The scam is called Twitter Phishing and it happens when people think they’re signing in to Twitter but they’re signing in to a phishing site that then uses Twitter to send direct message spam to all one’s contacts.

I suspected this was going on when I started getting these bogus messages from people who – you could tell by their Twitter feed – were just ordinary folks microblogging about their latest trip to them movies instead of the normal “YOU TOO CAN GET RICH AND FAMOUS INSTANTLY” Twitter spam.

So what do you do if all your friends are sending you hate mail because of the Twitter spam? Here’s the official answer:

Some folks may have clicked the link and given their Twitter password to the phishing site. In those cases it would be possible for the phisher to send out direct messages on your behalf which could trick your followers. In those cases, we proactively reset the passwords of the accounts.

So, if you find yourself unable to login to your account with your username and password, please use the reset password link to regain access. This will send an email to the address associated with your account and you’ll be able to create a new password.

If you don’t receive the reset password email, please check your junk or spam email folder as it may be accidentally delivered there. If you are still having trouble logging in, please contact our support team and we’ll help you out.

Both were similiar … saying my photo was on a site or I’d been tagged in a photo. These were from people I don’t normally contact but who would be able to contact me via email or facebook.

People are paying for harvested emails these days it seems. I guess if this article in the Guardian is correct.

Basically there’s an “MLM” network for harvesting email names. You earn 5 cents per name plus a % of whatever your recruits earn. That is if you can really trust spammers to pay you!

When you get the spam, you wonder “What the HECK?”

You go there, see fuzzy images and the goal is to get as many emails out of you as possible and, if possible, access your online accounts for more spam addresses.

I received one from a known MLMer who boasts about having “multiple streams of income”. I’d like to think her account was hacked. But the more I think about it, this person was probably just trying to con me for a nickel!

Here’s how one expert quoted in the above article viewed this:

This Picture scam is … where people are misled into believing that photos of them or belonging to them have been uploaded onto a public website. In order to see those pictures they are asked to enter their email address. Worryingly, as they step though the process to gain access to these non-existent photos, users are also asked to create a password. This neat little social engineering trick is relying on users’ habit of using common passwords, now the cybercriminal has your email and your password. It’s payday.”

People who put resumes on the big “job sites” or who get email are promised mystery shopping jobs.

The person receives a $3800 check by COURIER (Fed Ex, UPS or other private courier to avoid the breaking POSTAL laws).

They are told to deposit the check, which is fake, and then do some shopping at a major store who also issues money orders like Wal Mart.

Then you’re supposed to use the money in your account to buy a $3000 money order and courier it to an address.

You are told you will be paid hundreds of dollars (the balance you get to keep).

It’s completely bogus and you are out $3800 plus all the bounced checks and ruined credit.

GENUINE mystery shopper jobs like those available here reimburse only for small purchases and pay AFTER completion. And they are not huge amounts.

So if you are the registered owner of a domain name, you might want to be concerned about email claiming to be from your domain registrar, be sure you are logging on to the right site. It may be a trick.

I’ve found my domain registrar NEVER contacts me … I’ve had web hosts in fact go and change access passwords to prevent hackers from getting in and only telling me after I’d filed a support ticket and proven my identity, but they no web host or domain registrar has ever contacted me just as no bank ever has!

Here’s the message I got today you should be aware of…

We’ve recently become aware of a phishing scam targeting domain name customers of a number of registrars, including Network Solutions.  These emails are attempting to capture customer login information.  We should caution you that a small number of registrars are currently affected, but it could expand to others.  While we understand that you may not have domain names at these registrars, you may receive these deceptive emails, and we wanted to ensure that you were alerted to this situation.

That’s when people sign up for Twitter with a phony name, put some posts about how to get rich quick and a link to their recruiting site and then start following 10,000 people so the people get their email, fall over half dead at their luck in finding out about this wonderful opportunity, sign up, pay money and make everyone rich. Or not.

Oh, and they want you to follow them too so you can see more of these promotions.

The first part is true. At least 10,000 people will get emails that “Johnjoebillybob9299″ is following you now on Twitter.

Well as I said, I finally got a polite one.

This fellow/fellowette was kind enough to use a realish sounding name. But when you got there, instead of having to read all the spam, you had to at least REQUEST it.

Probably just an error is setting up Twitter. But I thought I’d give him/her/them the benefit of the doubt and just assume they’re polite.

‘Spam King’ Shoots Wife, Daughter in Apparent Murder-Suicide

The bodies of “Spam King” Edward “Eddie” Davidson, his wife and 3-year-old daughter were found in an SUV parked in a farmhouse driveway in a rural part of Bennett, about 25 miles east of Denver. All three had been shot, U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said.

“What a nightmare, and such a coward,” Eid said. “Davidson imposed the `death penalty’ on family members for his own crime.”

Davidson, 35, was sentenced in April to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $714,139 in restitution to the IRS after pleading guilty to falsifying header information to send spam e-mail, tax evasion and criminal forfeiture.

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Congratulations as we bring to your notice, Officially of the senate
house federal Repuplic of Nigeria has chosen you by the board committe
onappropriation and finance as one of the final recipients of this new
yearcontract and inheritance file to celebrate the fiscal 2008 an ATM
CARD hasbeen issued out $5,500,000.00 to 2 lucky recipients fill out
belowinformation and send it to the Payment RemitanceOffice Via their
emailcontact address:senatehouse12@live.com
Full Name:….
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If you’ve been on the internet for long… it should be old hat.

“Don’t open email from strangers and don’t download the attachments!”

That’s in addition to “have a firewall”, updated antivirus and antispyware programs,etc.

The FBI is concerned because these “zombie networks” could be used in denial of service attacks on businesses and government agencies… a new form of cyber terrorism in addition to plain old crime and spam generation.

One just came in that said “Forget Everything You’ve Heard…”

So I forgot how to open the email.

Really, cynical reactions are what we’re battling online.

We must try to get attention but sometimes trite phrases destroy that.

All you can do is test. And forget about fogies like me who are completely jaded!

If it tests well otherwise, you can’t write to just one person.

There is good reason to believe it to be a scam however. Some have reported it’s a scam run by a Nigerian ring.

How could you tell this from the ad? What should alert you before you respond?

One thing is the email address. It’s to an “AOL” address!

AOL.com addresses used to mean something because at least they weren’t free like yahoo or hotmail. But for business purposes in 2008 for a major corporation, that’s a “no no” and it should raise your suspicions… even if you were applying for a job at AOL!

Ashley Furniture has a contact page and the technical know how to process employment applications online (or at least hire it done!) Here in, fact, is their careers page..

Furniture is heavy.

This ad claims that they are international (likely so you won’t feel quite so stupid dealing with an international contact).

But here are the locations where (as of 2/29) Ashley Furniture is hiring on the Careers Page:

Search the keywords under careers and there are no accounts receivable positions listed at this time.

Nor are there positions in “Minnesota”.

Always check out EVERY job lead carefully for yourself before you supply personal data that may set you up for identity theft.

CHECK publicly available resources on the web before applying especially when they have a “strange” email address for applying.

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