Posts Tagged ‘scam’

Starbucks Corporation is Handing Away 100% Free Cards

Geek | Posted by Dean
Jan 16 2012

A free card

A free Starbucks card


I have been bombarded with SPAM over the last few days in relation to the following e-mail scam that involves free cards from Starbucks.

I cant believe it, Starbucks Corporation is handing away 100% free cards. Hurry fast, Don’t hold off any time. Here is site – {URL_REMOVED} Theres only 316 more!!

Quote of the Day

that they were rather coarse, broad, with squat fingers. of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan tries me,

This he backed up with arguments regarding his complete recovery,

This threat is a variation of Sophos Naked Security | Free coffee from Starbucks and Tim Hortons? No, it’s a Facebook scam. As you can see it is months old now. The e-mail variant has the same risks associated with it.

I find it entertaining that getting a free card would be a compelling reason to risk the security of your data. It does not say that the free card entitles you to anything. Let’s face it, every coffee shop known to man will give you a loyalty card for free. It is only after you have bought a set amount of coffee that you get a free coffee. This set-up does not say anything about this mythical card entitling you to a free coffee, and really is the prospect of saving $3.50 – $5.00 that enticing compared to losing all your data?

If nothing else tells you that this is a scam then the “Quote of the Day” should. Honestly what does that nonsense truly mean and who writes that way? It looks like a cut and paste from a Mills and Boone trash novel and a medical report. Clearly this is a program that has a random phrase generator and is used to try and fool the spam detectors into thinking it is a legitimate transmission.

My advice is to update your defences and be on guard. Common sense goes a long way in protecting yourself from being duped on such matters. I mean if it was a door to door salesman with no credentials, or a telemarketer named Mark Stevenson with an Indian accent, would you not think twice? E-mail, Facebook, Twitter etc. deserve the same level of vigilance and skepticism. Without that you will fall foul of the dark side. Perhaps not as badly as the South Koreans recently rescued from being kidnapped in South Africa after falling for a 419 email scam as per Sophos Naked Security | Police rescue man and daughter kidnapped by email scammers, but duped nonetheless.

Do not fall for this garbage people.

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Phone Scammer Rage

General | Posted by Dean
Aug 16 2011

I just busted a phone scammer in under 2 minutes. Heres how.

My suspicions started when there was a long delay ~30 seconds between answering the phone and them speaking, typical of international calls originating from the sub-continent. My suspicions were maximised when he introduced himself as Mark Stevenson from an Australian government department, despite his thick Indian accent and the delay mentioned before.

All I did was snigger after listening to the convoluted and preposterous setup. The scam was supposedly due to overcharged bank fees that were done without any audit trail visible to me in the amount of a few cents here and there. Basically the scam tries to hook onto the conspiracy theory that the banks are scamming us all, ironic hey.

The scam goes along the lines that the Australian government filed a suit against all the banks claiming this practice was illegal and won. They then set up this mythical Governmet Department who determined that he banks scammed me and I was due a compensation payout of $3697. How would I like to receive the payment?

After the set-up it went like this:

Me: *giggle in disbelief*
Cyber-criminal: “Why are you laughing? … You f’n mofo c”.
Me: *giggle* “This sounds like such a scam.” *giggle*
Cyber-criminal: “How do you know that … You mofo”
Me: “You calling me an f’n mofo c is a pretty good indicator, plus you have given me no identification”
Cyber-criminal: “I told you where I was from … d sucker”
Me: *giggle in satisfaction that I have him on the run*
Cyber-criminal: “You p sucker”
Me: *smile* “Nothing wrong with that”
Cyber-criminal: “How many times you have sex with your wife last night?”
Me: “How was it witn your grandmother?” *realise I am bored with the pea brain and hang-up*

i just can’t believe how easy it was for this guy to be sprung. He was personally offended that he was busted in under 2 mniutes. Surely if you are a scam artist you should be able to cope when busted, not fly off the handle and throw offensive aspersions at your intended victim.

Pretty rough when the criminals can’t cop it, then again perhaps his criminal overlord is expecting a commission.

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