computers and spammers

[tcprowling]

In the interest of anti spam. I actually recieved an email form this gemma 38 yesterday
Spam 'research project' run by spammers?

By Munir Kotadia, ZDNet Australia
15 September 2006 04:30 PM

Antivirus firm Sophos suspects that spammers have, under the guise of a 'sociological research project', been harvesting e-mail addresses for future campaigns.

Sophos warned on Friday than an e-mail campaign asking recipients to forward all their chain mail e-mail claims to a researcher called Gemma, is actually a scam most likely set up by spammers to harvest live e-mail addresses.

The e-mail contains the following text:

I would be very grateful if you would be kind enough to forward absolutely anything and everything that remotely resembles chain mail, forwards of any type (even the rude ones). This project is based over the next year and I need at least 500,000 forwards for this project to be a success, so please keep them coming the more the better.​

Paul Ducklin, head of technology in Asia Pacific for Sophos, told ZDNet Australia that users should not respond.

"What they are getting is this high quality live e-mail database and you are trusting that they are going to use it for sociological research, which they are almost certainly not. It would be a bad idea to assume they were," said Ducklin.

Ducklin admitted that he was not completely sure that the campaign is being run with malicious intent but he said even if it were, this is not the right way to go about it.

"The e-mail text has been badly edited. People -- if they think they are helping a student -- maybe more inclined to help out but they are actually dobbing in the e-mail addresses of all their chums.

"Even if it were some kind of university student for a project they are going about collecting the information in a pretty unacceptable way," he added.

 

[Quiddity]

Mucho thank you.

 

[tcprowling]

Don’t fall for hoax emails


Not every email petition or virus warning is real


Hoax emails, such as chain letters or bogus petitions, are sometimes nothing more than a nuisance but they can be used by spammers to collect email addresses and some are more sinister. Learn how to spot a hoax.


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Examples of hoax emails

Don’t confuse a hoax email with a phishing email (which fraudulently tries to get you to divulge private information). Hoax emails are similar to chain letters. Examples include:

• Bogus virus warnings.
• The promise of free gifts or cash for forwarding an email.
• Political petitions.
• Appeals to help someone who is ill or in trouble.
• Chain letters (“forward this to ten people for good luck”).

More sinister examples include:

• Pyramid schemes that promise a massive payback if you forward the message to enough people.
• Spammers use hoax emails to collect addresses.
• Emails that maliciously target individuals and make trouble for them.

Tell-tale hoax warning signs

• Requests to forward an email to five, ten people or more (“Forward this email to everyone you know”).
• No verifiable information but lots of plausible but unsupported claims (“Thousands of people have already won”).
• Colourful or over-eager language (“this is the WORST virus yet!”).
• Credibility by association or, to put it bluntly, unsubstantiated name dropping (“Company X will give you $5 to forward this email to your friends”).
• A hook to get your attention (“Make money fast” or “A little girl is dying”).
• A threat to create a sense of urgency (“Claim your prize before it is too late”).

What to do if you receive a hoax email

• If you suspect a hoax, check it out online at one of the following websites:
  • Hoaxbusters
  • F-Secure’s
  • McAfee
  • Symantec
• Don’t forward it.
• If you received it from a friend, consider sending them a copy of this article.