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Scam Combines Patriot Act FUD With IE Bug

Posted by timothy on from the misery-loves-company dept.

LostCluster writes "CNET, Reuters, and the AP are all reporting this morning about a circulating e-mail scam that claims that people will lose their FDIC bank account insurance because they are suspected of violating the Patriot Act unless they confirm their bank account information with a website. The scammers then use the already documented bug in IE that allows a site in Pakistan to get 'www.fdic.gov' to appear in the URL bar. Where's an MS patch when we really need one?"

14 of 447 comments (clear)

  1. Oh NO Mr Bill! by Dutchmaan · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope this isn't what Bill was talking about with The Secure Computing Initiative

    1. Re:Oh NO Mr Bill! by cwernli · · Score: 3, Funny

      The "Secure Computing Initiative" approach with this bug is documented in the Knowledge Base:

      This article discusses steps you can take to help protect yourself from spoofed Web sites. To summarize, these steps are: [...]

      • Do not click any hyperlinks that you do not trust. Type them in the Address bar yourself.
  2. Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...now we're outsourcing scams to India too.

    1. Re:Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
      So the rest of the world[1] can now interchange "America" and "Mexico", can we?

      [1] Yes, it really does exist.

  3. I Know Where by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where's an MS patch when we really need one?

    Being prevented by the DMCA?

  4. Solution by BWJones · · Score: 3, Funny

    Where's an MS patch when we really need one?

    These solutions will solve your problem. :-)

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    1. Re:Solution by utlemming · · Score: 4, Funny

      In other news: The Whitehouse is reported that its website, www.whitehouse.gov is under some sort of DDoS. Apparently, thousands of computers around the world are supplying "http://www.slashdot.org" as atempt to login into the server.

      --
      The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
  5. FDIC Scam by Syntroxis · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ha! Can't get my money - don't have any.

    Paul

    --
    Wherever you go, there you are.
  6. "Where's an MS patch when we really need one?" by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's in the same place they put their concern for their end-users. Once you find that, let the rest of us know.

    - A.P.

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
  7. Your picture is in the dictionary next to gullable by DrDoombender · · Score: 5, Funny
    Dear gullableguy@aol.com,

    We are with the government. You are violating the patriot act gullableguy@aol.stupiduser.com. We just want you to go to this site and give us all your compromising information because you are violating the patriot act under provision 1234. Please go to this site otherwise you will lose your FDIC insurance coverage. Please disregard the fact that if you really were suspected, the US government wouldn't actually contact you by email, and that the patriot act doesn't have anything to do with the FDIC. Oh and we would have addressed you by name instead of your email account. Oh, and other obivious and logical stuff too.

    Best regards,

    A guy who isn't pakistani

  8. I am a victim. by The+Breeze · · Score: 4, Funny

    I lost money to a similar scam, except in my case the mail came in the form of a white envelope from the "Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service." Short verison, there were papers in there wanting to know my social security number, how much I made, what I spent it on, all of the same information from my wife...and then it ordered me to give a percentage of my income to them or else they would come and put me in jail!

    I did a bit of research and found that this money had been taken from me from some group of thugs called the Congress of the United States. Apparently, they took my money and I'm told there's very little chance of getting it back.
    They've even got my employer in on the scam - now they are paying some of my paycheck directly to them.

  9. A patch is gonna fix THIS?!? by GuyMannDude · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where's an MS patch when we really need one?

    Honestly, the Patriot Act is so fucked up I doubt a simple patch will fix the problem. We'd have to throw the entire thing away and start from scratch. It's not worth salvaging.

    And further more... What? Oh. You meant a patch for IE. Okay, I got it. My bad.

    GMD

    --
    watch this
  10. Nasty sight by finelinebob · · Score: 5, Funny
    So if you type http://www.slashdot.org:foo@www.whitehouse.gov/ you get directed to a nasty site, even though the URL appears to say www.slashdot.org.

    Man, I thought I was going to see some nasty Goatse-thing but then ... horror of horrors!! GEORGE BUSH!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

    That was rude, man...

  11. Re:Still more fun with the PATRIOT act and MS bugs by 1010011010 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Hysterical. from the MS KnowledgeBase article:

    To workaround this problem:
    • Do not start messages with the word "begin" followed by two spaces.
    • Use only one space between the word "begin" and the following data.
    • Capitalize the word "begin" so that it is reads "Begin."
      and my favorite...
    • Use a different word such as "start" or "commence."
    Remember that, kids! Use "start" or "commence!"
    --
    Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.