Trashmail – A Firefox and Chrome Disposable Email Address Add-on

Here’s a little something from Dave Brooks (popular guest author here and, the best computer Tech I know) – “Think I’ll give this (Tweak-SSD) a test drive! I would recommend a Google search and download it from someone other than the author, I’m not handing out my email address (which is required for download) for anyone’s free app, I get enough spam as it is.”

It used to be, that the problem Dave has described wasn’t much of a problem. Not so long ago, developer’s rarely required an email address as a requirement to download an application. How things have changed!

The cost of “free” on the Internet these days – amongst other things – is providing an email address which, far too often will trap users into a revolving game of “catch the spam”. The solution? Create a disposable email address and let someone else worry about the spam.

There are any number of services you can take advantage of – many of them free. For more on this you can checkout this Wikipedia page.

I recently came across something a little different – a Firefox/Chrome add-on – TrashMail. Using TrashMail you can create a disposable email address (or addresses for that matter), at Trashmail.net. All email to this address/s will be forwarded to your real email address for the number of times you have selected.

When that limit is reached, the Trashmail.net email address will be automatically deleted. Further emails to that address will be rejected at Trashmail.net.

Following installation – and, a Firefox restart, the first thing you’ll need to do is set up a new account (in other words, register) with  TrashMail.net, at the site – as illustrated below.

Once you’ve successfully completed the registration process, look for a confirmation email in your inbox.

You will need to click on the link in the email to confirm that you are “you”.

Which, will generate the following notification.

You’re now good to go. Revisit the site – login – and set up your first alias email account. Pay particular attention to “Number of forwards”. You must select a number (other than unlimited), in order to prevent an error code.

The following notification will be generated.

Once you’ve set up your first alias address, setting up additional addresses  becomes less complex. Signing in to the site brings up the following window in which a couple of clicks does the job.

You can change the default settings easily from the Firefox _ Tools – Add-ons – menu.

Additionally, clicking on the TrashMail icon (from the Firefox Add-on Bar) will give you access to Address Manager from which you can “Edit” or “Delete”, your alias email addresses.

By now, you may well be thinking that this is a complex process – and, to some extent, I suspect that it should be streamlined somewhat. But, here’s the real benefit.

From now on, anytime you’re asked to provide an email address – for whatever reason – you simple click in the email entry box – right click on “Paste disposable address”…….

which will bring up the selection window as shown below. Click on “Create email, and…..

…….your alias email address is automatically entered.

Fast facts:

Challenge response system – Filters incoming messages by a CAPTCHA system.

Send e-mails by web interface – You can send e-mails by a SSL secure web form with TrashMail Plus.

Address name reservation for 365 days – After a TrashMail address has been deleted, the TrashMail address name will be reserved for 365 days for the real e-mail address from which it was used last time before it will be released for other real e-mail addresses.

Multiple domain names – Currently there are 11 domain names available which can be used for TrashMail.

Address masking on reply – When someone replies to an TrashMail address, this option can mask the responders e-mail address by replacing the responders e-mail address by the TrashMail alias name (just as host name, domain name and IP addresses will also replaced by localhost, localdomain and the IP address 127.0.0.1).

Distinct e-mail source – Each user can define a key which is used in the TrashMail e-mail header to make sure the e-mail was actually sent by the TrashMail system.

Additional header information – To each e-mail forwarded to your real e-mail address, a few header lines will be added to provide some additional information for the TrashMail customer.

Backup mail server – If our main server smtp.trashmail.net would be offline, then our backup server mx1.trashmail.net will take over incoming e-mails. The backup server is located in a different datacenter for high-availability reasons.

Secure HTTPS requests – Web requests are handled by the encrypted HTTPS protocol.

Number of maximum active disposable email addresses – 300 for non Plus members. 2500 for Plus members.

Price – free with limited features. Alternatively, TrashMail Plus with all features for $12.99 USD per year.

Download the Firefox add-on at: Mozilla

A Chrome version is also available and can be downloaded at the Chrome Web Store.

The developer has provided an excellent video tutorial on how to install, configure, and use the TrashMail.net Firefox Add-On. Click on the graphic below to view.

Admittedly, there is some upfront work involved in setting up TrashMail, but once this one time task is completed – you’re cruising. There are a number of different ways to work with TrashMail, and in this review, I’ve described the method that worked best for me. With a little experimenting, you may well find a more appropriate method for your specific needs.

The Right Way To Respond To A Fake “Confirm PayPal Account” Phishing Email

Regular readers here are smart people – very smart people. Over the last few years I’ve come to know many of them. And, none better than John Bent – my good buddy from the UK. In fact, John is the third leading commenter on this site.

I don’t mind saying, that I look forward with some anticipation to John’s comments – he is, in a sense, a writer in disguise. And, a good one at that. But, best of all, John’s comments invariable hold more than a nugget of cyber wisdom.

The following comment (from earlier today), sets out how John – a super user – responded to a PayPal account phishing email. There’s a strong lesson to be learned here – for all of us.

Hi Bill,

Re:https: Fake “confirm PayPal Account” email leads to phishing.

The version I received told me that my account had been changed to “limited” status, because of “suspected invalid use by a third party”. The cheek of these people!

I have to say it was a very good imitation, so I took it seriously enough to open a new browser window to check my account directly, NOT via the link in the email. Surprise, surprise – no mention of my account being limited.

While I was on their site, I found the address to forward suspected phishing emails to; I know, I ended a sentence with a preposition, so sue me. I always make a point of forwarding these emails to the appropriate address; a link to this can usually be found on the home page, not always easily.

I guess they do not want to highlight this problem too clearly, probably regarding it as the customer’s problem rather than theirs; how’s that for customer service?

If I still had any doubts, the sender’s email address was a complete giveaway; no mention of PayPal anywhere. One final thing, if this kind of email is genuine, it usually addresses the account holder by name and will NEVER ask you to click on a link and input sensitive information.

Kind regards
John

The sidebar on this site sets out the following – “Comments are an important feature of this Blog.” John’s comment is a perfect example of how one reader’s comment can be a teaching moment for others.

Thank you John for taking time to fill in the blanks.

Updated – July 30, 2012.

Heads up on another attempted PayPal scam. This one was confirmation of a supposed payment to Skype of £46.49 gbp. Thoughtfully a link was provided so that I can raise a dispute if I have “issues” with the payment. This is, of course, a devious way to harvest your login details so that the scamscum can actually take money from your account

Of course I know I’ve never paid anything for Skype and a quick check on my account confirmed this.

 

 

 

Lookeen – An Outlook Search Add-on That’s FAST!

Currently, there’s a BlackBerry commercial running here in Canada in which a young woman declares that she gets over 1,000 emails a day. I have to admit, that the 1,000+ emails that she purportedly receives daily, led me to do a little figuring. Truth in advertising and all that.

Assuming that each email takes one minute to read, that translates into 16+ hours devoted to just reading emails. Perhaps it takes less time than that but, even cutting the read time in half would result in a full 8 hour day devoted to just reading emails.

Riding this train of thought, led me to consider just how this young woman managed (assuming that what she claims is true), to handle the time constraints imposed by this massive volume of correspondence – assuming, that at least some of these emails would require an after the fact action plan.

How would she, for example, search for and find, relevant emails, attachments, appointments, tasks, notes and contacts in a rather extensive  email achieve? And, do so quickly and efficiently – no small task.

Coincidentally, at roughly the same time that I was putting myself through mental contortions in an attempt to break down the 1,000+ email claim, I was offered an opportunity to take Lookeen, an email search solution designed to integrate seamlessly into Microsoft Outlook, for a test ride.

Fast facts:

• Massive increase of E-Mail search speed
• Finds e-Mails, attachments, appointments, tasks, notes and contacts
• Supports Exchange Server, Public Folder and external PST-archives
• Integrated Desktop Search: Search in local and Network Files
• For enterprises: Central Indexing reduces Server and Network Traffic
• Over 500.000 installations worldwide
• Installation in a few clicks

Following an easy installation, the application launches into a brief tutorial as illustrated in the following self-explanatory screen captures.

Step one.

Step two.

Step three.

Step four.

Step five.

As shown in the following screen capture, you’ll note that Lookeen adds a simple, yet helpful, search box to Outlook.

Did I mention FAST?

In the following quick search, the application pulled up 697 related items in three tenths of a second.

In a more focused search, the application pulled up 79 related items in two tenths of a second.

In this brief overview, I’ve barely touched on the functionality of this super little Outlook add-on. You can also expect the following:

Lookeen will search everywhere in your Outlook data.

Have every email at your fingertips – no matter how much data you have!

The integrated real-time-indexing enables you to search your local emails (PST), Exchange Server, Public Folder, your complete desktop, and even network files, all while Lookeen is indexing your files.

Lookeen will find every mail – even in the largest of archives.

Execute parallel searches for e-mails, attachments, appointments, tasks, notes and contacts.

Integrated Desktop search enables you to search in documents and PDFs.

Install and manage Lookeen in your enterprise with group policies (Lookeen Business Edition) and use the Lookeen Shared Index feature to reduce server traffic (Lookeen Enterprise Edition).

You can download Lookeen and try it for free for 14 days.

Download at: Lookeen.

As for the young woman’s claim of 1,000 emails a day? Yeah, sure.  

A big “Thank You” to regular reader Lee Garber for taking the time to point me towards this application. Thanks Lee.

MailWasher Pro 2012 Free Today Only @ BitsDuJour – Save $29.95

Today only, the giveaway site BitsDuJour is offering MailWasher Pro 2012, the highly rated anti-spam utility – FREE. The free licensed product can be installed on up to three machines.

From the developer’s site:

MailWasher has deservedly earned its reputation as one of the worlds top anti-spam products. With over 8 million users around the world and features on both BBC and CNN you can be confident that it is one of the easiest ways to get rid of spam.

Spam can’t get to your inbox.

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Unbeatable spam detection tools.

Advanced spam detection technology and tools do all the hard work for you by automatically marking spam emails and flagging them for deletion.

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Preview all incoming mail before downloading it

Instantly preview all incoming email and decide what do do before it even reaches your computer. No more time wasted downloading annoying emails with huge attachments.

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No brainer setup. Quick and easy to use.

So easy to setup and use. Automatically pull down all your mail settings and contact information so you can start blocking spam like a pro in no time.

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Go to: Bitsdujour.com

Please follow the download instructions exactly.

Available languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Polish, Dutch, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Ukranian, Swedish, Russian, Czech, Norwegian, Armenian, Croatian, Danish, Japanese, Portuguese and Pirate!

Email That Vanishes – “Burn” Your Emails With Free Burn Note

Email that vanishes – which is the driver behind Burn Note – is nothing new. I first came across similar types of services/applications/plug-ins, ten or more years ago. And, as is often the case with such specialty services, over time, all of them pulled their own vanishing act. Shazam! Gone – into the wild blue.

Frankly, I had no enthusiasm for disappearing email then – nor, am I keen on what the use of such a service might imply – now. * More on that, in a moment.

Nevertheless, I took a quick look at Burn Note – (a recent arrival in this arena – January 30, 2012), since I have little doubt, that there are circumstance in which disappearing email could have value. Exchanging passwords, for example, comes to mind as a practical use. On the other hand, some might say – an email that vanishes (in terms of its effect), is little different than a telephone call.

Still, you, or someone you know, may have practical reasons to engage this type of service. Personally, I fail to see the benefit, but……

From the site:

What’s a Burn Note?

A Burn Note is an online message which can be read only once by the recipient. Each Burn Note has a unique link that can be sent via email, text message, or other digital means. A Burn Note link takes the recipient to a cover page where they can be read and then destroys the Burn Note. Once a Burn Note has been read it cannot be viewed again.

When does a Burn Note get deleted?

By default each Burn Note has a timer after which time it will be automatically deleted. The timer starts as soon as the recipient begins viewing the message. If the sender chooses not to use a timer then the Burn Note will remain visible until the recipient manually deletes it or leaves the page.

Can the recipient copy and paste the contents of a Burn Note?

By default Burn Notes are created with the “Read out” display option which prevents the recipient from copy and pasting their contents. The “Keyhole” display option also prevents copy and paste of note contents. To allow the recipient to copy and paste the note contents use the “Plain text” display option.

Can the recipient take a screenshot of the contents of a Burn Note?

By default Burn Notes are created with the “Read out” display option which prevents the recipient from taking a screenshot of the entire note. It does this by breaking the note contents into short phrases and displaying them one at a time.

A quick walkthrough:

On the site, simply write and address your message (opening an account is not a requirement to use the service). Pay particular attention to the “Options” menu, since it is here that you will set the parameters for the vanishing “act”.

Note: The password (if you choose one), must be sent under separate cover. Impractical I think – but, there it is.

As you can see in the following screen capture – a link to the test message appeared in my inbox (within a few seconds). The recipient will have an opportunity to have the “what the hell is this?” query answered – by way of additional links.

Clicking on the primary link took me onward to the Burn Note site.

Since I had set the “no copying” parameters in the Options menu, I could not copy the message – nor could I capture a screen shot. Believe me – I tried – and tried.

True to the service provider’s claim – the email was in fact – burned.

To checkout this service, go to: Burn Note

The technology behind this – now you see it; now you don’t – is relatively simple. It’s based on encrypted keys which gradually “fade away”. Simply put – no keys – no message.

* It would be foolhardy to assume that this type of service can’t, or won’t be used, for activities contrary to the Terms of Use. I can’t think of a current connected device technology which can’t be abused. Or, one which is being used exclusively,  for its intended purpose.

Update: A number of readers have advised me that, in fact, they have been able to capture message images using various applications, including CamStudio and Ashampoo Snap. It seems that this service might not be ready for prime time after all.

Update 2: The following screen capture submitted by regular reader Cliff R., clearly shows this service has an issue which needs to be recognized by the developer.

 

Valentine’s “Love” In Your Inbox – Could Be Malware On Your Computer.

Valentine’s Day will be on us before we know it – so, it’s not too early to get ready for the deluge of  “I love you”, “Wish you were mine”………………., and of course, the customary – “Happy Valentine’s Day” emails.

Hopefully, you will have a Happy Valentine’s Day – but, that happy feeling could be ruined, if you fall victim to the explosion of “spam and scam” that’s aimed at lovers, this time of year –  every year. Much of it designed to take a swing at unsuspecting users machines – leading to a malware infection.

In previous years, starting  just about this time, we saw abnormally high rates of this type of spam and, since cyber crooks are opportunity driven; we’ll see much more of this type of cybercriminal activity this year, I expect.

Perhaps you’re a very cool person who’s significant other is always sending you neat little packages in your email. MP3 files, screensavers, cartoons, YouTube videos, and the like. Could be – you get them so often, that you just automatically click on the email attachment without even thinking. If, you are this type of person, here’s a word of advice – start thinking.

The hook, as it always is in this type of socially engineered email scam, is crafted around exploiting emotions. We’re all pretty curious creatures and, let’s face it, who doesn’t like surprises. I think it’s safe to say, we all find it difficult, if not impossible, to not peek at love notes received via email.

The unfortunate truth is, these spam emails often contain links that deliver advertisements, or worse – redirect the victim to an unsafe site from which malware can be installed on the victim’s computer.

Here’s a tip – If you see something along the lines of – This email contains graphics, so if you don’t see them, view it in your browser – consider very carefully – before you click on the link.

A couple of years ago, a friend, who is an astute and aware computer user, fell for one of these carefully crafted teasing emails. On opening the email, he was taken to a site which had pictures of hearts and puppies, and was then asked to choose which one was for him. You’ll notice that “choosing” involved opening an executable file – a cardinal sin.

Fortunately, he got his geek on in time – common sense prevailed, and he backed out of this site. If he had clicked on this executable file, he would have begun the process of infecting his machine with a Trojan. A Trojan which, in this case, connected to a remote command and control site – (effectively, turning over control of his computer to a cybercriminal). Nasty – I think you’ll agree.

Experienced users are on guard year round for these, and other types of scam/spam email.

You know what to do; right?

Don’t open emails that come from untrusted sources.

Don’t run files that you receive via email without making sure of their origin.

Don’t click links in emails. If they come from a known source, type them on the browser’s address bar.

If they come from an untrusted source, simply ignore them, as they could take you to a web site designed to download malware onto your computer.

Cyber crooks have moved on from using just emails, as a malware delivery vehicle. So, be on the lookout for fraudulent Valentine’s Day greetings in:

Instant Messenger applications.

Twitter.

Facebook.

Chat forums, and so on.

This just in @ 11:56

Uzbekistan Government Cancels Valentine’s Day

That settles it – I’m not giving any Uzbek women my love in protest. Sorry ladies.   🙂

OMG! Mark Zuckerberg Sent ME An Email!

What a rush! Mark Zuckerberg knows I exist and, even better than that – he just gave me $200. Yes! $200! Thanks Mark; I’ll get right on that.  

You don’t believe me I hear you saying – then, take a peek at this email from my Gmail spam box. Oops, I’ve just given myself away – haven’t I? The email is in my SPAM box. With good reason, of course.

While it’s true, that in this particular case, spam filters have isolated this email as both spam and a probable fraud – do not rely on filters as the ultimate safeguard. That’s your job – you are your own best protection.

Click to expand.

As an experience and educated surfer, you’re quite use to navigating over the rough trails of the “Wild West” Internet. You know, that this email is just too preposterous to be taken seriously. Although, as difficult as it is to believe, there are those who are gullible enough to  respond.

If you’re a regular reader here, please forgive me for repeating the following same old – same old – advice.

Be kind to your friends, relatives, and associates, particularly those who are new Internet users, and let them know that there is an epidemic of this type of scam on the Internet. In doing so, you help raise the level of protection for all of us.

A technical approach to protecting yourself against fraudsters:

Check whether the email was authenticated by the sending domain. Click on the ‘show details’ link in the right hand corner of the email, and make sure the domain you see next to the ‘mailed-by’ or ‘signed-by’ lines matches the sender’s email address.

Make sure the URL domain on the given page is correct, and click on any images and links to verify that you are directed to proper pages within the site.

Always look for the closed lock icon in the status bar at the bottom of your browser window whenever you enter any private information, including your password.

Check the message headers. The ‘From:’ field is easily manipulated to show a false sender name. Learn how to view headers.

If you’re still uncertain, contact the organization from which the message appears to be sent. Don’t use the reply address in the message, since it can be forged. Instead, visit the official website of the company in question, and find a different contact address.

How gullible can people be? When Michael Jackson passed, I wrote a piece entitled “Hey Sucker – Read This! Michael Jackson’s Not Dead!”, simply as a test of “curiosity exploitation”.

The results that followed were astonishing – within days, this article was getting thousands of daily hits. Even today, this article continues to get hits. Talk about gullible people!

I Love Email, But….

I love email – I do – really. I have to love it – I certainly get enough, and send enough; so I have to kind of, sort of – love it. There are some issues with personal email though, that tone down the love quotient – “unlovely” issues.

Number one on my “unlovely” list – the “forward to everyone you know” email. Too often, this type of email turns out to be plain old B.S – otherwise known as a myth. I do wish that my connections who forward this type of aggravating nonsense would drop by Snopes.com (the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation), before hitting the send button.

I wish I’d written the following rant regarding forwarded emails – it sums up my perspective, nicely –

If you’re going to forward something, at least send me something mildly amusing. I’ve seen all the “send this to 10 of your closest friends, and this poor, wretched excuse for a human being will somehow receive a nickel from some omniscient being”.

Show a little intelligence and think about what you’re actually contributing to by sending out these forwards. Chances are it’s our own unpopularity.

The point being? If you get some chain letter that’s threatening to
leave you shagless or luckless for the rest of your life, delete
it.

Don’t piss people off by making them feel guilty about a leper in Botswana with no teeth who has been tied to the ass of a dead elephant for 27 years and whose only salvation is the 5 cents per letter he’ll receive if you forward this email.

Now forward this to everyone you know.

Otherwise, tomorrow morning your underwear will turn carnivorous and will consume your genitals.

Number two on my list – the “hang my email address out there for everyone to see” email – or, the famous “I’ve never heard of the Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) option in email.”

Here’s an example of this type of email I received just yesterday, in my private email inbox, from a friend. There are more than three times as many exposed email addresses as I’ve shown in this screen capture.

So what’s the big deal? Well, here’s the big deal –

This email has taken away my control of who has access to my private email address. I have no way of controlling how often my email address gets forwarded or, to whom.

Experience has taught me – there is now a good chance that this address will end up on a spammers list. Spammers comb the Web specifically seeking out email address which have been published in the clear. Since I have lost control over this address it’s now fair game for spammers. Drat!

Contrast this with the following forwarded email (again, from a friend), who has had the courtesy to use Bcc in order not to expose the recipients email addresses.

My good buddy Rick Robinette, over at What’s On My PC, has written an excellent piece on Bcc – Tip: Bcc Protects Private Email Addresses – which is definitely worth a read.

Here’s a sample from that article –

The benefits of using the Bcc field is simply this. You are protecting the privacy of other people. Currently I have approximately (5)-five email accounts that I use for specific purposes, from a variety of email services, with one of those accounts being my primary email account. I am very protective of that primary email account address and do not want it thrown about for the spammers to get hold of or for strangers to see.

For example, I have found people’s email addresses in forwarded emails that I know and have not seen for years. They are very surprised when I contact them; and, will often ask, “How did you get my email?”. I explain that I simply pulled it from a forwarded email.

Number three on my list – the “religious and political commentary” email. This type of email (usually a forwarded email), often tends to lean, more than slightly, to a rightwing extremist point of view – an unbalanced opinion, decidedly unsupported by facts.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate political commentary or discourse but, I can’t help wondering if any consideration is ever given (by the sender), to my personal point of view. It seems – not. Annoying as hell.

There you have it – my rant for the month of September.  

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3..2..1 – UPS Malware Blasts Off!

My friends over at Commtouch, got me on the horn to advise me that the UPS email scam (with malware attached), has bounced up significantly. From what I can see, the malware is a Fake Alert Tojan which installs a rogue security application. So, be on your guard.

I’m on vacation this week, so I’ll post the Commtouch Café blog article verbatim.

A wild malware rollercoaster – over 500% increase

The UPS name is once again being used to spread vast amounts of email-attached malware.   The last week has seen an extraordinary increase – over 5.5 times the average level before the outbreak.  The attack closely resembles the large outbreak reported on at the end of March.  The graph below illustrates the increase:

There are numerous versions of the email text – some examples:

Good afternoon!

Dear Client , Recipient’s address is wrong

Please fill in attached file with right address and resend to your personal manager

With best regards , Your USPS .com Customer Services

Good afternoon!

Dear User , Delivery Confirmation: FAILED

Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our department

With respect to you , Your UPS Services

GOOD AFTERNOON!

Dear Client , We were not able to delivery the postal package

Please fill in attached file with right address and resend to your personal manager

With Respect , Your UPS .COM

ATTENTION!

DEAR CLIENT , RECIPIENT’S ADDRESS IS WRONG

PLEASE PRINT OUT THE INVOICE COPY ATTACHED AND COLLECT THE PACKAGE AT OUR DEPARTMENT

With best wishes , Your USPS .us Customer Services

These emails also come with a range of subjects such as:

• USPS Attention 060532
• USPS: DELIVER CONFIRMATION – FAILED 17592718
• USPS id. 182407
• USPS DELIVERY CONFIRMATION 7264145
• From USPS 4009717
• Your USPS id. 44531036
• USPS ATTENTION 44123265

In the previous attack the filenames were quite limited – unlike this attack – some examples:

• “ups_NR9Yl2673.zip”
• “Ups_NR5pY500268590.zip”
• “UPS_NR5Da3052.zip”
• “MyUps_NR9hN8574.zip”
• “MYUPS_NR5gX736615890.zip”

Reminder: In the last series of attacks the subjects were changed to use the DHL brand a few days after the initial attack.

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Don Gunshot – The Hitman With A Heart e-Blackmail

I sometimes wonder if it isn’t a prerequisite that Nigerian scammer wannabes are required to graduate “comedy school”, before they get their scammers license and are set free to practice their newfound skills on the marginally intelligent.

In a new twist on an old theme (the infamous 419 scam), Nigerian scammers have upped the ante in a variant of their usual email scam nonsense – the hitman, “I’m gonna kill you” email. These fear-provoking emails (at least they’re intended to be scary), contain a threat that the recipient will be murdered by – are you ready for this – “Don Gunshot”.

But, Don is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill “I’m gonna blast ya out of your shoes” hitman. No, Don it seems, has a big heart. For a measly $5000, Don will take you off the list of his current projects. Just in case you might think that Don is no gentleman, he’s gone the extra mile and politely signed off on the email, with a kindly – Regard(s). Too funny!

Hitman emails are not a new threat – they’ve  been circulating on the Internet since at least early in 2007. They come; they go, and come and go again.

So it’s hardly surprising to see that Symantec has just identified a new wave of hitman emails currently making the rounds. Although there are many variations of this email, here’s one example:

Click graphic to expand to original size.

Graphic courtesy of Symantec.

On a more serious note:

Don’t act fast as Don suggests. Don’t send $5000. Do contact the Police – this an attempt at extortion.

This scam illustrates the lengths to which these crooks will go to entrap the unwary and gullible. Unfortunately, the description “unwary and gullible”, is easily applied to substantial numbers of Internet users.

As an experienced and cautious Internet user, it’s safe to say that you will not be deceived by this type of clumsy attempt to defraud but, you might be surprised how often reasonably intelligent people are.

So, be kind to your friends, relatives, and associates, particularly those who are new Internet users, and let them know that there is an epidemic of 419 scams on the Internet. In doing so, you help raise the level of protection for all of us.

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