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419 Scammers using Google to locate possible victims |
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It is not only important to be aware of these searches, but more importantly what can be done about them. One may argue that it is completely out of our hands, but spammers who tried to game the Google ranking system have been fooled in the past (http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=3408&rss), so one can look at similar ways to trick the 419 scammers by giving them what they are looking for (a page containing the e-mail addresses of experienced scambaiters would be nice, now wouldn't it?)
The only hurdle in this approach is finding a way of capturing the search phrases used by scammers so that anti-cyber crime organisations can optimise landing pages for these phrases. Up to now the phrases have been discovered by accident, a more effective way is needed to extract this information from server logs, etc.
The cases reported so far have given us valuable insights into the minds of 419 scammers, how they think and how they operate before sending the scam e-mails. An important lesson for Internet users is the golden rule to keep your personal information private. Don't publish your name and e-mail address in public places, or use a disposable e-mail account if you really have too. This is often a problem for job seekers and website owners, who need to have their contact details available to members of the public.
People need to be vigilant when publishing their personal contact details on the web. You are constantly exposed to the dangerous elements of cyber crime, so you should always be on the lookout for fake e-mails, malware attachments and other instruments being used to compromise your online safety.
Coenraad de Beer
www.cybertopcops.com
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