Monday, 19 December 2011

The Aftermath

It has been a week or so since my last blog, but the news is good. All 3 anti-scam sites that were targetted by the DDoS are now back up and running at full strength.

During the period of the attacks (and since them), the anti-scam community has identified and killed around 100 fake Amazon/eBay/Google Escrow sites.  Obviously, not all of these sites belong to the original East European scammer and their associates.  Some will have belonged to other (unconnected) scammers, but with the Eastern European scammer's assistance these were also killed.

So, if you were running a scam with a fake Escrow site that is now dead, you have the Eastern European scam syndicate to thank for bringing you to the anti-scam communities attention.

Finally, a mesage to the Eastern European scammers, you may have caused the anti-scam sites and their members an inconvenience for a few days.  However our sites are now back, whereas your are confined to the digital dustbin!

Saturday, 10 December 2011

More fake Amazon payment sites

The following additional fake Amazon Payment websites have been brought to my attention:


http://payments-amazon-transactions.com/
http://www.payments-secure-amazon.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/d5rt666s/
https://sites.google.com/site/u7yh7888/


If you are asked to visit these sites to make a payment, do not do so they are not Amazon sites they are fake.

The Scam in Action

Here is an example of one of the many fake adverts that the criminals placed on CraigsList
1979 Piper PA34-200T Seneca II - $45000 (atlanta )
Date: 2011-11-16, 12:29PM EST
Reply to:
xxx@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
NO DAMAGE HISTORY - COMPLETE LOGS

GARMIN 430
GARMIN GTX 327
GARMIN 340 AUDIO PANEL WIRED TO ALL 6 SEATS
ALTIMATIC IIIC AUTO-PILOT COUPLED TO AUTOPILOT W/ ALTITUDE HOLD
NSB 360 HSI
KNS 80
KING 197 #2 COMM

TTAF 5693 HOURS
ENGINES:
RIGHT - 581 HRS SNEW TSIO-360 EB
LEFT - 1302 SFRMAN LTSIO-360 EB
PROPS:
RIGHT - 29 hours SOH
LEFT - 1289 hours SOH
This plane has been well maintained and used as a family hauler. Newer tires on the mains. Plastic is in fair condition.


Friday, 9 December 2011

Investigation into the fake Amazon payment websites

It would appear that a gang of East European scammers are behind the CraigsList adverts and fake payment websites.


The scam has been investigated by the anti-scam community over the last few days.  Fake site killing experts have been contacting hosts and registrars of the sites and drawing their attention to the fraudulent content that they are hosting on their servers.  This effort has resulted in a number of the sites being closed down.


This action has angered the scammers, who have launched a campaign of DDoS attacks on prominent anti-scam websites.  The fact that the scammers have resorted to this costly exercise is proof that the actions of the anti-scam community is effecting their illegal income.


Additionally, the administrator of one scam warning website received a threatening email, which threatened to 'eradicate' the website if the anti-scam sites continued discussing and acting on the fake payment sites.

Fake Amazon Websites

While surfing the net I've come across a number of fake websites that pretend to be Amazon Payments sites.  


It appears that these sites are being used as part of a scam using CraigsList to advertise non-existent vehicles for sale.


Here are the sites I've found so far:


1. http://amazon-vehicle-transactions.com/
2. http://amazon-payments-email.net/
3. http://online-transactions-amazon.com
4. http://transactions-online-amazon.com 
5. http://www.amazon-payments-email.com 
6. http://amazonpayments-used-vehicles.com/ 
7. http://www.amazononlinepayments.net/ 
8. http://secure.amazon-used-vehicles.com 
9. http://amazon-payments-transactions.com 
10. https://sites.google.com/site/cxvbg1/ 
11. https://sites.google.com/site/dxcv5t6/ 
12. https://sites.google.com/site/bn7yu8/ 
13. https://sites.google.com/site/cb6tya/ 
14. https://sites.google.com/site/h8io9r/ 

15. http://amazaonpayments.com/
16. http://amazon.payments-protection.com


If you're directed to any of those sites then you are being scammed.