Apple "verify your account" scam

I got this today, from supposedly "apple" (not Apple), service@apple.com via gator673.hostgator.com (the fact that it was via hostgator.com was the first sign that this was not authentic)

"Dear Apple Customer,

A failure to Verify your information may result on a suspension of your account. To Verify your Apple ID information click on the following link: 

Verify Now >

Link does not work? Try again may be affected by the speed of the Internet or the site

For more information, see our frequently asked questions.

Thanks,

Apple Customer Support"

This is a scam. The link you go to when clicking "Verify Now" is not going to apple.com but you end up at http://id.apple.com.verify.information.cmd.login.submit.dispatch1q2w33s3f5g6h7.greapm.com.br or something like that. At first glance it might look like a real apple URL because it starts with id.apple.com, but as you can see it continues with a bunch of other stuff and at the end you see that it contains "greapm.com.br", so this site is not on apple.com at all! This an old trick by internet scammers.

Why do they do this? Well, they want you to enter your apple ID on their website, which looks exactly like Apple's web site. They've just copied Apple's look. You must not enter your information here, because you will send it to the scammers instead of Apple. And then they get access to your apple account.

After giving away your account information, they will ask you to verify your creditcard information. Of course, if you do this, they will get access to your credit card information and they will be able to use your card online. They can pretty much take all the money they can possibly get from that card.

This is a very clever scam and I too thought it looked very real. So to help others to not do this mistake, please share it to your friends on social networks to help create awareness of this. I'm not sure how many people have received this email, but there is a great chance that a lot of people might get tricked by this one.

Did you already give up your apple ID password and/or your creditcard details? Change your password  asap and block your card!

"AU Optronics" investment scam

Got a call the other day. As usual the person in the other end sounds really weird as if they are scrambling the voice. I didn't point this out to the person this time. She presented herself as "Sofia Scala" (possibly "Sophia" or "Skala"). She started by referring to a previous phone call to me where I had agreed to talk to an senior analyst. I couldn't remember accepting this, which seemed to surprise her  a little. She asked if I was an investor or if I had made any investments before. I said no. She also commented on that I didn't seem to excited on the phone. That made me feel bad, maybe bad enough to invest in something.

I kept responding to her questions and let her do the talking. I threw in a "aaaah" or a "woow" once in a while, while trying not to sound sarcastic. It sounded like she had intended to discuss a certain prospect for me, but now she was pulling it of the table. She said: "I'm not saying that the prospect I have right now is for you - I don't know you". It made me feel like she was taking away a big opportunity from me - against my will. What is it called, "Reversed psychology?"

She asked me to keep an open mind, and repeated multiple times that she "just wanted to make sure we were on the same page". She said there was a investment limit on her prospect, and that I would have to invest between 0 and 50,000 USD. She added: You don't have to invest anything, you can walk away from this (which is why she said "0"). So she wondered: Is this something you would be able to do? Make an investment between 0 and 50,000 USD? I answered: I can invest $1. She appreciated my sense of humor. It was a pretty dumb question, I thought.

She asked if I was into technology. I said I was "interested" and had to make it clear that I was not an expert in the field (nor a professional). She made it clear that she didn't know the technical bits of this, and that she was going to tell me about this company. It was "AU Optronics", supposedly they have a 25% market share of flat screens around the world. And now they needed my money.

While I believe "AU Optronics" might be a real company, I don't believe these investments are real. I think "AU Optronics" know nothing about this and would not approve. And why would they try to get investors this way? Sending money outside your country to someone you've never heard about is pretty stupid in my opinion. She even mentioned that they were on the NY stock exchange. Why don't I just buy stocks there myself?

I don't have much proof of why this is a scam, except all the signs that I've seen before. Obviously I can't find this Sofia Scala anywhere. I'm also wondering if they are using random names for each person they're calling. This way it will be harder for people to find any blog posts about them being scammers.

Frank Rayhan at Rayhan law firm - SCAM

Got a message on Facebook today. Wow, are people supposed to get so stunned by these amounts that their brains stop working? Could even 1 out of 1,000,000 be so stupid?

Here is the scam message:

Frank Rayhan
Dear Kjeldsen! Kindly be informed that this email that came to your mailbox is not an error but was specifically addressed to you for your consideration. I am an attorney at law and the principal partner of Rayhan law firm. I have a business proposal of $8,950,000.00 USD (Eight million, nine hundred and fifty thousand USD dollars only) in the codicil and last testament of a deceased who happens to be my client by name :(Dr. G. E.Kjeldsen) I am hereby, contacting you because you are qualified by your name identity since you bear the same surname with the deceased and could receive the funds upon claims. Upon your unbiased and speedy response to this call, I will inform you with all the required/necessary details with the modes of the execution of this covenant. Contact me via my private email address: (frankrayhan2013@gmail.com) Sincerely, Frank Rayhan

China Business Consulting

Got a call today from this number: +862151552000 - The voice was weird as if it was modified (as always with these scams). The person who called said that he called from "China Business Consulting" and he made it clear to me that this was NOT about selling and that I didn't have to make any commitment. They were curious about my company and it seems like they got my full name from the Norwegian Company Register.

I was not resisting at all and answered politely to all his questions. What he wanted to do was to get my permission to send me information about various companies. Business opportunities, I assume.

Unfortunately he had to hang up and said "Thank you, good bye" before I had a chance to say anything. Either he found me suspicious or he had spent enough time already. Time will tell, maybe they will contact me in a few days with some opportunities "I can not say no to".

This has SCAM written all over it. Here are some clues (Like I've pointed out so many times before):
- Silly company name that is so easy to understand, yet sound so big; "China Business Consulting"
- Scrambled voice on the phone (probably they don't want any of their staff to be able to be identified by their voice)
- They make it clear (multiple times) that "this is not selling". They all say this, these days. A lot of the same "companies" are started by the same people. They know how to get people to not hang up.

They claimed that they were expanding in my country, but if this was a company with serious intensions, I think they would have an office here. I also think they would have Norwegians call me instead.

"Paypal" scam

Got this email in my spam today, supposedly from PayPal (it's not, it's a scam):


Identity Issue PP-658-119-347

Secure Transaction


Please complete the attached form to verify your Profile information and restore your account access.

Personal Information Profile

Make sure you enter the information accurately, and according to the formats required.
Fill in all the required fields.

Dear customer ,

As part of our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for the online community, we regularly screen account activity. Our review of your account has identified an issue regarding its safe use. We have placed a restriction on your account as a precaution.

To lift the restriction we will require some further information from you.

If, once we review your further information and we're confident that the use of your account does not present a safety risk to our service and customers, we'll be happy to reinstate your account.

We have sent you an attachment which contains all the necessary steps in order to restore your account access. Download and open it in your browser. After we have gathered the necessary information, you will regain full access to your account.


We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Very sincerely,
PayPal Review Department

Mr. Benjamin T. Dabrah, a banker in Ghana

Got this contact request on my Skype:

benjamindabrahem029 (benjamindabraheme)
Hello XXX,   I am sorry to contact you unannounced through this medium. I am Mr. Benjamin T. Dabrah, a banker here in Ghana . I write you this proposal in good faith hoping that I will rely on you . In 2006, one Mr.Daniel XXX who has same surname as yours and who has you....

Ok, that's all I could read. I don't want to add "him" as a contact and chat with him. Ghana... Africa... Why does it give such a negative vibe once you read it in your email etc? And I wonder why they're so honest about it seeing how these countries have gotten such a bad reputation from these so-called "Nigerian scams".  A person who transfers money to Nigeria these days, in order to receive 1000 times more in return, would have to be many times more stupid than the ones who did it before the scam got well-known to the public.

It doesn't matter where he's from. If he contacted you as well, it means that he contacted many people since you managed to find this page. Did he tell you that someone with the same last name as you contacted them in 2006? Maybe he left some money for you down in Ghana. You just have to pay the banker, Mr. Dabrah first. Or maybe it's impossible to get the money out of Ghana without bribing some police officers or perhaps some gerilla troops. Or some lawyers, who knows.

The question I always ask myself is: If they have all this money waiting for me, why can't they just use this money to pay off the people they need to pay off? Maybe if they were transferring some gold to you it would make more sense. But seriously, what kind of banker is going to contact you through Skype to discuss such a matter.

Blemain Finance Limited scam

I recently got this email in Norwegian:

"hallo Trenger du en lån? Hvis ja, kan du komme tilbake for mer informasjon. Jeg venter på svar. Hilsen Anne White"

If I translate it back to English it says something like:

"Hello Need a loan? If yes, please come back for more information. I am waiting for an answer. Greeting Anne White"

Not so much to work with. However, here are some things to notice:

1. The email was sent from bfl1976@wss-id.org through Yahoo. Obviously not a company email. 
2. If you go to http://www.wss-id.org you'll see that it is some kind of "geek community" for Indonesian people. Either the email was "stolen" from the original user, the email was created there to get an email in the first place, or the scammer is indonesian and using his/her own email address registered at this web site. This point is not so important as poinst 1. 
3. If googling "Blemain Finance Limited" I find a company in Manchester, UK. This company is legit. I also find a website with the title "Blemain Finance Group" which has the same logo as in the email. This site is related to the same company in Manchester.
4. By googling "Anne White" on any of these two web sites, I don't get any results. 
5. I doubt that "Anne White" would use bfl1976@wss-id.org as an email.
6. The image used in the email is also downloaded from blemaingroup.co.uk, so it confirms that this is the company they are trying to "impersonate"
7. On this url there is a warning that you can read below: 
8. http://www.blemainfinance.co.uk/consumer.aspx 
9. So please beware that Blemian Group is legit, but this email is a scam.

Warning image from blemainfinance.co.uk:

Update:
I said I was interested in a loan and got this email:

"god dag


Takk for ditt svar til våre innlegg.


Jeg ville like å informere deg om at vi er glad for å ha deg som kunde i dette respektfull selskapet, og vi ser frem til å ha en god forretningssamarbeid med deg.


Svar på e-post må du forstå at dette selskapet gir ut lån til både enkeltpersoner og firmaer over hele verden for økonomisk forbedring og kjøp av egenskaper. Du må også oppmerksom på at dette selskapet gi låne beløpet som strekker seg fra summen av 20,000.00 Eur - 50,000,000.00 Eur og alle lån transaksjonen/beregninger utføres på renten 3 %


Hvis du vil aktivere oss gi deg lån vilkår/betingelser, du bes vennlig om å gi oss med den under informasjon som vil gjøre det mulig for oss fortsette med transaksjonen.


Informasjon som er nødvendig:


Fullt navn:
Land:
Lånebeløpet er nødvendig:
Lån varighet:


Så snart du gi oss med disse opplysningene, vil vi sende deg neste trinn om denne transaksjonen.


Avventer svaret.


Din trofast
Anne White"

in English:

"good day Thanks for your response to our posts. I would like to inform you that we are glad to have you as a customer in this honorable company, and we look forward to having a good business relationship with you. Reply to e-mail, you must understand that this company gives out loans to individuals and companies throughout the world for economic improvement and purchase of properties. You must also be aware that this company provide the loan amount ranging from the sum of 20,000.00 Eur - Eur 50,000,000.00 and all loan transactions / calculations performed on the interest rate 3% To enable us to give you loan terms / conditions, you are kindly requested to provide us with the information that will enable us continue with the transaction. Information needed: Full Name: Country: The loan amount is required: Loan duration: Once you provide us with this information, we will send you the next step of this transaction. Awaiting response. your faithful Anne White"