Domain name scam warning

[Highmac]

I know most TeeEssers are too savvy to be caught by this, but you may have friends who are not so on-the-ball!

Picked up this warning from the MacFormat forum's scams thread. I broke up the urls.

QUOTE

QUOTE("Lazzo")

Thought I'd post this one in case any US readers who haven't seen it yet are passing by - it might not be much of a problem over here as it's a phishing attack against enom.com, but it's quite a good one with correct spelling an' everything:

QUOTE

From:   tech@enom.com
Subject: Your domain must be deleted today!
Date: 29 October 2008 7:25:39 GMT

Dear user,

On Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:25:39 +0100 we received a third party complaint of invalid domain contact information in the Whois database for this domain Whenever we receive a complaint, we are required by ICANN regulations to initiate an investigation as to whether the contact data displaying in the Whois database is valid data or not. If we find that there is invalid or missing data, we contact both the registrant and the account holder and inform them to update the information.

The contact information for the domain which displayed in the Whois database was indeed invalid. On Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:25:39 +0100 we sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain. The domain has subsequently been purchased by another party. You will need to contact them for any further inquiries regarding the domain.

PLEASE VERIFY YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION - http://www. enom.com

If you find any invalid contact information for this domain, please respond to this email with evidence of the specific contact information you have found to be invalid on the Whois record for the domain name. Examples would be a bounced email or returned postal mail. If you have a bounced email, please attach or forward with your reply or in the case of returned postal mail, scan the returned letter and attach to your email reply or please send it to:

Attn: Domain Services 14455 N Hayden Rd Suite 219 Scottsdale, AZ 85260


LINK TO CHANGE INFORMATION - http://www. enom.com


Thank you,
Domain Services

[IncidentID:38642]

[Paddy]

Neil, the links in the email posted at MacFormat are legitimate enom.com links - whatever was really in the original scam email is not there - probably because it was cut and pasted from the email, and the board software turned the text into the correct link, rather than the scammers link which would have been in the HTML code and gone somewhere other than to enom.com itself.

[Highmac]

I thought that was probably the case, but didn't want to take any chances....

Incidentally, I remember someone (may have been Tacit) mentioning 'hovering' the cursor over a doubtful link in an email - just make sure you don't click - to make it show where that link really takes you. Used that a few times out of idle curiosity!

[Xairbusdriver]

It's pretty hard not to see the "Dear user," part. That's usually a dead give away about the messages credibility. Any company you deal with knows and uses your real name. And to further state that 'your domain' has been sold to another entity without ever mentioning what domain is certainly a red flag. The whole thing seems designed to confuse the recipient and thwart their thinking by distractions, hoping they will give up and click the link.

[krissel]

I'd bet a whole lot of people would fall for something like this though.  It doesn't scream 'scam' since it is well written and for those who may have only one domain could be plausible.

Yes, in Mail if you hover your mouse over a text substitution for a link,  the actual destination is revealed in a popup yellow box. (Tiger and above)

[Gregg]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Oct 30 2008, 07:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The whole thing seems designed to confuse the recipient and thwart their thinking by distractions, hoping they will give up and click the link.

Yep: "This doesn't make sense. Maybe this link will explain it better...."

Me? If'n I don unnerstan it, I ain't clickin it!