Taking young people’s safety a step further - www.cyberfraud.org.uk – a Public Service website assisting in the fight against Cyber Crime launched its first ‘free of charge to schools’ initiative on Thursday 15th January 2009 at Balcarras School, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham.

Founder, Caroline Coats attended Balcarras School as a speaker on Young People’s Safety online, and held open discussions with Year 11 and sixth form students.

Supporting this initiative and the launch of Cyberfraud as a Public Service website, the Conservative Front Bench and shadow Minister for E-Crime, James Brokenshire MP, also addressed the ever increasing threat of Cyber Crime and the danger it poses to our young generation. Local Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Mark Coote, who has supported the Cyberfraud initiative since its inception, also helped to host the event and has brought the interested parties together.

The Cyberfraud website has received huge interest, not just locally (as reported by the Gloucestershire Echo before Christmas) but also from CNN, ITV and the Sunday Times.

Caroline Coats said, "Sadly it is estimated that one in seven children and teenagers are, at some stage, approached by online predators. On the positive side the Web is an exciting experience, and gives everyone an opportunity to increase our level of knowledge at the click of a mouse."

"However," adds Caroline, "chatrooms and social networking sites pose a high level  threat for our children and we need to ensure that young people are educated about this and can make educated and informed choices."

Mark Coote said, "The Cyberfraud website launched by Caroline Coats is a fantastic initiative, borne out of the trauma of being a victim herself of serious cyberfraud. This website provides a public service of protection. I have invited the shadow Minister to Balcarras to see what the website contains and to listen to the experience of young people. It is important that a future Government tackles what is a growing trend in cybercrime, and we are all potentially victims."

Read the article in the Gloucester Echo to find out more....

Please be aware - We have had a number of visitors writing in to advise they have ordered goods from Focus Clothing and funds have been taken but no goods are being sent.

The company appear get a lot of interest and sales via a leaflet mailshot, prompting people to think it is genuine, and to be fair, some bloggers have said that goods have actually been received. Most, however, have stated that the company is incommunicado, and as at todays date (14th January 2010), the website is down (closed for maintenance)

SO PLEASE BE AWARE AS THE SITE MAY BE A SCAM. IF IN DOUBT, STAY CLEAR.

If we have got this wrong, and a representative of the company wants to contact us to explain their lack of communication and why orders have not been honoured, then please email us. info@cyberfraud.org.uk and we can then pass your comments on to your customers who have written in.

Dear ABBEY Account Holder,

We would like to inform you that we are currently carrying out
scheduled maintenance of banking software, that operates customer
database for ABBEY BANK online services.
click on the link below to Activate your security maintenance

[ABBEY BANK Personal or Business login] -

We received this email from a visitor questioning the credibility of the user. Be aware! We dont know what scam this is, or if it is one, but just be careful if you receive something like this.

As a Facebook user I have, over the last few days, been contacted by another Facebook user who says he is a 20 year old resident of Ghana who has recently been 'sacked' from school through unpaid fees and needs someone to plead on his behalf to allow his school to re-admit him and allow him to complete his eduction.

He gave me the website address of the school which he called Tema High Technical School

http://thtechschool.page.tl/

and while this does open up a website for a school researching using Google I have not been able to locate the school, either using Google Maps, Google or via websites that list schools in Ghana.

I have found the domain name of the school suggests it is registered in East Timor, the .tl ending.

At the website it asks for contact be email or to a P.O. Box. These ring alarm bells for me as the email addresses given are web- based and the P.O. Box is as  Tema Shopping Mall.

Am I right to be wary about this contact?

I look forward to hearing from you on this concern.

Regards

J**n D****

THis is a probable email scam. If you receive anything like this beware, and do not open the link!

Dear customer,

Thank you for confirming your email address.

If you have made any amendments to your contact details these have now been updated.

Please note that if you hold any joint accounts, only your details will be updated.

This confirmation email has been sent as a security precaution.

If you did not make this email change/confirmation, please visit the webpage below,
phone lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

https://online.lloydstsb.co.uk/customer.ibc?WT.svl=ibcplogon&WT.ac=hpIBalert


Regards,

Lloyds TSB Online Helpdesk

FIGHT ONLINE FRAUD

Please do not reply to this email address as it is not monitored and we will be unable to respond.

Lloyds TSB would never send you an email asking you to verify your secure online banking details.

Calls from BT landlines will cost a maximum of 4p per minute and a 6p call set-up fee.
The price of calls from other telephone companies will vary.

From: G20 Info [inforv11@bluewin.ch]

Sent: 01 June 2009 12:56

Subject: GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS RELIEF AID FROM THE OFFICE OF THE MANAGEMENT AND PAYMENT

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS RELIEF AID FROM THE OFFICE OF THE MANAGEMENT AND PAYMENT BUREAU FOREIGN/COMMONWEALTH

King Charles Street London SW1A United Kingdom

RECESSION RELIEF PROGRAM FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS VICTIMS            ============================================================

Attention: Beneficiary,

As part of ways to assist victims of the global economic recession and also in accordance with the just concluded G20 meeting held over here in London, England, I wish to happily inform you that you have been issued a payout sum of (US$2, 500, 000, 00) Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only as you are one of the first beneficiaries of this recession relief program jointly organized and funded by all nations of the G20 and the Commonwealth.

Having gone through our records, we discovered that you have in one way or the other in the past contributed to the welfare of your local environment and community at large.

You are therefore advised to contact the officer immediately as stated below;

Contact Person: Jonathan Burns Funds Disbursement Officer RECESSION RELIEF PROGRAM FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS VICTIMS, Email: cust.care@inbox.com

Please provide them with the under listed information’s below as soon as possible as the method of disbursement are thus: ATM CARD DELIVERY.

1: Full Names

2: Delivery Address

3: Phone Number(s)

Thank you

Yours Sincerely,

Mr. Philip

England  G20 Secretary

One of our visitors received this email supposedly from Lloyds TSB - But just check the spelling....... AND NEVER CLICK ON THE LINK!!

One of our visitors received this email, and we think it is rather suspect, so if you receive any mail of this nature, best IGNORE IT!

-----Original Message-----
From: kaeley.tang <kaeley.tang@hknsc.org>
To: seymoursolutions <seymoursolutions@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, 21 May 2009 13:12
Subject: Your Domain name (seymourfinancialsolutions)' Register notice

Dear CEO/Manager,

We are a domain name registration center in Hong Kong, mainly dealing with domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection. On May. 20,2009 we received a formal application from a local company of your country who is applying to register some domain names with the keyword “seymourfinancialsolutions” and register it as their internet keyword. After investigation, we find that you are the original user of the keyword. As this refers to your company name or trade mark, and in order to avoid the confusion and dispute on the internet, we inform you and would like to know your ideas, if you agree about this issue, we will finish the third company's registration, If you don't agree the third company to register, please inform me. looking forward to your reply. thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Kind Regards,

Kaeley tang

This Scam alert was forwarded by David, one of our visitors...

Needless to say, if you receive ANY mail looking like this - IGNORE IT! Never answer back, as the scammer will know that your email address is "live"

-----Original Message-----
From: foladay dagogo <foladay.dagogo0045@msn.com>
Sent: Sat, 9 May 2009 4:49
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU? I HAVE A BUSINESS PROPOSAL FOR YOU.

 Iam DR.FOLADAY DAGOGO.I want to enquire from you if you can handle this transaction of $19.3m dollars belonging to our bank deceased customer who died along with his family during their vacation,i will give you more details and what will be your percentage for your assistants as soon as i receive your reply

If you are interested, please forward me the bellow information's;

Your name: ............................Sex.............
Your country: .........................
Your phone Number: ......................
Your Tel/fax: ...........................
Your age: ...............................
Your occupation: .......................
Thank for your anticipated co-operation

Yours Faithfully,
DR.FOLADAY DAGOGO.

BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER  AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB).

PRIVATE TELEPHONE; +226-78508147

E-MAIL ID dr.foladay_dagogo104@ymail.com

-----Original Message-----
From: lloyds TSB <security@lloydstsb.co.uk>
To: wlldav332@aol.com
Sent: Thu, 7 May 2009 3:51
Subject: On-line Banking Urgent Security Message

Dear Customer,

Lloyds TSB. Always look forward for the high security of our clients. During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your account information.This might be due to either of the following reasons:

1. A recent change in your personal information.
2. Submitting invalid information during the initial sign in process.

Due to this, you are requested to update and verify your information by clicking the link below:

https: //online.lloydstsb.co.uk/customer.ibc/

*Important*
We have asked few additional information which is going to be the part of secure login process. These additional information will be asked during your future login security so, please provide all these info completely and correctly otherwise due to security reasons we may have to close your account temporarily.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Jennifer Putinski
Security Advisor
Lloyds TSB.

We received this from one of our visitors, it shows this age old scam is still about.  The visitor has written back to inform them that the police have been informed, but it's unlikely to stop this problem.

We are taking the step of informing MSN that the registered email account is being used by a cyber fraudster. MSN can take up to three months to even investigate our registrations so it’s likely people will receive more of the same.

I NEED TRUST
 
Dear Friend,

Let me start by introducing myself, I am Mr Kalila John the Bill and Exchange Manager of Africa Development Bank Burkina faso.
 
I am writting you this letter based on the latest development at my Department which I will like to bring to your personal edification.($29.2million transfer claims).
 
This is a legitimate transaction and I agreed to offer you 40% of this money as my foreign partner after confirmation of the fund in your bank account, If you are interested,get back to me immediately  for more details,
 

Yours Faithfully,
Mr.Kalila John.
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER  AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB).
PRIVATE TELEPHONE; +226-76 46 88 50

Dear HSBC Bank UK Cardholder,

DON'T click – that's the message from the founder of a website alerting people about cyber fraud.

With a growing number of online scams being reported each year, Cheltenham computer whiz Caroline Coats wants to warn people to be careful when they click.

"It could be a simple email claiming to be from a supermarket, but one false click can a let a virus into your system," said Caroline.

"From there it can access a whole host of information, even recording the pattern of keystrokes. They can log the keystrokes and recognise when an account number or sort code is entered – it's that easy.

"When you get an email, ask yourself 'Can it be trusted?' before clicking in."

Once a false click is made, the consequences cannot be stopped and the damage is beyond repair.

While email scams are one way of the fraudster targeting potential victims, Caroline warns that uploading information yourself can also leave you exposed to fraud.

She became victim to fraud herself when her CV was accessed by a fraudster and personal information was used to steal her identity and access bank records.

   Read the complete Article....

Following  a letter received from a French Victim (found on our victims page), we have investigated, ands would advise the following:

The company email address sales@syndeck.com is no longer operational:

'(The following recipient(s) could not be reached: sales@syndeck.com on 25/02/2009 16:14
The destination server for this recipient could not be found in Domain Name Service (DNS).
Please verify the email address and retry. If that fails, contact your administrator'

The website is no longer live.

This victim lost  Euros 548 to a website scam.

_________________________________________

This site even carried secure verification from
GoDaddy.com.
'Verified secure by GoDaddy.com
This Web site is secured with a GoDaddy.com Web Server Certificate. Transactions on the
site are protected with up to 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer encryption.'
Domain Control Verified
GoDaddy.com has verified that the certificate holder controls the domain: www.syndeck.com
Site Name
www.syndeck.com
Certificate Status
Certificate is valid (01/19/2009 - 01/19/2010)
Repository

_________________________________________

DOMAIN REGISTRATION INFORMATION
REGISTERED ON 10 JANUARY 2009
Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Domain Name: SYNDECK.COM
Registrar: GROUP NBT PLC AKA NETNAMES
Whois Server: whois.netnames.com
Referral URL: http://www.netnames.com
Name Server: DNS0.EASILY.CO.UK
Name Server: DNS1.EASILY.CO.UK
Status: ok
Updated Date: 24-feb-2009
Creation Date: 10-jan-2009
Expiration Date: 10-jan-2010

>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:42:47 EST <<<

Marc Cieslak looks at some of the latest scams circulating on the internet. Cyber criminals are always coming up with new and more sophisticated ways to defraud their victims.

Microblogging site Twitter has been hacked by a group of protesters calling themselves the Iranian Cyber Army. The attack forced Twitter offline for more than an hour overnight, leaving Twitter users unable to log on to the service or send tweets.

Visitors to Twitter.com were automatically redirected to another web page, which displayed a green flag and English and Arabic writing.

"This site has been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army," read the message. "The USA thinks they control and manage internet access, but they don't. We control and manage the internet with our power, so do not try to the incite Iranian people."

Twitter said that a DNS attack – where a web address is diverted to another site – was to blame for the outage.

"Twitter's DNS records were temporarily compromised tonight but have now been fixed," wrote Biz Stone, Twitter's co-founder, in a blog post. "As some noticed, Twitter.com was redirected for a while but API and platform applications were working. We will update with more information and details once we've investigated more fully."

Twitter was widely used by Iranian citizens protesting against what they believed to be an unfair election result earlier this year. The microblogging service even delayed a period of planned maintenance so that the site could stay online, giving protesters the ability to communicate with those outside Iran.

It is unlikely that any computers were infected or compromised after being redirected to the hacker's website, said Graham Cluley, a security expert with Sophos. He said that there was "no indication" that the page Twitter users were redirected to carried malicious code that could have infected computers.

"This attack appears to have had political motivations rather than been designed to steal confidential information from users," he wrote on his blog. "Of course, just because a message saying 'This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army' has been posted on a webpage does not necessarily mean that hackers from Iran are responsible for the defacement.

"However, Twitter was widely used earlier this year by those wishing to share information about anti-government protests [in Iran], and rumours spread in July that planned maintenance on the site was delayed to allow Iranians to continue to share information from inside the country as citizen journalists commented on the controversial election result."

Twitter said that normal service had been restored.

Internet users are being warned to watch out for a new computer virus targeting popular social networking sites in the run up to Christmas. 

Sky News has been told that Facebook users are most at risk from a variant of the Koobface virus, which has been disguised as a Festive greetings video, hosted on a YouTube site.

Computer users are being warned to be on their guard against a "cold calling scam" that could leave their bank details available to criminals. 

The magazine Which? Computing said it had heard from people around the country who had been called by scammers pretending to be from the computer software giant Microsoft or an internet service provider.

Some victims had their bank accounts emptied as a result of the con.

The ruse works by making people think that their computer has a virus. The "problem" is then fixed by a series of steps which ends with the scammers being allowed remote access to the computer.

To add insult to injury, people are also asked to provide their credit card details in order to pay a fee for the repair.

Which? Computing has reported the scam to the police central e-crime unit and Microsoft.

Jaclyn Clarabut, assistant editor of Which? Computing, said the magazine had received about 10 calls from around the country but it was aware that trading standards officers were also receiving some.

She thought there were only a handful of cases where people were defrauded.

"We wanted to draw attention to this before the situation gets any worse," she said

The fake alert informs recipients that as part of a "State Vaccination H1N1 Program" they need to create a profile on the CDC Web site. The link in the e-mail goes to a fake CDC page where the visitor is assigned a temporary ID and a link to a vaccination profile that is actually an an executable file containing a copy of the Kryptik Trojan targeting Windows, according to an AppRiver blog post on Tuesday.

Once installed, "this Trojan will create a security-free gateway on your system and will proceed to download and install additional malware without your authorization," the post warns. "It also enables a remote hacker to take complete control of your computer. This malware can log your typed keystrokes and send confidential personal and financial data (including banking information, credit card numbers, and website passwords) to a remote hacker."

Unlike other sites, we aim to update information on a daily basis, and we aim to reply to any communication within 48 hours.