[Hidden-tech] SCAM: "Web designer needed"
Robert Heller
heller at deepsoft.com
Fri Jun 5 15:10:09 UTC 2020
I regularly (and sometimes repeatedly) get E-Mails from people clearly from
India who want me to outsource my custom programming services. These people
are *very* agressive sales people -- they will keep sending E-mails over and
over again. They seem not to be able to take no for an answer or refuse to be
ignored. Not all of these are robots, but are sometimes some kind of
automated E-Mail list blast, usually with a legit return E-Mail. They are
probably legit, but not entirely savory...
I also get E-Mails from SEO and E-Mail marketing companies, who also keep
sending mail over and over again (if you don't respond in some way). Often
replying with a *obscene* response is the only way to stop it. Or else, just
blocking their IP network if they are not using a public freemail account (eg
gmail, etc.) -- this is doable if you control your in-bound mail server (I
do). *Sometimes* they have an unsubscribe link, but more often not. Again,
possibly legit, but not entirely savory... Some of the SEO people are
probably very gray area and some of the E-Mail marketing companies are really
some sort of spammer service (what *I* call spam, but they might not
agree...).
At Fri, 5 Jun 2020 10:25:48 -0400 Michael Muller <tech at montaguewebworks.com> wrote:
>
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> <p><font face="Calibri">Hey all web people on the HT list...<br>
> </font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">Over the years I've received an innumerable
> number of spam emails -- mostly people asking me if I need help
> building a website for a domain I just purchased. I used to ask
> them if they knew what I did for a living, and of course they
> don't. It's just a robo-script emailing anyone with a email
> address attached to a domain name.</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">On occasion I get a text from someone asking
> if I could build them a website. The exact working typically
> never changes, and the scam is always the same. This is how they
> usually contact me:</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">"Hello how are you doing,I will like to know
> if you would be able to handle a website design for me ?"</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">The punctuation and referral to "handle a
> website design for me" leads me to believe this isn't quite
> legit.</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">The first time I got a text like this the
> follow-up was that the person was both deaf and blind, so I
> couldn't call nor send an email. The whole thing had to be done
> over text. Hmmm...<br>
> </font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">They want specifically 5 pages, because they
> can't afford more, and it's already been designed. All I have to
> do is take the designed pages and put them on a web server,
> linking the pages to each other. Seems to be quick money, right?</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">The kicker is -- and this is where the
> klaxons start going off -- the scammer wants to pay me $5000 by
> credit card, but I have to pay their designer $3000 by check,
> since they don't take credit cards.<br>
> </font></p>
> <p><b><font face="Calibri">If you are ever contacted by anyone with
> a similar request, just say no.</font></b></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">I am passing this info along because not
> only did I get such a text from this guy, but also an email
> (below). The third screen shot has some harsh expletives, so be
> forewarned.<br>
> </font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">Thanks,<br>
> </font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">Mik<br>
> </font></p>
> <p><img src="cid:part1.EC6108EB.D8F2C824 at montaguewebworks.com"
> alt=""> <img
> src="cid:part2.F4E43E07.5323C18C at montaguewebworks.com" alt="">ÂÂÂ
> <img src="cid:part3.D2584334.81583938 at montaguewebworks.com" alt=""></p>
> <div class="moz-forward-container"><br>
> <br>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> <table class="moz-email-headers-table" cellspacing="0"
> cellpadding="0" border="0">
> <tbody>
> <tr>
> <th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Subject:
> </th>
> <td>Re: Web designer needed</td>
> </tr>
> <tr>
> <th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Date: </th>
> <td>Thu, 4 Jun 2020 14:30:49 -0700</td>
> </tr>
> <tr>
> <th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">From: </th>
> <td>Sarmento Alves Domingos
> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sarmentoalves940 at gmail.com"><sarmentoalves940 at gmail.com></a></td>
> </tr>
> <tr>
> <th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">To: </th>
> <td>Michael Muller <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:tech at montaguewebworks.com"><tech at montaguewebworks.com></a></td>
> </tr>
> </tbody>
> </table>
> <br>
> <br>
> <div dir="ltr">Here is the job details, well i have a small
> clothing business for both male and female which i run here in
> state,now am trying to expand the business and i want you to
> build an informational website for it for advertisement and to
> increase my sales rate..so i need you to check out this site but
> i need something more perfect than this if its possible <br>
> <br>
> <a href="http://www.missrebel.co.uk" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.missrebel.co.uk</a>.<br>
> <br>
> The  site would only be informational, so i need you to give me
> an estimate .The estimate should include hosting and i want the
> site to have not more than 5 pages ,since it is informational. I
> have a private project consultant who has the text content,
> images and the logos for the site.<br>
> <div><br>
> </div>
> </div>
> <br>
> <div class="gmail_quote">
> <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 11:57
> AM Michael Muller <<a
> href="mailto:tech at montaguewebworks.com"
> moz-do-not-send="true">tech at montaguewebworks.com</a>>
> wrote:<br>
> </div>
> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
> 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
> <div>
> <p><font face="Calibri">Hi Sarmento,</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">Can you provide more information?</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">Thanks,</font></p>
> <p><font face="Calibri">Mik</font><br>
> </p>
> <pre cols="72">---
> Mik Muller, president
> Montague WebWorks
> 239-R Main Street, Greenfield, MA
> 413-320-5336
> <a href="http://MontagueWebWorks.com" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://MontagueWebWorks.com</a>
> Powered by ROCKETFUSION</pre>
> <div>On 6/4/2020 11:41 AM, Sarmento Alves Domingos wrote:<br>
> </div>
> <blockquote type="cite">
> <div dir="ltr">Hello how are you doing,I will like to know
> if you would be able to handle a website design for me ?<br>
> </div>
> </blockquote>
> </div>
> </blockquote>
> </div>
> </div>
> </body>
> </html>
>
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> This message contains data in an unrecognized format, image/png,
> which is being decoded and written to the file named "/home/heller/Mail/Attachments/djieiikcpfacbmlb.png".
> If you do not want this data, you probably should delete that file.
> Wrote file /home/heller/Mail/Attachments/djieiikcpfacbmlb.png
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> Content-ID: <part2.F4E43E07.5323C18C at montaguewebworks.com>
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>
> This message contains data in an unrecognized format, image/png,
> which is being decoded and written to the file named "/home/heller/Mail/Attachments/mchjaacgihikpfbf.png".
> If you do not want this data, you probably should delete that file.
> Wrote file /home/heller/Mail/Attachments/mchjaacgihikpfbf.png
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
> Content-ID: <part3.D2584334.81583938 at montaguewebworks.com>
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> This message contains data in an unrecognized format, image/png,
> which is being decoded and written to the file named "/home/heller/Mail/Attachments/oahmococlbdlgcio.png".
> If you do not want this data, you probably should delete that file.
> Wrote file /home/heller/Mail/Attachments/oahmococlbdlgcio.png
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--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 Cell: 413-658-7953 GV: 978-633-5364
Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com -- Webhosting Services
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