News from A Writer's Edge
Last week was relatively exciting in A Writer's Edge's webby world. The glad news was that this blog and/or its author appeared on three lists of notable women writers who blog. At least, I think that sums up the general idea. Our grateful thanks to:
And the bad news is that twice I was almost fooled by incoming email messages. One was spam and the other a phishing expedition by someone trying to get into my Amazon account (why?).
Folks, these turd nerds are getting so good at their con games that I was this close to posting about a recommended website. As I studied the site, itty bitty warning bells rang, however, and I was able to snatch back a reply from the outgoing emailbox before it vanished. What triggered the tiny tingles? The person who wrote used my name, flattered my website by asking about the design, didn't really identify an affiliation, and signed the name "Jennifer" (no last name). The message raved about a site supposedly for research, listed a blog at a different website address, and the return address was at yet another site which returns a "401" (no access) message if you try to look at it. Also, the recommended site had a section labeled "Coupons", and the other was a shopping mall. Finally, I did a "Whois" on all domain names and found matching addresses for the owners of two of them. Bingo! Spaaaaaam! Sing a song of "nyahs!"
As for the Amazon phish file, purportedly it was to help me change my password. I had not asked to change my password. How dumb is that? I sent it immediately to Amazon with the headers included, and Amazon shot back its standard, "no, not from us". But it was soooo good looking. I checked EVERY aspect of that email message, and damn if it didn't look legitimate.
Take care, dear Readers. The web is a wonderful and dangerous place.
- Phil Gerbyshak for inclusion on The W-List Expanded at 100 Bloggers
- Lillie Ammann's mention in Blogs by and for Writers at A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye
- Jennifer Mattern's The Big List of Writing Blogs at All Freelance Writing
And the bad news is that twice I was almost fooled by incoming email messages. One was spam and the other a phishing expedition by someone trying to get into my Amazon account (why?).
Folks, these turd nerds are getting so good at their con games that I was this close to posting about a recommended website. As I studied the site, itty bitty warning bells rang, however, and I was able to snatch back a reply from the outgoing emailbox before it vanished. What triggered the tiny tingles? The person who wrote used my name, flattered my website by asking about the design, didn't really identify an affiliation, and signed the name "Jennifer" (no last name). The message raved about a site supposedly for research, listed a blog at a different website address, and the return address was at yet another site which returns a "401" (no access) message if you try to look at it. Also, the recommended site had a section labeled "Coupons", and the other was a shopping mall. Finally, I did a "Whois" on all domain names and found matching addresses for the owners of two of them. Bingo! Spaaaaaam! Sing a song of "nyahs!"
As for the Amazon phish file, purportedly it was to help me change my password. I had not asked to change my password. How dumb is that? I sent it immediately to Amazon with the headers included, and Amazon shot back its standard, "no, not from us". But it was soooo good looking. I checked EVERY aspect of that email message, and damn if it didn't look legitimate.
Take care, dear Readers. The web is a wonderful and dangerous place.
Labels: blogging, promotion, technology
3 Comments:
It pays to be careful. These scammers are so good.
YEs, they are getting incredibly good. I almost got fooled by the ROyal bank but I have a policy of never responding to any official emails. I always go to the source site and see what's up there. Good thing because that Royal Bank one was *good*.
Royal Bank, Marjike--oh, yeah! I've received those, too. What confounds me is that this one linked to a URL that begins "https://amazon.com" and when I tried it out, it brought up Amazon's page! So how were they going to intercept my changed password, I wondered? Now, I think I will change it all! I have the creepy feeling of being stalked by professionals!
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