Hackers stole millions of passwords from different sources and post them on a website. Among the favorite passwords used by users are “123456″ and “password”.

Actually, I am one of those uses who use these two in my Yahoo accounts. But, I don’t need to change passwords from those accounts because Yahoo has suspended all those accounts already.

Filipino Hackers Arrested

Anyway, … Talking about hackers, according to the CIDG (Philippines), authorities (CIDG and FBI) arrested four Filipino hackers in Manila who are paid by terrorists to hack phone lines, including that of the AT&T. These hackers stole money through phone and diverted the funds to the accounts of the terrorists paying them.

AT&T lost $2 million dollars caused by the hacking activities.

One of these hackers is: Paul Michael Kwan (29). The group of Muhammad Zamir which is a member of the Jemaah Islamiah and the one that financed that Mumbai bombing is said to be the one paying the group of Kwan.

Other arrested suspects are:

1. Macnell Gracilla, 31, a native of Carmen Rosales, Pangasinan and resident of Unit 5, Montiville Place, Greenville Subdivision, Sauyo, Quezon City;
2. Francisco Manalac, 25, and his live-in partner Regina Balura, 21, both of # 89 Sampaguita Extension, East Bagong Barrio, Calooocan City.

Just visited a website to check for some updates. But my access to the website was blocked by an installed software in its server and told me this message:

This IP address appears to be infected with a virus and doing something like sending email spam. Learn more on Wikipedia.

You connect to the Internet through an IP address. You are seeing this message because your computer is likely infected with a virus. The best thing to do is to run an anti-virus scan, which will scan your computer for viruses and malware. If a virus or malware is found, anti-virus will clean the intrusion. Once your IP address is seen virus-free for 14 days, this alert will disappear.

What happened?
Your computer or another computer on your network appears to be compromised with a virus. This allows online criminals to use it as part of a botnet to send spam and attack websites.

Why am I seeing this page?
Batangas Today is participating in a project to stop attacks and educate visitors with infected machines about how they can clean up their systems.

What should I do?
Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date and run a full scan.

When will this restriction go away?
This restriction will disappear when no more harmful behavior is detected. Completing the challenge above proves you are a human and gives you temporary access for 1 hour. You can ask the website owner to permanently whitelist you.

I immediately checked my PC for any infection by fully scanning it using a security and an anti-virus software. My PC is clean.

I then observe my PC if any questionable programs are running in the background. But I found nothing. The PC’s memory use when in stand-by mode is low including its CPU usage.

So, I am sure that my PC is clean.

But why does the software told me that my PC might be infected by a botnet?

I think it’s not my PC that caused me this trouble. It might be my IP Address considering that I am using the Smart Bro Plugit and the IP Address that the system gave me is actually identical to the IP Address given to other subscribers in my area. So, if the software of that website detected a botnet infection in a PC using the same IP Address that I am currently using, that same software will consider my PC infected too.

That is if I am correct.

Just this month, I posted a blogpost telling you about my encounter with a text-scammer. The SMS scammer was trying to lure me into sending him the prepaid cellphone load credit he’s asking but he failed because I already knew his scheme.

In relation to this, a blog-subscriber send her life-story on how the text message scammer successfully stolen thirty thousand pesos of her daughter from her.

Our Blog-Subscriber’s Experience

One day, I received an email saying, “Hello! Musta kayo dyan? Ito na nga pala ang bagong roaming number ko. Dito na kayo magtext, idelete niyo na yung lumang number ko. Txt back! (Hello! How are you? This is my new roaming number. Kindly delete my old cellphone number and save this number instead.)”

While reading this, I immediately thought of my daughter, Genalyn who was working in Qatar. So, I assumed that it was my daughter who sent that text message to me. So I immediately deleted her old number and replaced it with this new number. And from that day, we exchanged text messages.

The scammer really made me believe that I was texting to my daughter.

After a week, I received a SMS message from the same number I exchanged text messages few days ago saying, “Ma, umuwi yung kasama ko sa trabaho. May sakit daw yung anak niya. Kailangan daw i-admit sa hostpital kaso nagkaproblema sya sa pera. Kung maari, mag-withdraw ka muna ng 10K. May pupunta dyan bukas, pakibigay mo na lang. (Mom, my colleague went home. Her child is sick and needs to be admitted to the hospital. Kindly withdraw ten thousand pesos and give it to her. She will be there to get the money.)”

I really thought that it was my daughter who sent the text messages. So on that afternoon, I went to the bank and withdrew ten thousand pesos from our joint savings account. On the next day, a woman went to our home. She said she’s the mother of the child that should be admitted to a hospital. Without a doubt, I gave her the money.

After two days, I received again a SMS from the same number saying, “Ma, ooperahan daw sa kidney yung bata. Dagdagan daw niya ang utang niya. Paki withdraw na lang ng 20K at pakibigay sa kaniya. (Mom, the child needs an operation. Kindly withdraw another twenty thousand and please gave it to her.)”

So, I went to the bank and withdrew twenty thousand pesos. And that afternoon, the woman went to our house and collected the money.

On that night, my daughter called to keep in touch with us. I immediately asked her about the condition of the child. Genalyn was surprised on what she heard from me. She told me that she never sent text message asking me to withdraw money for my colleague. She then asked how it happened, and I told her the details.

That’s the time when I realized that I was already scammed.

I cried and cried thinking that the money that I gave to the scammer was not my money but was part of the savings of my daughter. My daughter forgave me already and she’s always telling me that what was lost is just a money and she can still get that. But I just couldn’t forgive my self. And every time I remember what happened, I really feel sorry for my self.

Last December, I suffered from stroke and my mouth and speech was affected. I think this is the result of that text message scam.

This morning I received a text message (below) from someone I don’t know with cell number +639306139953.

Scammer: Musta na kayo! E2 na nga pala ang new roaming number ko. D2 na kayo mag ttxt. Inga plage. Mis u all. God bless. (How are you? This is my new roaming cellphone number. From now on, send your message for me through this number. I miss you all. God bless.)

In my case, I can immediately tell that this text message is coming from a scammer. Why?

My aunt who is in Illinois don’t know how to compose a text message. If she has something to tell us, she will not send us text message, but she will call us instead.

But my case is not the same with yours. If your loveone who is working abroad is fond of sending you text message, then I think, you might be fooled by this SMS.

So, I acted as if I am the father of the son named Jay who is currently working abroad. I replied to his text message, “Jay, kaw ba 2? Kailan uwi mo d2? Sabi mo uwi ka ng December bat di natuloy? (Jay, isn’t it you? When would you go home? You’ve said you’ll be here on December but you didn’t!)

The scammer replied immediately: “Oo ako nga i2. Nagkaproblema papel ko d2. Di ko pa alam uwi ko jan. Musta na kyo jan. (Yes, it’s me! I have problems with my documents yet. I still don’t know when can I go home. How are you?).

While reading his reply, I immediately thought of asking him money. I know at the end of this exchange of text message, he would ask me prepaid load credit, if not, he would ask me to send him money through any means. So, I send him this text message: “OK lang kmi. Asan kau ngaun? Padalhan mo kmi ng 3000. Siningil n kmi ng inutangan mo. (We’re fine here. Where are you now? Send us P3,000 for we will pay your debt here.)”

And I was not wrong. This scammer is already excited of getting me scammed. He replied my text message: “Oo pdla ako jan. Loadan m muna ako kailangan kna d2. (Yes, I will be sending you money. But you need to give me cellphone prepaid load credit first. I really need that.“)

Now, it’s my time to scold a son working abroad who didn’t send money to his parents in the Philippines but is now asking cellphone prepaid load credit. ”E ako pa ngaun ang hingan mo ng load. E ikaw lang inasahan nmin. Letse! Wala kang kwentang anak! Di ka na nagpadala sa amin, hihingan mo pa kami. Walang hiya!”

And he didn’t replied. I called his phone but he would just hang it up.

We’ve heard the news about the publishing of the US confidential communications and documents by the WikiLeaks. Different authorities and officials of the US government expressed concern over the leakage for it might endanger not just the military personnels of the federal government dispatched all over the world but also the entire US, and also the families of those affiliated with the US forces as informant.

photo by The Telegraph

The US government really want to get the WikiLeaks founder into their hands, but they just couldn’t do it for some reasons… until Julian Assange has been charge of sexual offense by women in Sweden. He was wanted for questioning by the Swedish government and the warrant was carried out by the Interpol. The co-founder of WikiLeaks submitted himself to London police and is currently in prison without bail. Mr. Assange denies all the charges.

To show the support to Mr. Assange and the WikiLeaks hackers organized an internet attacks against the websites they considered enemies of WikiLeaks. They called it “Operation Payback.”

On Thursday the websites of Amazon, Paypal, Visa and Mastercard and other global companies, including the Swedish government website had been attacked. The attack successfully shutdown temporarily some of the mentioned websites.

However, on Friday, WikiLeaks through a statement denied its connection to the hackers behind the attacks. The attackers known as Anonymous might be supporters of Mr. Assange and the WikiLeaks but they are not affiliated with them.

The attackers also warned the British government that they will attack their websites if Mr. Assange will be extradited to Sweden.

When I still posted my email address at the About page of this blog, lots of scammers were contacting me and tried to convince me to do business with them. So, my remedy was to use the Contact Plugin for WordPress. At least with it, my email address was kept hidden and spammers’ email harvesters couldn’t pick my email address anymore. However, I am still receiving spams from scammers who are sending spams manually through the Contact page of this blog.

But scammers are not just looking for victims through blogs, forums and websites. They are also using the social networking sites like the Facebook, Friendster and others.

Just recently, I received a private message at facebook from a scammer that says:

Dear Laplana

I am Masina Zozovi,I have emailed you earlier without a response. In my first email I mentioned about my late client who died in a car accident with his entire family whose relatives I cannot get in touch with. But both of you have the same last name (Engineer W.A.Laplana)so it will be very easy to make you become his official next of kin.I am contacting you to assist in repatriating the fund valued at US$10.5m i am contacting you HENCE YOU HAVE THE SAME LAST NAME WITH MY LATE CLIENT, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you get back to me through my private email address below

Best Regards,

Barr.masina zozov

Don’t be fooled with this email. It’s a scam. Once you replied to this, you’ll then be told what document should you prepare. This is to let you believe that the business is real and legal. And once you’re completely fooled, then he will let you send them money which is supposed to pay for the taxes and his commission for the supposed transaction that is not actually true.

Some big-time earners of CPALead use Facebook viral script in getting thousands if not millions of fans to their Facebook page that leads to a website equipped with the CPALead widget.

If you don’t have idea about the CPALead, please read my post, How to Make Money with the CPALead.

There was actually a time that I was convinced to buy this Facebook Viral Script. However, I hesitated and my instinct was telling me not to do it.

After several months, I keep hearing news of somebody earning more than one thousand Dollars a day through the CPALead widget. And these people allegedly earned those money by using the Facebook Viral Script.

How the Viral Script Works?

I don’t really know exactly how the script works. I haven’t tried it yet.

But some friends told me that the viral script works this way: You create Facebook Fan Page -> Invite one of your friends -> If your friends visit the Fan Page, he automatically became a fan of it and then the script automatically post a link to his wall and to the walls of his friends. ->  When his friends click the link shared on their walls, they automatically became the fan of your Facebook Fan Page. -> The process repeats everytime a Facebook user visit your Facebook Fan Page.

So, with this, in just a day, you can have at least a thousands of fans in your Fan Page.

How they make money from it?

Just like what I said, they make money using this Facebook Viral Script if someone completes the survey from the CPALead or from the other CPA Survey sites.

The Facebook Fan Page is actually just the tool for your marketing activities. Once your Fan Page got thousands if not millions of fans, you can easily send them the invitation or promotion  to visit a page wit the CPALead widget on it. A fan of yours who wants to access the page, needs to complete first the survey because CPALead widget works that way. And then you’ll be paid in every survey completed.

How the Facebook Viral Script became Illegal?

The process that I explained above is simply a violation to the terms and policies of Facebook. With this, we can immediately consider the script as illegal. Spamming those fans, is another illegal activity.

Facebook actually took action against it already.

According to the report, Facebook filed lawsuit against individuals who “fraudulently created” more than 40 deceptive Facebook Pages advertising legitimate services between December, 2009 and March 2010. Those pages took Facebook users on a tour of a variety of intermediary sites that paid Richter for the referred traffic. Among the scams was an offer for “Facebook Gold” accounts – a non-existent, advertising free Facebook offering. (source: threat.com).

I am not really sure if this “Richter” referred as the defendant of the lawsuit really used the Facebook Viral Script, but threat.com on its report said, Richter’s spam campaign also benefited from the use of “malicious computer code” to spread the spam messages across Facebook’s network, the complaint alleges. This made me think that the malicious computer code used by Richter might be this Facebook Viral Script.

Final Thought

I think, we need to find other safe and legal ways in making money online using CPALead widgets. Facebook Viral Script might not be safe for you to use since it might end up into a lawsuit against you, banning from Facebook or disabling of your CPALead account.

The McAfee Security Plus is installed in my PC. It is set to scan the harddisks in particular time everyday. And so far, I am contented of its performance although Avira Anti-virus Personal and Resident Shield are also installed along with the McAfee for better security.

Just recently, McAfee did its security scan on my PC’s harddisks. After doing its routine job, it showed its reports as shown on below:

McAfee Security software reported that 1 dangerous website’s cache has been present in my PC. And this website is CPALead website.

I am sure your familiar with the “I Love You” virus because the alleged authors of it were Filipinos and both drop-out of AMA computer school in Manila. The estimated damage of the release of it was $5.5 billion (that was in the year 2000) of which even the Pentagon, CIA and the British Parliament were victims of it.

On Thursday, experts warned the spread of  “Here You Have” virus (actually a worm) which is using the scheme used by the “I Love You” virus in spreading its own copies. You’ll receive an email with the subject line “Here You Have“. At the content of the email it says, “Hello… this is the document I told you about, you can find it here,” that has link to a PDF file but if you’ll click on it you’ll be directed to a page hosted by multimania.co.uk (a free hosting company owned by Lycos) that tries to download a screensaver file. The download needs the confirmation of the user. If the user agree to download, then the screensaver file will be downloaded and automatically activating itself infecting the user’s computer.

During the activation, the worm alter the registry file to make sure that its program will run everytime the computer is powered on. Then it accesses the outlook, looks for the email addresses and then send the “Here You Have” email to the email addresses, thus spreading itself.

The spread of this worm relies not only on emails but also through the USB drives. If it detects a USB drive, it creates a copy at the drive which is designed to automatically be activated once the USB drive is inserted to a computer.

So, if you received an email with the subject line “Here You Have”, don’t ever click any link within the content of it to avoid the infection.

Email Received

I received an email from surveytake.com telling me that they are conducting survey in behalf of Paypal. And completing the survey will give me a chance to win Sony Notebook.

We are conducting a survey on behalf of PayPal. This email has been sent to *******@****mail.com because your PayPal email preferences are set to receive Customer Feedback Surveys. This survey will help PayPal better understand your experiences and allow them to identify areas of improvements to serve you better. Completing this survey also gives you an opportunity to win a Sony notebook (terms and conditions apply).

This survey will take about 15 – 20 minutes. Please be assured that all information collected will be kept strictly confidential, in accordance with PayPal’s Privacy Policy.

To start the survey, simply click HERE. We would request all participants to complete this survey by June 30, 2010.

If you have any questions, please email apsurvey@paypal.com or call the PayPal Customer Service at +1-402-935-2050 (4:00 AM PST to 10:00 PM PST Monday through Friday and 6:00 AM PST to 8:00 PM PST Saturday and Sunday).

My Thoughts

I wanted to help Paypal improve their system by taking surveys given by them even if there will be no prizes to be given to one of the survey participants.

However, I don’t know if the survey offered by the surveytake.com is a legit Paypal survey. All I know is that there are lots of scammers out there sending me email everyday and telling me different stories and warning regarding my Paypal account. After all these people simply wanted to access my Paypal account and take all my money from it.

So, just to remain at the safe side, I tagged the email as a Spam without clicking any links embedded on it.