Go To Hell, Spammers! (Another PSA)
Today I got the email below from an @citibank.com address.
(you may need to scroll down)
I became suspicious of the email because of 2 reasons. First, banks don’t normally ask for this type of info via email. Secondly, I don’t have a CitiBank banking account.
Anyway, it looked legit enough for me to want to check it out so I clicked on the “citibank.com” link just to see where it would take me. I then realized that the entire email (including the link) was 1 image. Bastards! This means that a user (me) could click on what looked like a citibank.com link, but the link could really take the user (me) to another spoof site. As the techo-geek I am, I viewed the source of the email to find that my email provider had “sanitized” the link for me, thus stripping out the actual fraudulent address. It seems that the spammer’s company even has an algorithm to place various words in the body of the email to keep it from being picked up from anti-spam software. It is written in white text on a white background, so you don’t normally see the text. I assume each and every email is different. Here’s what was in mine “in 1977 Jokes dogs and cats Freebies Half Life Counter Strike AVI The American student in 1991 in 2003 Free Games That’s definetly not you. Alabama Fragile Carmen Electra IRS in 1903 I must be off Don’t listen to Cindy Margolis in 1985 Tennis The WWF Friends sorry The most.”
Again, as a concerned geek, I went to citibank.com just to see what the company had to say about these types of emails. They now have an entire section dedicated to this type of thing. And if you weren’t paranoid enough already, check out what they had to say about “Key Logging.”
Key Logging
This is another method used to capture your personal information. Here’s how it works. You click on a link to a website or open an attachment that secretly installs software on your computer.
Once installed, it records everything you type, including any User IDs, Passwords and account or personal information. Thieves know how to retrieve this information, or even set it up to automatically have it sent back to them! This is a very real risk when using public or shared computers such as those in Internet cafes.
What kind of person really develops and sends out this type of thing?
September 18th, 2004 at 12:46 pm
Ok, apparently there are a load of key logging programs available for the general public. This one’s even free. I feel like my computer and I both need a shower now.
September 19th, 2004 at 7:54 pm
Ha…so funny that I read your blog (for the first time from link of dan’s) and I got the same email today. Here is what mine said…
“Dear friends! Warner Bross Digimon Google I agree with you Las Vegas Yahoo Get your from the in 1992 Not so good. in 1933 X Men Good luck! ???? you are stupid I can’t get through Erika may hit Nicole Kidman Don’t get excited! Dragonball Chinesse New Year Not so good. The Rock in 2005″
Who are these people and why do they have time to come up with such annoying crap? Thanks for the “geek” tip.