Monster phishing scam

I’ve had a resume up on Monster.com for years. Haven’t done much to it for most of them.

So I was surprised to get an email today purportedly from Monster telling me that I need to download some file to ensure “security.”

Naturally, the link does NOT go to monster.com, but instead to some executable file on this blog. The actual link is http://www.krazynonsense.com/blog/MProtectOne.exe. Whether the owner of that blog is an identity thief or just got his/her blog owned I don’t know. Viewing the raw source of the email, you can tell that it actually came from u15165024.onlinehome-server.com – IP address 217.160.240.148.

But wow.

I mean, how do unsophisticated web users survive? The email looks real. Has a Monster logo. Appears to come from Monster. The message is written in a credible manner (if you don’t know anything about browser security). The program name, Monster ProtectOne, sounds like something an MBA-wielding marketer would come up with.

I’m glad I have familiarity with internet scams, but my dad would click on this in a heartbeat.

I’ve gotta get him a Mac.

[ update ]

I haven’t found anything on Google about this scam yet, so I’ve let Monster know about it via the live chat feature they have on their site – very cool.

Transcript:

Received:Hello John.
Received:Thank you for contacting Monster Customer Central. My name is Sebin. How may I assist you today?
Sent:Hello, I just got emailed a phishing scam email that purports to be from Monster.com
Sent:I’ve posted the details here: (link to this post)
Sent:Please inform someone in your technical/security team
Sent:(sorry for contacting you, but this was the only way I found on your site to actually let someone know about this problem)
Received:Sure I will do that..
Received:Thank you for bringing this to our notice.
Sent:if they want to get a copy of the actual email from me, my email address is john@sparkplug9.com
Sent:you’re welcome
Received:I will get back to you with the details..
Sent:have a great day.
Received:Is there anything else I can help you with?
Received:You too..
Received:Thank you for using Monster..
Sent:ummm … no, I don’t think so
Received:Bye.

[tags] phishing, monster.com, virus, identity theft, john koetsier [/tags]