Today, I received an email that looks very much like the Next of Kin / Barrister scam email or Another Next of Kin scam email that I have received previously. It is pretty the exact same message with a few changes in the wording.

Here is the text of the email.

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Under the heading of yet another phishing email, yesterday I received an email from Regions Bank asking me to update my information.

This was fairly easy for me to spot since I don't have have an account at Regions. Even if I did have an account with Regions, the standard warning signs were present in the email message, the grammar not being quite right, mention of interruption of service,and the email just didn't read right.

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I received this email earlier today and after a quick look realized that it was just another version of the "Foreign Officer Payment Scam". The scam where someone asks you to cash a check or handle a money transfer for them and they will pay you some large amount of money. Don't do it!!!! These folks are professional scammers and will take your money and you will have nothing to show for it.

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Today I received notification from Firstbanks that my Firstbanks Internet banking account was about to expire. This was an easy phishing email for me to spot, even without Thunderbird telling me that it thought that the email was a scam, since I don't use Firstbanks for anything. If you take just a minute to actually read the email, it just doesn't sound right or read right. There are grammar errors and the improper English use as well as missing words in the message body.

Here is an image of the message I received:

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Late yesterday, I received an email that told me that I was the lucky winner of the "2010 WORLD CUP AWARD". Aside from the fact that it is very unlikely that any organization would notify the winner of $2,000,000 U.S. by email, there are a few glaring misspellings that would not be present in any official notification. This message is essentially just another version of the Canada Lottery Scam that I posted about earlier this week.

Here is the contents of the email I received. (All the misspelled words are displayed using bold italics.)

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Today, I received and email that told me that I was the lucky winner in a Canadian Lottery drawing. Imagine my surprise since I never entered a Canadian Lottery and in fact haven't been to Canada since the early 1980's. Of course this is a scam email.

Here are couple of write ups on this scam:
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/lotteryscamCanadaSoccer.php
http://www.scamdex.com/HYPMAIL/0709/35043.php

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During July 2007, I noticed some sites serving up pages that were trying to take advantage of the Windows Media Player Plug-In EMBED Overflow Universal Exploit (MS06-006). So I took some time to dig through one of the pages just to see what it was doing. I have waited a few months to post this, just to make sure everyone has had enough time to patch, update, and otherwise protect their systems. I figure 6 months should be enough time for even the most busy folks to get their stuff updated and that any addresses referenced here would be dead. Which at the time of this writing the address was not active.

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While checking my morning email, I noticed an email from CitiBank addressed to the email account that I use for notifications from this site. Without even looking at the message I was pretty sure that it is a scam or phishing mail of some type. Of course as soon as I highlighted the message to review it, ThunderBird told me that it suspected that the message was a scam. Even though the grammar and use of english in the message was much better than most scam / phishing emails, a quick read of the message and checking the target location of the provided link confirmed this very quickly for me.

Click the picture to see an image of the email in question.

What: The NWA Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) will be hosting a presentation on PowerShell and Visual Studio 2008.

Where: Granite City Grill in Pinnacle Hills Promenade

Directions to Granite City Grill. From I-540 take Exit 83 (Pinnacle Hills Pkwy/HWY94) and go east. Turn right at the first light (Promenade Blvd). Go past the Best Buy (always a good GEOREF for computer people). At the second light (Park Place Drive) turn left; this enters the shopping center parking lot. You will see P. F. Chang’s on the left. Turn right on that street that P. F. Chang’s is on and you will see Granite City Grill (just past where they have broken ground for a Sullivan’s Steak House).

When: February 5, 2008 at 11:00 hrs

Remember to check the nwa-issa website regularly for chapter news and updates.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the ISSA or are interested in learning more on this topic, Please feel free to attend.

The Northwest Arkansas Information Systems Security Association January chapter meeting will held be on January 8, 2008 and will start at 11:00 a.m.

A presentation regarding Implementing a Visitor Wifi Network Within Your Existing Infrastructure will follow lunch.

The location is Jose's Southwest Grill in Springdale.

Meeting Agenda:
11:00 - 11:15 Sign In
11:15 - 11:30 Introduction and Announcements
11:30 - 12:00 Club Business/Lunch
12:00 - 1:00 Speaker/Presentation

This will be the first meeting with our new officers.

• Colin Henderson - President
• Dave Moats - Vice President
• Mike Calvi - Secretary
• Christopher Beasley - Treasurer

Remember to check the nwa-issa website regularly for chapter news and updates. During the next month we will be transitioning to the new nwa-issa website, however the old site will continue to work.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the ISSA or are interested in learning more on this topic, Please feel free to attend.