Blog for hpHosts, and whatever else I feel like writing about ....

Thursday, 1 November 2012

VPLS/Krypt: 174.139.90.27 still spamming, over 12 months later

174.139.90.27, owned by Krypt Technologies (aka VPLS), and leased by StrongVPN, was found early 2011, involved in spamming, and as of this morning, it appears not surprisingly, still is.

The following is a screenshot of spam posted by the IP way back in June last year, promoting 9ame.co.uk (amongst others).



August of last year, Torneval blacklisted the IP for this very reason (web spam)

In July of this year, the IP was involved in spamming barriouniversitario.cl with illegal pharmacy activities.

And less than an hour ago, a 419 fraud arrived in my inbox originating from 174.139.90.27. Sadly, their attempts at avoiding flagging by spam filters, is still woefully useless (you'd have thought they'd have learnt by now). The email came without a body, with the body being in an RTF attachment, containing;

FROM KINGDOM NELSON GLENDOVEN FARMS, ZIMBABWE Dear Partner,Naturally,this letter will come to you as a surprise since we have not met,permit me however to introduce myself,I am Kingdom Nelson,a black Zimbabwean farmer,currently in south africa as reffuge. I used to work in three tobacco farms in Chipinge,and I was also part owner of these farms which were owned by my late father. I am contacting you as the need for me to have a foreign partner in your country has become necessary due to my plans to relocate to that country so that I can purchase some land and start farming all over again,as the present political instability in Zimbabwe,does not encourage financial investment as the environment is no longer conducive for farming investment and most of all,security is not guaranteed,just as reported by international media.This problem started when the Zimbabwean government under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe announced a decree on May 31st 2000 to seize more than849
white-owned farms.During this period,as reported by international media and he CNN,more than 600 farmers(including my father) were killed; the government is not stopping at this, as the government has already asked all farmers to give up their farms to government or risk going to prison.So far,more than 1,400 owned farms have been invaded and confiscated,as well as claiming the properties of the farmers. Also,about 1333 farmers arrested for defying the orders to leave their farms under the controversial land reform program of the government. Having lived in this country south africa for years,Am reffuge some years therefore,I decided to contact you,for your assistance,so that I can divert my interest in south africa to a more stable country as yours. Also,I must re-iterate the importance of having a citizen of your country to front or me,since i intend to purchase some land for farming,I do not know much about your land-ownership laws,I thought it wise to
seek the help of a foreigner to act as proxy for me.For this purpose,I have put in a security deposit all monies from the sale of my farming equipment(including tractors etc) and also all financial profits.All these are a total of US$18.5million.I will upon receiving your consent prepare every document to enable you receive this money on my behalf,pending my arrival to meet with you in your country so that we can both make further arrangements with regards to the purchase of land.For your assistance to me,you will be entitled to a commission of 15% of the total sum that you will be receiving on my behalf for the above purpose.If you are interested and willing to assist me,you should please forward to me the following information so that I can reach you or call me in this number +27-784023206 I will tell you more details. 1. YOUR CONTACT ADDRESS 2. YOUR TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER, 3. VALID ID OF YOURSELF, I am waiting urgently for your response,while also
requesting that you treat this matter in strict privacy.Cheers and God bless. I will give you more details when i hear from you.You can click on the link below to get a better understanding my situation and why i need to move out my money: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1068528.stm Best Regards

Kingdom Nelson


And yep - that IS the original formatting in the attachment! (clearly they can't even be bothered to at least try and make it convincing with the basic proof reading and formatting either).



So what are Krypt/VPLS doing to stop it? Well, absolutely bugger all to date (sent them another abuse report regarding the latest incident, but if history with them is anything to go by, I'm expecting it to be ignored).

Thursday, 18 October 2012

BBC Watchdog crew sink teeth into dodgy PC repair shops

The reputation of the UK's computer repair industry took another hammering last week following a BBC Watchdog investigation into two Worcestershire-based computer repair firms.

The flagship consumer affairs programme looked into Click 4 PC and Click Computers in response to reports from viewers about missing personal data, botched repairs and a computer being held to ransom. The subsequent investigation into Click 4 PC exposed dubious practices including false diagnosis of faults, alleged supply of illegal software and passing off used equipment as being new.


Read more
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/10/18/pc_repairs_watchdog_probe/

References

Peeping Tom Mac spyware suspect cuffed
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/09/peeping_tom_mac_malware/

Micro Chip Computers: A lesson in losing customers
http://hphosts.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/micro-chip-computers-lesson-in-losing.html

PC repair shop caught trying bank fraud
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/07/22/dodgy_pc_repair_survey/

Monday, 15 October 2012

Dear pkware.com, STOP SPAMMING!

Ever since InfoSec, I've been getting spam from PKware.com, despite several emails to them politely asking them not to, and despite clicking their unsubscription link, which is rather hillarious in itself, given I never subscribed in the first place (don't normally click unsubscription links if I've never subscribed in the first place, only did in this case, because I knew where they got the address - InfoSec (the InfoSec chaps forgot to mention, the companies scanning your ID card at InfoSec, would be getting your email address and other details, in order to spam you!)).

Though I doubt they read this, and despite having already blacklisted them (added them to hpHosts with the GRM classification), I'm hoping this will finally put a stop to it (well, I can dream ....).

Sunday, 14 October 2012

Churchcastle Limited fined by regulator, Phonepayplus

UK premium-line regulator PhonepayPlus has slapped Churchcastle Limited with the largest fine it has dished to date, ruling the phone-quiz host guilty of misleading and bamboozling callers with impenetrable terms and conditions.

After it received 15 complaints, PhonepayPlus found Churchcastle guilty of targeting the elderly, keeping them hanging on the line at up to £1.53 a minute, inducing them to call back without explaining the costs properly, and then providing cheap prizes, all of which mounts up to a £800,000 fine and refunds to anyone who asks for one.

Churchcastle advertised its quiz line in various national papers, requiring players to complete a word search over the phone, but according to the regulator that call was just the hook with which marks were snagged.


Read more
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/12/phonepayplus_fine/

Friday, 12 October 2012

Outlook Export v0.1.11

I needed a little break from work, so decided to sort out a few things in Outlook Export.

First and foremost, the About dialog has been updated.

Secondly, v0.1.11 now includes a work-around for Runtime error 462 "The remote server machine does not exist or is unavailable".

Third, when exporting, duplicates are now removed (were meant to have been anyway, but for some reason, it was ignoring it, now it shouldn't).

Finally, the system requirements have finally been updated. Nothing new required, it's just noting it works with Outlook 2007 (got quite a few emails asking me about it), and it's having been tested on both Vista and Windows 7.

Outlook Export
http://support.it-mate.co.uk/?mode=Products&p=outlookexport