Where to Forward Phishing or Nigerian 419 Scams

[Wiz Feinberg]

Where to forward "Phishing Scams"

Do NOT forward PayPal, Ebay, or bank phishing scams to the SGF Security Officer. His concern is to track down and block Nigerian (and similar) scammers who attempt to commit overpayment fraud against sellers of items and services on the SGF.

More details about reporting scams against SGF sellers are found below the horizontal divider.

Phishing scams (phoney warnings from banks, credit unions, eBay, PayPal, setup to steal your identity) should be forwarded to either abuse@ or spoof@ (domain.com).

Examples:
Bank Of America phish emails should be forwarded to abuse@bankofamerica.com

PayPay phishing scams should be forwarded to spoof@paypal.com

Ebay phishing scams go to spoof@ebay.com

You can lookup the exact address for abuse/phishing complaints, for various websites/companies, by using the search field at Abuse.net
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Where to forward (Nigerian) financial fraud/check-kiting scams aimed at SGF members, with items for sale on the SGF.

These scams typically involve the seller receiving a badly worded inquiry offering to purchase the item for sale and pay way more than the selling price, then asking you to refund the difference to their shipper, or to wire it to Nigeria.

Another take on this is to offer to have their (Son/Daughter) come to your city for extended lessions, for which they will overpay and request a refund by Western Union.

Forward suspected Nigerian scams to the Security Officer for the SGF, Bobby D. Hunter, at: wizardodelasteel @ hotmail.com (remove the spaces around @)

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A new place to report Phishing scams

Phishing Scams are sent via emails that try to fool or frighten people into clicking on the cloaked links in the message body, which appear to lead to the specified website but really go to a copy-cat website that closely resembles an authentic place of business, but which is designed for the sole purpose of stealing your login name and password for the targeted institution. Once you are fooled into divulging this information your money, or credit cards, or auction feedback rating, or identity will be stolen by professional thieves. EBay sellers are frequently the targets of phishing attempts. A scammer who gets your eBay login can open an auction in your name, using your feedback rating, and sell non-existant items to angry buyers who will blame you for ripping them off.

Examples of commonly phished websites are eBay, PayPal, Bank Of America and other well known financial institutions and brokerage firms. The topic following this one describes where you should forward emails you suspect of being scams, based on the company's name. I encourage everybody to forward phishing scams to the targeted companies, but before you do, grab the complete source code (display, select all, copy) and read the next paragraph.

Now there is a new place to file phishing reports, where people in positions to do something about it will act quickly to get those websites taken offline, as soon as possible. The initiative is known as PIRT (Phishing Incident Reporting and Termination) and is a global phishing termination operation launched by CastleCops and Sunbelt Software. PIRT is funded by CastleCops. Become a PIRT Squad terminator by reporting phish scams today!

The reporting page is at http://www.castlecops.com/friedphish.html

There is a form that asks you to paste in the source code of the email that is a phishing scam and/or enter a complete phish URL. If you don't know how to obtain the source code read the other topics I have posted in my announcements, on this web page.

Let's help take these websites down as quickly as possible. If you receive a phishing scam email act as soon as possible to report it.

[Wiz Feinberg]

There is a Phishing scam email making the rounds against Wells Fargo customers. If you receive one of these scams and wish to alert the company, please forward it to reportphish@wellsfargo.com.

[Jon Light]

NYC Broker Charged with Stealing from Clients

NEW YORK (AP) -- A stockbroker has been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients and sending the money overseas to Nigerian scam artists.

Prosecutors said former Tripp & Co. Inc. broker Michael Axel forged at least $600,000 worth of checks on four clients' accounts. One was a public high school teacher; the other three were in their 80s and 90s.

Axel, 68, was released without bail after being arraigned Thursday on grand larceny and forgery charges. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top count, second-degree grand larceny.

Axel's lawyer, David Gourevitch, declined to comment.

Axel sent most of the stolen money to a phony lawyer in Nigeria who e-mailed him from Nigeria to say Axel had inherited $8.75 million from a distant relative, prosecutors said. That person told Axel he needed to send ``up front'' money for legal fees to free up the inheritance.

That 2005 e-mail to Axel was part of a common scam in which individuals overseas try to get Americans to send them money, saying it's needed to pay for legal procedures to free up money the victims have coming to them.

``This is a classic example of one con man taking another con man,'' Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said. Axel fell for the scheme and never got any of that money back, Morgenthau said.

Axel is due back in Manhattan state Supreme Court on Nov. 16. Justice Lewis Bart Stone said the case may be resolved by then.

Morgenthau said Axel's thefts included $150,000 from a high school teacher's account from 2002 through 2005. The broker stole $400,000 the next year from another client, a 92-year-old resident of an assisted living facility, the district attorney said.

After an 88-year-old client of Axel's died in May 2007, the broker stole $10,000 from an account she held with her daughter, Morgenthau said. He said Axel also took $13,000 from an account that belonged to an 83-year-old man and his son.

Morgenthau said Tripp & Co. repaid the clients Axel victimized. He said Axel has repaid Tripp about half of what he stole.