Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis Update on computer scams - PayPal These are perilous days, you do not know whom to believe. That is not just in reference to the political elite, warriors for high positions, that goes also for communications, seemingly personal, from what appear to be friends, or business associates. A neighbor woman sent me a message from London, about a lost passport and stolen documents, needing some money to get back home fast. It seemed fishy, and I called her NY number, and there she was, in despair for hearing from several friends of this scam, and wondering what to do. We concluded that someone, an established crook, was robbing small sums on a compassionate story, professionally designed, with a credible return address. The conclusion was that my friend would go to work assembling the same mailing list, to send out humble apologies. There have been several subsequent instances where I have received interesting messages under the names of friends, with some words such as “you might like this offer,” followed by an address leading to an interesting technical or household product or a Canadian prescription medicine seller’s price list, all probably legitimate, although the drugs may be fake, placebos. There have been a number of such, including repeat acts, and I have become too embarrassed to call the friends and warn them, sine one turned out to be a retiree’s legitimate attempt to make some money, to boost the fixed amount pension which keeps losing value due to inflation. Real estate offers may be such. Politicians’ requests for money are legitimate, coming from “Moving On,” congress people, Obama and Michele (infrequent) The “Nigerian scam,” offers to share in the loot of government funds hidden by crooked politicians have virtually disappeared, even in the newer version, featuring disgraced Russian oligarchs. An interesting new e-mail message, labeled "(Norton AntiSpam) You sent a payment," from a palpably credible service@paypal.com announced that my payment of $1,455.95 to Terrence Nguyen was received, and would take a little time to appear on my Account Overview, with a link to the latter, which my ISP showed as unavailable. The next paragraph touted use of the bank account, as easy and secure, with two links, http://paypal history, and a similar PayPal Help Center, neither of which were accessible, per the ISP. Much alarmed, I rang my bank, connected to the account I use for PayPal – I use them for Amazon and eBay book and printer ink purchases- but there was no transaction. The bank assured I would not suffer damages, they were now on record, and offered a $30 Stop Payment, which I declined. Next task was calling PayPal, a very difficult number, if you want to reach a human voice. The number is 888-221-1161. The representative , Diego, walked me through the data and we discovered that the same message from service@paypal.com was sent to many accounts with the same old-timer e-mail suffix, to give the impression that a Nigerian -scam -like event has been discovered by PayPal security. He concluded that it was a sophisticated phishing attempt, sent to many old Earthlink clients still using an original Netcom e-mail address, and that my Norton security (bought via Earthlink) had stopped the scammer , by not letting me access any of the three links set out to lure the unwary user into revealing some account and even SS numbers. The credible service@paypal address would not accept replies, the scammer warned, and Diego had me forward the material to spoof@paypal.com. Another example of what can happen if you open unknown links from seemingly friendly or even protective sources. This may also be a warning to examine carefully the political messages, for example , Hello Wally link and a weird link purportedly sent by Rosie Mendez, our elected member of the 2nd Councilmanic District had a strange e-mail “from” address, and a tag attached by Norton that stopped me from opening it. Also, look out for the free ocean cruise offers and the free lotteries offering iPads and other free toys. Yep, many traps for the consumer in this recession, If you have found other dangerous varieties, please e-mail a letter to the Editor, for our joint benefit.