UK Watchdog bites mobile spam scammers

Grok Headline matches for UK Watchdog bites mobile spam scammers

Watch out, there be scammers about,
warns watchdog

Watch out, there be scammers about,
warns watchdog 03/23/2005 12:46 PM
If it's too good to be true...

Aussie spam watchdog investigates itself

Aussie spam watchdog investigates itself 01/05/2004 11:06 AM
Who guards the guards?

'Game virus' bites mobile phones

'Game virus' bites mobile phones 08/11/2004 06:31 AM
A malicious mobile phone virus pretending to be a legitimate game is roaming game download sites.

Mobile SMS spam surpasses email spam in
Korea

Mobile SMS spam surpasses email spam in
Korea 01/03/2005 10:21 AM

Did The FCC Ban Mobile Spam?

Did The FCC Ban Mobile Spam? 08/05/2004 09:19 PM
TheFeature: Did The FCC Ban Mobile Spam? I actually get about 10 such spams a day on my phone and I'm totally powerless to do anything about it. Too bad FCC regulations won't help. Where are you, SpamAssassin for Symbian?

Mobile spam complaints rocket

Mobile spam complaints rocket 05/06/2004 04:44 AM
ASA clamps down on invasive marketing tactics

Will US Carriers Be Able To Prevent
Mobile Spam?

Will US Carriers Be Able To Prevent
Mobile Spam? 06/30/2004 04:31 AM
Lots of people have been predicting that the next big spam problem is going to be text messaging SMS spam to your mobile phone. While it's already a problem in some countries, some are now suggesting that it won't be that big of a problem in the US -- though, some of the reasoning may be questioned. The first reason given is that US users don't text message as much. The obvious response to that is that the word "yet" needs to be added to that sentence. The trend is pretty clear, and text messaging use in the US has been rising rapidly over the last year. Next, they claim that the US carriers have learned from overseas carriers and are better prepared. Perhaps that's true, but spammers are pretty good about getting around any kind of "preparations." The next reason is my favorite: "Text messages sent from one carrier to another may not go through, because the networks are not always technically compatible." In other words, "because US carriers are so technically screwed up, many spam messages may just disappear -- as may many legitimate messages." Funny that this comes right after the experts claim the US carriers are better prepared to stop spam. If they still haven't figured out interoperability, then how can they really be prepared for text spam? Still, the biggest reason why text spam may not be as big an issue in the US is that many carriers charge for each text message, adding quite the speedbump to any traditional spammer's plans. Unfortunately, though, there are often ways around this, as many phone systems either offer web gateways for sending free text messages or have an email-to-SMS system that will let people send text messages over email. In such cases, the spammer just needs to figure out what email address goes to your phone, and (once again) there will be plenty of mobile spam annoying you everywhere you go.

FCC moves to ban spam on mobile phones

FCC moves to ban spam on mobile phones 08/05/2004 05:37 PM
Marketers that don't want to run afoul of a national antispam law will be able to check a list of Internet domains used by mobile phone carriers to make sure they're not sending unsolicited messages to mobile phones.

FCC mobile spam rule doesn't cover some
SMS

FCC mobile spam rule doesn't cover some
SMS 08/13/2004 02:06 PM
A rule prohibiting mobile-phone spam adopted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this month doesn't prohibit phone-to-phone text messaging, but FCC officials believe the new rule, combined with a 13-year-old law, should protect U.S. mobile phone customers against unsolicited commercial e-mail.

Wireless: Seeking help to cut mobile
spam

Wireless: Seeking help to cut mobile
spam 07/05/2004 06:24 AM
IHT Jul 5 2004 9:38AM GMT

Pssst, wanna spam mobile phones?

Pssst, wanna spam mobile phones? 07/12/2004 12:35 PM
Chancer makes an offer you can refuse

FCC mobile spam rule doesn't cover some
SMS (MacCentral)

FCC mobile spam rule doesn't cover some
SMS (MacCentral) 08/16/2004 08:06 AM
MacCentral - A rule prohibiting mobile-phone spam adopted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this month doesn't prohibit phone-to-phone text messaging, but FCC officials believe the new rule, combined with a 13-year-old law, should protect U.S. mobile phone customers against unsolicited commercial e-mail.

Mobile scheme aims to stop spam

Mobile scheme aims to stop spam 07/08/2004 10:31 AM
The mobile industry has launched a scheme to give mobile users more control over premium rate texts.

NTT DoCoMo to offer mobile spam
countermeasures

NTT DoCoMo to offer mobile spam
countermeasures 11/05/2003 02:31 PM
infoSync Nov 5 2003 1:13PM ET

Marketers Try To Self-Regulate To
Prevent Mobile Spam

Marketers Try To Self-Regulate To
Prevent Mobile Spam 12/02/2003 11:28 PM
Seeing just how bad email spam has become, a group of marketers have come together to agree to a "code of conduct" to prevent mobile spam. With the recent laws against telemarketing and email spam, they're realizing that if they let things get out of control, they'll be next. The code includes (amazingly!) that marketers will only send mobile messages to those who opt-in (unlike the current email law), and promise to provide easy opt-out instructions. Finally (and why they had to put this in shows just how out of touch many marketers are with their job function) they promise that any mobile marketing message will "deliver something of value" to the customer - and not just be blatant pitches all the time. It's a good start, but I'm still cynical enough to wonder whether or not those who agreed to it will really abide by it, and whether or not it will really matter as traditional spammers increasingly send messages to phones themselves. It's easy for marketers to say they'll live by this sort of rule, but as soon as someone breaks the code of conduct, and there's no real punishment, someone else will feel that they need to break it too ("just to stay competitive"). Meanwhile, traditional spammers couldn't care any less about what some marketing group agrees to, and will continue to send annoying spam messages any way they possibly can.

Orange takes steps to block mobile spam

Orange takes steps to block mobile spam 12/23/2003 06:07 AM
Forward it to the operator for disposal

Wireless: Consumers seek help in cutting
mobile spam

Wireless: Consumers seek help in cutting
mobile spam 07/04/2004 07:00 PM
IHT Jul 4 2004 9:41PM GMT

Spam, spam, spam, spam ... Canada
targets unwanted email (AFP)

Spam, spam, spam, spam ... Canada
targets unwanted email (AFP) 05/12/2004 04:17 AM
AFP - Canada unveiled a new action plan to combat unsolicited commercial e-mail, nicknamed spam, which jams inboxes and clogs Internet traffic worldwide.

Scammers Going To Jail

Scammers Going To Jail 05/18/2004 11:52 AM
It looks like some internet scammers are finally getting some serious jailtime. A man who was caught running a phishing scam has just been sentenced to 46 months in prison. Meanwhile, the guy who conned lots of Wall Street insiders out of half a million dollars by telling them he was sellin g pre-IPO shares in Google has entered a guilty plea in the case, and now faces 51 to 63 months in jail. I have no problem putting such obvious scammers in jail for breaking the law. I do wonder, however, if the punishment really fits the crime.

New IE bug may be scammers best friend

New IE bug may be scammers best friend 12/10/2003 01:13 AM
ZDNet Australia Dec 10 2003 0:24AM ET

Microsoft goes after Scammers

Microsoft goes after Scammers 04/03/2005 03:56 PM
About Apr 3 2005 7:45PM GMT

16 scammers fined £1.3m

16 scammers fined £1.3m 04/01/2005 11:17 AM
Premium rate watchdog acts

HotJobs For Scammers!

HotJobs For Scammers! 05/17/2004 04:36 AM
We first posted about scammers (often those same Eastern European organized crime groups who are having so much fun with spam and phishing operations) using job boards like Monster and HotJobs to recruit suckers to launder money for them a year ago. Now, however, the NY Times has picked up on the story and it looks like (as these things are known to do) the scam has changed a bit. Last year, the scammers would hire unsuspecting rubes to ship packages to Eastern Europe. They would claim to be a shipping company that was hiring people in the US in their spare time to pass on the packages. Lots of people fell for it. The latest trick, though, is for the scammers to claim to be software companies in Eastern Europe looking to accept payments from US customers - and thus, in need of someone in the US to handle their "payment processing." They post these ads on the job boards and when people answer them, they're expected to receive payments into their personal PayPal account and then send the money to Eastern Europe. Of course, what happens is that PayPal/eBay eventually notices an awful lot of money going into this account and is alerted that it's from stolen credit cards. The sucker who's been passing on the money is told they need to pay it back to PayPal while the folks in Eastern Europe invest in more ads on these job boards. The article mostly focuses on the fact that those tricked are angry at the job websites for not protecting them against such frauds. Some are worried that these types of frauds may end up damaging the reputations of the job sites. While that is a risk, I still can't believe anyone would ever agree to process payments into their personal account and send it on to Eastern Europe without suspecting something was not right.

Finance Spam Passing Drug Spam While
Porn Spam Is Washed Up

Finance Spam Passing Drug Spam While
Porn Spam Is Washed Up 05/24/2004 05:37 PM
The latest study on spam trends appears to show that financial spam is outpacing pharmaceutical spam - though, honestly, so much of both is coming out that it's really hard to imagine that this matters at all. Meanwhile, it seems that porn spam is increasingly less interesting to spammers as the numbers have been on a noticeable decline for quite some time. No matter what, though, it appears that CAN-SPAM has done absolutely nothing to slow down the amount of spam sent.

More on Scammers Abusing TTY Services

More on Scammers Abusing TTY Services 04/15/2004 01:00 PM

Spammers, Miscreants, Scammers, Etc

Spammers, Miscreants, Scammers, Etc 12/30/2003 01:23 AM
How on earth are we supposed to be able to believe anything we see on the internet, including message coming from our ISP’s, Friends, FAMILY ? Scammers, and Spammers have take over nearly every type of communication we have, including...

Artists Against 419 Takes On Scammers

Artists Against 419 Takes On Scammers 05/02/2004 07:46 PM

BT cuts off dialler scammers

BT cuts off dialler scammers 06/30/2004 11:09 AM
Pull the plug first, ask questions later...

Text scammers fined £450,000

Text scammers fined £450,000 05/24/2004 10:32 AM
'Justice has been done' says UK e-minister

Microsoft Sues 117 Scammers

Microsoft Sues 117 Scammers 04/02/2005 08:31 PM
CIO Today Apr 3 2005 12:49AM GMT

Scammers use Gmail invit

Scammers use Gmail invit 09/15/2004 02:59 PM
Techzonez Sep 15 2004 6:44PM GMT

Nigerian Scammers get Busted

Nigerian Scammers get Busted 07/01/2004 01:58 AM
According to ABC News, the old Nigerian money scam is alive and well. Even with a major raid by the Nigerian government, there are still Nigerian “Kingpins that remain untouchable. The best defense against this sort of scam is in my opinion, a combination of common sense and education on the subject.

Baiting 419 Scammers For Sport

Baiting 419 Scammers For Sport 11/17/2003 04:17 AM
There have been an increasing number of "filler" stories from reporters who need something to write about and notice a 419 scam email in their inbox and decide to write the scammer back. Either these reporters don't realize that this article has been written 100 times before, or they just don't care. However, a group of other folks have decided that instead of using the experience to write up an article, they're going to do their best to publicly humiliate 419 scammers. It's turned into something of a sport for many - who create elaborate personas and stories in order to scam the 419ers themselves. Of course, they're trying to trick them out of their dignity, rather than their money.

Nigeria Arrests 419 Scammers

Nigeria Arrests 419 Scammers 07/06/2004 01:42 PM

Nigeria arrests 500 suspected email scammers: Nigeria finally took some action on 419 scammers. I hereby retract this post.

Nigeria's agency against economic and financial crime said Monday that it had detained more than 500 suspects and seized property worth more than $US500 million from suspected fraudsters.

[...] The EFCC had demonstrated its resolve and commitment by arresting many previously "untouchable 419 kingpins", said Ribadu, a former senior police intelligence officer.

Although the identities of those in EFCC custody are not formally revealed, observers noted that they included legislators, lawyers, politicians, bankers and public functionaries.

A couple points to note here. First, look at the type of people arrested: lawyers, legislators (!), politicians, etc. Nice. Second, they seized $500 million? 419 scamming was evidently going well for these folks.

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Protecting yourself against moving
company scammers

Protecting yourself against moving
company scammers 06/24/2005 06:20 PM
Mark Frauenfelder: More than a few people I know have told me horror stories about moving companies ripping them off when they've moved to a new house or apartment. Their stories are similar: the moving company loads your stuff on the truck(s) and then it tells you to pay a lot more money than the written estimate. Movingscam.com is an information clearing house about moving company scammers, with tips for finding honest movers.

One thing I should point out, is that the bids from these companies that I have seen often quote you by cubic footage not by weight. If you get a quote that is priced by cubic footage, that should raise a red flag right away. The reason for this is that if they charge you by weight, they have to provide proof of the weight of your belongings at no charge to you. Current laws regarding the moving industry do not cover moves based on cubic feet.

Once the movers show up and most or all of your things are in their truck, they will hit you with the real price of the move. By then it's too late. Your things are on their truck, and they won't get anything off of it without full payment in cash. They will tell you that if you don't pay up, that they will take the truck and sell everything you own to cover the contract. In my case, I put down a $150 deposit, and was told before the movers showed up that the rest of the $1869 would be due on delivery. When the movers showed up, the price jumped to $5012.50, and the movers demanded half of that on the spot or else there wouldn't be a delivery!

Link(via Sensible Erection)

Ireland Cracks Down on Online Scammers

Ireland Cracks Down on Online Scammers 09/23/2004 05:20 AM

Sweet Revenge On Nigerian Scammers

Sweet Revenge On Nigerian Scammers 11/16/2003 03:58 PM

Police warning to internet scammers

Police warning to internet scammers 02/07/2005 02:02 AM
ONE News Feb 7 2005 5:54AM GMT

419 scammers start working the phones

419 scammers start working the phones 01/26/2004 08:32 AM
Hello, I'm the Son of the Late Head of State
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UK Watchdog bites mobile spam scammers

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