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Internet Fraud Advisory.
 

The Good the Bad and the Pathetic -
how the industry is coping with Internet fraud. 

(This page will be updated with notes on performance in 2007)

 This page: The Service Providers, see also Lottery Winner fraud , Money Laundering Fraud, Primer on Internet Fraud, The Fake Job Offer Fraud.  Fraud on Dating Sites.

Internet fraud criminals tend to use anonymous web mail accounts that they can access from Internet cafes and public libraries. (A typical fraud e-mail might be sent via Hotmail or MSN and contain a Yahoo address in the body of the mail, for replies.) The criminals will sometimes set up websites via online services. When the IFA Group receives a fraud report, our first priority is to have the criminals' mail accounts and websites closed. Copies of the fraud mails are forwarded to service providers with certain requests. We make it plain that we require criminal accounts to be shut down in order to protect the innocent. Unfortunately, the reaction of some service providers leaves a lot to be desired. Fraud is a huge problem, the greatest challenge facing the Internet today. The industry must react and the IFA Group is here to help by drawing attention to some of the problem areas.

Service provider Grade Notes ...
Hotmail Poor  We should expect an exemplary service from Microsoft. It is just not happening. e.g. this from Hotmail: "After reviewing the information you provided, I have determined that the abuse team of MSN.com can best address your issue. Please forward to abuse@msn.com". Also "in order to process your request, Hotmail Support needs a valid MSN/Hotmail hosted account." (i.e. We don't care that the criminal has included a hotmail.com address for replies in the body of his mail.) It is just not good enough to save money on staff costs by using software to respond to abuse reports. August '06 - The criminals are exploiting this weakness and we are seeing more hotmail.com accounts used by the 419 criminals.
MSN Poor As above. Problems at Microsoft are causing extra work for the Group and diverting resources.  
Gmail Poor Fraud criminals are making use of gmail addresses but the company, like Excite.com just acknowledges complaints and asks for reports to be made via a Web form. (As if anyone has the time!)
Yahoo Patchy

 

 The sheer volume of Yahoo abuse reports is a problem. Responses to Yahoo hosted fraud website reports have improved. April 06 - Yahoo has begun to reject abuse reports for no good reason and I suspect that they are overwhelmed. The Yahoo name is seriously threatened - criminals make so much use of Yahoo services these days. It is rather ironic that we try to protect innocent Yahoo users from the criminals (often Yahoo users themselves), but do not get proper cooperation.
Aol.com

?

 Hello - is there anyone there? We are seeing more aol/aim addresses used by the scammers.
Excite.com Average Excite seems reluctant to to acknowledge the problem. They will not let us know when fraud accounts have been closed, just that they are "investigating the problem".
Walla.com Good Area Boys, don't waste your time. Walla.com will close you down in a heartbeat.
Gawab.com Good Gawab.com will not tolerate abuse. We are seeing fewer reports lately so the fraudsters seem to have got the message.
 Service Providers by Country
Czechoslovakia Good Giving their country a good reputation.
Portugal Poor Especially universia.pt
Italy Poor The fraud criminals are increasingly using Virgilio.it and Katamail.com addresses. 
South Africa Average A shaky start but promising signs from certain companies. Watch this space.
UK Average Btinternet best of the bunch. BT seems serious, as one might have hoped. Easynet - good. The poorest of the bunch is Virgin!
India Patchy Rediffmail, in particular, has an efficient abuse department. Sify.com response improving.
Romania Poor Some bad indications.
Spain Shaky However, Terra.com seems to be improving.
Russia Good  


 

  John Weston / IFA Group, UK, 2002-7. Please, before forwarding suspicious mail, check that you have included FULL INTERNET HEADERS (see below).  It is not always possible to respond to reports of fraud mail, but appropriate action is always taken. Please do not forward the forged documents that accompany these scams, unless by request.   

MAIL HEADERS. You will not normally see full headers when you read your mail but these can be important in investigating Internet fraud.

Microsoft Outlook Express for Windows: Right click on the message and select Properties. Choose the Details tab and select the Message Source Button. Copy the headers and send them along with the body of the email.

Microsoft Outlook: Click the View menu and select Options. You should see a pop up window "Message options" or similar. Notice the box called Internet headers near the bottom of the window. This box contains the full headers. To extract the contents, put your mouse pointer in the box and right-click then choose Select All. All the text in the box will then be highlighted.

Right-click in the box again and this time choose Copy to copy the selected contents to the clipboard. You can then paste the full headers to an email you may be forwarding. .

Netscape Messenger 4.7 - 6: Open the email; go to the view menu; pull the 'Headers' menu over and click on 'all'. Highlight the message and headers displayed in the email and copy them into the email you send to us.

Netscape Messenger 6.2 and higher: Go to Netscape Messenger Inbox. Select View - Headers - All. Highlight the message and headers displayed in the email and copy them into the email you send to us.

Pegasus: Users of the excellent Pegasus for Windows will probably not need me to remind them of the Raw View tab and the option to include headers in the Reply and Forward dialogues.

Incredimail: In your mail program double click the email you would like to view, when it is open click on the FILE menu and choose PROPERTIES. When in the properties menu click on the DETAILS tab to view the Full Headers .

WEB MAIL HEADERS
Yahoo web mail: First you must turn on "Full Headers". From your Yahoo! mail account, click on "Mail Preference". Scroll down the page to "Message Headers" and click on the "all" radio button. Save your preferences at the bottom of the page.

Hotmail: First, configure your options: On the upper right "Options | Help" links, click on "Options." Click on the "Mail Display Settings" link, find the item "Message Headers." Choose "Advanced" and click the "OK" button.

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