Tag Archives: hacking

Twitter DM Phishing Scams – Have I been hacked ?

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What are these Phishing Scams on Twitter

Direct Messages on Twitter with the subject line as

  • lol u didn’t see them tapping u
  • your in this
  • Hey this person is writing cruel things about you
  • wow your busted in this video
  • fb is offering freee apple ipadds 2
  • Hey this user is writing cruel things about you
  • OMG your in this
  • and more…….

The first thing we notice is, that most of the time, the grammar or the spelling is incorrect   –  Some lately are coming through with a link that looks like it comes from Facebook – so this is fooling even more people than before – I am seeing these posts almost every day.

What happens when you click on a scam link

Normally what happens is that you  appear to be logged out of Twitter and made to log in again – and HEY Presto – the scammers have your details and password – and start sending out DM’s – they are quite clever only doing one every couple of days so it takes a while for you to notice or for someone to complain.

Have I been hacked

You have only been hacked as you call it,  because you clicked a link like this.

If you have clicked on a link like this, then you need to change your password and just check in your auth to make sure that you haven’t authorised something that shouldn’t be authorised.

How to stop getting Phished by a hacker

Don’t click links that are dmed to you unless you have spoken to the person and they have said they are going to send you a link – there is no reason for anyone to DM links, twitter is about keeping it out in the open.   Especially annoying is those auto DM’s but thats another story, I just delete all DM’s that I wasn’t expecting to receive, this will hopefully protect me from these scams, but they are getting clever with the Facebook links – whats next!?

Hope this helps

 

Email hacker Simon Ashton is it a Hoax ?

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Simon Ashton must be a famous email hacker by now!

I was shocked and surprised to receive in my email a hacker hoax that has been going around since 1995 – Do you remember those? Every other email in your Hotmail box was a FW of spam!  Lots of spam!  NOW this virus warning email has made its way to my Gmail, and I don’t like that. 

The email says

VERY URGENT – PLEASE READ – NOT A JOKE

IF A PERSON CALLED SIMON ASHTON ( SIMON25@HOTMAIL.CO.UK ) CONTACTS YOU THROUGH EMAIL DON’T OPEN THE MESSAGE. DELETE IT BECAUSE HE IS A HACKER!!

TELL EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST ADDS HIM THEN YOU WILL GET HIM ON YOUR LIST. HE WILL FIGURE OUT YOUR ID COMPUTER ADDRESS, SO COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE EVEN IF YOU DON’T CARE FOR THEM AND FAST BECAUSE IF HE HACKS THEIR EMAIL HE HACKS YOUR MAIL TOO!!!!!…..

Anyone-using Internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning, Direct from both Microsoft and Norton. Please send it to everybody you know who has access to the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless e-mail titled ‘Mail Server Report’

If you open either file, a message will appear on your screen saying: ‘It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful.’

Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC,
And the person who o sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail and password.

This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the anti virus software’s are not capable of destroying it .

The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself ‘life owner’..

PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, And ask them to
PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!

Photo by Ciccio Pizzettaro c/o Flickr Creative Commons

Firstly the warning didn’t arrive this morning, from Microsoft and Norton, this email is 15 years old at least!  And there is no way that Simon Ashton can hack you from adding you to his list.   Its absolute rubbish. If this guy ever even existed he’s probably retired by now! Lol This is just a bogus hacker warning that does nothing but get in the way.

No one knows why this started, some say hackers just did it for a laugh to see how far they could fool people, others say its a great way to gain email addresses, if everyone sends it too everyone in their contacts list. However, its so old now, its probably not being used for anything at all. 

Don’t forward on these things, they are annoying pieces of spam. It doesn’t help anyone, if you want to watch out for warnings – bookmark my website!

If you get this email or similar, tell the person that sent it that is it a hoax and direct them to here so they can read for themselves.

I don’t think hackers are particularlly worried about email any more, they are far more busy with our social networking sites.

The only way to gain access to your accounts are via your password – they get this by either just guessing, sending bogus messages so you enter your password (phishing) or via keystroke capturing. Which can also come from bogus messages/links.

Remember never forward or click any links that you are not sure about.  Google it first, Google is your friend :)

Hope this helps

 

Photos by Ciccio Pizzettaro c/o Flickr Creative Commons