SuddenLink scam
Fellow blogger Dave Stancliff alerted us to an email scam directed at SuddenLink users. He called SuddenLink who confirmed it’s a hoax. Don’t be fooled.
See the email after the jump.
> Dear SUDDENLINK.NET Account Owner,
>
> This Email is from Customer Care and we are sending it to every Email User
> Accounts Owner for safety. We are having
> congestions due to the anonymous registration of Accounts. So we are
> shutting and your Account was among those to be
> deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let
> us know if you still want to use this account.
> If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the
> space below.Your User name, password, date of
> birth and your country information would be needed to verify your Account.
>
> Due to the congestion in all users and removal of all unused Accounts,
> would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You
> will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information
> below after clicking the reply button, or your
> account will be suspended within 48HRS hours for security reasons.
>
> * Username: …………………………
> * Password: …………………………..
> * Date of Birth: ……………………….
> * Country Or Territory: …………….
>
> After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be
> interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks
> for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.
> Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update
> his/her account after 24HRS of receiving this warning will lose his or her
> account permanently.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Customer Care Unit,
> Webmaster Team.
>
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The Humboldt Herald 
Why isn’t Suddenlink issuing this alert?
Who is stupid enough to fall for this scam?
P.S. Can we count on the Herald to alert us to the Nigerian scam and other scams that we receive a lot more frequently than this Suddenlink one?
Probably not, unless it’s somehow focused on Humboldt County.
Do any of these qualify as local enough to be worthy of mention on the Herald?
A scam targeting customers of:
1) AT&T DSL
2) A national bank with a branch in Humboldt County
3) A particular credit card that can be obtained by Humboldt County residents
Suddenlink is a national ISP. It’s unlikely this Suddenlink scam specifically targeted Humboldt County. Do you begin to see the slippery slope?
Just for reference:
It’s probably safe to say a majority of Humboldt Herald readers use SuddenLink.
If you would like to submit items for consideration you have my email.
Wow, why do you think most use cable modems?
Umpqua Bank scams
I hate people who are out there trying to scam. I always picture my mom (a.k.a. a nice little old lady) falling for it and having her fixed income depleted by some bastards’ immoral greed. Grrrr.
And people are so desperately hooked on their TVs that the thought of *OMG* their accounts being *horrors!* shut off and having to miss their programs would scare them enough not to read between the lines.
Do any of these scammers get brought to justice?
H, thanks for doing PSAs on your blog.
There were reports of arrests in October of the biggest spam ring ever, but it doesn’t look like it’s made a difference here at the Humboldt Herald HQ.
And yes, older people often fall for these scams.
Heraldo, can you offer us any relief from the robo-callers who try to get person information from us by telling us our “automobile repair insurance” is just about to expire? This is our third and final notice!!!!!!!!
It’s not that I’ve been fooled by the auto repair insurance scam. It’s that it is so annoying to get the same phone call week after week. I know two other old goats like me who have been pestered with these calls.
Just out of curiosity, how many Anonymi ARE there, Heraldo? I presume you can tell the difference?
The national “do not call list” actually works pretty well to avoid 95% of those annoying sales, and scam calls your talking about. In my household I make sure to interrupt them as soon as I identify their rude sales pitch. I tell them “I am not interested and I do not want you to call me again”, then I hang up without listening to their response. I treat them like a derelict trying to invite themselves to my family dinner, because thats what they are.
I got the Automobile Warranty about to expire call a few weeks ago, like the Card Services who claim they will lower your interest rate and this is your last notice…
Keep ’em on the phone for a bit, see if you can get ANY straight answers, it’s entertaining… WASTE THEIR TIME.
The Auto warranty “rep” wants you to go get your vehicle ID number, god knows why. “So which car are we talking about here?” “The one that’s covered under warranty” “OH, OK, which car are we talking about here? The Mercedes or the truck?” (I have neither) She says, “The truck.” “I don’t have a truck.” CLICK.
The one today starts out “With whom am I speaking?” “Well, with whom am I speaking?” He responds in a falsetto,”with whooom am eye speeeking” and CLICK – they’re worse than the Nigerian scammers.
Rose, I’m the one that brought up the subject of the robo-scammers. I like the way you handle them. I, too, press number 2 so I can talk with a live person. When I get a live person on the line, I try to talk them into getting my name off their list.
I’ve tried every way possible to get them to take me off their calling list, but nothing works. So now, I curse them with really bad words. Loudly, too. Anybody who makes their living trying to scam elderly people deserves to be abused as often and as thoroughly as possible, as they find out when they call me.
Screaming at annoying people over the phone. It’s something my parents told me never to do. It’s a new experience for me. It’s actually sort of Fun! :>)
But I admire your technique, too, Rose. Between us, we’ll make sure they earn their ill-gotten booty!
Internet browser software have features to detect phishing websites. If you’re concerned about being “phished’, you should at least make sure you’ve enabled the protection on your browser.
The media are constantly airing PSAs that advise not giving out any personal information when you haven’t initiated the contact or if its solicited on an urgent basis. Its good advice.
If you’ve got time to waste wasting another person’s time, better to get a life rather than playing petty spite games. If you enjoy engaging in that behavior as a petty enforcer, says to me your idea of justice is inflicting diabolical punishment. In that case you’re well suited for a career with a special interrogation techniques team.
That last paragraph you wrote describes 99 percent of what YOU do here, NAN, you self-absorbed prig.
No, Native, it’s kinda like this See how far the Nigerian scammer will go…
REALLY – DO NOT TRY TO READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE AT LEAST A HALF AN HOUR…
Patrick Ngozi son of the defunct ex General of Central Africa tries to swindle poor thirty-three year old Patricia Kearney and the very Reverend William Farquar Felcher out of 40,000 Euro!
Will they fall for his wicked plan? What starts as a high profile, top secret financial transaction involving 70,000,000 US$ and a chest full of gold bars, quickly deteriorates into a flaming love story of todger fixation, elephants, lions and Pete Townsend’s plectrum!
Characters:-
1. Patrick Guilley NGOZI – The Scammer
2. Patricia Heliotrope Kearney (me) – 33 year old woman
3. Gwendoline Paxo Kearney (me) – The sister of Patricia
4. Reverend William Farquar Felcher (me) – Head of the Church of the Kinky Mary Magdeline
5. Dr. Wilhelm Winkler (me) – Consultant at the International Circumcision Association…
I think NAN is looking too deep or trying to pick an argument just because he/she always disagrees with Rose. The point is, if LOTS of people wasted the time of phone marketers and scammers, they might stop calling. The truth is they get a few gullible ones who give them money or information which makes all the time they spent on dead ends worthwhile.
Eh, I figure every minute they spend with me they can’t get some little old lady – the last one I had was “Wanda” who kept responding to my questions with “Look, my name is Wanda, and I’m gonna be honest witsch u, ok?” “OK, well that would be refreshing…” “Well, yes, as long as you have at least $10,000 in credit card debt, we can… I forget what she was promising… “Really, so you have to QUALIFY to be scammed, huh?” “Well, look, my name is Wanda and I’m gonna be PERFECTLY honest witsch u…” I told her she was probably a very nice person and she ought to get a better job. She said Thank You. :)
They don’t always hang up when you tell ’em you’re on the National Do Not call list, they’ve got a script for that.
If you don’t have time to read the link above – here’s the short version:
I Laughed Till I Cried – and you will, too.
We just moved in Sept. and our new number got automated calls all day. It was awful.
I signed us up for the Do Not Call list, and it took more than a month, but finally they have stopped.
I talked to the phone company about it and they said they recycle phone numbers, so the last person with my number must have been a sucker. If your number is really troublesome and the calls just won’t stop, they can give you a new number.
Luckily, the Do Not Call List eventually worked.
What I did when the calls came was hang up immediately. Also, caller ID allows me to answer calls only from people I know.
OMG that is hysterical, Rose!
I’m the guy who was driven to abusing the scammers on the phone. You know, they ignore the Do Not Call registry. When I ask for information, they refuse to tell me the name of their organization, any contact information, or even the state they are calling from. So when I treat them badly, it’s because they have given me absolutely no other way to attempt to free myself of their weekly phone calls. And in spite of those efforts, they absolutely refuse to remove my name and number from their list.
I have had fairly good luck being on the “do not call” list on one phone. I have two lines, and for some reason, the other one still gets lots of calls. That answering machine is always full- of mortgage deals from robo-callers. My “good” phone gets calls from companies I do have accounts with- annoying calls about “my” account, thus making it legal to call me. They don’t have info about my account though. They want to sell me a better percentage rate, etc under the guise of calling regarding the services I requested.
I left a bank because of their constance pitches to sell mortgages and payroll services, every time I got on the phone or saw a teller in person. I think consumers need to act on their complaints when they have time. The problem is, it falls on deaf ears unless you can figure out a way they will pay attention and hear you.
If you want some interesting reading about busting the 419 scam, here ya go.
You’re deluding yourselved if you think your attempts at “rough justice” have any effect on phishing scams. The scammers easily decide when to move on, efficiency isn’t an issue becuase the payoff is very large when they hit a mark. The callers are typically paid for each call they complete, so they personally get some pay just because you talked with them. Believing you’re preventing another successful scam is also foolish because its just as likely that the victim becomes available to answer the phone only because their call came in later.
But the egotism and nastiness behind your actions is what is really shameful. You know your doing something dishonorable by adopting the tactics of criminals. When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Its not very different from Cheney and the Abu Ghraib soldiers who rationalized torture because it “saved lives”.
I got one of those Suddenlink alert things today..I thought it looked kind of weird so I deleted the email. The danger in that one is that a lot of people do use Suddenlink so unless they double check with the company some of them could get taken.
PS I got a few of those automobile warranty calls…and I don’t have a car. I used to get a lot of calls from NCO Financial Services, too.
I have had these emails, & one today 4/20/2011. The email address shown is jknapp8@att.net so someone arrest this jerk. By the way, DO NOT CLICK BLOCK SENDER BECAUSE I DID AND ALL IT DOES IS BLOCK YOUR OWN EMAIL ADDRESS.
CLICK ON THAT EMAIL ABOVE TO SEE IT’S COMING UP AS SUDDENLINK admin@suddenlink. PLEASE TOSS THIS CRAP IN JAIL!