Quick And Easy Survey Phishing Scam

Summary:
Email claims that money will be credited to the recipient's account in return for filling out a "quick and easy" online survey (Full commentary below).
Status:
Phishing scam designed to steal account details

Example:(Received, November 2008) Subject:Official Notification

Congratulations!

Dear Customer,

You've been selected to take part in our quick and easy 8 questions survey In return we will credit $90.00 to your account - Just for your time!

This survey has been sent only to a few people from our random generator !

Please spare two minutes of your time and take part in our online survey so we can improve our services. Don't miss this chance to change something.

To access the form please click the link below :

[Link to bogus website removed]

With the information collected we can decide to direct a number of changes to improve and expand our online services.

Note: * If you received this message in your SPAM/BULK folder, that is because of the restrictions implemented by your ISP
* For security reasons, we will record your ip address, the date and time.
* Deliberate wrong imputs are criminally pursued and indicted.

Survey ID : 1255fr566

Commentary:
According to this email, the recipient can have $90 credited to his or her bank account simply by participating in an "easy 8 questions survey". The message includes a link to a website where the recipient can supposedly fill out the survey and claim the reward.

However, although the survey web page may look genuine, it is in fact designed to steal personal information including credit card details. Those who click the link will be presented with a web form like the one shown in the screen shot below.

The first portion of the form contains the bogus "survey questions". The second portion asks the victim to supply name and contact information and credit card details including the PIN attached to the card. The card information is supposedly required in order to credit the participant's account with the $90 survey fee. In reality, however, the fee is entirely imaginary and all information supplied on the bogus survey form will be collected and used by scammers.

Scammers have used the same paid survey ruse a number of times over the last few years. While the particular incarnation included here purports to be from Walmart, previous versions have targeted a wide range of companies and institutions including McDonald's, Citibank, Chase Bank and even the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Other details may also vary, including the amount of the supposed survey fee, the number of questions, and the type of bogus survey question included on the web form. In spite of such superficial differences, however, the underlying scam is the same and is, in every case, designed to steal financial information from victims.

The scam emails may include formatting and logos that make them look like valid company messages. However, they do not really originate from the company named in the emails. Links in these scam messages are generally disguised so that they appear to belong to the particular company being targeted. The bogus web forms used in the scam may also be styled to resemble the targeted company's genuine website.

Internet users should be very cautious of any unsolicited message that promises to pay a fee for filling out a short survey. Companies may certainly conduct customer surveys and may even reward participants by entering them into a prize draw or offering free or discounted products. In some cases, they may even pay customers who participate in in-depth surveys or organized focus groups. However, they are extremely unlikely to pay such a substantial fee for filling out a small and insignificant survey. Nor would any legitimate company resort to sending out unsolicited bulk emails in order to entice consumers to participate.

Phishing scams take many forms and all Internet users would be wise to gain an understanding of how such scams operate.

from: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/quick-easy-survey-scam.shtml

Evan Trembley Missing Child Hoax

Summary:
Email forward claims that 15-year-old Evan Trembley, is missing and asks recipients to pass on the message in the hope that someone has seen him.
Status:
False

Update:
A mutated version of the hoax claims that Evan is missing from Charters Towers, a town located in north Queensland, Australia.

Example:(Submitted, August 2007)

Subject: Evan Trembley

Amber Alert.

Staff Sergeant Rick Williams
Wichita Falls Police Dept.
1007 N. Elm St.
Wichita Falls, Texas 76310
[Phone Number Removed]

Please look at the picture, read what his mother says (below), then forward this message on. - Sometimes Internet Reports have produced remarkable results.

My 15 year old boy, Evan Trembley, is missing. He has been missing for now two weeks.

Maybe if everyone passes this on, someone will see this child. That is how the girl from Stevens Point was found by circulation of her picture on tv. The internet circulates even overseas, South America , and Canada etc.

Please pass this to everyone in your address book. With GOD on his side he will be found.

"I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE.

It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone knows anything, please contact me at: HelpfindEvanTrembley@yahoocom I am including a picture of him.

All prayers are appreciated! ! "It only takes 2 seconds to forward this.

If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get!!

THANK YOU

Commentary:
According to this message, which claims to be an Amber Alert, 15-year-old Evan Trembley has been missing for two weeks. The message includes a photograph of Evan and supposedly contains a plea for help from the boy's distraught mother. It asks recipients to pass on the message to as many people as possible in the hope that someone has seen Evan.

However, the message is a hoax. Evan Trembley is a real child who lives in Wichita Falls, Texas, but he is not missing. In fact, young Evan himself is responsible for this fake Amber Alert. The teenager created the message as a joke and passed it on to some friends. Predictably, however, these friends passed it on to others and very soon the message had circulated far and wide with many recipients believing the information to be true. A summary of a KFDX TV news report about the prank previously published on TexomasHomepage.com noted:

A Rider High School sophomore is paying the price for a practical joke he says got out of hand. Last month, 15 year old Evan Trembley took a phony "Amber Alert" MySpace message and changed the details to make it seem like he was the missing person. He originally sent it to a few friends as a joke but it soon spread via e-mail to inboxes all over the world.

Evan tried to add some credibility to his prank message by creating a fictitious endorsement by one "Sergeant Rick Williams" of Wichita Falls Police Dept. In fact, there is no "Sergeant Rick Williams" and the police department contact details included in the message are incorrect. However, Evan did include his own phone number as part of the fake police endorsement and his family has since received a great many phone calls from concerned recipients of the hoax.

A newer version of the hoax claims that Evan went missing from a property located near the town of Charters Towers in Queensland Australia. Of course, this version of the hoax is as equally false as as the original Wichita Falls version.

Unfortunately, Evan's irresponsible prank is not unprecedented. The text of the message is based on a widely circulated hoax that has seen a number of variants. One of the earlier versions was the infamous Penny Brown Hoax that began circulating back in 2001 and still continues to hit inboxes around the world.

In 2006, another, almost identical, version of the hoax claimed that 13-year-old Ashley Flores was missing. As with Evan Trembley, the Ashley Flores version began as a practical joke but rapidly got out of hand. The message, along with Ashley's photograph, was soon passed to inboxes all around the world and still continues to circulate.

In yet another 2006 copycat version, another teenage prankster falsely claimed that a boy named Michael Hunt was missing. Although the name Michael Hunt was simply made up for the prank, the perpetrator included his own photograph and a working email address.

It seems clear that the youngsters who launch these pranks generally mean no real harm. However, they do seriously underestimate how far and how fast such messages can spread and they probably never stopped to consider the possible consequences of their little joke - at least until after the message begins to spread uncontrollably.

Such hoaxes are far from harmless. They waste the time of police departments and missing person organizations that must answer endless enquiries about children that are not really missing at all. They can also lessen the effectiveness of real missing child alerts. Before forwarding any missing child email it is very important to check its validity via credible sources such as news, police reports or missing person organizations. And if you do receive one of these false alerts, please let the sender know that the information is untrue and should not be forwarded.

from: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/evan-trembley-missing.shtml

Let's Say Thanks Website - Send a Card to a Soldier

Summary:
Message claims that members of the public can go to the "LetsSayThanks" website and choose a thank-you card that will be sent to US soldiers serving overseas (Full commentary below).
Status:
True

Example:(Submitted, August 2006) Subject: Let's say "THANKS" to our Armed Forces Personnel..

Let's Say Thanks!

http://www.letssaythanks.com/

If you go to the web site at LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and the Xerox Corporation will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?

Commentary:
This message urges recipients to say "thank-you" to US Armed Forces personnel serving overseas by visiting a website and selecting a card to be printed and sent to a soldier. The information in the message is true.

In June 2006, Xerox launched Let'sSayThanks.com, a website that allows visitors to select from a range of postcard designs created by US children and add a personalized message to a soldier. The cards are then printed out and delivered to soldiers deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations. Information on Let'sSayThanks.com outlines the purpose of the site:

The mission of Let's Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas. By submitting a message through this site you will send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women.

The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries from children across the country.

According to the Let's Say Thanks FAQ, postcards are printed in batches and distributed to various locations along with care packages from Give2TheTroops®. Cards should reach their destination in one or two months from the time they are submitted on the site.

from: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/xerox-say-thanks.html