Phish Scams Fooling 28% of Users

Etaipo writes "Anti-spam firm MailFrontier Inc has done some testing with consumers to see if they could differentiate between legitimate e-mails and phish scams. The results, to me, were pretty shocking. The company also has provided a similar test on its web site. Get an answer wrong, and we revoke your geek license on the spot."

script kiddies in the media!

[garcia]

Personally I never cared for Phish. They attracted a lot of the same fanbase as the Dead but I just couldn't bring myself to like them. I tried, I really, really did. It's sorta sad that now that they are breaking up for good that they are scamming 28% of the population. I would have never guessed that a cool jam-band would have to resort to this sort of scheming in order to get money!

I guess after all those tours and all those basically unsuccessful albums they are in need of people's credit cards in order to support their own solo touring and promotion.

All kidding aside, I am genuinely disgusting that the authors of these articles did not call this sort of scam by a legitimate title such as "fishing" or "credit card scamming" or "you are a fucking moron for falling for the give me your Credit Card Number in an email" like it has been in the past. I wasn't aware that "scr1p+ K1dd13 sp34k" had crossed into "real journalism". I can see it now... Parents banning their children from listening to Phish because FoxNews told them that they could have their credit cards stolen.

-1 Troll for the authors of these articles.

I got a 3

[Sowbug]

Why did I have to provide a credit card number before the test showed me my score?

pfff... yeah... right...

[MultisSanguinisFluit]

like i trust links on /.

Still Waiting!

[romper]

Nevermind this. I'm still waiting for my money from Bill Gates and Disney for forwarding that email to everyone I know a couple years back.

What's wrong with Phish emails?

[phozz bare]

Why, I'm actually subscribed [phish.net] to them.

-phozz

Breaking News:

[goldspider]

There are a lot of uninformed and gullable Internet users out there.

Pictures at eleven.

Re:I call BS on that "test"

[Anonymous Coward]

any "nerd" would run his own DNS server and wouldn't need web-based turd like. Poser.

Re:I got a 3

[beee]

Wow, I don't find this post funny at all. How is a fellow slashdotter getting scammed funny? Sowbug, I recommend you cancel your CC immediately by calling your provider's phone hotline. Someone may have already begun using it for nefarious purposes.

Re:No shit, the color scheme's butt-ugly

[Anonymous Coward]

pretty soon we'll have "geocities.slashdot.org" with animated GIFs of flaming skulls and crappy embedded MIDI files...

Fear...

nice link!

[jjeffries]

Linking to a cgi from the front page? Why don't we just find out where the server is and burn down the building instead?

These bastards will stoop to anything!

[Anonymous Coward]

I got one that looked like a family gathering invitation. They must have hacked my mom's email account. They wanted me to respond with my "rsvp." That set off my bullshit detector. I better let mom know because they keep sending me email and now they're claiming I'm going to be disowned if I don't show to my own brother's wedding. I've stopped answering the phone as well because they have sound-alikes leaving me messages and look-alikes showing up at my door. You know as soon as they get your rsvp, they empty your bank account with it. I'm not falling for it.

Sweet!

[Nu11.org]

I got all the questions right, plus I'm getting millions of dollarz from this guy in Nigeria. Thanks for forwarding the link to us! Null

Re:pre-emptive grammar-nazi

[Dogtanian]

I know, I know, it's "gullible".

Normally I'd suggest that you should check the spelling in a dictionary first; but did you know that "gullible" isn't in the dictionary?

Re:80% right, 100% ugly colour scheme.

[trentblase]

Me too. Even if the email really is from earthlink, I'm not giving them my credit card number because I'm not a subscriber.

Re:80% right, 100% ugly colour scheme.

[Scorchio]

Oh, it's a colour scheme, is it? I thought my monitor was running low on ink.

....hm

[ImTheDarkcyde]

call me a n00b, but i use hotmail and yahoo and I personally don't get spam. i think its just something people who give out their email too frivolously get

The solution is at hand

[Timesprout]

We here at phishfarm offer a compehensive monitoring and blocking service to save our customers from hassle such as this. Just email all your bank account details (required for verification) to [e-mail] and we will ensure that email soliciting for information or money will ever reach you again.

PS we have found that sending us naked pictures of your wives/girlfriends increases the accuracy and efficiency of our blocking engines so for the highest quality of service include a few piccies.

Re:./ing

[bheerssen]

Oh yes, please do. Just be careful. Pent-up points can be very dangerous when loosed upon an unsuspecting populous.

Re:script kiddies in the media!

[vida]

i came very very close the other day to falling for a fake eBay [...]

you must be a lawyer

Re:It's scary how many people fall for this stuff.

[arctan1701]

Let's find out...
Click here to install a virus on your computer. [microsoft.com]

Re:script kiddies in the media!

[Pharmboy]

Personally, I think replacing F with PH is pretty lame, in all things...

Re:I got a 3

[Lord_Dweomer]

"Sowbug, I recommend you cancel your CC immediately by calling your provider's phone hotline."

Or, alternatively, you can email me your name as it appears on the credit card, your card number, and expiration date and I will remove your card information from their system.

Re:script kiddies in the media!

[hkon]

I am genuinely disgusting.."

disgusted. you are disgusted.

What do you know, maybe he is the goatse guy, in which case I think we can all agree his statement is perfectly correct.

Re:script kiddies in the media!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't you go phuck yourself, then?

Re:This is why...

[Snover]

Well, good to see you finally realised it. Now, about that $2000 I need to set up the secret Dutch bank account to transfer this USD$16.5M to...