Are Fake Job Adverts Returning?

I haven’t seen any for some time, but this one turned up this morning.

Hot Jobs from Reliable and Successful Company Running its business since 2005, Company has several openings for goal-oriented and independent individuals looking for excellent career opportunities.

Requirements
- 25+ years old
- UK citizenship
- No criminal record
- Good credit history
- Basic computer skills
- A proven level of secondary education

What we offer
- high and stable income
- exciting career opportunities
- two weeks’ paid holiday a year
- great team to work with
- bonuses and our private employee loyalty programme benefits
- and many other things

What you do is just work from home and get advantage of all these opportunities, as the job we offer requires only a few hours of your time spent on your computer.

You are full of energy, learn fast and seek for best career opportunities? Do contact us at xxx@xxx.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
 
We look forward to welcoming you as a new employee.
Sincerely,
irvine thierry

It was a bit better than most of the previous scams, which are designed to get your bank account details, so you can donate large sums of money to the criminals.  It was even sent from what looked like a valid UK e-mail address, although mine was addressed to a man called Fidole Shem, who is definitely not me.

It was also marked by my anti-spam system as spam.

But what was a real giveaway was the low level of paid holidays.  I wouldn’t get out of bed for a job like that!

So it went the way of the others and I dispatched it humanely with the delete key.

Phishing Scams From Someone Claiming to be HMRC

We all get these and some look like they come from sensible addresses like alert@hmrc.gov.uk.

Here’s a typical content.

Date 21/05/2011
A tax refund of 1560.10 GBP .(Still Pending) Due to invalid account record we were unable to credit your account Please submit a verified tax refund request.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
Click the “Refund Me Now” link below and follow the on screen step in order to have us process your request.

Refund Me Now Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time,Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

 
Best Regards,
HM Revenue & Customs

They are all a scam designed to get your login asnd password to the HMRC web site.

They show all of the typical mistakes of scammers.

1. Why would they say 2510 GBP, when the £2510.00 would probably be used?
2. The English is a bit clunky.  But then so is a lot of Civil Servant-speak!
3. I especially like the last bit saying “Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.” What do they mean about indicated? Does a nice young lady all dressed like Lady Gaga in leather come round and give you a ticking off?  Now that will be fun!
4. And then there’s the Best Regards bit! Very HMRC! I don’t think!

So what should you do with these e-mails, other than comply with what they say?

The real HMRC have a page which says what to do.

Note this clear statement on the page.

HMRC will never send notifications of a tax rebate by email, or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email.

You should never disclose your personal and/or payment information in reply to an email that may look like it’s from HMRC, you may well be revealing your details to a fraudulent website.

 

It also says you should forward them to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

I shall be sending a few today, so let’s see what happens.

Beware of Order.zip

I’ve got another of this nasty things this morning. This one was actually addressed to one of my main e-mails, so perhaps the spammers have modified them to make them more likely to get through. The structure of the e-mail always seems to be similar.

The title of those I have received is usually something like ORDER and a number.

All of the bodies are similar to this.

Dear customer.

Your order has been accepted. Your order reference is 94636.

Terms of delivery and the date can be found with the auto-generated msword file located at:

http://www.xxxxxxx.xxx/order2/Order.zip?to_client: zzz@zzzzzz.zzz

==
Best regards, Tel./Fax.: (168) 000 52 337.

Obviously the xxx’s and zzz’s obscure the danger. The zzz’s in one case were my e-mail address.

Note the phone number at the bottom, which doesn’t mean anything to me.

This form of the e-mail is the first I’ve seen.  It will change in the future, once the anti-virus companies get their systems updated to stop these e-mails.

The last e-mail I got used a domain registered in Germany.  The e-mail came from Russia.

Another Scam Like The CFX Group

I have just received an almost identical e-mail to the one I received from the CFX Group.

Hello!

 

Your order has been accepted. Your order reference is 198668.

 Terms of delivery and the date can be found with the auto-generated msword file located at:

http:\creacioweb.net\xxxx.xxx

Best regards, Tel.: (734) 687 65 784

The e-mail I received was actually addressed to a legitimate company who supply milking machines. Note the xxx obscure the dangerous bit.

One characteristic of the e-mails is that they contain a link to a file called Order.zip.  This file probably contains some sort of virus.  There are more details here.

Interestingly, the web site http:\\www.creacioweb.net is registered in Spain.  The site containing the virus in the CFX Group case also was registered there!

A Proven Scam: Engineering and Consultancy Services

I few days ago I had an e-mail purporting to come from a Bryan Green at this company.

Hello,

It’s Bryan Green, ENGINEERING & CONSULTANCY SERVICES, HR manager.

We found your e-mail in the base of applicants for a job. If you are not in search of a job and not interested in extra earnings, ignore this letter please and I’m sorry for mistake. If you need a job, you have a good chance to work in our company.

 

We are searching for:

- Financial Department Associate.

 

ENGINEERING & CONSULTANCY SERVICES (U.K.) LIMITED is connected to many technology purchases and sales, global distribution, manufacturing and consulting. We are concentrated on buying and selling technology in Europe and United States. We offer generous salary for our part-time employees and also some discounts and benefits.

 

Get in touch with us and join our company. E-mail : hr@engineering-and-consultancy.co.uk

Yours respectfully,

Bryan Green,

HR manager

 It had all the hallmarks of a scam, especially as I haven’t applied for any jobs lately.

I have now found out that it is a proven scam, with at least one person having had money stolen from their credit card. The UK Police have been informed.

For that reason the original post has been protected with a password.  This is so the police can have access to the original post.

Google 10th Anniversary Awards Centre

I received an e-mail saying I’d won.

 It’s a scam.

If you don’t believe me!  Just think why it’s not been on the news!

Protected: Engineering and Consultancy Services

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

A Call From 08000562422

I had a strange call from this number on my mobile phone.  It told me my address and said it was from EDF Energy and asked if I was responsible for paying the bill, in which case I was to press 1.  If I wasn’t I was to press 2.  I hung up, as EDF Energy are not my supplier and anyway I pay by direct debit to another company, who did me a few favours when I moved in and were very professional.  That’s not to say they are not professional too, as they have dealt with the writs sent to previous non-payers at this address with no hassle to me.

But I smelt a rat, as I have nothing to do with EDF Energy.

I checked the number on the Internet and this is what I found.  Some items mention the number as a possible telepest.

I did try to phone EDF Energy, but their call centre was busy.  This was one of the reasons, they didn’t get my business in the first place, as I couldn’t get through.

So if you get a call from this number, I suggest you do the sensible thing and hang up.  I can’t find anything on the Internet to link it to EDF Energy.

What worries me is that someone had got my mobile phone number and linked it to my correct address.  The only people who have that link are credit card companies, my bank and companies like John Lewis, IKEA and Dixons. I’m not accusing anybody, but it strikes me that there is a leak somewhere. But then these companies have my landline and I’ve never had such a call on that number.

Calls From 253-802-0308 in the United States

I have been plagued by this number.  Read more about others who have from this web page. What is interesting is this snippet in the page.

I have posted this before, so I will paste it here for others who may benefit. My husband and I both work in IT and Telecommunication. I researched the number and came up with the following. The company International Telecom has a service called Kallback.  It says it does the following:
1. Kallback lets you change your callback® phone number as you travel. Or you can pick a single, permanent location
Standard Trigger Numbers allow you to receive calls at a single, permanent location.
Traveler Trigger Numbers allow you to change your callback® location.
Personalized Trigger Numbers ask for you by name at a permanent location.
You can also trigger a call from the internet.

I also received a call from the number listed on this post.  The carrier for this number is  International Telcom, Ltd.

The thing with this service is that they can call you, but you can’t trace them.  These calls originate from outside the Continental U.S.  They do not come from Washington state.  They are like calling cards.  They show the trigger number, but not the number the call is actually coming from.  It is deceptive.  

I think the information is genuine, so perhaps it is time that International Telecom got shut down or at least stopped their system being used by scammers.

Stupid Calls From the United States

I have my old phone number at my previous house diverted to my mobile phone.  It must be very frustrating for the scammers from the United States, who keep rnging me from Delaware, as O2 now properly display their number.  so I let them ring and then end the call.

This is a new phenomenon.  Until perhaps two weeks ago, these scam calls didn’t give a number, but now they do, so I can treat them with the contempt they deserve. After all, if they are important calls, the caller would probably know my e-mail address, so they’ll do that instead.

It’s funny though that all these calls seem to be from the United States, so is that country, now the new Nigeria?