Community Chat

[millieshops]

On 11/26/2014 dooBdoo said:

This hoax is old enough that it has a name:

It's called the "Stranded Traveler" scam.

It's been around for years, and you can do an internet search to read about it.

The hoaxer gets access to your friend's contact list, either in their email or social media (usually Facebook), and that's how they know the email addresses and the reason her name is listed as the sender.

Good to have a heads up for those who have never heard of it. Thanks, Fortune!

TY for the info. I forget about Facebook, etc. because I don't use them. Another good reason for me to stay away. I'd probably do something stupid and make myself vulnerable!

[chickenbutt]

I'm also seeing a lot of 'problem with your shipment' emails in my spam folder lately. Anybody who is familiar with shipping will know these are fake. I don't even know what the deal is because I've never opened one.

One thing I've seen is ones that pretend to be from FedEx. First of all, FedEx doesn't have my email address; and secondly, the 'tracking number' in the email subject line isn't even like an actual FedEx tracking number. You'd think they would, at least, make up numbers that look like real ones.

[dooBdoo]

On 11/26/2014 Clover29 said:

Someone hijacked my hotmail account several years ago and used it to send similar emails to everyone in my address book. Unfortunately for the scammer, I only had a handful of people in my address book, and one of them was my own other account, so I got the scammy email from "myself".

Your poor hairdresser has lost her email account. I had a really hard time getting it back, Microsoft's "help" people were unsympathetic.

It's likely her email account or her Facebook account. I received one of these messages purportedly from a friend (someone who works in IT and didn't have her privacy settings secure) and it turned out the scammer had gotten access to her contact list in Facebook.

[dooBdoo]

You're welcome, Fortune and millieshops! I'm thankful to see this thread, because we all need a reminder now and then. There are so many criminals trying to trick people.

[ShowMe]

They will never give up.......

Guess I've been lucky, don't receive them...... But get some goofy phone numbers on my CID.....and since I don't answer the phone unless I know who it is, they can't talk to me.

[dooBdoo]

On 11/26/2014 chickenbutt said:

I'm also seeing a lot of 'problem with your shipment' emails in my spam folder lately. Anybody who is familiar with shipping will know these are fake. I don't even know what the deal is because I've never opened one.

One thing I've seen is ones that pretend to be from FedEx. First of all, FedEx doesn't have my email address; and secondly, the 'tracking number' in the email subject line isn't even like an actual FedEx tracking number. You'd think they would, at least, make up numbers that look like real ones.

And those probably will be on the increase during this busy shopping/shipping season. I've seen them from FedEx, UPS, and the USPS.

[Clover29]

On 11/26/2014 chickenbutt said:

I'm also seeing a lot of 'problem with your shipment' emails in my spam folder lately. Anybody who is familiar with shipping will know these are fake. I don't even know what the deal is because I've never opened one.

One thing I've seen is ones that pretend to be from FedEx. First of all, FedEx doesn't have my email address; and secondly, the 'tracking number' in the email subject line isn't even like an actual FedEx tracking number. You'd think they would, at least, make up numbers that look like real ones.

The deal with those is that they have a .exe file, which they want you to click on, that will download a virus or Trojan or whatever.

[chickenbutt]

On 11/26/2014 Clover29 said:

On 11/26/2014 chickenbutt said:

I'm also seeing a lot of 'problem with your shipment' emails in my spam folder lately. Anybody who is familiar with shipping will know these are fake. I don't even know what the deal is because I've never opened one.

One thing I've seen is ones that pretend to be from FedEx. First of all, FedEx doesn't have my email address; and secondly, the 'tracking number' in the email subject line isn't even like an actual FedEx tracking number. You'd think they would, at least, make up numbers that look like real ones.

The deal with those is that they have a .exe file, which they want you to click on, that will download a virus or Trojan or whatever.

Ah, thank you! I wondered because it didn't seem like something to harvest info, so I figured it must be loaded with something.

Too bad the bad guys are always two steps ahead of the good guys. It seems like all this internet fraud, scams, and theft should be able to stop. I have often felt like my ISP must be selling my information because a lot of them now will even have my name on the subject line - often my full name. They are pretty good at routing the spam to the spam folder, but you still have to look through it each day to make sure they didn't send something you want in there.