The scams become more sophisticated
Take a look at aigars.co.uk, at first appearance it looks quite legitimate, but as some investigation shows this site is just one in a large number of long running scams. The way they work is by using a payment method such as Western Union money transfer to send the cash to one of their ’sales representatives’, who will use fake identity documents to collect the money without being traced. Although the site lists a London address, they’re not based at the address, but they did make the effort to make it a valid address.
Although these sites don’t fit in with the typical definition of phishing they’re still scam sites and so I’d like to see browsers phishing detectors flag these sites, once aigars.co.uk disappears a similar site with a different domain will appear and the fun will start all again. Currently it’s not picked up in either the IE or Firefox filters, I have submitted the site but as it looks genuine on the surface then they may not flag it.
Some things to look for in this scam site:
- The site is supposedly UK based, but defaults in listing prices in Euro rather than British Pounds.
- Non standard payment methods such as Western Union that makes tracing the culprits differently.
- ‘Live’ webcams of their office that actually come from a different site
The best advice is that is you come across a site that’s too good to be true then it may well be. Look for unusual aspects of the site and make sure you look for positive reviews elsewhere. If in doubt look for a more recognisable source.
They also promote themselves via Google ads, I’m sure Google will remove them when they’re reported but remember that these sites are a moving target. By the time you read this aigars.co.uk may have been taken down and the site has moved on to another domain.
They claim to sell popular electronic gadgets such as iPod’s, digital cameras, wide screen TV’s, game consoles such as the Xbox 360 and pre-orders for the Playstation 3. A lot of people have been scammed by these people so it pays to be careful.
Thanks to Daniel Glazman’s blog which brought this to my attention. Also worth reading are these blog entries [1] [2].