It’s interesting, if you like this kind of thing, to see how online scams learn from each other. Until recently I thought of the Nigeria 419 scam — where you’re contacted by some grieving African widow, burdened with millions that she wants to share with you, if only you’ll let her park it in your… Read More »
My colleague Lee Gomes writes in WSJ.com in his Portals column (a few days old, this, sorry; but it is free) about phishers, and what they’re really like, quoting a guy called Christopher Abad, a researcher for Cloudmark: Mr. Abad himself is just 23 years old, but he has spent much of the past 10 years… Read More »
Gradually the tentacles of the Russian gangs behind phishing are appearing. But we still have no idea how it really works, and how big the beast is. The Boston Herald reports today on the arraignment of a “suspected Russian mobster” on multiple counts of identity fraud, having allegedly obtained personal information from more than 100 victims… Read More »
Interesting piece in yesterday’s Gold Coast Bulletin (no URL available without subscription) about the role of the Russian Mafia, or more specifically, criminal gangs from the former Soviet Union, in Australia. It cites several cases of Denial of Service attacks in retaliation for refusal to pay blackmail or protection money: When Multibet.com CEO Mike Miller… Read More »
There’s a lot of software out there, but who is really behind it? Reading a piping fresh press release from a company that may or may not be called FlowRuler, which has just released a product called, er, FlowRuler, I tried to find out a bit more about who was behind it (FlowRuler, by the… Read More »