Kaisilver, Security Blog

Cheap Loans Fraud. Do Not Disclose Bank Information.

This is a major online fraud threat that has been around for a few months. The email is supposed to come from a ‘reputed’ financial institution. See how the email is a free gmail or hotmail addres, the username is the name of the financial institution. In these slow economic conditions, there are millions of people shopping around for cheap loans. This email is ready to give you a loan at a shockingly low rate of interest, sometimes as low as 3% !!!!

You are asked to give your name and address and bank account details for them to process your cheap loan. A typical online threat but some people might be tempted to ‘give it a try’. After all nothing much would happen as long as you do not part with any money. This is a DANGEROUS attitude, since your identification details including Social Security number, full name and complete bank details will be in the hands of the fraudster.

Once this fraudster sees that you are interested in this deal, he will send you various details and documents that will make you believe that this is a genuine cheap loan offering. After winning your confidence he will get you the ‘good news’. Your loan is passed and you need to pay a processing fee which could be in the 500 U.S$ to 2,000 U.S$ range. Depending on how smart he is and how foolish you our, he might just get that sum from you. And you will end up with nothing except the lost dollars and a string of sleepless nights.

Once again remember that such online threats work on the psychologicy of a person. They are also planned according to the present situation as it is these situations that give us a mindset to try such offers. Pass this information to your friends, business associates and everyone you know. It is only a collective action that will make the online world safer.

You Have Undisclosed Income - Online Fraud.

This is similar to an online fraud that has been happening for the last few years, however this year’s fraud has an interesting twist. In the earlier fraud, you received an email saying that you were due to receive a tax refund. Private and confidential information was collected from you, this information was ofcourse put to several bad uses. In this new fraud, the email says that you have failed to disclose some income in your tax returns!

This does seem like a serious issue and many receivers would just click on the provided link and disclose all related information. This could be very dangerous and the fraudsters have managed to think up a very convincing and dangerous operation. Kaisilver has monitored a few dozen emails of this type and there seems to be a pattern through all of them. It is a wonder why the FBI and other agencies do not go to the bottom of such frauds. Tracking emails is not tough, a little technological help and some good ideas can lead to the brain on the top of all such frauds. In the meantime, spread the word to your friends, collegues and relatives. That is the only way to increase the online safety factor.

Western Union Receipt Of Money, Fraud

We would first of all like to mention that this online fraud is NOT committed by Western Union. Online fraudsters use the name of Western Union to defraud innocent online users of their hard earned money. You will receive an email saying that a few million dollars have been released in your name, the reason for this windfall could be many. All such emails are frauds so do not worry about who sent it, how they knew your email address etc.

The email says that a large sum of money has been released in your name. Western Union will now pay you a few thousand dollars a day (could be 10,000 dollars) until the amount is fully received by you. You are asked to contact a person with the details provided. If you follow up on this email fraud, you will be asked to pay a few hundred or thousand dollars as processing fee. You might get a few fake Western Union Money Transfer details, not a single dollar will come your way so do not fall for this fraud.

Western Union as a mode of payment has existed for many decades and has often been a great help to persons doing urgent money transfers. There was a time when many Asian students studying abroad needed urgent funds from their family in Asia. It was also likely that these students wanted to provide financial help to their families in Asia on an urgent basis. This was long before the internet and mouse and keyboard commerce took birth. It was Western Union who helped these people make the transfer almost instantly. Online security threats are being perpetuated to attack almost every online mode of payment, credit cards, paypal, bank accounts and ofcourse Western Union are not being spared.

There is only one way that we can make the internet a safer place to trade, surf and play. This is by generously sharing any online security information that we might have. We have always been at the forefront in the process of educating buyers regarding gemstones and jewelry. The Kaisilver extrajewel security resource aims to carry that policy of educating buyers, to online safety too.

The ATM Card Money Fraud.

It is the time of the year when many innocent online users are looking for bargains and also making online transaction. While this is a good thing for both buyer and seller, you need to stay updated with the online security threats that are currently going around. Kaisilver continues to monitor various online security issues and warns both buyers and sellers through this exclusive security blog.

The ATM card fraud basically perpetuates through emails. You receive an email saying that an ATM card with thousands or even millions of dollars filled in waiting for you. You could be asked to contact the shipping or courier agent, or just send full details of your name, bank account etc. There is a phone number and contact person mentioned in the email. All this is done to increase your confidence in moving ahead with the transaction. Do not fall for this fraud, you will get nothing and only end up losing money. At times, you receive a similar email from a (supposedly) big courier company. This is a cloak email and does not really originate from FEDEX, DHL, UPS or any other courier. The email says that your card is lying with them and you need to pay a small fee like a few hundred dollars to receive it. You might feel that it is a small amount to pay inorder to receive the millions of dollars that are stuffed in the ATM card! But just forget such ideas and delete the email, you will not get a single cent.

Please pass the above information to your friends and relatives. It is only such open sharing of information that can make the online world safer and more useful. We need to harness the benefits of online commerce while remaining alert about online dangers. This is the best way to proceed.

Beware Of This Online Threat, Email Fraud.

You would have heard of fraud emails that urge you to click and link on the email. This link would take you to a web page that loaded malware on to your computer. Our network team has recently come across another online threat perpetuated through an email. In this case, the fraudster does not request you to click a link on the email, infact there is no link on the email at all. The email tries to get your email login details the easy way. The email informs you that your web hosting company needs to update some systems related to your email. To enable this process you are requested to reply to the email mentioning your email address, the email login and the email access password! Many innocent online users would not doubt the validity of such an email, the details would then be sent to the fraudster.

Make sure that you do not fall for this online threat. Remember that you should NEVER release your email login information to anyone. Do not write down your email passwords in a place that is accessible to others. It is a good idea to change your email password every few months. If you ever doubt that the security of your email account has been compromised, change the password immediately. Please keep shaing these suggestions and tips with your friends and co-workers, we need to build a safer Internet and do this together.

Beware Of Emails That Offer You A Job.

A recent online fraud is both disgusting and unfortunate. Unemployment has become rampant in many countries, the situation seems to be getting worse as the global economic situation gets weaker. Online fraudsters have taken advantage of the desperate position in which the unemployed find themselves in. An email is sent randomly and claims to contain information of a suitable job for the receiver. In many cases the source of the email claims to be from some huge multinational firm.

As is common with most email frauds, the receiver is expected to click a link for further details. The link contains malware that can compromise the security of your computer and break through your online privacy. This online fraud seems to be the worse type of online security threat. While previous online threats played on the greed of the receiver, this fraud takes advantage of the desperate and pitiable situation in which most unemployed people today find themselves in.

Please pass on this link to everyone you know. The global economic climate is bad and there seems to be no immediate relief in sight. It will be sad if information regarding this online threat is not made available to as many people as possible. Kaisilver will make every effort to warn online users regarding new threats that come up from time to time.

This is a huge scam that has been unfolding for a couple of years now. The intensity of this online scam has recently grown for obvious reasons. Innocent people searching for part time employment, the thrill and convenience of working from home promised by the scam and ofcourse the ease with which you can make money. You need to be aware of this scam as the whole project is a fraud in most of the cases.

You get an email from a supposedly huge firm, they sell globally and specially in your part of the globe. They are so busy selling that they need someone to collect money on their behalf. The online scam then details how you can become their agent to collect payments for them. As explained by them, you provide bank details, address etc. The scammers make the sale and direct the innocent buyer (the victim) to make payment to you.  You keep a part of the payment, this is your commission the amount is tempting enough to fool many people into falling for this online scam. The remaining part of the collected funds are transferred by you to the seller (the scammer). All sounds good so far since you actually DID, make some real money in this transaction.

The plot gets worse as you move ahead. The scammer who is supposed to ship a product or offer some service to the buyer, never does his part! The money was however paid by the innocent buyer to you. The scammer already gets paid real cash by you, the amount that you sent the scammer after deducting your commission. The innocent buyer has only one proof in legal terms, the fact that he paid money to you. The legal action starts, your bank or local police gets informed of the online scam, by the innocent buyer. You were innocent to start of with but now, in the eyes of the law and the innocent buyer you are the perpetuator of an online SCAM!.

Be aware of this SCAM, if you are tricked into entering into a deal that is even slightly similar to the one mentioned above, STAY AWAY. It is almost 100% sure that it is a fraud, you will have little recourse to the law as the payment was sent to you. Pass this link to your friends and relatives. As the world economies slip lower into trouble, this online scam is poised to drag more innocent victims into its dragnet.

If you get a screen on your computer with AntiVirXP08 as the heading, you should know that you computer is infected with malware. This program is sometimes called Anti Vir XP 08 but has nothing to do with cleaning viruses, it does the opposite. The program flashes a message saying that a number of virues (a numeric value is shown) have been detected on your computer. The AntiVirXP08 infact urges you to use your credit card and pay for a subscritpion of Anti Vir XP 08. You will get no anti virus software in return and will most probably be compromising your confidential credit card information!

The AntiVirXP08 malware affects many areas of your hard disk and also changes the registry of windows. Cleaning it is not an easy task and it is best to take the help of an expert. The program is transferred to your computer by clicking a link on a website, in an email. Some users have reported getting it from popular video, music and photo sharing websites. It is probably easier said than done but, the best thing is not to click on strange or unknown links. If you find that your computer is infected with the AntiVirXP08 malware contact a computer expert and have the problem resolved. This is all the more important if you have necessary information on the infected computer.

It is safe to presume that the AntiVirXP08 program is capable of pilfering confidential information that you enter on the infected computer. Bank logins, credit card details and other financial websites like Paypal etc should not be accessed from infected computers. The dangerous part is that this malware was written by one fraudster but is today being used by many people with bad intentions. As usual, no one has been able to track even a single bad person trying to spread the AntiVirXP08 malware. So we are going to have to learn to live with this and other online threats. Spread the word regarding the AntiVirXP08 to your friends and collegeues, send them the link to this report.

Important Issue For Non Technical Computer Users. 
A router that is the wired type or wireless type needs to be configured. The configuration of a router can be done on a locally attached computer or you could remotely manage the router configuration through any computer connected to the network or even through the internet. If you are a technically minded computer user, this remote configuration of local configuration of the router would be easy.

But, if you know little about the technical aspects of how to configure a router remotely, the best thing would be to disable the remote management module. This is because a router that is not well configured for being managed remotely, could be accessed by anyone across the network or even across the internet. The router is in most cases a firewall too, anyone with access to the router configuration could set a configuration that compromises your online and network security.

If you would still like to remotely manage your router despite having scant technical knowledge, take the help of a trusted technically skilled person to configure the remote management module for you. Trusted because, remember that he could always keep a loophole that allows him to remotely access your router and network whenever he pleases !!!! The best thing to do would be to read the manual, jump to the section on remote management of the router and disable the function. It would be be safe to take technical help in  learning how to disable the remote management feature of your router.

This is not a new online fraud but the consistency and perseverence of the fraudsters is amazing. The emails received are quite standard, the contents have remain unchanged for the past 3 to 4 years. From the modus operandi it does appear to be a closely knit group of online crooks. It does sound strange that the long arm of the law has not yet managed to snuff the gang out of their dangerous tactics.

The email you receive in this online fraud will have a few similar features:

(a) The ‘buyers’ generally claim to be from Singapore or Indonesia. They might also say that they are from the U.S or U.K. For U.S and U.K fraud emails, the requested shipping destination for the merchandise is generally given as a destination in Africa. The writer claims to have a chain of jewelry stores in Africa that is starving for your high priced merchandise.

(b) This fraudulent email claims to have seen your wesbite and found a keen interest in your merchandise. There might also be items from your website quoted in the email. The most striking part of these email frauds is that, the item description (if mentioned in the email) is a direct ‘cut and paste’ description. The fraudster generally selects the highest priced item and then requests a quote for 15, 50 or maybe more pieces. This is what excites innocent sellers, the idea of making a huge sale seems to blind you from the underlying dangers.

(c) Another feature of this online fraud is that, the ‘buyer’ says that before making the purchase he would need confirmation of some payment mode. Visa card, AMEX or even Western Union might be touted as some of his preferred mode of payments. The money would ofcourse never be paid to the seller or be paid through a credit card that belongs to someone other than the buyer!

(d) The sender of the email almost always, uses a free email address. The email address might not be a Yahoo or Gmail or Hotmail as everyone knows about these. Remember that a thousand other websites offer free email addresses and these are preyed upon by these online fraudsters. Our network team has come across cases where non free email addresses belonging to U.S universities, reputed companies etc have also been used to perpetuate these online frauds. Such email addresses are most likely hacked or probably belong to students or staff that are a part of this online security problem.

(e) The websites most likely to be targeted include jewelry, watches, expensive electronic gadgets etc. The fraudster seems to have a liking for small sized items with a big price tag.

Remember that you will never get paid for the merchandise you ship. Even if you do get a credit card payment in advance, you will soon get a reversal request (actually a demand) from the credit card company. This is because the online fraudster rarely owns or uses his own credit card. You will be obliged to refund the payment to the credit card company and will have no claims on the expensive merchandise that you have shipped.  

It is in your interest to delete such emails and do nothing. Keep your friends and relatives informed about this fraud. No authority that we know of has been willing to track down such online fraudsters. With official power it would be quite easy to trace the receiver of the merchandise as the merchandise moves to him. The fraud in the email is glaring the moment you receive it, so tracking the merchandise and payment all the way would be no problem. Either the interest or importance of this online fraud is being ignored or underestimated.