At the weekend I received a curious email with the subject line "Important ecard notification".
Having worked in the computer security industry for many years, I knew it was likely to be up to no good, but I was quite bemused by the other email addresses it had cc'd into the message.
Wow - that's my old email address from when I used to work at the late, lamented Dr Solomon's anti-virus company - I haven't had access to that email address since the 20th century, but somehow the spammers have managed to grab it.
And Lord knows where they've got that Microsoft address from - maybe they know something I don't? I wasn't even aware that I'd ever worked for them!
You shouldn't, of course, click on links sent to you in unsolicited messages like this. Even if you do know someone called Bertha.
But I bravely investigated on your behalf. And if you do follow the link, you get taken to a webpage which has a message designed especially for you.
Lover,
This is hard for me because I have never done anything like this.. but I have a huge crush on you. I have never been able to tell you for reasons which you would quickly identify as obvious if you knew who this was.To help you out with your guessing I made a few pictures and videos with "Lover" written on my body. They're kind of risque photos so I had to make a profile at My Site and post them there. My username in the members area is "LoverandME200"
You've only got 30 minutes to signup & secure anonymous verify your identity before they expire. I only have 1 chance to find you I don't want to regret this.. Please hurry.
Step 1: Go to "my profile" and signup.
Step 2: You will be sent an email. Once you click the link in the email, you will verify yourself as my secret admirer and pay the little registration fee. Get started on Step 1 & 2.I'm shy and this is the bravest thing I've probably ever done, but you need to do the rest. You are honestly the best thing about Dorchester.
Shame I don't actually live in Dorchester, eh? Clearly their Geo-IP lookup leaves something to be desired.
If you did follow their instructions, however, you would find yourself signing up for an adult dating website which has an emphasis on extra-marital affairs with no strings attached.
Hmm.. you have to wonder how many people genuinely want to sign up for a creepy website like that, if it is having to be advertised through such elaborate and spammy methods.
i got that secret admirer ecard and thought it was from my
boyfriend so opened it and it went to the dating website you
mentioned. is this a scam where if you click the link you get a
virus on your computer or someone else controls your computer and
gets all your password and online banking details? or is it just to
get people to sign upto the seedy dating site? thanks.
I have received similar messages to an account I haven't used for outgoing mail since the late 90's. They were flagged as phishing messages by my mail filter. This particular sender must me using an old list. Haven't seen this type of message on any other account I actively use.
If they weren't quite so heavy-handed, the use of old email addresses would be clever - looks like an old contact trying to resume contact, might play well to the social engineering element of the approach...
My lingering question is: where did they get the old email addresses from?
And why is there someone called "gcluley" at Microsoft? That's what *I* want to know!
my boyfriend so opened it and it went to the dating website you
mentioned. is this a scam where if you click the link you get a
virus on your computer or someone else controls your computer and
gets all your password and online banking details?
I also received one of these "E-Card" emails. I'm a Computer Forensics Examiner and I don't believe it is a key logger program, it is just an enticement for a web site with sexual innuendoes to get into your wallet. The only industry that has thrived during the past 2 year economic slow down is the porn industry, sadly. Thank you Graham for the article, as it only confirmed what I suspected with emails like these! lol
Got this 24 jan on my hotmail but it was adressed to some poobaa@hotmail.com ???
Never heard of the mail adress but they got my location right on the e-card. lol
i got this e-card, but it came in the form as a text message on my iPhone from a number in denver, colorado. i don't know anyone who lives in denver.. i clicked on the link, and saw a variation of the above e-card, but did not go further by clicking on to the photo link of my so-called "secret admirer". here's the #: 720-466-0593.
does anyone know if my iPhone security is compromised? dang! i wish i read this article before i opened anything.
thanks.
I had the same thing happen! Since it looked familiar I clicked through and then did my research. What do we do now?!? Is our info compromised?! Please help.
I received this ecard on my celphone also. The number was from 205-275-7215. Such a scam!. I clicked and found a variation of the above ecard...but I didn't go any further before I did my research..and found all of the above comments. Thanks to everyone who posted! I was surprised to see how long this scam has been going and now it seems they moved from emails to mobile phones...such a shame.
I also received a similar text message today. The number was 858-200-5740. Glad I didn't click through
I also received a text message from a number I am not familiar with and clicked on the link and saw a variation of the above. I am really upset about this and hoping nothing on my phone was compromised because i clicked on the link. Sigh.
I got it on my iPhone, but what surprised me is that actually had a specific first name of someone I knew in the message. Is it random?
Find out who has a crush on you!
That was the opening line..
First and last paragraphs the same as original. But just a link to G_d knows where cause I didn't go there.
I got this as a text message on my iPhone but was suspicious... used my iPad to research it before following through with a click. It's a shame that they're targetting us through text now. Email spam is enough of a pain, and now this? Some young hopeful lonely teen is gonna fall for this, I'm sure.