Issue 10 - Hoax-Slayer Newsletter

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This week in Hoax-Slayer:

• More eBay Phisher Scam Emails
• DarkProfits Hoax Email
• ShadowCrew Prank Email
• Security Software: Zone Alarm Firewall
• Mountain Lion Email Hoax
• Humour: Is the FBI Recording Mouse Clicks?

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Apparently there are still several versions of the eBay Phishing scam emails being distributed. A Hoax-Slayer site visitor submitted the example below earlier in the week. This is a typical phishing scam that tries to entice victims to provide details on a bogus, "look-a-like" site. eBay does not send out requests for information via email.

eBay has information about these scam emails on their website.








A Hoax-Slayer site visitor submitted a copy of the current DarkProfits.com prank email.

This email is a malicious prank directed at DarkProfits.com. DarkProfits.com has been the target of other pranks including one that claimed that the website was selling a host of illegal goods and services (see example below). These hoax emails seem to be nothing more than crude attempts to discredit the website for some reason possibly known only to the instigators of the hoax. There have been no reports of people actually having amounts charged to their credit cards by DarkProfits, so the email would seem to be a straightforward prank rather than an attempt to extort money.



An earlier DarkProfits hoax email:

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At first glance the email below looks like a variant of the eBay phisher scam described in the first story in this weeks edition. However, this is in fact a prank email aimed at the Shadowcrew.com website. It appears that the purpose of the email is simply to cause trouble for the Shadowcrew website. The email makes no attempt to disguise the links included. Unlike a *real* eBay phisher scam, the links do not lead to a bogus, "look-a-like" website, nor is the recipient asked to provide sensitive eBay account details. Links lead either to the ShadowCrew site itself or to a contact page for Concentric Dial-up Internet. The email even states that it was "sent by ShadowCrew.com mail system". ShadowCrew has been the target of other prank emails in the past.

Similar prank emails have targeted another website, DarkProfits.com, as described in the article above. I would not be surprised if the same individuals were responsible for both the ShadowCrew and DarkProfits prank emails.

Whatever the motivation or origin of the emails, they are nothing more than pointless trash and should be relegated directly to the Deleted Items folder.




ZoneAlarm is a software firewall that can help to protect your computer from malicious Internet attacks. The software is easy to configure and has proven to be very stable and reliable on both my Windows 98 and Windows XP systems. Once you have Zone Alarm installed, it will alert you if a program is attempting to access the Internet by displaying a pop-up window (see Screenshot 1). If you want the program to connect, you can give it permission via the "Yes" or "No" buttons on the Zone Alarm pop-up. Of course, there are some programs, such as your browser and email client, that regularly need to access the Internet so having to give permission for these programs every time they need to connect would be inefficient and annoying. However, ZoneAlarm allows you to permanently give or withdrawn permission for a program to connect by checking the appropriate box. If you click "No" on the Zone Alarm pop-up, the program is blocked from connecting to the Internet. Thus, if you have a Trojan or spyware component that tries to "phone home" you can stop it before it makes the connection.

However, the above is only half of the story. ZoneAlarm also blocks incoming connections. Thus, if a malicious attacker tries to gain access to your computer, the connection will be blocked. You can choose to receive pop-up alerts regarding these incoming probes (see Screenshot 2) or you can simply have ZoneAlarm silently do the blocking in the background. Many incoming probes are random port scans or non-malicious probes from your ISP, so I usually choose to turn off the incoming alerts, as they can become annoying.

ZoneAlarm activates at Windows start-up so that it is continually protecting your system. A dynamic icon that resides in the system tray provides quick access to the ZoneAlarm user interface and graphically displays Internet activity. Right-clicking the icon allows you to quickly stop all Internet activity should the need arise. The right-click menu also allows you to temporarily disable the firewall. Find out more about ZoneAlarm via the link below:


Screenshot 1 (Outgoing access alert):



Screenshot 2 (Incoming access alert):



Screenshot 3 (User Interface):






An email has been circulating that describes the shooting of a giant mountain lion in the US state of Kansas and supposedly incudes a photograph of this animal.

However, The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) reports that this is a hoax. The organization has received dozens of enquires about the hoax email. The photograph attached to the hoax email was actually taken from an earlier edition of the Boone and Crockett Club's magazine, Fair Chase. The lion in the image was shot near Seattle, Washington.

A copy of the hoax email is included below:





Homeland Security has announced they will soon be implementing new software which will record every click of your mouse. It is their belief that it will operate completely transparently and that the average user will not notice any difference in performance.

Click below to observe this incredible new technology!

http://users.chartertn.net/tonytemplin/FBI_eyes/