Bringing Our World To Your World … One Topic At A Time

The SPAM Scams Are Getting Good

November 5th, 2007 Posted in Blog, Tech

DISCLAIMER: This may not be a scam, but it sure doesn’t feel right.

I recently received the following from a company (LAM Internet Security Group in the Baltic States) trying to recruit me for a PayPal account manager, but this has to be one of the most pinpointed SPAM scams of all time. This doesn’t feel right at all, but it does hit a couple of good possible points where I could have fallen into the trap: Paypal and Monster.com. It hits a little too close to home. I wanted to alert others who may have Paypal and Monster accounts to not fall for this because who’s money do you think they are taking out for their clients ;) Plus, don’t click the links because that just tells them you are falling into their trap.

 

Email from LAM Internet Security Group (http://lamis-group-online.biz/)

We found your resume on MONSTER.COM

Our company want to suggest you a vacancy - of PayPal account manager

 

The major duty of the PayPal Account Manager is to process payments between our clients and our company via PayPal system.

 

Benefits of this vacancy:
1. Flexible work schedule, work 3-5 hours per week.
2. Possibility of your career rising
3. Home-based.
4. Ability to take unlimited vacation (without guaranteed salary).

 

Minimal requirements:
1. You must have Verified PayPal account.
2. At least 18 years old.
3. Internet and Email skills.

 

Working Tasks?
1) To receive money to your PayPal account.
2) Withdraw money to your bank account.
3) Send money via Western Union or Money Gram to our client.

 

Salary:
15% of every transaction amount. All expenses (WesternUnion fee,
MoneyGram fee, bank fee, PayPal fee) are on us. Your salary
is included in the amount of every transaction.

 

No private data (Social Security Number, Mother’s Maiden Name) required.
NO MAIL DELIVERING.
NO NETWORK MARKETING.
NO ENTRANCE FEES. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY ANYTHING TO JOIN OUR COMPANY.

 

 

 

If you want to apply for this job please fill THIS FORM

 

To decline receipt of future our promotional email offers, please click this link.

 

Learn More About Our Company.

 

Don’t be a tool for the Internet crooks out there and don’t open email attachments. Keep it clean and keep it safe out there on the Net. Peace.

  1. 8 Responses to “The SPAM Scams Are Getting Good”

  2. By Email: amyd@juno.com on Nov 6, 2007

    Got the same E-mail about the same time. Opened a new browser window and typed in the server half (every thing after the @ symbol) of the senders email address. I found a well constructed home page with the same information, and details of how long in business ect.
    Having a Paypal account and never reading the fine print- I wonder why these poor “customers” can send me paypal credits- but can’t send them directly to the company they want to purchase from?
    I agree- it may be a real offer; But I deleted it!

  3. By Anonymous on Nov 6, 2007

    Hey, I just got this email myself and dug a little. Tartu Kommerstpank, the parent company according to their web site, had its charter revoked in 1992 and was liquidated. also the domain is registered to an Andrew Hulsh in Las Vegas. I also cant find anything in the source code that would indicate that andrew isn’t the one who most likely made the web page. it certainly doesnt look like it was made by anyone in Estonia. Just thought you would like to know.

    This is a pretty sophisticated scam, but at best you just get your paypal account ganked. At worst your laundering money for God knows how and you go to prison for federal crimes.

  4. By Dustin Boyd on Nov 6, 2007

    Amy, I am glad someone else got this and thought it was fishy. Delete it is my philosophy.

  5. By Dustin Boyd on Nov 6, 2007

    Anonymous, nice work on digging through the source code and finding all of that extra information out. That makes me even more sure its a spam scam.

    I could probably delete the DISCLAIMER at the top ;)

  6. By Anonymous on Nov 7, 2007

    I got the same e-mail at my hotmail account, and the creepy part of it was that they knew my name. so i used the chat feature on the monster.com website, taked with a representative who told me to forward the e-mail to him, and sure enough, he sent me an email confirmation:

    “Hello

    Thank you for bringing this email spoof to our attention. This is a fraudulent email, purporting to be from Monster, which has been sent to a large group of Internet users, including some of our customers.

    This is not a Monster authorized email, and it was not sent by or through Monster. It contains “spoofed” domain information designed to mimic a Monster address.

    This email was sent to many internet users, including some Monster account holders. E-mail of this type generally employs a very large distribution list that has been obtained via spidering or programs that generate email addresses for the purpose of spam distribution lists.

    This email is attempting to engage unsuspecting individuals in a money laundering scam. It is in your best interest to disregard the email. Do not engage with the entities. If you did begin correspondence and have started the required financial transactions, we recommend that you contact local law enforcement immediately.

    So that we may appropriately report this spam/scam email to the appropriate vendors, please provide me with the full internet header information from the email. Instructions on obtaining the header information can be found at the following link: http://www.spamcop.com/help_with_headers/

    You may also want to report this spam/scam email to the Federal Trade Commission: https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

    For more information on how to conduct a safe job search and how to detect online scams, please visit http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com/fraudtypes/phishing.aspx as well as http://help.monster.com/besafe/.

    We take the experience of our customers very seriously and we value and welcome any comments or questions you may have regarding this issue or the security of your Monster account.

    .

    We appreciate you for choosing Monster.

    If you require any further assistance please feel free to email us at customercentral@monster.com and we will be glad to be of service to you.”

    So, basically the rep said the email was a spoof. So if anyone else gets the same email, talk with someone at monster.com.

  7. By Boyd on Nov 7, 2007

    Anonymous, way to be proactive against attacks like this. It is good to see you actually contact Monster. Hopefully they take the correct actions to help mitigate problems of this sort.

  8. By Anonymous on Nov 12, 2007

    yea I just received this email also. It looks definetly like a scam. Too many key words such as bank account and using Paypal as a very known name. Delete that email, you will probably go to jail if your laudering money.

  9. By Boyd on Nov 12, 2007

    Definitely don’t want to go there Anonymous

You must be logged in to post a comment.