Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

Dear Jim,

I got a quite intriguing e-mail last night signed with your name. Please give me a PM to sort this out.

Cheers

Jochen

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

others have also received this mail, it's a fraud attempt.

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

Evidently a fraud attempt, just ignore it (I also received it, its content is a classical fraud attempt).

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

I also got it.

It was from a spam Russian site.

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

Thanks, Gentlemen, I thought as much.

KR

Jochen Prien

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

Hi Jochen!

Did you get a TWX from me?

Jim

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

Hi Jim - I would check your computer and see what spam-ware you were hacked with.
I too got this request! Let's hope that some kind-hearted soul never obliged to the call.

Tom

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

I hesitate to speak for JHK, but I talked with him on the phone just a couple of hours ago - he is well aware of the problem and he is quite upset about this. Somehow, at a minimum, his email contact list has been hacked/stolen. Whether it was something on his pc or through his ISP provider is still unknown.

He is working with his local tech resource to resolve the issue. He is trying to stay offline until the problem has been identified and resolved. They're still trying to figure out the specifics of how this happened, but it should be a cautionary event for all of us about doing everything we can to secure our internet connected systems from attack. Oh, and BTW, JHK is using a Norton product for internet security.

Going to add -
 

Excuse me for being a bit preachy in the following: Norton products have always been among the best for net security, at least here in the US (I'm sure there are other equivalent products in Europe and the rest of the world). I worked in IT for almost 40 years, hardware manufacturing, programming, systems/user support & interfacing, but never in net security per se - of course it's only been in the last 20 years or so that the internet has been a 'thing' and we've been subjected to the associated threats. The problem is that the a-holes that do this kind of krap always seem to be a step ahead of the people patching the security holes (thx MS) in the OS/email software.

I know there are some pretty sharp IT types that are part of this board and I hope they might jump in with some recommendations or better info on how to protect ourselves on the net. Unfortunately, it seems, no one product can protect you completely.

As illustration, a few years ago I somehow got a hijack bug on my pc in spite of having, what I thought, was thorough protection software. Basically, this bug shut down all my drives and told me I had to purchase a specific product to recover my system. Fortunately I was aware enough to know to shut down my system, boot up on the OS recovery CD, and to then go and find a solution on Google. At the time the only product I could find that could fix that problem was an app called MBAM from Malwarebytes. Nothing from Norton, MacAfee or any of the other usual suspects. How many people got nailed by that bs?

And, btw, those types of attacks are still out there, though presumably most security software will detect this type of attack now. (Still amazes me when I talk to people and they still use nothing but the basics as supplied by MS.)

For me, I currently use the MS firewall, Norton 360 and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. So far, so good, but I may not have the current latest and greatest recommended protection, and would certainly appreciate any advice on how I might improve on that.

Re: Rabe Anton / Jim K.
 

Moderator's note: I've moved this to "off topic" because it's developing into a valuable discussion in its own right about scams and internet security.

This particular "stranded in the jungle" scam has appeared in my inbox a few times over the years. I have abandoned all concerned to their imaginary fate and no one seems any the worse for it! A more common one is that I get an email, supposedly from a known contact, headed "Hi Nick" and containing only a hyperlink — I just delete the message without clicking the link.