Cyber Criminals May Try to Cash in Death News of Moammar Gaddafi

As the web world buzzing around with the death news of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi; photos and videos of what appears to be his severely wounded dead body also started circulating on internet and social networking sites – like Facebook and Twitter.

Cyber Criminals May Try to Cash in Death News of Moammar Gaddafi

But I'm writing this to warn you, as I did after the death news of Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, THINK TWICE before clicking any link that promised to lead you to the exclusive photos/video of dead Moammar Gaddafi; otherwise you can be a victim of internet fraudsters and cyber criminals who are believed to be on hunt behind such global news/incidents.

Like in the past photos or links to photos/videos, including Steve Jobs funeral photos and alleged photos of Osama Bin Laden's dead body, can easily lead you to malicious websites that can harm you by any means.

Normally search engines decide which links are genuine partly by looking at user behavior; but when breaking news like death of Moammar Gaddafi circulates, however, there is no history for search engines to rely on and malicious links masked as news can rise higher in search results.

Another reason is that people often look such pics and photos from unusual sources. Websites or Twitter messages promise to link to a breaking topic and then lead instead to another site or virus. The Gaddafi photo is a prime candidate for this type of malicious links, so it’s wise to use caution when clicking.

SOURCE: For further details go to…… link below:



MASHABLE.

Latest Phishing Scam: Account Update Warning Notification From PayPal

Beware! Its a Cyber World -- Account Update Warning Notification From PayPal

Today I received the following warning notification, apparently from PayPal, asking to update the PayPal account information. It's a latest Phishing Scam and a 100% complete attempt to fool the recipients. 

It is not from PayPal. One way you can tell is that it does not contain your name, exactly as it was given in your PayPal account. PayPal always uses that information in all communication with you.

A link is provided in the mail to update Paypal account information which leads to a fake (look-alike) Paypal website. Screenshot is sown below:

Fake (Look-alike) PayPal Account Update Website Homepage

First go through the contents of the mail below, before jumping to the conclusion at the end:

==========================================================
From: PayPal (noreply@paypal.com)
To:
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 7:56 PM
Subject: Warning Notification

Warning Notification

Dear PayPal Customer,

It has come to our attention that your PayPal account information needs to be updated as part of

our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website.

If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records

you will not run into any future problems with the online service.

However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension. Please update your records

before October 20, 2011.

Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal account activity will not be interrupted and

will continue as normal.

Click here to update your PayPal account information (Link removed by author)

Sincerely,

PayPal

© 2011 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. PayPal is located at 2211 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95131.

==========================================================

Account Update Warning Notification From PayPal -- Conclusion

When I opened the original Paypal website, I found quite different homepage shown below:

Original Paypal Website Homepage

You can see the difference in original and fake (look-alike) Paypal website.

Fortunately, I don't have PayPal account because this service is not available in my country of residence. Therefore, I'm one hundred percent sure that its a trap set by cyber scammers. 

Furthermore, I got enough evidence that it is a Phishing Scam  by going through following links:

http://www.virtu-software.com/anti-spam/scam_paypal.asp

http://www.newblood.com/developers/phishing-scam-alert-service.php

http://www.auditmypc.com/pay-pal.asp

THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK -- Cyber/Online Scams Using the Words of Steve Jobs Death and Funeral

Cyber criminals are trying to cash in on the death of Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs by offering tech fanatics, especially Apple-crazy techies, different opportunities to win iGifts (iPads, iPhones, iPods etc) for virtually doing nothing but to register. 

Cyber/Online Scams Using the Words of Steve Jobs Death and/or Funeral

While most of the world paid respects and held tributes to Steve Jobs, cold-blooded scammers decided to take advantage of the situation with a brand new ploy. Cyber cowboys are using every platform to exploit internet users searching for the trending news of Steve Jobs’ death and funeral. Few of their tricks have already come in light and cyber security companies are continuously alerting web surfers to beware of such online scams. Some of the activities of internet fraudsters are given below:

·        MacBook Pro Winning Contest: Cyber criminals created an exclusive website stevejobsfuneral.com, which attempts to collect email addresses by tempting internet surfers into a competition to win a MacBook Pro by asking people to enter in a sweepstakes.

Further to the email collection trick, this website has links to an online store selling Apple products. However, the site contains affiliate advertising info that brings revenue for any purchases made through the links.

·        Facebook Scam:  One scam on Facebook purported to offer 1000 free iPads in memory of Steve Jobs, and was posted just two hours after the Apple co-founder passed away on Wednesday, according to web security firm Sophos.

Sophos disclosed jaw dropping results stated that at least 25,000 people from 100 countries had already clicked on the link, which lead them to a survey site that they had to fill out in order to qualify for the nonexistent prizes.

·        Funeral Photos and Video: Kaspersky Lab Researcher Dmitri Bestuzhev said it has found another cyber trap which claims to give chance to see exclusive photos and video footage from Steve Jobs' funeral.

Kaspersky Lab said "this video footage header reads 'The Life, Death, and Legacy of Steve Jobs'". The message says, Kaspersky Lab, added, "Video footage and images will be here uploaded live from the funeral ceremony. Check back each day to see if they are posted".

What to do …??

We have learnt in our childhood that 'Think before you speak' but now in this digital age the first and the last lesson is THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK. 

While stevejobsfuneral.com might be the biggest Steve Jobs-related scam right now but be sure that this is not the last one. You might come across many such traps set by cyber criminals in the days ahead; therefore, be cautious about the links you click, even if they were shared to you by a friend. Always get your news from official websites when possible.

Graham Cluley, senior security consultant at Sophos, advises internet users to look ahead for more scams in the near future, as cyber culprits use social networking techniques to entice users onto pages where they can be trapped into survey scams or may be subject to malware attacks.

Trend Micro has cautioned that there can be several such scams and social network users should not click on similar posts if they see them on Facebook newsfeeds or any other social network, like Twitter, MySpace etc.

Hackers Group Anonymous Vows to Take Down New York Stock Exchange on October 10

The hackers group, called Anonymous, has threaten to erase New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the internet on October 10 in support of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters fighting against exploitation by Wall Street. 

Hackers Group Anonymous Vows to Take Down New York Stock Exchange on October 10

Few key excerpts from Group’s Youtube message are given here:

Quote

“This is why we choose to declare our war against the New York Stock Exchange. We can no longer stay silent as the population is being exploited and forced to make sacrifices in the name of profit.

We will show the world that we are true to our word. On October 10th, NYSE shall be erased from the Internet. On October 10th, expect a day that will never, ever, be forgotten.” 

Unquote

The Anonymous are kind of hacker-activists and have been allegedly involved in attacks on corporate and government websites in the past like MasterCard Inc. (MA) and Visa Inc. (V).

 

Watch the video of Anonymous threat and continue reading below:

MAD NEWS

Beware! Don't open email about Michael Jackson Death Trial

Don't open email about Michael Jackson Death Trial

When a major news event occurs, cyber criminals start sending emails with a subject line related to the event and include an attachment that is malware to infect your computer and make it part of a botnet for sending SPAM and conducting other illegal activities. You can see examples of these catchy subject lines at the link given below: 

HERE