | 11:49

I'll just ignore them and read 2600 until some H4XX0R figures out how to send a bomb up their tailpipe and explains it in small words that I can understand. Then I'll waste me some servers, causing millions of dollars in damage. Then I'll wait for the FBI to come. They won't take long.

Federal agencies need to do a better job protecting our precious national advertisers from ne'er-do-wells like me.

On preview, the NSA is welcome to screw with my email, buy some viagra, see some teen nudes, go on a vacation, get prescription drugs, gamble at a casino, buy viagra, gamble, look at porn, buy pills, fly for free!

posted by Hugh Janus 31 January | 11:51

I think if anything the random spam traffic and phishing emails are screwing with surveilance efforts, perhaps these low rent micro-hustlers are really providing a pro-privacy service.

Villium-soma-virrlixa-osama-bush-IED

Find Beautiful Al Qaeda sl33perz and make th3m scream with y=our Jihadi sausag3 sasdasxcmn!

Urgently flag for analyst!

posted by Divine_Wino 31 January | 11:51

When trying to convince me to log into PayPal via the link in your helpful email, you ought to bear in mind that PayPal's Chinese servers routinely remind me to do this every fifteen to twenty minutes. You're next in the queue.

from:

Memo to spammer-
Charles Stross

posted by Divine_Wino 31 January | 12:18

SigInt has a lock on your location. Black helicopters were deployed from deep within the Javits federal building fifteen minutes ago, and are circling you with listening devices on stun. If you leave your building, do so with your hands up.

And don't listen to your fillings -- those pro-Soviet messages have been known to bounce around in the ionosphere for decades before they are broadcast as Voice-in-Skull.

posted by Hugh Janus 31 January | 12:19

Dear Mr Berlusconi, thank you very much for your request for financial assistance in dealing with your current embarrassing situation. Alas, I regret to inform you that I wouldn't cross the road to piss on you if you were on fire. Next time you're feeling desperate, send the corporate jet. Then we'll talk.

posted by warbaby 31 January | 12:22

That is a cute cat on Charlie's page :-)

posted by essexjan 31 January | 12:27

This may be an unfortunate cross-cultural mis-communication, but your kind offer to leave me "drowning in sperm" appears to fall foul of local anti-homicide laws.

That made me laugh out loud!

Bank phishing attempts I ignore...they're never from banks where I hold accounts, so I'm not likely to believe them. I do have eBay and Paypal accounts, and phishing attempts that purport to be from there I just forward to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com. None of these come to the email account I actually have registered on eBay and Paypal, so I know they're fake, but I think they should probably know about it.

posted by sisterhavana 31 January | 12:30

My new spam looks like its someone asking me a question about an auction I supposedly have running. Irritating but pretty easy to dismiss mostly.

What bothers me is that my legitimate emails from PayPal are trashed because so many wankers phish with PayPal as the lure.

I used to report the spoofs but it bothers me that eBay and PayPal's response is to send me an email helping me to identify the spam when I just forwarded it to them so I've got no trouble identifying it. Just stupid.

posted by fenriq 31 January | 12:47

Perry Como offered me MS Office Pro for only $49 today. His voice was so soothing I almost gave in. But I clicked delete.

posted by me3dia 31 January | 12:59

Yosemite Sam does Lagos

posted by warbaby 31 January | 14:12

Today, my favorite Metachatter is warbaby.

posted by matildaben 31 January | 15:12

I was going to nominate him for this:

...that collection of crooks, grafters and political hacks could fuck up a 15-ton iron ball.

posted by Divine_Wino 31 January | 15:19

heh, yeah fenriq that is effed up.

I spamcop every-damn-thing.

posted by dabitch 31 January | 16:31

warbaby: Funny, a friend who must remain nameless initiated one of the very first federal cyberstalking investigations, and had a similar experience. She was explaining things to their "experts" most of the time.

My spam has ramped up suddenly since Christmas. I don't bother with the Paypal/Ebay reports most of the time because they're usually overnight and I don't get to my mail until noonish, by which time it's probably pointless.

posted by stilicho 01 February | 00:03

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