fraud

It's registration spam-scam time again. This one, originating from a spurious domain, (.pw domains are much loved by fraudsters and other internet criminals and this one is no exception) is one of the most bizarre e-mails ever and is therefore likely to succeed.

In the trials (there were two) of Peter Hall, et al, for fraud, a company, TAD Services Limited was named.

There's a interesting back-story - and Google makes a guest appearance as a company that was paid to participate in the scam.

There's a lot of dispute over exactly what constitutes "spam" with legislation influenced by the advertising and marketing industry often defining the term far more narrowly than the public at large. Whether it's legally spam or not, one thing happens far more than it should in unsolicited advertising. That thing is where the e-mail is dishonest in some respect ranging from fake senders through misleading content to out and out lies. The basic rule for recipients is simple: if a mail fails a simple test - "is it true?" - the only safe option is to bin it and block the sender.

Customer Response Centres (CRCs) are the point of contact for every disgruntled customer. They are the public face of the enterprise. They are also often far (in both management and geography) removed from the company that the customer thinks he is dealing with. Performance is measured and the amount paid to the CRC operator depends on achieving defined Key Performance Indicators, or KPI. However, some CRCs are producing false KPIs which, because they are what payment depends upon, are in fact false accounting and fraud. Here's how it's happening.

The following e-mail addresses are associated with potential phishing or drive-by malware attacks this morning:

davidibe718@gmail.com
J.Ryan@hud.ac.uk