About a month ago I got an e-mail from e-bay indicating that my account was being investigated for fraud and I needed to follow certain links to ensure that my account wouldn't be suspended. I was traveling in Europe at the moment and paying a pretty penny for internet time so I let it go thinking that if worst comes to worst, I'll just sign up again later. If I hadn't been traveling I probably would have taken the time to click on the links. I didn't think about it again until about ten minutes ago.
Today I found this quiz to test our ability to distinguish between on-line fraud e-mails and legitimate ones.
I never thought to examine e-mails such as these, many appear genuine. but I guess I need to take more time to do so
Thought y'all might find it interesting to take. (it seems that the earthlink link is broken, but the rest of the quiz is interesting)
decent, I guess.
Posted by J. Alfred Prufrock (Member # 6732) on :
80% here.
Was #6 a 404 for you?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I got 10 out of 10 correct. Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
nops. No error here (even tried again).
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
congratulations, porteiro (hey, please, I need to know... why mr_porteiro_head? )
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I got all of them right! Posted by Coccinelle (Member # 5832) on :
I got an error for #6... but I still got it right. 90%- but only because I thought to examine these e-mails.
Posted by Coccinelle (Member # 5832) on :
Felicitations to hatrackers! You all have surpassed the scores of my co-workers.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
The Earthlink link was an error for me.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
100% Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Got them all!
(of course Hatrackers are way more intelligent than the average person... )
Farmgirl
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Eduardo -- my name is Porter. The Portugese word for porter is porteiro (I spent 2 years in Parana as an LDS missionary). Porteiro sounds like potatoe to most americans, and Mr. Potatoe Head is a childhood toy.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:Mr. Potatoe Head is a childhood toy
A favorite of Dan Quayle's, I heard.
(Forgive me.)
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Um, yeah. Well, that's not bad company to keep. Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Porteiro: That's true! I did read that you went to Parana for two years! Hehe...I never went to Parana (darn big country). Did you like it?
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
90%
I missed number 1 because the general rule is to never follow a link attached to such an e-mail if that link is going to prompt for personal information. I guess if you did want to find out about extra Hotmail options you could follow the link, but when it came time to give a credit card number or password, you would back out and come in through the front door.
When signing up for eBay or PayPal you are warned that they will never send any e-mail asking you to update or provide personal information. If you were smart enough to figure out how to sign up using their front door in the first place, you don't need an e-mail link.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I really did like it. I really want to make it back to Brasil as a tourist some day. I really liked Curitiba, and it was awesome to see the Iguacu falls.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
90%
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
I just got one about a settlement from a class action suit against PayPal entitling me to some money. Was that one a scam? It had some really great legalese in it. I was believing it, in fact, but decided whatever paperwork they wanted me to do wouldn't be worth the $0.27, or whatever, that I was entitled to as my part of the settlement. Now I'm thinking it was probably a scam.
How did scammers get hold of the fact that I was a PayPal customer?
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
To ak: PayPal has thousands of customers. Spammers send their messages to many people, so at least some of them will be PayPal customers.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
ak, I just got one of those too Someone probably got ahold of a paypal customer list.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
90% For me it's a sort of feeling, a hunch that this isn't/is legitimate.
I missed the last Paypal e-mail. I said it was a fraud, but it was legit.
Posted by Mr.Funny (Member # 4467) on :
10/10. I basically checked whether they were asking for any information, and if they did, if they told you to log on separately or had a link. Except for the hotmail one, which I knew already was real. Posted by Zevlag (Member # 1405) on :
[ July 28, 2004, 07:53 PM: Message edited by: Zevlag ]
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
I just figured they were all fraud. (better safe than sorry )
I got 70%
Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
I frequently use the links in potential fraud emails to verify their authenticity (If the link actually goes to the real institution's website, I'd say those are real--excepting any trickery with displaying a false page address. It's not too difficult to figure those out). Because this quiz made all the links broken, it was impossible to test it this way.
Anyway, that's my excuse for missing the Citibank one.
slashdot story Posted by JaimeBenlevy (Member # 6222) on :
Some of them I just used common sense (or tried to) instead of actually reading the email, like the one about banks I figured I'd call them to confirm as opposed to doing it over e-mail.
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
paypal did settle a class action suit...however the e-mail you got still might have been a fraud. Sometimes people take real events and make scams out of them
Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
This test is bad. Scammers have improved their previously poor grammar and spelling (as about half of the frauds here indicate), and are stepping up with more legitimate-looking claims that may pass most people's skepticism. Common sense may be good enough now, but don't get lulled into relying on it. Things like PGP have been around for decades...
Posted by Chris Warrent (Member # 5549) on :
I'm too lazy too read all that...
I guess I'll assume I passed until somone steals my CC...
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
40% im screwed
Posted by larisse (Member # 2221) on :
Got all of them correct. But, what is really scary is that I have received the fraud ones many times. They are getting better (and learning how to spell and type). I agree. What I do is simply forward them to the appropriate fraud department of the company involved. I do this even if I just suspect shadiness. I am very paranoid. At least, that's what the people following me are always saying.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
100%
But then again, I don't follow links that are suspicious or ask for login info -- I just find the vendor on my favorites list and enter the usual way.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me. Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
quote:I guess I'll assume I passed until somone steals my CC...
CC fraud is only an indirect cost, affecting first & foremost banks' bottom line.
If someone gets in to your bank/paypal/ebay account, OTOH, you can be screwed out of a lot of money.
Posted by Vána (Member # 6593) on :
I got a 90%, but I think that if I'd been able to actually click on the links to see where they go, I'd have gotten that one right, as well (I missed the CitiBank one).
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im screwed