Another Scam Alert
 

I just wanted to alert everyone there is another scam out there. I think this one's been around awhile but it's surfacing again. This one says it's from FedEx 2 Day Delivery. Since I wasn't expecting anything from FedEx I checked the sender address. If you hover over the sender the address will show. These are coming from Romania. I've received several of these of the last few days. All from different addresses in Romania.

If I don't have a FED-EX shipment expected, I delete the email. You have to be careful with the emails. often if you open them they are Trojans a.k.a. viruses. I tell everyone I know to let me know if they are sending me a package and I do the same. I let them know the manner of shipment or mailing. I'm expecting a package via Priority Mail. Should be here today. Should have been here yesterday since it was sent out on the 20th. When I send anything by Priority Mail to my folks up north they always get it within 48 hours and same when they send to me in same manner. My sister up north in Indiana has sent me packages via regular mail and I have received withing 48-2 hours. but package I'm expecting is coming from California. Not sure why it takes much longer but makes no sense.

I don't know if this is a scam or just a company trolling for business. Yesterday I received a bill from Publishers Billing Association for a one-year subscription to a major NY newspaper for $1099.95. No that wasn't a typo. For my convenience I can pay in two installments of $549.98. I don't subscribe to this paper. Every morning I go downstairs to the store in our building and buy the paper I want. I don't know how or where they got my name. The statement said it can be for a new or renewal subscription. Nothing I can add except be very careful.

It's near to the holidays, so this one will re-surface and multiply many times. Don't open them as they could contain a nasty virus- just mark as spam and delete.

My email has an ability to reject up to 500 email addresses - it's full and i still get scam and spam. The email id's are similar but different on every one.

It is a scam, not someone trolling for business. The Publishers Billing Association mail you got sounds like a scam, too. After all, to order the newspaper for a year you have to give out your name, address, telephone, CC# and the security code. Then they have all they need to take full advantage of you and your credit card.

Bottom line is that none of us should EVER respond to email solicitations of any kind - unless you want to LOOK UP the phone number of the company named in the email and call them. Never use a phone number or a link given in an email, as it will take you directly to the scammer.

I got this FedEx email today. Funny thing is I am expecting something by FedEx delivery. I've seen these scams before, so I just deleted it.

I get the FedEx one all the time, but yesterday I got a new one on my cell phone---they wanted my billing address and credit card number for the new cell phone that "I" had picked up at one of the big-name discount stores (it named several). They wanted to activate it for me......Yeah, right!!!!! I wasn't even in any of those places yesterday.

Those Publishers people send me crap all the time. I just shred them. It's so ridiculous! :)

I keep a low profile on the interest so I haven't gotten on any scam list. I have been worried since they hacked into eBay. I usually end up changing my username ever year or so just to avoid them.

I got one yesterday.."notice to appear" in court--details in the attachment. My antivirus/malaware notified me that the attachment had been removed--contained a virus. I would not have opened it anyway. I tracked the email to a sender @"NewMexicotruckaccidentlawers.com". DUH! Suddenly the scam spams are coming frequently. I wonder if it has anything to do with support having been stopped for WinXP...that's what I am still using. Grateful for my security program, tho.

I got one from a quilting magazine that I don't get. The cost per issue was around 17.00. It looked like what you described. Crazy. What are they thinking, with prices that high.

I received one yesterday. It was tempting to open, but I deleted. I wasn't expecting anything from abroad. It's sad that we have to be so skeptical.

If you go to the Federal Trade Commission website where you can find out how to report this to them. I forward the email after filling out a question aire. They don't respond but do keep track of the numbers of scams from that address. In the last week I have received 5 emails from the same site. I had placed an order for fabric and the next day got an email telling me that their courier couldn't make a delivery. One day delivery was too soon. They even had my order number in the subject line! How did they get that? I notified the fabric site but have not heard back. I did not download the supposed adress label.

I wish I had known about the FTC website before I deleted the messages. Do you have a link for future reference?

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0038-spam

I googled ftc and this is one of their pages.

Yesterday I received a letter in the mail that was notice of renewal from a major newspaper in our area. The bill was for $799 that was payable in 2 easy installments. I showed it to my husband and he asked "Why are YOU getting that paper?" I told him it was a scram and said "They sure do make it look real". We always have to be on your toes.

My husband has worked with computers since he entered the Air Force many, many years ago, when he got out he became a computer engineer and software engineer. He has always told me that if I do not recognize the sender on any e-mail to not open it and quickly delete it. It's frustrating, like the recent rash of credit cards being hacked, the first time we used a credit card at Target, the account got hacked. It's not only frustrating, but I get angry when people would rather hack credit cards than get a real job. The first time we were lucky, the second time whoever hacked us charged over $500 to our account, fortunately we were able to get it removed, but the damage was done and we had to get new credit cards, a pain in the neck.

Last week one of my friends in facebook was hacked, she p.m. me and told me she had won $250,000 in a Facebook Sweepstakes, and saw my name on the list - I went along with it and got all the info I could.,inc. the name of the fake website to claim it. I checked with said person and my name was on the list ,but had to have$1200 in 4 hours or my name would come off the list.When my friend got home from work,I notified her and sent her the info. Facebook caught them and is prosecuting them ! So many crooks out in our world today! Glad when they are caught.

YES! And this type of fraud has been increasing lately. Several major retailers have been hit recently, and some of them are doing their best to keep it out of the news. Home Depot recently had a massive breach as well.

Credit cards are changing though; I think by the end of next year most US credit cards are going to have EMV chips in them. These chips were adopted overseas a long time ago but the US has been slow to join in. These chips are MUCH harder to forge and should cut back on in-person card fraud immensely. (This is where they clone your card - shockingly easy to do; can build a machine with parts from Ebay and all they have to do is get one swipe of your card and they can reproduce it. Then go shopping! The EMV chips will stop that.) Merchants will need to upgrade their terminals too, so that's part of why it's going so slowly. Check with your card issuer and see what their plans are for issuing EMV cards - some issuers are offering them now. (Sometimes also called "Chip and PIN" cards or "Chip and Signature" cards)

The EMV chips will NOT help with internet fraud, though. But any improvement at this point is a good thing if you ask me! I've had my main card reissued THREE TIMES this year due to data compromises!

I know Wal-Mart already has the new card readers. I've seen them in a couple of other places too.

Earlier in this thread I wrote about getting a newspaper renewal bill for over a thousand dollars. Same company just sent me (these are snail mail, by the way, not emails) an invoice for Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting at their "lowest rate" - $59.99 for one year (six issues), payable in two installments etc. etc. I guess I'll be getting more invoices in the future. My question - does anyone really take these offers? And in this case, since the magazine contains the name of real people, do Fons & Porter know how their names are being used? I see someone else wrote above about an invoice from what sounds like the same company. Somehow this company is making money. Not from me.

This week I received :

An email for a set of airplane tickets to be printed out.
A package that couldn't be delivered by DHL.

And the best one.........
Microsoft tech called. I used language I usually don't use to tell him never to call again.
That didn't deter them....
They called back yesterday.....
(NOTE TO SELF...learn more "colorful" words)

I expect them to call back either Saturday or Monday...LOL

I love the Microsoft calls! I love to "play with them" by telling them that I need new windows - 18 to be exact and that I'd really like them with removable storm windows and one piece screens. Do I need to have someone come out to measure my existing windows or can I just order all 18 windows? Do they also do vinyl siding and roofs? By this point, the "Microsoft" folks are usually sputtering and hang up! No "bad" language and I get a good laugh. The trick is, you have to speak quickly, without letting them get a word in...just keep jabbering about replacement windows. Works every time!

Canadian financial institutions have had EMV cards a number of years now, and there have not been incidents of the cards being physically compromised (cloned ). One of the interesting results we saw was the movement of much of the fraud attempts on cards, move to the US because you're still using the mag stripe cards. We also saw a surge in low-tech fraud attempts - like the scam emails and phone calls in this thread.

Sewnoma is exactly right - EMV does not prevent fraud where you provide the scammers with your card information (card number, expiry, security code) so they can conduct transactions online.

I'm pretty sure if I get a "Notice to Appear in Court", the return address (sender) is not going to be called "Notice to Appear". These scammers sure are dumb. They only need a few people who are dumber than them, though.