Spams and Scams

Safe senders and overcoming spam

Whether you are looking to add the YOURLifeChoices newsletter or a relative’s email to your safe senders list, Webmaster, Drew, shows you how to add them in five different email systems. He also shows you how to combat spam!

Click the link that Corresponds with your Email System.

Microsoft Outlook Express
Microsoft Outlook
Hotmail
Yahoo
Gmail

Microsoft Outlook

In Microsoft Outlook, click on “Tools” and then “Options”.
This will open up the Options window and the default will be Preferences. This is where we want to start!

Click on the “Junk Email button” and you will be presented with a number of different tab options.

The first tab we will start on is Options. As you see there are a number of different filtering options. Currently, I have the Low option clicked and receive quite a few, but not a large amount of spam email (not enough to annoy me). I check my Junk Email regularly and have yet to find a single email that I require being placed into there. It is possible to select High, but I would suggest checking your Junk Email box weekly.

The next tab is Safe Senders. This is quite useful for keeping all your friends on your safe list. The wonderful thing is that you don’t have to add just a full email address; you can add the domain in which the email is coming from, such as @yourlifechoices.com.au. We will step you through setting up our Enewsletter address as the example.

Click the add button located on the right hand side of the screen. Type in @yourlifechoices.com.au as pictured below and click ok.

Once you have done this, you can add in more addresses by clicking add again.

The next important step can be seen in the above image. At the bottom of the screen on the left there are two tick boxes, one is clicked and one isn’t for Also trust email from my Contacts and Automatically add people I email to the Safe Senders List.

It is very important to click both of these (I have also clicked the 2nd box now!). This will automatically add emails to your safe senders list without you having to go through this step process every time!

Now that we have added our friends and work colleagues to our lists, it is time to filter the junk!

At the top of the current Junk Email Options screen there are a number of different tabs, click on the Blocked Senders tab. We will be presented with a similar screen to the Safe Senders. We click the add button on the right hand side and can enter the exact email address, or even the domain which the email came from for example @test.com.au and this will be permanently move any emails from these senders to junk mail. Please note, I would NOT suggest adding hotmail, yahoo or any other large providers emails within your country or global emails to your blocked list, as this may filter legitimate emails.

Once you have completed this step, click ok for the Junk email screen and then click ok for the Options screen and we are done!

Hotmail

Log into your hotmail account and get to your inbox screen.

Once you are here, as pictured to the right, please click the options button located on the far right hand side, above your emails.

You will be taken to the options screen. 1/3 of the ways down the page you will see options for Junk Email as shown in the image below.  We will start by clicking on the Filters and reporting.

We are presented with a number of different options and I will walk you through these.

We firstly have to choose a junk email filter. Currently on my hotmail account I have an Exclusive filter. This means that everything else apart from my contacts will be placed into my Junkmailbox. I would not suggest this unless if you are happy and willing to check your Junk mail daily.

I would suggest that you choose the standard junk email filtering option. This means that a majority of the spam will be filtered out effectively. I would suggest that you do check your junk email box at least once a week, as some can slip through the cracks, and if this does happen, open the e-mail and simply click “Not a junk email” and it will not happen in the future.

The next section is Delete junk email.

You always want to have Later selected as your option, as if you click immediately, you may loose some of those “missed” emails that automatically went to your junk email box.

The final section here is Report junk messages.

I would always suggest leaving Report junk as the clicked option, could you imagine if no one had this option clicked, our email box’s would be receiving 1000 messages a day!

Once we are done here, click save, located at the bottom right hand side of the screen.

You will be taken back to the options screen. 1/3 of the ways down the page you will see options for Junk Email as shown in the image below. We will now select Safe and blocked senders.

You will be presented with three different headings to choose from. We will start with the top one, Safe Senders. Click on Safe Senders and we will be presented with a screen that is going to allow us to add new safe email addresses AND domains (for example yourlifechoices.com.au).

To remove someone from your current safe list, select them from the list on the right hand side and simply click the remove from list button in the middle.

Below is an example of how we will add a new email address, you can use this as your first try, which will also ensure our enewsletter never goes to your junk email box!

As shown below, type in yourlifechoices.com.au to the box on the left hand side. Simply click the Add to list button and it will load it into the box. You can then start to put in your friends, family and other important email contacts so that they are never lost!

Now it is time to go back to the Safe and blocked senders options screen. Hotmail is not too user friendly, but there is a simple way for us to get back. As seen in the image below, look at the top of your screen above where on the white background in black it says Safe Senders, there will be on light blue background the words Safe and blocked senders, click this as shown below.

Now click on the Blocked Senders option, which is the third one down.

You will now be taken to the current Blocked Senders list. Have a quick read through this and remove anyone you “think” you may know, as you could have accidentally added them by mistake!

Once you have done this, if there are any email addresses or domains that are constantly barraging you with spam emails, type in the address to the box on the left hand side. Simply click the Add to list button and it will load it into the box.

Yahoo

Log into your Yahoo account and go into the relevant folder containing the latest newsletter that was sent by AboutSeniors, for example the Spam folder.

When you have found an Email from us, left click on the email, and then right click on it and the following drop down box will appear as on the right of our screen. Click on the option at the bottom named Add Sender to Contacts. You will not have to change any of the information, so just click Save. Once you hit Save, a box will appear confirming that the Contact was added. Click ok, and now you are done, and can do this for other contacts as well.

Gmail

Safe Senders
Log into your Gmail account. Next to the email you are wishing to add to your Safe Senders list, there will be a check box as per the image to the right. Left click inside the check box. Now up to the right as per the image to the right, left click on “more actions” and left click “Filter messages like these” from the drop down list.

You will now be presented with the “Create a Filter” option. In my example, I am looking to add the YOURLifeChoices newsletter to my safe sender list. As I selected the newsletter, it has already added to the “from” box. This is all we need to make the email from YOURLifeChoices stay in the Inbox, so we will click the Next step button at the bottom right hand side of the options.

The next screen will give you 7 options. The one we are looking for is the bottom option called “Never send it to Spam”. Left click in the check box. Now left click “create filter”. We are done! If you are looking to block certain words as in the previous sentence

Junk Mail Filtering
Log into your Gmail account. Left click inside the check box next to any of your emails (it does not matter which one you choose). Now in the menu bar above to the right of this email, left click on “more actions” and left click “Filter messages like these” from the drop down list.

You will now be presented with the “Create a Filter” option. The email address of the message you selected will appear in the “from” box. Delete the email address from this box. There is an option in the top right called “Has the words”. This is a very handy tool for blocking the majority of the spam emails reaching your email box. For our example we will block the word “nude”. Type in the word nude in the box and then now left click “create filter”.

You can repeat this process to block words such as viagra, fedex, westpac, paypal, etc. depending on the types of junk emails you are receiving.

VoIP Virus records calls

It was only a matter of time before someone cracked the code. A Swiss programmer has released a “virus” program that can attach itself to your computer audio and record all inbound and outbound voice communication!

Most anti-virus companies believe the virus poses little or no threat to consumers using VoIP programs (Voice over Internet Protocol), which in “beginner lingo” means someone using a phone or audio device linked into their computer through programs such as Skype (480 million users as of June 2009). While law enforcers in Australia and America would need court orders to install such software onto a person’s computer to screen their calls, other countries with more lenient laws may already be deploying such a tool to monitor criminals.

It is expected that scammers and online criminals have little to gain by using such a virus so you shouldn’t expect to see warnings posted, but it is important to stay up-to-date with the dangers of technology coming through!

Find out more on Scams here.

Identifying scams

A dangerous but believable email scam is doing the rounds. YOURLifeChoices Webmaster, Drew, tells you how to identify the real from the fake.

YOURLifeChoices receives a fair amount of scam emails and this one is the latest which is extremely dangerous as, if followed, could result in stolen identity and credit card fraud.

The email comes in from an Australian Internet Service Provider. The one we received was supposedly from the Optus E-Mail Technical Information’s Department () and with the subject, “your email has been infected with Trojan Virus”.

The first sign of fraud is the poor use of the English language with the subject not making grammatical sense. When opened, the content explains your email box is infected and needs to be recovered via a link. While I did not click this link, it is safe to assume that it will ask you to do one of two things. It will ask you to either log into your account via their fake Optus website, or alternatively, make you confirm many of your details with their system. There is also the possibility that it may link you to a site, which automatically infects your computer with a virus.

How did I know that this link was fake? In Microsoft Outlook you can “hover over” which is to put your mouse over a link and within 1-2 seconds, the website address that the link takes you to will become visible and you can see exactly where it was taking you. This address I saw was a “.kr” address which means it came out of Korea, which is definitely not where Optus is based!

While writing this article I also received another cunning scam. This time it was titled “You received a wonderful postcard from a family member!”. Once again, they have failed to use proper English in their subject header immediately alerting me to a scam email. The text tells me that a family member has sent me a virtual greeting card and to find out who sent it and what it is, I have to go to the site detailed below and pick it up. There is a link to a “popular” website for e-greeting cards but when I hover my mouse over the web address, the site is a “.to” (Tonga) web address and is set to download a .exe file, which is a program that would install a virus on my computer.

It only takes one click to cause untold technological horror, so be careful what you click!

Protect your computer with a Free Anti-Virus scanner now!

Spam Report August 2009

The producers of the popular Norton anti-virus software, Symantec, have released their Asia Pacific region spam facts, figures and trends for July 2009.

Over the past year, Spam emails have started using image spam which cannot be scanned and gets by the usual spam protocols in our email clients. It is reported that 17 percent of all spam emails in July were images.

The flow of spam relating to Michael Jackson and American President, Barack Obama, continued to hit our inboxes at a steady pace, while spam related to health products has actually decreased by 17 percent! With the release of popular movies and books comes specific spam campaigns.  None more so than the latest Harry Potter movie, where related campaigns of significant magnitude were created and sent worldwide.

The newest scam that has been pushed into our emails over the last month has been the offering of solutions to eavesdrop and track down someone over their phone, by installing software that is being claimed to be similar to “Net Nanny” for computers. Although with a phone it is said to record their conversations, upload all messages sent and received and even have a built in GPS location to show where they were at specific times of the day, all of which is untrue.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, don’t click it.

Fake emails explained

With our email box’s being slammed with spam over the past months, understanding how they are being made, may just prevent you falling victim to one of these unscrupulous scams.

Malcolm Turnbull is the latest high profile victim of one of these fake Emails with the Utegate email being found out to be a fake. If a man who was once chairman of the Australian ISP OzEmail can be duped by such a scam, it can happen to anybody.
Sadly, duping someone is as simple as changing a couple of setting on an email address.

How are they being made?

- A user creates a fraudulent email that uses company logos from a legitimate company such as the Commonwealth Bank, St George Bank, Paypal, ATO etc, as we have all been receiving in recent months
- Now they change their email address settings to be displayed at for example “St George Bank Help Department” and the email address to be displayed as
- The next step they would take is having the Reply address set to
- Finally they will create a link to a “dummy website” that looks exactly like the home page of the company they are trying to represent, for example St George bank, asking you to enter your online details, where they record your details when you enter it.

When you receive emails, if an offer sounds too good to be true, it is, and if you get a link asking you to restore settings on your account from a banking institution or something to do with money, never click the link, always go direct to their website to see if there is really something you need to change!

Australian Taxation Office Refund Scam Email

The latest scam email to make the rounds is from: Australian Taxation Office [ato@refund.com.au] and with the subject: Tax Refund.

Do not fill out any information, as this is a scam email to try and steal your personal details and money.

These scammers are getting more sneaky by the day, and we can only imagine what the next scam email making its rounds will be, but we will try and keep you up to date and safe!

SMS Scams

Webmaster, Drew, got an SMS on his mobile phone yesterday claiming he had won $120,000 and had to reply to claim it.  An obvious scam, which can cost you hundreds of dollars if you reply!

Obviously no company in their right mind will SMS you saying you won $120k however, many people do fall for this kind of scam.  We simply don’t expect a scam to come via our mobile phones in this form!

What happens if you reply?

Generally if you reply, you will be charged a premium number service fee of anywhere from $5 to $15 and may be automatically subscribed to receive a premium service and be on their list to receive up to 3 SMS messages a week costing $5-$15 each. If you do get on one of these lists, try and remove yourself straight away. It is a legal requirement that the message must include how to unsubscribe.

For more information on Premium SMS Scams, click here.

Scam Alert

YOURLifeChoices has noticed over the past month that spam and scams via email have increased.  Do not be one of those caught out!

The latest scam making the rounds via email is the Commonwealth Bank scam, which is an email being sent around to every single email box in Australia, offering free money for completing a survey, which will then be issued to your bank account. Once you hand over your bank account information, you will notice your money disappear!

When opening your emails it is important to remember the following steps:

· If it sounds too good to be true, it is!
· If you do not know the person who is emailing you, do not open the attached documents as they may contain a virus
· Do not hand over your bank details to anyone emailing you with “special offers” or “free money”
· Do not click any links from email addresses claiming to be FedEx/EBay/Bank Institutions, as these generally take you to a fake page that looks exactly like their websites and they steal your account details

Spam and Scam

Knowing what to open and what to do delete can save you alot of doom and gloom. YOURLifeChoices subscriber, Alan, writes in about one of the latest making the rounds.

Hi! There’s a hoax e-mail on the loose promising a fifty dollar gift for filling in a survey on Master Card; (except it’s called Maestro Card !) Click on a link etc. etc....  I’ve had 4 in two days. CBA asked me to forward to . They say they’ve had several reports.
Thought you might like to know, but you’ve probably heard about it already.
Cheers Alan

Hoax Pension email

AboutSeniors have been swamped in recent weeks with members asking if the email they received about Refugee’s receiving significantly more in financial assistance than Pensioners, which is a hoax!

This email that calls for the recipient to send it onto their friends, in an effort to lobby for increases in the age pension. While this email is not new, as it was used around election time in 07 and previously in America of all places, it has started making the rounds again to put pressure on the government by creating greater angst in throughout Australia regarding the benefits received by aged pensioners.

Former Howard government minister Mal Brough refuted the claims in an August 2007 media release:

Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, today warned age pensioners to be alert to an internet scam, which appears designed to anger pensioners over the level of financial support provided to refugees in Australia.

“What concerns me most is that the scam targets older people and uses the plight of refugees to whip up discontent.

Conficker virus – fools no one!

The potential online doomsday of April 1 fizzled with the Conficker virus failing to have any impact on the world’s computers with security companies monitoring the worm being successful at blocking the worm’s communications.

With anywhere from 3-12 million computers worldwide affected by the virus, and many who are infected having no idea that they are, it is worth everyone using Microsoft’s free online virus scanner, which can detect and help remove the Conficker virus.

Click here and scroll down and click on the “Full Service Scan” button.

Microsoft has also outlined symptoms of the virus, which may help you identify if you are infected, and a manual way to remove the virus.

PC Virus – No April Fool

A computer worm named “Conflicker” has been infecting machines worldwide over the past months and is set to activate its new phase of terror on April 1.

Having already infected at least 3 million computers worldwide, this worm gains access to your computer via you clicking a link or item in an email from a friend, installing itself on your computer without you knowing, and then sending itself on to all your friends. Further more, it sends spam emails and creates more traffic in cyberspace, ultimately slowing down speeds worldwide!

Researchers studying the worm have found that on April 1, the worm is set to activate its second phase. While researchers say they are unsure exactly what will happen, and predict it could be used to cause massive network outages worldwide, attack government computers or simply be used as a cyber weapon to target websites, most likely it will come and go similar to the Y2K bug which had little to no effect when our clocks rolled over to 01/01/2000.

I expect to see some “April Fools Jokes” pop up from this virus over various well-known and visited websites on April 1.

To find out more about this menace, click here.

Virus infects nine million PCs

A computer virus has been spreading across the world at a rapid rate in recent months, infecting home users and also large companies using Microsoft Windows products.

F-Security, a private online security firm says the virus has infected over 9 million machines worldwide and is growing on a daily basis.

What does the virus do and how do you know you have it?

While using relevant programs, such as Internet Explorer, the virus will alert the computer user to infections on the machine, which do not exist. No matter what you click next on the popup, it will then take you to an advertisement for anti-virus software which will “clear the infections” for a price, such as $39.99, with a guarantee and so on.

Microsoft released a security update to combat this problem on 13 January 2009, but many users do not have Windows automatic updates activated, so it would be advised to download the free Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool here.

If it sounds too good…

We all know the old saying, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. This saying stands true in most sections of life and is no exception to the following company we have received information on. AboutSeniors subscriber, Nigel, contacted us in regards to an organisation operating in Australia and worldwide, who offers seminars on Internet Training Workshops or Internet Cash flow Workshops. These seminars generally come with a free three-course meal and are held at top hotels such as the Hilton or Sofitel conference centres. These seminars can attract anywhere from 50 up to 500 people at a time and instead of being seminars on how to make money online, are dubious operations setup to hard sell their online merchant store products.

Why do people get so interested in these products? Because a picture is painted by the presenters, slowly wearing down the guard of the attendees. A large majority of the targeted audience are people over the age of 50, generally with little experience in the internet. This company targets their product at being operational with no knowledge of computers at all.

Be careful with what you do with your money and generally if you get an invite to a seminar for free, it is going to be a company trying to hard sell their product to you. Attending these seminars, can provide you with a lot of information on convincing people to purchase your own products, what devices and internet services these company’s use if your looking to setup your own business without investing, and at the very least, provides you with a nice three course meal (though as seen in articles below, some didn’t even get that).

To read some personal experiences of people attending these seminars click here

To read a news article from the Brisbane Times regarding these seminars, click here

To read about the ACCC investigation and freezing of the company’s funds for a period of time, click here

Less spam

Tuesday 11 November 2008, in the US, the webhost McColo was shutdown. This came after a four month investigation by the Washington Post and resulted in the company’s internet service providers, Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric, flicking the switch.

McColo was responsible for the hosting of “international firms and syndicates that are involved in everything from the remote management of millions of compromised computers to the sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and designer goods, fake security products and child pornography via email”, The Washington Post reported.

It has been reported that in the two days following the shutdown of McColo, that spam levels worldwide dropped more than 70 percent. Unfortunately, it is predicted that these spammers will re-deploy themselves under other hosting companies, and this reduction in spam is only temporary.

Please be careful when reading your emails and remember the following information

· your bank will never ask for your information online
· that email you just received informing you of a seven million dollar inheritance, sadly, is not true
· never open an attachment from someone you don’t know (common virus emails at the moment include UPS tracking)
· that girl from Russia emailing with her photo, is most likely a guy trying to get money out of lonely men
· the final but most important point, If it sounds too good to be true, it is!

If you have heard of or seen some crafty scams via email and want to notify others so they do not fall into the trap, please post them on our Meeting Place.

Scam awards

The sheer stupidity of internet and financial scams would be laughable – if they weren’t so serious.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) annual Pie In The Sky awards act as a timely reminder that there is always someone willing to take advantage of an unfortunate event. Topping the list of disturbing scams is the Togo lawyer acting on the behalf of a deceased family who were killed in the Boxing Day Tsunami. Sent to people who coincidentally have the same name as the deceased and offering a share of US$17m from the estate, this is also known as a ‘Nigerian letter’ scam. Those targeted are asked to respond by email, claiming a share of the wealth but need to pay a fee upfront.  Needless to say, once the fee is received by the “lawyer”, no money is forthcoming.

The ability to succeed in many of these scams is being able to be unabashed about what you’re doing. Instep Super, Pie In The Sky runner-up were just that.  Advertising on radio, TV and online, they promised returns of between 8 and 20% on superannuation and claimed to be “the best performing superannuation fund in Australia”. Most people assume that if they hear or see an advertisement in the mainstream media then it must be by a legal company. Not so in this case. When investigated, ASIC found that Instep Super did not have the required financial license nor did they have evidence to back up their “best performing super” claim.

Don’t be fooled into thinking it could never happen to you. Financial scammers are getting more and more sophisticated, using the growth in online media to their advantage. Many financially savvy people have been stung. For the chance to win $100 for nominating a scam for the 2009 Pie In The Sky Award or to find our more about the scams going around, visit FIDO’s website.

Loveless scam

Looking for love online might be bad for your bank balance. Be aware of the latest scam doing the rounds.

Hundreds, if not thousands of Australians every day are being scammed for thousands of dollars all in the name of love. Men and women are lured by the promise of a loving relationship by online Nigerian fraudsters posing as Australian retirees. 

It’s estimated that victims stump up and average of $35,000 when given the sob story by someone they believe to be having a loving relationship with and they’re prepared to take time laying the groundwork before asking for money. In one case, Patricia developed a relationship with “David’ over six months, and, during a trip to Nigeria, he claimed he was mugged and needed $8,500, a substantial sum of money for anyone. She never saw him again and when realising she had been scammed, felt suicidal.

A good rule to keep in mind would be that if you can’t afford to loose it, don’t give it. To read more, click here.

Fake customs emails scams

If you shop on the internet, as many do these days, be careful of emails asking you to pay fake ‘customs’ costs. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is warning people of this latest internet scam.

Fake emails asking people to pay fees, duties or taxes on their goods before they can be released by customs are just scams designed to procure form you your personal banking details. The email may look official but customs would never make contact with you by email.

The ACCC says that certain goods brought into Australia do require an import permit and customs may detain such goods pending presentation of the permit. But where goods are detained for permit reasons you will receive written advice by mail from customs.

If you receive a suspicious email, the best thing to do is to delete it then and there. Never send money or give credit card or other banking details to anyone you do not know or trust. If you don’t know the source of the email, don’t click on the links in an email or open any attached files. Never call a telephone number that you see in a spam email.

To fid out more about import regulations and buying goods over the internet, call customs on 1300 363 263 or click here. To report a suspected scam, call the ACCC Inofcentre on 1300 302 502. For more information on scams, go to the SCAMwatch website by clicking here now