Warning, there be scammers out there
Nanuq907
Member Posts: 2,551 ✭✭✭✭
OK guys, before you roll your eyes and drop dead from geek talk, hear me out. I just got an EXCEEDINGLY well crafted fake email supposedly from Bank of America asking if I had made several unusual charges. They wanted me to verify my details, and it looked like it was from a legitimate sender. This was smooth, very professional, and looking at the sending email address it was from ealerts.bankofamerica.com not from prince.mumbabwe@nigeria.com
I have a crapload of computer experience and this one nearly got me. I was suspicious but it looked okay. Still it didn't smell right. So I looked at the email headers (you should be able to "examine headers" in your own email programs) and I saw this:
Okay, so the bottom "received: from" line says ac0108409.gnbfr.loc is [179.0.15.20]. But up above it says that IP address is ealerts.bankofamerica.com. So somebody's lying. So, I opened up a good old DOS window, a command line prompt, by clicking the Start button, typing CMD and clicking to open a window. Presto, there's the DOS prompt. There I typed nslookup 179.0.15.20 and this is what I got back:
C:\Users\Bob>nslookup 179.0.15.20
Server: dns.google
Address: 8.8.8.8
Name: juno.bancognb.com.pe
Address: 179.0.15.20
And lookie there, juno.bancognb.com.pe is 179.0.15.20 and NOT bankofamerica.com as they said. It's a scam, someone has some nice software to insert bogus values in email headers to make them look legit. So I deleted it.
This is not hard to do, and if you're suspicious of an email you can try it yourself. Or just delete it. Be careful out there.
Comments
I have received similar emails stating please confirm your account number and information so we can clear this up except in more legal form not my abbreviated sentence
I have called my bank ( credit union ) and CC company several times direct in the past to confirm my suspicion about fake request
may years ago a news show was talking about scammers thousand's of calls a day ( and email now ) if only a couple out of that thousand's of request go for it then easy money for the scammers and well worth there efforts
only if ya have the BOA account
+1 that would have been the signal for me, no account with them, I don't use credit cards, or have paypal account so I ignore all the "help" I get in e-mails....
I think it's safe to assume that ANY email you get purporting to be from a bank or credit card company is bogus. But to be sure, log into your bank/card account directly (NEVER click a link) and check for messages. Or call, if you have the patience to endure the "Press 1 for..." and "Your call is important to us" nightmare.
Any email wanting information from a bank is a no go. Any messages thru a bank will be thru the online account and be secure.
And, if your bank offers "Two phase validation", be sure to take advantage of it. (To log on to the bank website, you first have to enter a code that is sent to you by text, phone call, or email.)
Neal
I get a couple of those emails per month and have never answered them no matter how dire they make it seem. So far so good. I did have a card hacked a couple of years ago and I got a phone call from the bank asking about some charges. They listed the last ten or so charges on the card and we determined what my last actual charge was. My cost for the scam charges was zero. They cancelled the card and I had a new one in 3 days. They had all the information and didn't need me to give them anything. Bob
Had a couple of emails from "Chase" lately, wanting to verify my info. Said to click the link in the email. It came from some weird email address, easy enough to see it was a scam.
Yours sound a lot more sophisticated.
Yeah that's the point, it's easy enough to identify them when the return email is nigeria.com. This one said bankofamerica.com and that's not easy to do. They're stepping up their game.
Basically, any time I get some notice in my email regarding a bank account, I close the email down and go to a web browser and access my account as per normal, or get out a statement and make a phone call using the number on it. I NEVER click a link in an email.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
^^^ What Mr. Perfect (and others) said.
Are the ammo price gougers included in this group?? That's the problem with people these days, it's all about the money. Never mind that the guy that you are depriving of ammo could be the who would help with the defense against elite if he could afford some ammo.
Speaking of scammers- I usually get 3-4 scam phone calls a day on my cell phone. Antique 3 g flip phone. Well, T-Mobile is shutting down 3 G support, offered me a replacement 5 G phone, no charge. LO and BEHOLD- when I get a call from a scammer, new phone opens with a warning- PROBABLE SCAMMER!