post

Scammers Are Getting Smart

(Updated)
Here’s an email I received this morning:

Dear xxxxxx,

Thank you for your subscription to
http: // polarstaryouth.org/scken1578.html  (link removed for my readers protection)

You have been billed as KRBILL LLC for the amount of:
3.95(USD) for 3 days (trial) then 34.95(USD) recurring every 30 days .
Your new subscription identification number is:xxxxxxx,
Your membership access information is:
Username for your subscription: xxxxxxx
Password for your subscription: xxxxxxx
E-mail: xxxxxxx
Membership website: http: // polarstaryouth.org/scken1578.html (link removed)
Thank you for choosing KRBill as the eMerchant for your subscription!
Customer Support/Cancel Your Subscription 28/08/2006 07:06

 

Obviously scammers are getting smart: reading you’ve just been billed, wouldn’t you instinctively click to clarify/cancel?  We’re all getting smarter about scam, but the sense of urgency can easily trigger a kneejerk reaction, forgetting all precautions, and that’s exactly what the scammer counts on. However, there’s two safety precautions I strongly recommend to everyone:

  • No card to charge: I only ever use throwaway, virtual credit card numbers on the Net, so scammers can bill all they want, they can’t charge my card
  • Protected Email address: I have specific email addresses for subscription lists and online orders,  another one for financial activity (banks, brokers), yet another for the blog…etc.  I don’t ever use online my “real” email addresses that I want to protect. So when scam arrives to the protected email, I can rest assured they don’t have any of my data, the email is harmless junk.

Any other good ideas?  Please leave them in a comment below.

Update (8/28):  Polar Youth appears to be a non-profit, not selling anything. However, the full URL (I did not click it, but retyped it) leads to a page where one can supposedly by a software product, and the licence terms refer to Intuit.  Since it’s obviously forgery, perhaps someone from Intuit will chime in here.

Update (9/1):  Wow… apparently this scam was first insignificant enough that only I posted about it, thus getting the #1 postition on Google for the search term “Krbill”… than it got widespread enough that a lot of people are searching for it… I am getting a lot of hits.  I also may have become the target of the scammers revenge: the appear to phish my email as sender.  I received emails asking for explanation, even one asking for a refund of any money charged to them.  Rest assured: the scammers could not get your money, unless you provided them with data.

As a commenter points out below, the websites the scam email leads to contain hidden iframe that attempts to download malware on your computer.

Tags: , , , , ,

post

Items to Avoid Aboard a Flight: Dell, Apple Laptops and…Penis Pumps

As I reported before, Qantas airlines restricts the use of Dell computers on board their aircraft; other airlines may follow suit, and with Apple joining the battery-recall, perhaps Mac’s get on the restricted list, too.

But this is minor inconvenience compared to the trouble carrying a … penis pump (*blush*) can get you into, reports the Chicago Sun Times:

“The female airport security guard held the small, black, squeezable rubber object she’d just plucked out of Mardin Amin’s backpack, and eyed it suspiciously.

Standing next to his mother, an embarrassed Amin whispered out of one corner of his mouth that it was a “pump” — as in a penis pump. The guard misunderstood the Iraqi man and thought she heard the word “bomb,” Amin’s attorney told a Cook County judge Wednesday.

“He told her it’s a pump,” attorney Eileen O’Neill-Burke said as a cluster of burly, snickering police officers watched the court proceedings. “He’s standing with his mother. Of course he’s not going to shout this out.”

But after listening to the female guard testify she heard Amin “clearly” say the word bomb during the Aug. 16 incident at O’Hare Airport, Judge Gerald Winiecki decided there was enough evidence for the case to move forward. Amin, 29, is charged with felony disorderly conduct and faces up to three years in prison if convicted.”

Oh, well, judges have their way with penis pumps:  in unrelated news, former Oklahoma Judge Donald Thompson was sentenced to 4 years in prison for repeatedly using a penis pump – during trials he presided over in his courtroom.

I’m starting to think these pumps are really not worth all the trouble. After all,  Small is the New Big

Perhaps it’s time to update the list of things to avoid during air travel:

  • sex toys
  • your mother
  • thick accent

or any combination of the above.

Tags: , , , , ,

post

Dell: Don’t Leave Home *With* It…

…At least not if you want to fly. 

After the well-publicized Dell-explosions and a recall of over 4 million batteries (made by Sony) Qantas Airlines issued new rules:  travelers are allowed to bring their Dells on board, however, they can only use them if they first remove the battery, then plug it into an outlet – which is only available on business- and first class.

Security at some airports apparently goes a bit further:

“One passenger who flew out of Canberra on a Qantas flight on Monday reported that he and his colleagues had encountered security personnel removing the batteries from all Dell computers, and taping up the contact points on the battery ” – reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

I guess from  now on there are three classes of notebooks: the Mac, the Win and the Dell.

Also read  Engadget, Gizmodo and The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Update (8/24):  As Jim points out in a comment below, after Dell now Apple issued a battery-recall, too.  I suspect the story is far from being over, a lot of other manufacturers use Sony’s batteries.

Update (9/6):  Korean Air joined the ban, in fact they go a step further: passengers have to remove the batteries and pack them in their check-in luggage.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

post

No Kidding – Superpapa of 370 Children Arrested

A man known as ”Superpapa” who says he took advantage of a quirk in German laws to adopt more than 300 children worldwide has been arrested on suspicion of violating laws on child rearing in Paraguay, authorities said Tuesday.

According to the police statement, Hass said he adopted more than 370 children of different ages in countries worldwide, including Russia, Romania, India and Pakistan with the intent of taking them to Germany to collect a government subsidy of €200 (US$260) a month for each under Germany’s child protection laws.

(read full article at AP

Tags: , , , ,

post

Nokia Can’t Keep Up with Demand for $5K+ Vertu Phones

The luxury unit of the world’s top mobile handset maker Nokia, Vertu, has seen strong demand this year and is struggling to increase production to keep up, a senior official said on Thursday.

Vertu targets wealthy customers by producing very costly mobile phones made from platinum, gold and diamonds.

“At the moment we cannot meet demand. Sales are more than doubling this year. We hope that pace will continue also next year,” Chris Harris, Vertu’s marketing director, told Reuters on the sidelines of a news conference.”  (Reuters via WeirdTechNewsHub)

Geez, Jeff, you’ve got the wrong one!  🙂

Tags: , , , , , , ,

post

Zombie-Attack on San Francisco

 I guess this is it: I am officially old.  Otherwise I’m sure I would understand WTF  this  is all about.

Photo Credit: Laughing Squid.

post

SUVs Banned from Most Californa Cities

The Golden State has outlawed big SUVs on many of its roads but doesn’t seem to know it.

Cities throughout California-the nation’s largest car market-prohibit the heaviest SUVs on many of their residential roads. The problem is, they don’t seem to know they’ve done it.

The Slate article is 2 years old, but showed up on reddit today – what a shock!

Technorati : ,

post

Guess the eBay Bid and You May Win the Very Last TechCrunch Party Ticket

The TechCrunch party at August Capital will likely be the most lavish one – just look at the impressive list of party sponsors (see logos at the bottom).  There are 760 names on the attendance list, and yours truly holds the last position on the wiki – hey, I am a rock-solid Z-lister forever:-)

Mike Arrington put up the last two tickets for bidding on eBay, and he will donate all proceeds to the Entrepreneurs Foundation, a Bay Area non-profit organization.

And now the big news: there may potentially be one more ticket to win – right here. How high do you think bidding will go? Fill out the form below, and you can be the winner. (I’ve just realized that the script may not come through in a feed, so please click back to my post to access the form). The guess closest to winning bid amount will be awarded by:

  • A drink and photo with Mike Arrington if you are already on the attendee list (hey, there may be a kiss, too, but I can’t commit Mike to that )
  • The very last ticket, if you are not yet on the list.

Note: I will be closing the poll at 10am on the day of the party, The eBay bid will close at 4:15pm. Winner will be published and notified by email as soon as payment is verified. (i.e. the bid has to be real).   Update: The poll is now closed. The winner of the free

ticket is David Gobaud from Stanford, who guessed $537, and the winning

eBay bid was $501. Congrat’s and see you there!

Proof that this is for real:

  Tags: , , , , , , ,

post

SMS: U R Fired

Katy Tanner was fired from her sales job at Blue Banana, a chain body-piercing studio in Cardiff, Wales, by SMS to his cellphone, on her day off.

We are a youth business and our staff are all part of the youth culture that uses (text) messaging as a major means of communication,” says the company

Tanner said the text firing was unfair and it should have been done face-to-face.

It was totally out of the blue,” she said..

Of course out of the Blue. Banana.  (full story on SFGate)

Technorati : ,

post

Prohibitively High Rocket-Fuel Prices Bring Mideast Crisis To Standstill

BEIRUT, LEBANON-As the cost of rocket fuel soared to $630 per gallon Monday, Middle Easterners who depend on the non-renewable propellant to power 10-kilogram rockets have been forced to severely restrict their daily bombing routines, bringing this latest round of fighting to an unexpected halt.

“The way things are going, I won’t have any money left over for other necessities, such as anti-aircraft missiles, land mines, and machine guns,” said Hezbollah guerrilla Mahmoud Hamoui, who is just one of hundreds of Islamic militants compelled to scale back their killing until rocket-fuel prices return to their pre-2006 levels.

“I admit I had grown accustomed to waking up every morning, driving my multiple-rocket-launcher to the launching site, and firing one unguided Katyusha rocket after another, even when it wasn’t absolutely necessary,” Lebanese militia member Omar Cheaib said. “But at these prices, I can’t even afford short-range launches over the border. I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“A helpful list of rocket-fuel-conservation tips was issued by the Lebanese government in early June, but it was virtually ignored,” Beirut Arab University environmental studies Professor Farid Issa said. “It suggested taking public transportation to the border to launch missiles, or simply gunning down Israelis with AK-47s. Instead, Hezbollah members chose to fire rockets from the convenience of their own backyards, as if rocket fuel grew on trees.”

(full article at The Onion)

Technorati : , , , , , ,