Update – Job Scams

Oil Offshore Marine Update – November 6, 2007

Most Recent Update – Job Scams Directory

Oil Offshore Marine is constantly updating its famous Directory of Known Scammers, Fake Companies, Fake Websites and Job Scams

Check the Directory Yourself!

Black List Update – Job Scams

Oil Offshore Marine

On Beware Job Scams we have just updated the black list of fake companies and scammers claiming to offer jobs. Unfortunately, the list is partial, because more and more fake companies get invented by the scammers. List of likely problems: losing money, losing identity, phishing attacks, and so on.

Equity Recruitment Agency – Scammers

Information provided by Oil Offshore Marine

Equity Recruitment Agency

Scam Alert: Equity Recruitment Agency

Scam Alert – Worldwide Bio Refineries Plc

Information provided by Oil Offshore Marine

Worldwide Bio Refineries Plc

Scam Alert: Worldwide Bio Refineries Plc (NB: this company name has also been used in financial scams)

Phishing Alert, Bank of Rome: Why Read the Email Headers?

Information provided by Oil Offshore Marine Online Library Series

Phishing Alert: Bank of Rome (Banca di Roma)

Ok, let’s assume you get an email such as the one below (actually this email was received on Wed, 8/8/2007) or with different names and information:

It’s in Italian. But you don’t need to speak Italian to figure out that there are some serious doubts about it. Here it is:
“Subject: Comunicazione Urgente nr. 73849 del 01 08 2007 – Leggere con attenzione
From: “Banca di Roma” ufficio@bancadiroma.it
Gentile CLIENTE, Nell’ambito di un progetto di verifica dei data anagrafici forniti durante la sottoscrizione dei servizi di Banca Di Roma e stata riscontrata una incongruenza relativa ai dati anagrafici in [removed] Accedi a collegamento sicuro [link removed]”

It basically says that they, Bank of Roma (Banca di Roma) have had some problems and that you, as a customer, are invited to enter your account details using a “secure link”.

It’s time your mind issues some alerts. But you see the email is coming from ufficio@bancadiroma.it so there’s nothing to worry about.

WRONG!

Whenever you receive any strange or ambiguous email in any language you may speak (English, Italian, French, German, Chinese and so on), always check the Headers. How, you ask? Open the specific email. Look on top. There’s a link saying “View Full Headers”. Click on it. Then you’ll have something similar to this:
Return-path: ufficio@bancadiroma.it
Delivery-date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:21:49 -0600
Received: from mail.charlottewebpros.com ([204.11.214.82])
(envelope-from ufficio@bancadiroma.it)
Reply-To: ozlamer@yahoo.com
From: “Banca di Roma” ufficio@bancadiroma.it
Subject: Comunicazione Urgente nr. 73849 del 01 08 2007 – Leggere con attenzione

Now to explain:
1. Received: from mail.charlottewebpros.com – this means the email was sent from someone hosted on charlottewebpros.com, and not from domain bancadiroma.it;
2. [204.11.214.82] is the originating IP. 204.11.214.82 is from US, Texas, and not from Italy. Why would an Italian bank use a US host and a US IP? Correct answer: It wouldn’t!
3. envelope-from ufficio@bancadiroma.it – this means that at first sight (if you’re not checking the full headers), the email APPEARS to come from domain name bancadiroma.it so that you can be fooled.
4. Reply-To: ozlamer@yahoo.com – this means that when you reply, your email is sent to a fraudster, ozlamer@yahoo.com, and not to ufficio@bancadiroma.it

Conclusion: this is phishing. ozlamer@yahoo.com is a phisher

GENERAL HELP:

What to do:
1. Don’t click on any external links.
2. Don’t reply.
3. Call your bank and tell them you’ve been an almost-victim of a bank phishing and that they should take actions.
4. Never make your financial info public.
5. Think twice. If you have doubts and need a second opinion, we can be of help. We have the most advanced knowledge on job scams, but we are also highly trained to detect other forms of fraud, phishing, scams or illegal activities.

Oil Offshore Marine is here to help. Get Help!