Life as I find it

I got this email from a friend.

ICICI bank’s net banking has a duplicate site as details given below. Please be careful while using ICICI net banking.
ICICI Bank Duplicate site-be careful

—–ICICI Bank Duplicate site —-

Genuine Site

Hi All,
An important piece of information.
Surprising both the sites have secured SSL from Verisign !!!!

beware !!
This is one of the worst phishing scam ever seen.
Here are the both the URLs, they are same, except there is a space (%20) at the end of the phishing URL.

The wrong one
https://infinity.icicibank.co.in/BANKAWAY?Action.RetUser.Init.001=Y&AppSignonBankId=ICI&AppType=corporate&abrdPrf=N%20
Actual ICICI Site
https://infinity.icicibank.co.in/BANKAWAY?Action.RetUser.Init.001=Y&AppSignonBankId=ICI&AppType=corporate&abrdPrf=N

Actually, that is not the thing. If you look at the images carefully, you will see that the ICICI url is icicibank.co.in while the fraud url in the image is icici-infinitysupport.com <—- Do NOT login here with your real ICICI details.

I checked out the url and it now seems to belong to an expired hosting in any case, but I bet the scam is not dead, but simply moved to a fresh url.

Beware.

I got this email:

Dear Administrator,

We inform you that your account is about to expire. It is strongly recommended to update it immediately. Update form is located here. However, failure to confirm your records may result in account suspension.

Confidential: Please be advised that the information contained in this email message, including all attached documents or files, is privileged and confidential and is intended only for the use of the individual or individuals addressed. Any other use, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. This is the automated message. Please don’t reply. You tell me.

Talk of spam….. i don’t even know if I need to talk about this, except that it is sad that in this online world, it is so easy to defraus (or attempt to do so).

I had never heard of the company that sent me the email, forget buying something that needs updated subscriptions. Obviously a case of phishing or some get-rich-quick-illegally kind of thing.

I researched this message to see what experiences others had had and came across:

The write of this blog, some Ritesh Roshan has published it on his blog!!!

The description of this blog says:

“THIS BLOG IS CREATED TO EXPRESS THE FEELING & CURRENT RESEARCHES OF
SCIENCES. THESE EXPRESSION LEADS IN THE SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT
SCIENCE. THESE KNOWLEDGES HELP IN DIFERENT SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION.
FURTHER, PRAYING FOR EVERY PERSONS WHO CLICK FOR MY PERSONAL BLOG AND
THOSE WHO DIDN’T CLICKED THIS FOR ANY REASON. YOUR’S FRIEND RITESH
ROSHAN”

Some exploration led me to:

For a moment, I thought that this was some student from Patna running a scam. Then I thought it must be some student who had been convinced to pass on a scam as a genuine message.

Then I looked at all the posts in the blog. The posts list looks like my spam box. All sex spam and scam. Yet, the description didn’t sound spammy.

Now I am wondering what happens when a spammer gers someones “email to blog” ID and runs it through a regular spam bot without the benifit of spam filters and stuff a normal email account would have.

And there are other people like this. Lazy to hunt for links at the moment, but there are plenty who create and abandon blogs and get careless with stuff like logins and blogging email IDs

For me, this post highlights two major concerns:

• What does it do to a person’s reputation if a spammer is running sex and scams in his name on his blog and what can be done to prevent it
• How are these scams still operating in a world of computerized banking and tracking of fraud?

Might be worthwhile making a preventative measures kind of post about this later.

I came across this bizarre (yeah, that’s my favourite word) situation with poor Vlad, who like many of us here is a blogger writing about his interests and writing paid posts as opportunities arise. Now, this situation seems to have a lot of angles to it, but from what I basically understand….

This Vlad accepts to write a review about ePerks. From all that I have heard, this was a positive review (I can’t find it). However, comments on his post were very strongly negative. These had some intervention attempts by an anonymous commenter and the whole thing heated up.

Well… he addressed that exploding comments situation inviting an exploration into ePerks in a follow up post. The company itself did what ….. they shouldn’t have, if they valued their reputation. They threatened him. Now, for a company that buys reviews from bloggers to build thier reputation, to threaten a blogger for writing - and from what I hear, Vlad did not criticize the company until then - is like having an axe… don’t know where to put it… look…. there’s my foot…..

This is basically what happened. This was followed by an explosion of bloggers speaking up in support of Vlad (like I am doing right now). It really is no longer the issue what the services of ePerks are anymore. The issue now is their image. For a company paying to get reviewed, it sure has more unpaid reviews now, and none of them that they would want to pay for. I doubt if any of them include a link either. Some examples would be:

• iHype & ePerks - How To Kill A Startup by Andy Beard really looks into this situation from many angles. I found this post really helpful in understanding the situation.
• Presumed Guilty Until Proven Innocent by Aaron Walls speaks briefly about the right to free speech and the risk involved in mass acquiring of links without building relationships.
• Memo to ePerks.com: You idiots! Trying to censor a real estate weblogger is a poor way to defend your reputation — such as it is… by Greg Swann along with some other posts, all equally “defending” the right to free speech.
• There are many others who have got angry about this whole thing.

My perspectives on this:

• ePerks: This was an incredibly stupid thing to do, which I guess I don’t need to tell you by now. If you pay for a review, you get a review. The end. If you don’t like the comments, go camp out on the comments form, address the commenters (which you did). However, threatening a blogger for something he did not do….. You don’t have a leg to stand on. Opinions are opinions. The smart thing would have been to acknowledge the comments, apologize if anyone had suffered inconvenience, and invite them into a dialogue to resolve the issue, or make your stand clear. This could have got you a few free nice posts, for graceful handling. Now, it is just about digging yourself deeper and deeper, and the damage is really beyond control. How many bloggers can you sue? Do they even live within your reach to do that? Really, I see no happy solution for you beyond a massive apology, an attitude shift and big payments to bloggers for damage control.
• Vlad: I see you doing what you were supposed to be doing initially, but I wonder if you really understood the imact of your second post. While it certainly invited investigation and feedback, I felt that it enouraged making extreme stands, which is good to get lots of comments, but really, how important are comments - at what price?). Though I don’t see how it would have changed anything considering the nature of comments that followed.
• Common man: I understand your frustration at being scammed and applaud your sharing of your experience so that it may serve to warn possible victims, or provide feedback to ePerks, if they do attempt a change of attitude.
• The blogging community: I expereince this rush of support for Vlad as one of the strengths of this platform, and the community. I don’t know Vlad at all, but being in his situation (having written about a scam earlier) I know that it is a risk that we get unnecessarily caught up in legal hassles. While we know that there is something inside us that wants us to stand for the truth, it is equally difficult to face legal feed regardless of who will win eventually. I don’t know most of you personally, but this act of solidarity makes me feel that there is support anyway if we stand for our beliefs.
• For me: The truth needs to be told. If I can do it in a way that facilitates resolution, superb. If not, confrontation it is!

Recently, I created a current account with HDFC bank for my business - Wide Aware. Its convenient. Yes, but there are some problems people might want to watch out for.

Using the Netsafe account for online purchases is a prime example. What basically happens with this is that you purchase a Netsafe card which is a one time thing and use the data from that card to do your shopping, so that you don’t end up sharing your real card details.

Great! Now comes the glitch. You need to put a maximum limit on your card. The maximum limit is debited from your account!!! Not your purchase amount. Your balance statement shows the purchase of a Netsafe card rather than your actual purchase. So, if like me you use it to activate your Paypal account and put a generous limit on your card in your ignorance, what you get is a loss of Rs.1000/- (for example) with the added pain that you can’t activate your account, because the 4 digit code that you should get will not come into your bank statement at all.

I see this as a horrible service, since no one tells you that the maximum limit you put on your card is going to get indefinitely debited from your account. Its 44 days since I made the payment, and I have yet to see any kind of refund of the balance. How’s that for a reliable banking experience?

I have phones the bank 4 times about this. The first time, I was told that it takes a month from the purchase for the Netsafe balance to return to the account. Then I called after the month was over. Their computers were down. Then I called again. They said they would look into it. Then I called again and was told that the baking executive would get back to me within a day or two. It has been a week since that. I have also used their contact form to email them about this, and have received a nice email of thank you for contacting them and their representative will get back to me.

I am now in the process of wondering if its worthwhile to bother with this any more or should I simply shut down my account and approach consumer courts? Wouldn’t this be fraud?

So folks, big banking names are not necessarily more reliable with your money. Be careful with your hard earned money even when it is in the bank.

Update:

It tool almost a month, but my balance WAS refunded.

Wisetechie has shared this link and information:

When does the source account get debited - at the time of creation of NetSafe Card or at the time of purchase payment ?

The amount gets debited at the time of creation of the NetSafe Card.

What happens if I do not use the NetSafe Card at all or if I use only part of the NetSafe Card amount?

For a completely unused NetSafe card created from your Credit Card, the amount is credited back at end of validity period. For Netsafe cards created from your Debit Card, the amount will be credited back in 3 working days to the source account.

In case the NetSafe Card was partially utilized, the balance amount gets credited to the source account within 7 days (for Netsafe Card created from Credit card) or at the end of 35 days (for Netsafe card created from Debit Card) from the date of transaction.

Thank you!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law got a phone call from “Bajaj Electricals” which is a well known company in India. She was asked three questions (which she answered wrongly). Her answers were declared correct and she was invited to claim a gift vouchers from some “Bajaj office” in the evening. It sounded like she was getting to select from a variety of goods up to a value of Rs. 4,000/-. She was busy and my husband and I went instead. What we found was a royal scam.

We were supposed to land up in the basement hall of the Great Imperial Palace Hotel in Teili Galli in Andheri (6th Sept 2007 - in case anyone wants to investigate this further). We entered to find a variety of couples engaged in different degrees of conversation with salesmen of varying degrees of aptitude.

It all began with a smooth talking salesman writing a lot on bits of paper creating flowcharts and lists and sweeping them away to create more on new pieces of paper. We were explained how Bajaj has plenty of ventures like Electricals, motors and god knows what else, and now there is a new one - Highland Holidays. This of course was total bull shit, as none of their papers had anything to do with Bajaj beyond its being the surname of one of its founders.

I think its an obvious scam when the name Bajaj Electricals was directly used by them to generate a sense of credibility. Then came too good to be true offers on holidays (which may or not be real, but certainly smelled like a rat). We were offered 8 days a year for 10 years for an “initial investment” of Rs. 42,000/- Needless to say neither of us were about to part from our cash. which eventually got negotiated to a “mere” Rs.14,000/- for 6 days for 5 years.

What got me itchy and suspicious and getting on google search immediately on returning home were these things:

1. The phone call itself pretended to distribute gift vouchers for Bajaj Electricals for three correct answers, but offered them even when the answers were wrong
2. We are not listed for any schemes, contests or anything, and the organizers had no clear answer for how they got our number.
3. Nowhere on the location was any banner related with Bajaj (which is the name we were expecting to find) to be found. We honestly stumbled upon the event while enquiring about it.
4. Bajaj Electricals, the name used to draw unsuspecting people to the event - was in no way related to it, nor were any gift vouchers from Bajaj electricals distributed.
5. For a company that seemed to have gone through great effort to book a venue and organize individual presentations for participants, there was not a single piece of printed paper they actually gave anyone. No visiting cards, no printed documents of schemes, no nothing - not even mobile numbers.
6. It was clearly specified that the “outstanding offer” was open only right then, and the answer had to be yes or no on the completion of the presentation - no going home and taking a day to think or anything (more likely - no investigating this company for reliability)
7. The “gift vouchers” were for a holiday for two at one of some specified locations, where we still would be expected to be paying money.
8. The “presentation” itself was more like street haggling, where you are offered higher investment opportunities and when they are refused, cheaper ones come up.
9. Why would any reputable company have an investment opportunity open for an evening where a decision is to be made without looking at any offer document, without any verification, office address, official representatives, or even simple visiting cards? The way I see it, if they can’t afford a basic official set up, my investment is unlikely to be safe with them.
10. Strangely, even their “managers” who came in to dramatic effect with approvals of surveys, and special offers, etc. didn’t even bother to provide surnames. I have yet to see any professional investment related thing being presented or negotiated without any written documentation or proposal of the exact offering and terms for consideration before investing in it. No official venue, no visiting cards, nothing.
11. For an investment related event taking place in a hotel, not even tea or coffee was offered. We were asked if we wanted water.
12. In short, they were simply trying to his susceptible people and get money out of them as fast as possible.

The sad part is that I found some middle class couples and one really aged one taking these offers very seriously. I hope for their sakes that this offer goes against all logic and turns out to be genuine.

PS: A reader Kalyana has shared this link to an article from the Deccan Herald where Holiday Homes was asked to refund payment by the consumer court.