[Nfbf-l] {Spam?} Beware All Who Have Medicare! Increasing amounts of phishing and malware-infected emails

Mon Oct 13 15:08:01 UTC 2014

One thing I'll add in this discussion is this:
a lot of the time, spammers are a lot smarter then what was shown in
that article.
As far as links/the email from field go, pay particular attention to
the spelling.
some might come from "medikare" (m e d I k a r e),
med-care, medi-care, medi-chare, medikkare, mediccare, meddicare,
meddiccare, etc.
and some might actually manage to look official, but then the site
link is again, one of those misspellings.
This happens a lot, specially with government related services since
spammers can't get their hands on the actual addresses.
Also, beware of anything that does nnot end in dot gov--if you get an
email from medicare.org, medicare.com, medicare.us, etc.
That's also another way to tell if something is spam.

Just my 2 cents.

Jorge

On 10/13/14, Kathy Davis via Nfbf-l <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Dear Alan,
> 	This is a most excellent e-mail. In actuality I have been receiving
> several Medicare related e-mails wanting me to get back with them.
> Thankfully I had the good sense to ignore and delete them. I truthfully
> wasn't sure if they were bogus or not. The article you sent was most
> informative and I appreciate the many excellent e-mails you send out.
>
> God's blessings always,
>
> Kathy Davis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbf-l [mailto:nfbf-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alan Dicey via
> Nfbf-l
> Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2014 9:04 PM
> To: NFB Florida List Group
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] {Spam?} Beware All Who Have Medicare! Increasing amounts
> of phishing and malware-infected emails
>
> Dear Friends,
> I found this on a web site, and thought, since so many of us have Social
> Security Retirement Income, or Social Security Disibility Income (SSDI),
> and
> therefore Medicare, with the advent of the Medicare open enrollment period
> starting in just a few days, there are increasing amounts of phishing and
> malware-infected emails circulating, and this article would surely be worth
> sharing.
> With Best Regards,
> God Bless,
> Alan
> Plantation, Florida
>  Please join me on
> www.nfblive.org
> where through learning, friendship, activities, and growth, together "we
> can
> live the life we want."
>
> Beware All Who Have Medicare!
> Posted on October 12, 2014 by abletec
> Please Share
>
> Medicare open enrollment begins on October 15, 2014 and extends through
> December 7, 2014.
> Over the past few months, I've noticed a decidedly increasing number of
> emails purporting to be from Medicare premium providers and/or their
> representatives, which has increased to a veritable steady stream toward
> the
> end of September and beginning of October. I expect the amount to remain
> constant or actually increase somewhat till the period of open enrollment
> ends.
> So Why Do Spammers Send these?
> There is 1 basic reason these emails are being sent: . . .. money.
> So how do the spammers actually get money?
> That can happen in several ways.
> 1) They create a very official-looking website that requests various pieces
> of information in order for you to sign up for a Medicare plan. Such
> information may include:
> name,
> address,
> date of birth,
> email, and
> possibly even a social security number.
> They'll also ask you to create a username and password, which they're
> betting you use on more than 1 site (but you wouldn't do that, right?). If
> you do, and if your email has a web interface (and what email doesn't these
> days?), they could potentially try signing into your email account and
> determine which financial institutions you do business with if you bank
> online. From there, it's a simple matter for them to log into your online
> banking if you use the same password there, or to request a password reset
> if you don't. They may even change your email password, thereby locking you
> out of your email account while they log in to your bank and steal your
> money.
> 2) They can sell the information gained from you to criminals in
> underground
> forums, who in turn use it to commit identity and/or financial theft.
> 3) Their very official-looking website can be poisoned with malware. Once
> infected, your computer could be redirected to various websites in order to
> click on advertisements, and the spammers get paid for each click that
> occurs. Or, the computer could be used as part of a "distributed denial of
> service" (DDOS) attack. In these attacks, computers are formed into
> networks
> called "botnets", which are under the control of the criminals'
> command-and-control server. Each individual computer in a botnet is called
> a
> "zombie".
> These botnets can then be used to flood legitimate websites, such as
> government or financial institutions with so much traffic that it makes the
> website unusable by legitimate visitors.
> So, in essence, your computer is helping criminals do their dirty deeds.
> The requesting of personal information with criminal intent is called
> "phishing".
> So how do you protect yourself?
> The first rule is not to click on any email links you receive. If you wish
> to go to a link, type the link directly into your web browser. So, to go to
> the Medicare site, for example, type:
> www.medicare.gov
> Also note that legitimate sites will never contact you via email requesting
> information such as passwords, usernames, and social security numbers.
> Another thing you can do to see where the email link points to is to
> right-click the link and select 'Copy Link Location' from the context menu
> that appears. In one of the latest spams I received, this is what came up:
> falconbeakedjaculationgz.com/kKfa2gTCalk4AaUWSKv-lfG1MpU&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQ
> jCNF3CWaHd-DRqtYQEonewXw5tO0D9A
> That truly looks like something that would direct to a Medicare-related
> site, doesn't it? (NOT!)! (
> note: the http prefix was eliminated so that the link could not be
> clicked).
> Another thing to do is to look at the 'From"' field of your email address.
> In this case, the idiot wasn't even sophisticated enough to try to make you
> think it was coming from some sort of Medicare site-the address was simply
> help47ka at falconbeakedjaculationgz dot com Again note that I've changed
> the email address so as to not allow it to be clicked.
> My suggestion is that if you're looking to change your Medicare options, or
> even just explore those available to you, start by going to:
> www.medicare.gov
> Whatever you do, don't clikc on just any links you receive in emails!
>
> Please Share
> I received this information from:
>
> Brighter Vision Technologies
>
> Where Visionaries & Technology Unite for Good
>
> http://brighter-vision.com/2014/10/12/beware-all-who-have-medicare/
>
>
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