You arrive at your hotel and check in at the front desk. When checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for all the charges for your room). You get to your room and settle in. Someone calls the front desk and asked for (example) Room 620 (which happens to be your room). Your phone rings in your room. You answer and the person on the other end says the following,

“This is the front desk. When checking in, we came across a problem with your charge card information. Please re-read me your credit card number and verify the last 3 digits numbers at the reverse side of your charge card.”

Not thinking anything you might give this person your information, since the call seems to come from the front desk. But actually, it is a scam of someone calling from outside the hotel/front desk. They ask for a random room number. Then, ask you for credit card information and address information. Sounding so professional that you do think you are talking to the front desk.

If you ever encounter this problem on your vacation, tell the caller that you will be down at the front desk to clear up any problems… Then, go to the front desk and ask if there was a problem. If there was none, inform the manager of the hotel that someone called to scam you of your credit card information acting like a front desk employee.

City: All

Country: All

Related posts:

1. New Credit Card Scam
2. U.S. State Department – Resident Card for XXXXXX (SCAM!)
3. Sofitel Hotel Mauritius

The rest of the e-mail says the following….

———————-START OF E-MAIL—————————-

Dear {Your name appears here} ,
Congratulations ! You are among those randomly selected and registered for further consideration in the diversity immigrant program. Selection guarantees that
you will receive a United States Permanent Resident Card(also known as Green Card or Diversity Visa) only if you follow the instructions for further processing.
$title
Acceptance Date: Friday 8th of April 2011 06:57:46 AM
Winner Name: {Your Name}
Country of Birth: {They have the value inserted here, and it’s actually correct!!!}
Phone Number: {What’s more scary is they managed to find my home phone number}

Is the Diversity Visa FREE ?
No. There is a big confusion. Only the participation in the Diversity Visa Lottery was free but the winners must pay the visa processing fees.

The fee is used to process your visa related documents and verify your identity.
Fees:

Type of Residence Card Status Amount (per person)
United States Permanent Resident Card Granted! – Waiting for payment of processing fee $880

Processing fees Included
Total $880

INSTRUCTIONS

Please read and follow all the instructions very carefully. With the Diversity Visa (also known as Green Card) you will enjoy all the advantages and benefits of a US permanent resident, including health and education benefits, and employment opportunities along with guidance in your new country, orientation sessions and programs to integrate into mainstream American society. Once received you can use it at any time you want to move in the United States or just travel. The visa must be renewed after 10 years.

Although you will have all the rights that a U.S. citizen has in the United States, without a relative or friend in the United States you may find the relocation difficult and expensive due the lack of experience in the American society. Therefore the U.S. Government helps you with the accommodation and offers you along with each visa Health Insurance (Freedom HSA Direct Individual Health insurance for 1 year), Dwelling(Apartment in any city you prefer, 1 bedroom for 3 months ), a guaranteed job(in the field that you are are currently qualified so you can start working even from the first week you arrive in the United States and get paid as U.S citizen. ) and education (for U.S. Students or Higher Education through EducationUSA. It includes transfer to a U.S college or Univeristy so you can continue your educational study. More details can be found at http://educationusa.state.gov/ .)
We remind you that only the visa processing fee ($880) is mandatory and the visa is guaranteed upon receiving the payment.

Accompanying family members(wife/husband, fiancee, brothers, sisters, children, cousins) may be included in the program and their visas will be provided at the same time with yours so you can travel/move together in the same time. However the fees must be paid per person and each member(e.g wife, brother, parents, children, cousin) must pay $880. There is no discount for children.

Visa Payment processing instructions
The fees must be paid using Western Union money transfer and will be processed by the U.S. embassy in the United Kingdom.

Western Union is a leading provider of International person-to-person money transfer. With more than 150 years experience and 245,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories, Western Union is recognized for sending money quickly, reliably, and safety.
You can send the payment in U.S. dollars or equivalent of your local currency.

Click on the following link to find the nearest Western Union agency and send the fees payment :
Find Western Union Agency
If you are unable to find a Western Union agency near your location, you may ask a relative or friend to pay the fee on your behalf.

After you find a Western Union agency you need to go with cash money, an identity card(e.g passport or national identity card) and send the payment to the U.S. embassy agent address in United Kingdom:

Name : Adam Ramon Magee
Address: 24 Grosvenor Square
London, W1A 2LQ
United Kingdom

The payment must be sent to the above U.S. embassy agent address in United Kingdom because the U.S. Government decided this based on the diplomatic relations with your country.

After you send the payment follow the next steps :

a) Email copy/scan of the Western Union receipt at usgov.dv@usa.com
b) Email at usgov.dv@usa.com with the following details (you can find them on the money transfer receipt):

1) Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN):
2) Exact sender’s name on file with Western Union:
3) Exact sender’s address on file with Western Union:
4) Exact receiver’s name on file with Western Union:
5) Amount sent:

Then wait for the confirmation that the payment was received.

Within 72 hours, you will receive a confirmation via email with your Case Number/Confirmation Number and exact date and time(approx. 2 days) of the final interview. Upon successful interview you will receive your documents and travel information to move in the United States. Under no circumstances your visa status won’t be affected by the interview.

Important Notice!

The payment must be sent via Western Union no later than April 22, 2011. You are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last day to pay. Heavy demand may result in system delays.
Under no circumstances can diversity visas be issued or adjustments approved after this date, nor can family members obtain diversity visas to follow-to-join the principal applicant in the U.S. after this date.
The visa processing fee(US$ 880) is mandatory for each person and the U.S. Government doesn’t offer any discount, loan or exception.
You have been selected winner of the Diversity Visa lottery so the visa is guaranteed upon receiving the payment fees on time.
A hard copy of this letter will be mailed to your postal address upon receiving the payment fees.
Please be advised that even through you are a winner of Diversity Visa your Case Number/Confirmation Number will be provided only after you send the payment confirmation of the fees. Please do not contact us to ask for the Case Number/Confirmation Number.

If it would be necessary to contact the U.S. Department of state YOU MUST ALWAYS REFER TO YOUR NAME. The email address is usgov.dv@usa.com

———————END OF E-MAIL——————————

Couple other points of interest on this scam.
1/ The person sending the mail is usgov.dv@consultant.com – Surely it would be from usa.com based on the above?
2/ If you go to the web address usa.com and look at the very bottom you will see the following text
“The USA.com website and domain are privately owned and are not operated by
or affiliated with any government or municipal authority.”
3/ As far as I’m aware, if you do actually win the green card lottery, there is NO MONEY PAYABLE, it’s free. (Like I said, as far as I know)
4/ If you win the official green card lottery, there is a time frame that you have to reply and have all your paper work in order, but last I heard that was 6 months – 1 year. Not a couple weeks as indicated by this scam e-mail.
5/ I never entered the competition… I did try once but it won’t allow me to based on me been a British Citizen, so how is it possible I won someting that I’ve never entered… it’s not.
6/ And this is the most important of the bunch, is read this link http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1749.html
This is the official information regarding the green card lottery, as well as the information about scams such as the above. All the checks needed to identify if it’s real can be found at this link.

City: All

Country: All

Related posts:

1. New Credit Card Scam
2. Hotel Credit Card Scam
3. Another FiFa Scam

This one is targeted at ABSA clients.
The e-mail looks like this.

——-Start of E-mail———————————————————————-
From : Absa Bank
Subject : DOWNLOAD: Internet Banking Update!!

Dear Valued Absa Bank Customers,
Absa Bank is committed to constantly increasing public awareness by providing the latest security updates to our customers. During Our security system upgrade, our new security indicator show that you have not upgraded to our new security forum and your account is currently exposed to unauthorized access, click update below to continue and make sure you complete each session or you can visit our nearest branch for more information.
CLICK HERE TO UPGRADE
Note: We will not be responsible for loss of funds to hackers as a result of
failure to comply with this important new directives. We are committed
to serving you better.
Bank and Stay Safe online
Security Online Management
Absa Bank.
Copyright © 2009 Absa Bank . All Rights Reserve.

———–End of E-mail——————————————————————

I have obviously removed the link they want you to click in the e-mail, but this is how you tell if it’s real.
If you have received this e-mail, hover your mouse over the link (don’t click on it, just however your mouse over it), you will see that a pop up from your e-mail application should show you the address that this link would take you. It looks NOTHING like a Absa website URL.

To be able to identify if a site is fraudulent, why not read our other articles going through them step by step
http://www.reviewsaboutanything.com/fraudandscams/r3182-50-tax-refund-process-for-march-2011-scam/
http://www.reviewsaboutanything.com/fraudandscams/internet-banking-scam-standard-bank-absa-fnb/

City: All

Country: South Africa

Related posts:

1. Internet Banking SCAM (Standard Bank, ABSA, FNB)
2. ABSA Refunds Procedures (Phishing Scam!!!)
3. Another Internet Banking Phishing E-mail Scam

1/ Most of the internet phishing scams usually ask you to click on a link, this link will then take you to a website on the internet (which the thieves have hacked and put their files on) which then ask you for all your information. This type of attack works very well (if you are a thief) but usually the website will be discovered as a phishing website quickly. If you are running any type of internet security (Firefox has default security), it would inform you that the website has been reported for fraud.

2/ This scam doesn’t ask you to click on a link, the link is actually sent as an attachment to the e-mail. They say in the e-mail that you need to “Download on our secure server attachment sent along with this message”. A few warning bells should start ringing at this point.
a/ The e-mail is written in very bad English, wouldn’t you think if your bank was going to send you an e-mail they would at least make sure it was written properly?
b/ This is not well known to people without a IT background but there is no such thing as a “Secure Server Attachment”.
c/ If it really was a “Secure Server Attachment” it would certainly NOT be a .html file (which is what the attachment is). Again this is not something that non IT people would know, but hopefully by reading this you will know for future.

Ok, so with all the above said, let’s take a look at what this scam is about and dissect how you should know that it’s a scam and not a legit e-mail from your bank.
The mail says the following

——————-Start of E-mail——————————————————

From : Standard Bank
Subject : R3,1852.50 Tax Refund Process for March 2011

Dear Customer ,

South African Revenue Service ” Tax Refund ”

Standard Bank:-) R3,182.50 Tax Refund Process From Sars @ March 2011.

We received notification from South African Revenue Service about the TAX refunds of R3,182.50 .

We advice you to DOWNLOAD on our Secure server Attachment sent along with this Message to conclude the process of your TAX Refund Today without delay

Regards.

Payment Refunds Notifications Department.

Another helpful innovation by Standard Bank.

For more information Download the Secure Account Attachment we sent along with this Message and Login into your Account for confirmation .

please download it by opening the attachment sent along with this message , Then login into your account to Download:

Step 1: Double-click on the attachment
Step 2: When prompted to save or open the attachment, choose ‘Open’
Step 3: Enter your Card Number, ATM PIN, Customer-selected PIN (CSP) and Password for your refunds to be credited

—————————–End of E-mail——————————————————

Ok so let’s begin with the reasons you might think this is a legit e-mail
1/ Everyone always wants to believe they are getting money for nothing, especially if it’s from Sars
2/ The e-mail look like it comes from standard bank
3/ All the images used in the e-mail are official standard bank images
4/ When you double click on the attached file it looks EXACTLY like the standard bank website (with a couple exceptions which I’ll explain shortly)

So how do we know it IS a scam???
1/ Standard Bank NEVER… I repeat… NEVER tell you when Sars is going to pay you for a refund
2/ If Sars was really going to give you a refund, they just do it, they don’t ask you or your bank to have you download some rubbish first!
3/ Read the sentence “Standard Bank: -) R3,182.50 Tax……” Do you notice the smilie face in the sentence? When would a bank EVER use a smilie face in an e-mail??
4/ Your bank will never send you an attachment to “Conclude the process”. They might send you a statement attached, but nothing that would ‘do’ anything
5/ When you open the link that is attached to the e-mail have a look the URL (The address at the top of your browser), does it look like standard bank’s URL??? Answer: NO!
6/ Is there the little padlock on your browser to tell you this website is encrypted??? Answer : NO!
7/ Why is this website asking you for your ATM Pin number??? Standard Bank NEVER asks you for your ATM pin number for logging into internet banking. They ask for a ping yes, but it’s a CSP – Customer selected pin, NOT your ATM pin!
8/ OK my spelling isn’t the greatest, I admit this, but in their email they say “We advice you”, should that not be “We adviSe you”? Your bank will usually not make stupid mistakes like this as their e-mails are proof read a couple times before they send them out to their entire client base.

Just as a few points of interest. The images that are used in the e-mail are just images, they are easy to get your hands on and can be included in e-mails without any problems. Just because an e-mail looks like it came from standard bank, doesn’t mean it really does. Real e-mails that you get from your bank would be informational… that’s all they will contain… information. They will never ask you to log into your account again, they won’t send you some “new security patch” or a “profile update” or “your account will be locked” etc… These are all just playing on your fears and emotions to get you to click on links to get your information to steal your money!

Standard bank really do have a security update in place, it’s been there for a few months now, but they don’t send you an e-mail to tell you about it. After you log into internet banking, a message pops up to tell you that you should install their new security software (Rapport-Online Security Software) to protect you again phishing and fraud sites. Read that line again… they tell you AFTER you log into your account. They didn’t ASK you to log into your account, and they didn’t tell you your account would be blocked if you didn’t.

Hopefully none of you have been caught out with this scam, and hopefully with the information above you will not get caught out with any other!

City: All

Country: South Africa

Related posts:

1. DOWNLOAD: Internet Banking Update!! (SCAM Targetted at Absa clients)
2. ABSA Refunds Procedures (Phishing Scam!!!)
3. Another Internet Banking Phishing E-mail Scam

——————————————————————-
A friend sent me this email and I am sending it on to my Friends
Wednesday, I approached my truck from the passenger side to place my computer bag (aka my man purse) in the front passenger seat.
As I reached to open the door I noticed there was a hole right under my door handle. My first thought was, “someone has shot my truck!”
I began to think about it and inspect it a little closer and the “light” slowly began to come on.
I phoned my friend who owns a body shop and asked if he had any vehicles with damage to the doors that looked like a bullet hole.
“Yes, I see it all the time. Thieves have a punch and place it right under the door handle, knock a hole through, reach in and unlock it, just as if they have a key.
No alarms, broken glass or anything. I then placed a call to my insurance agent and explained it to him I was puzzled that they left my GPS and all other belongings. Here is where it gets scary!
“Oh no, he said, they want the break-in to be so subtle that you don’t even realize it. They look at your GPS to see where “home” is.
Now they know what you drive, go to your home, and if your vehicle isn’t there they assume you aren’t and break in your home.”
He says they will even leave a purse or wallet and only take one or two credit cards.
By the time you realize there has been a theft, they may have already had a couple days or more to use them.
I didn’t realize my situation for two full days!
They even give you the courtesy of re-locking your doors for you.
Periodically walk around your car, daily if you are in a shopping center or other parking area.
Report thefts immediately…. your bank w/missing check numbers, your credit card agencies, police, and insurance companies, etc.

City: ALL

Country: ALL

Related posts:

1. Hotel Credit Card Scam
2. New Credit Card Scam
3. DSTV Box Office

At first look at the e-mail, everything looks pretty legit, the e-mail address that it supposedly comes from is “ib@absa.co.za” although as mentioned in my previous Phishing reviews, spoofing the e-mail address is incredible easy to do. So although this looks like it comes from your bank, it might not.

The body of the e-mail has the following information.

———Start of E-mail ——————————————————

Do you know that with Absa Internet banking, you can eliminate the cost of receiving and transferring funds from or to your account.

Absa has introduced a new scheme for all account holders to receive a return on incurred charges over the year.

This benefit is available to all internet banking subscribers with a minimum balance of R1000.
You are hereby advised to verify your account in other to secure your funds and qualify for this benefit.

Enter TVN where required.

Note that any minimal amount deducted during this process would be refunded within a 30 minutes time frame.

Click here to continue

ABSA BANK
Internet Banking Team

———End of E-mail ——————————————————

So it looks pretty legit so far, apart from the fact they are stating that your bank is going to give you a refund for all charges over the year. STOP RIGHT THERE… do you REALLY think that your bank would give you a refund for charges?
Secondly, do you really think that in the event your bank went totally nuts and lost their minds and decided they would give everyone a refund, that they would ask you to verify your account???
They already know who you are, and they know what account is yours.
If they really were going to give you a refund they would just deposit it into your bank account and then they would send you a letter in the snail mail to inform you that this is the case.
Furthermore, in most cases if something like this was ever to actually happen, they would inform you via post before the time to tell you that there would be a refund.

So let’s re-read this e-mail again, and then let’s think are we really going to “Click here to continue” ???

Let’s assume that I have not proven my point already, and you decide that I’m talking total rubbish and think that you actually might get a refund… go ahead… click on the link.
Then when the webpage opens, and it looks EXACTLY like the ABSA logon page, do yourself a favour and read the URL of the webpage (The web address)… Does it look like an ABSA webpage address?

What these criminals do, is hack into some poor person’s website, load all the webpage’s needed to make it look like the banks website, and wait for you to type in all your details. They know have access to your account and the next time you look, your account will be empty.

There are a few rules about online banking that everyone should know.
1/ NEVER EVER Click on a link in your e-mail that will supposedly take you to your banks website. IT NEVER WILL!!!!

2/ If your bank ever really wanted to give you information that would require you to log onto your internet banking profile, they would wait for you to log into your profile and then have a message to convey the information. They would NEVER send you an e-mail telling you to log on.

City: ALL

Country: ALL

Related posts:

1. DOWNLOAD: Internet Banking Update!! (SCAM Targetted at Absa clients)
2. E-mail Phishing for bank account information
3. Internet Banking SCAM (Standard Bank, ABSA, FNB)

Point in case: this company is harvesting cell numbers and other personal info in an illegal manner and refuse to disclose their sources. It is illegal for any company to sell personal info to other companies and I suspect that is exactly what’s going on here. I am taking legal steps against World Connect to force them to dislose to me who furnished them with my personal details. Step two will then be to take legal steps against whoever it was that sold my info to World Connect(can be your bank, cellphone service provider or any place you have an account who’d have your details available)

City: Johannesburg

Country: South Africa

Related posts:

1. Won a Chevy Spark from World Connect
2. Hotel Credit Card Scam
3. Cash/eft deposit scam

NOTE : Please read the review Titled “Internet Banking SCAM (Standard Bank, ABSA, FNB)” at the following link http://www.reviewsaboutanything.com/fraudandscams/internet-banking-scam-standard-bank-absa-fnb/

The above link has all the tell tell signs of an e-mail phishing attack, so not to repeat myself on this review as well.

Phishing Scam E-mail

From : ibsa@standardbank.co.za (Apparently, however this is false information as does not come from this address at all)

Subject : Subject Client Protection

Content:

Standard Online Banking Verification!!!

Standard Online Banking Division is constantly working to improve the online banking experience of our clients.
To this end, and in a bid to increase your protection against phishing attempts by fraudsters,
We have decided to review your account details, so as to help us provide you with substantially more secure service.

You have to log-in within 24 hours after receiving this notice to re-register your Internet banking account,
Your access to sensitive account features will be limited.
Your access to your account would be restored shortly thereafter, our apologies for the inconvenience.

Kindly re-register your Internet banking information by clicking on the link below:

Click here to update your account

Security Department

Standard Internet Banking 2010

City: All

Country: South Africa

Related posts:

1. ABSA Refunds Procedures (Phishing Scam!!!)
2. Another Internet Banking Phishing E-mail Scam
3. DOWNLOAD: Internet Banking Update!! (SCAM Targetted at Absa clients)

Please remember…. Rule 1 about e-mail : NEVER CLICK ON LINKS WHEN IT COMES TO MONEY!!! EVER!!!

Below is the current Phishing scam going around on e-mail, this one “apparently” from Standard Bank.

—————————————-
Dear Customer:

We at Standard Bank wish to appreciate your relationship with us over time. Your continued patronage has contributed immensely to the success of our business; and for this reason we say “Thank you”.

Your trust in us is our most valuable asset and as part of our commitment to building a lasting relationship, we added an extra layer of security to protect you from Identity theft and Online transfer not initiated by you. So that your Online banking will be fully protected against fraud and Identity theft

Kindly Update Your Account For Extra Security, click on secure link below:

https://mysec.standardbank.co.za/securityupgrade.aspx/webscr/_submit

Sincerely,
Standard Bank
Customer Care

————————————————-
So let’s look at why this is a phishing scam.

1/ Why would your bank send you an e-mail asking you to change your details for security?
2/ Why would they give you the link to do it?
3/ They are playing on your emotions by telling you this will protect you from fraud and identity theft, ironically, this is exactly what they are going to be doing to you!
4/ This e-mail is particularly clever in the fact that the source e-mail address, is in fact the correct e-mail address from standard bank. HOWEVER, sending an e-mail from a different e-mail address is something most 15 year olds can do with a little bit of free time and some technical knowledge. Although this is usually one of the things to look out for in a scam, in this case the criminals seem to have more than a little more IT experience than most.
5/ And this is the BIG one.. .the main reason you know this IS A SCAM. If you did happen to click on the link in the e-mail, it would take you to the following website.
http://standardbank.co.za.hamptonlibrary.org/standardbank-upgrade/index.php

Looks pretty legit at first right? Take a closer look, there are a few problems with this site.
1/ This is a http site and not a https site. Surely you would connect to t secure site if you were going to fill in your details? Surely you would want your information encrypted??? (please note, some scams are in fact running https, so this is not the only thing to look out for)
2/ Although the first bit of text in the URL says “standardbank.co.za” don’t stop reading…. the “.hamptonlibrary.org” is the ACTUAL domain that you are going to. So although a clever disguise to make it look like a Standbank website, this again, is not!

So the lesson to be learnt.

NEVER click on links in e-mails if they seem to be from your bank asking you for personal information. Yes your bank sometimes sends you e-mails, and yes these sometimes have links in them, but they NEVER ask you for personal information. These links would be informational webpage’s telling you about special offers or new services and features. I still HIGHLY recommend, NEVER click on a link in an e-mail if it has ANYTHING to do with money or a bank… EVER!

Hopefully none of you got caught with this one!

City: All

Country: ALL

Related posts:

1. E-mail Phishing for bank account information
2. DOWNLOAD: Internet Banking Update!! (SCAM Targetted at Absa clients)
3. Internet Banking SCAM (Standard Bank, ABSA, FNB)

Firstly this e-mail is not from SARS.. it is a scam.
Secondly, and I have said this before in other scam reviews.. that you should NEVER click on links in e-mails when money is involved… EVER!
Thirdly, why would SARS send you an e-mail telling you that you are entitled for a refund but you have to fill out forms first? Every refund I’ve received from SARS has gone straight into my bank account…remember…they have your details already.

Here is the e-mail that was received.

————–

Tax Refund Notification
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 18,582.50 ZAR. Please submit the tax refund request and allow 2-3 days in order to process it.
Click here to submit you tax refund request
Note : A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.
Yours Sincerely
South African Revenue Service.

——————-

Keep your eyes open, and remember… NEVER click on links in e-mails when money is involved!

City: Johannesburg

Country: South Africa

Related posts:

1. Another Internet Banking Phishing E-mail Scam
2. R3,182.50 Tax Refund Process For March 2011. (SCAM!!!!)
3. DOWNLOAD: Internet Banking Update!! (SCAM Targetted at Absa clients)