Mentally Challenged CyberCriminals

This is an addendum to a previous entry I wrote... because criminals get stupider as well as smellier with age...

Everyone has seen all of the phishing scams from people claiming to be Ebay, Paypal, Citibank, and whoever else. They want you, the customer, to give your infos on their "secure" link in the mail, so that they can rob you blind... Only fools fall for these, but it happens. What happens though, when the Phishers are stupider than the Phishees?

Recently, I saw this one on Classy Warfare:

They must have taken the short bus to crime school

This was in one of my e-mail inboxes today.

Dear Yahoo! Member,

This email was sent by the Yahoo! server to verify your bank card information. Your bank ask Yahoo! to do so because some of their members no longer have access to email addresses on Yahoo! and they need to verify you.You must complete this process by clicking on the link bewol:

(link deleted)

and entering your bank ATM-Debit Card number and PIN that....

So these guys are total morons. Now today, I just got a new one as well... This one from Paypal:

Subject: Paypal flagged account

Dear PayPal Member,

Your account has been randomly flagged in our system as a part of our routine security measures. This is a must to ensure that only you have access and use of your PayPal account and to ensure a safe PayPal experience. We require all flagged accounts to verify their information on file with us. To verify your Information at this time, please visit our secure server webform by clicking the hyperlink below

>Click here to verify your Information<

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

Now this one caught my eye because when I hovered over the link to click... I got a web address like this:

htp://220.65.283/webscr

except it is http... Now the thing is, for a proper IP number like that, you need a FOURTH digit. You know, like 220.65.283.87. Morons. Also, remember that places like Ebay and Paypal never say "Dear Customer" etc... They always use your name.

After talking to some folks in the "know", I took some security steps.... I also took precautions after checking this out and am happy to say that my machine is both virus and spyware free after... so yeah, they are just idiots.