Author: Olly

  • ATTENTION THE OWNER OF THIS EMAIL ID – SPAMSCAM!

    Scanning through y spam folder, as you do, and spotted this gem. I dont have an earlier email from the guy, perhaps there wasnt one – but the format of this 419 email scam is a bit different and I wanted to share it with you.

    from: Angelo Pietrobelli mmjanee1@gmail.com
    reply-to: Angelo Pietrobelli mrpatrickcollins@torzsasztal.hu

    This is my second time I am sending you this notification, simple
    contact Patrick Collins on his email address
    mrpatrickcollins@yahoo.com with your contact information

    1.
    Name,
    2. Address,
    3. Phone number,
    4. Age,
    5. Occupation

    and your nearest airport to land, so that he can deliver the Atm worth
    $5.5 Million as he just landed in your country now but misplaced your
    information, he will give you more details when you re-confirm
    details.
    Your personal code is XLA21492014SD use this code to the diplomat
    Patrick Collins , so that he can know that you are the rightful owner
    of the Card.

    Best regard

    Angelo Pietrobelli

    The endgame for these people is the same, but their approach has been updated. Trying to trick busy people who feel something may have been sent to them in error. Doucheburgers.

    Also notice the reply to is different from the sender address, and then the email referenced int he email body is also different – confusing! And very sloppy!

    If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

    Stay ScamWise!

  • Why the EU “Link Tax” is an absolute load of sh!t.

    You may or may not have heard, about the EUCD, European Union Copyright Directive – or Article 13 as it is being referred to. Well, its a load of documents wrote by old people who think the internet is evil, and it seems at NO POINT have they spoken to anyone that actually makes bits of the internet to see if their ideas are a load of horse sh!t or not.

    Well, im afraid it is mostly horse sh!t.

    The bit of Article 13 that left me absolutely speechless was the part about the “Link Tax” and how the EU want to see social networks and other platforms pay a licence fee to publishers, for the privalige of showing a snippet of their work in the link preview that we’re all so used to seeing;

    So lets look a little closer at this link preview melarkey…

    A random article from the Daily Fail;

    And if I go to post a link to this on Facebook;

    Hmm, I dont see that title on the image of the Daily Fail… so where is it?

    Oh its there…..
    Ah, its there too….

    “But what is that code gobbledegook, Olly?” I hear you say?

    It is the source code of the daily mail page, and the highlighted elements are the exact title Facebook used, and the title is specifically created and applied by the Daily Fail… themselves…

    So wait, publishers have COMPLETE CONTROL over the content that social networks use in the link previews? 

    Pfft… surely not for smaller publishers, though… right?

    Wrong.

    Admittedly, this preview uses the post title, BUT;

    This publisher has full control over the content used in link previews.

    Which means the point of the link tax, is to STOP the social networks from using the specifically-written-for-social-media link preview content that the PUBLISHERS THEMSELVES CONTROL and place on their websites…

    Am I the only person that finds this absolutely unbelievable?

    I wish people would let the internet be the internet.

    If it aint broke, dont fix it.

    EDIT: Posted a link to Twitter, and Twitter uses the meta description, which I HAVE FULL CONTROL OVER!

  • Maison Bianco – Stuart Paskin Latest Scam Site!

    Well, well, well. I got an email from a group of friends that I have formed, who have all been scammed by the infamous Stuart Paskin. The email was telling me about his latest incarnation of website, www.MaisonBianco.com.  It basically means the white house – wonder where that name came from? :/

    NOTE: To anyone unfamiliar with this cretin, I blogged about him here and about his company here.

    Annnnywayyyyy…. It seems Stuart Paskin is at it again and has closed “The White Tent” down in favour of a more posh brand called “Maison Bianco” which is the same name, just in Italian.

    Maison BIanco

    The site is actually really nice, I mean, its theme based but its been put together by someone that knows what they are doing – which in fact saddens me even more. As this professional has no doubt been screwed over by Stuart Paskin aka  Lux Level Ltd AKA 77 Interiors Ltd (Company number 07967774)  to the sum of thousands. Just like we did, and just like the 10+ other digital agencies did – of which we are in contact with them all.

    Stopping the Scammers

    We’re working on finding out who is “working” for him at the moment, and I of course use that term loosely as working for someone usually means you get PAID and this asshat doesn’t pay anyone. When we do find out, we’ll ensure they know the facts and let them make their mind up about whether or not to keep working for them.

    If you are a victim of these scammy b@stards then please contact me and tell your story. We have a group of others who are all victims and we can add you into that group so you can join the discussion.

    And Stuart – if you are reading this, the net is closing in around you. Give up now before an army of pissed off digital agency owners find you and get their revenge.

    Bianco Maison

    Maison Bianco

    Mr S. S, I hear you’re no longer working with Paskin. I’d love a chat. Email me 🙂 

  • Apple iTunes Hulu Plus Email Scam!

    A customer recently forwarded this to me in a bit of a panic, he uses iTunes and this email really stopped him in his tracks… here is how it looks;

    I am not an Apple user, so to me this looks as legit as I would expect. The “To Cancel Transaction…” bit looks a bit out of place but it wouldn’t really jump out at someone as being a red flag.

    He forwarded it to me anyway, and the first thing I checked was the senders address;

    ty1txtb8my0zs.nyppvfaqn2m6@doraemonmassal.cc

    The sender address is obviously wrong – it should be apple related at least.

    The next thing to check would be any links in the email, DO NOT CLICK THEM but hover and look in the bottom right of your screen to see where they go;

    Hmm, not sure that should be where a “Cancel subscription” link should go, do you? 🙂 Interestingly they’ve used the Myspace URL shortener so have either hacked that, or have hacked the place the short URL sent the user to?

    I clicked it (safe, test environment) and the link forwards to a page that has been taken down. So there is zero risk with this thanks to someone giving the hacked end site a heads up. Great work whoever you are 🙂

    All in all, a very convincing email and I dread to think how many novice iPhone users will have fallen for it before it got taken down 🙁

    If you’re not sure if something is real, then forward it to iamolly@bigfoot.com and I will do my best to decipher it and I may blog about it too.

    As always, stay safe peeps 🙂