We recieved this official looking email today, which at first glance, looked legitimate. But upon further review it turns out to be a scam designed to get the recipent to buy the Chinese version of their domain name. So if you get one of these messages, just ignore it.

Dear Manager:

 We are the domain name registration organization in China,who mainly duty for domain name and Internet Trademark registration work.
Here,we have some important thing confirm with your company.On November.10, 2009, we received an formal application ,one company named “Meihua Group”
wanted to register the”your-propeller-head”as CN/ASIA internet domain names and Internet trademark names.
After our initial examination, we found that the keywords and domain names applied for registration is the same with your company’s name and trademark.
So send mail to your company and need to confirm whether this company is your company’s partner in China.If it is,we will finish the all registration work.
If it isn’t ,please ask your company’s related person to contact us as soon as possible.Thanks! 

Looking forward to hearing your reply!
 
Kind regards

Alice Zhou
Checking Department

——————————————————–
China Internet Service Provider:
Company:YIGUAN IT LTD
3002, Nanhai Building ,854.Nandan Road 
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200030
Tel: 0086-21-6296 2950
Fax:0086-21-6296 1557
Mail: alice@yiguanit.cn
Web: www.yiguanit.cn

For more information on this particular scam, visit the Web Developer Forums

The Spamhaus Project is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to track the Internet’s spam operations, to provide dependable realtime anti-spam protection for Internet networks, to work with Law Enforcement Agencies to identify and pursue spammers worldwide, and to lobby governments for effective anti-spam legislation.

Founded in 1998, Spamhaus is based in Geneva, Switzerland and London, UK and is run by a dedicated team of 28 investigators and forensics specialists located in 8 countries.

Spamhaus maintains a number of realtime spam-blocking databases (‘DNSBLs’) responsible for keeping back the vast majority of spam sent out on the Internet. These include the Spamhaus Block List (SBL), the Exploits Block List (XBL), the Policy Block List (PBL) and the Domain Block List (DBL). Spamhaus DNSBLs are today used by the majority of the Internet’s Email Service Providers, Corporations, Universities, Governments and Military networks.

To meet public demand for its DNSBLs, Spamhaus has built one of the largest DNS infrastructures in the world. Its network of over 60 public DNSBL servers spread across 18 countries serves many billions of DNSBL queries to the public every day, free of charge.

The number of internet users whose mailboxes are currently protected by Spamhaus DNSBLs now exceeds 1.4 Billion (actual number is published under ‘Spamhaus Userbase’ on the left of this page).

In addition to generating spam filter data and publishing realtime blocklists, Spamhaus publishes the Register Of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO), a database collating information and evidence on the ’100′ known professional spam senders and spam gangs worldwide. ROKSO is used by Internet Service Providers to avoid signing up known spammers who would abuse their networks and by Law Enforcement Agencies to help target and mount prosecutions against professional spammers.
 
Spamhaus CEO Steve Linford speaking at the European Parliament  The Spamhaus Project’s teams and staff are volunteers. Infrastructure is provided courtesy of industry sponsors and autonomous organizations that provide services to the spam filter industry utilizing Spamhaus data and technologies.

Funding for operations is through sponsors and donations from industry, including from The Spamhaus Foundation, a private Foundation whose charter is to assure the long-term continuation of The Spamhaus Project and its work.

• Spamhaus is Working to Protect Internet Networks Worldwide

Beware scams to get you to transfer your domain names to another registrar. A great example of this not so ethical practice is Domain Registry of America. Domain Registry of America will send you a written notice of gloom and doom about your impending domain name renewal. The catch is, they probably aren’t your registrar.

If you respond to their renewal notice, Domain Registrars of America will transfer your Domain to themselves (as your Registrar) and charge about 75% more than the going registration rate.

So remember that just because they spent the extra money to mail you a warning, doesn’t mean they aren’t spammers!

Red Condor Inc., the award winning provider of email security for Service Providers, Small and Medium Businesses, Education, Government Agencies and more. Their third generation, Zero Minute Defense product is automated, multi-layered, and closed-loop – making it the price/performance leader in eliminating spam, viruses, spyware, bots, phishing schemes and other dangerous and offensive content. Red Condor’s unique architecture also protects email servers and systems from external threats such as denial of service and directory harvest attacks.

Red Condor is the provider of the ONLY TRUE HYBRID product on the market today. Their hybrid means that you have the choice of a hosted service that requires no hardware or software installation or a plug-and-play network appliance that delivers cost effective, localized protection…or a unique combination of BOTH. Red Condor also offers both outbound and inbound filtering service options.

Tracking the High Cost of Spam

It is estimated that spam caused an estimated $130 billion in damages to businesses, government organizations, schools and other nonprofit organizations during 2008. That cost is projected to be $338 billion by 2013. It’s easy to understand the economic impact that unwanted email has on our lives. We can’t work without it, and they don’t want unwanted email in our way.

At Red Condor, they fight the growing threat of spam with a proven, deployed technology that is stress-tested, refined, and available to customers world-wide.

Email You Need, Without the Spam You Hate

Red Condor’s next generation, behavior-based filtering technology sets a new standard for effectiveness in eliminating unwanted, fraudulent, and predatory email while ensuring that real email get delivered without being incorrectly labeled as spam. Red Condor’s technology provides long-term spam block rates certified by The Tolly Group, an independent, third party testing agency, at 99.991% and with a false-positive rate at near zero (1 in 190,000).

And because the nature of spam and other email threats is constantly changing, Red Condor’s technology tracks evolving spam campaigns in real-time; antivirus and other threat definitions are updated every few minutes. Updates are then distributed to both hosted services and network appliance devices, automatically providing customers with continuously updated email protection.

The Value of a True Hybrid

Red Condor’s ability to quickly deploy defense resources when and where they are needed most gives its customers an exceptionally high level of email security. Furthermore, this resiliency is backed up by the company’s multiple data centers and its 24×7 security operations center staffed by email experts.

Red Condor’s revolutionary Vx Technology™ also provides fail-safe protection to users of its network appliance devices – even if those devices are off-line. Vx Technology, the industry’s first and only true hybrid email security that integrates a local network appliance with a hosted service and data center backup for true messaging assurance. Vx goes into effect when an appliance goes down due to overwhelming attacks, power failure or other network issues.

Easy to Install, Easy to Migrate, Easy to Use

Red Condor’s hosted services and network appliance devices can be integrated seamlessly into any existing email platform, including Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise and open source Linux-based e-mail platforms. And it can be done without the need for any changes or configurations to either email servers or client email applications. Red Condor provides the support you need to configure and migrate as well.

Better Performing Technology

Red Condor’s comprehensive defense strategy against spam, viruses and other email threats requires messages to pass through consecutive layers of SMTP session level defenses, content analysis, virus detection, sender profiling, and other filtering before reaching the recipient’s email inbox. The Red Condor suite of proprietary and patent-pending technology for its Hosted Service and MAG-series network appliances includes Email DNA and behavioral analysis, sender reputation scoring, advanced imaging filtering

Red Condor has thousands of satisfied customers. It’s there for them 24×7, blocking more than 1 billion unwanted messages every week. 

 Award-Winning Technology You Can Trust

Red Condor offered its first product in 2004. The company’s cutting-edge technology was built from the ground up to provide the most complete and accurate email security on the market while reducing the total cost of ownership.  Even though the anti-spam market was crowded, the founders felt competitive offerings lacked performance and value.  In 2009, InfoWorld magazine recognized Red Condor for its Message Assurance Gateway (MAG) appliance with the 2009 Technology of the Year Award. Red Condor’s MAG device was recognized in the Networking and Security category for the best anti-spam appliance.

• Red Condor Email Spam Filtering

Great article on how companies are partnering to take away your Internet functionality. Google and eMachines partner to force you to type in www.

The IRS will never ask you for personal information by email. Maybe tell you your getting an audit, but not ask for personal information.

If you recieve an email message like this

Don’t reply follow the instructions on the IRS Website Phising Page

I just can’t resist posting these lesson on how not to deal with your spam issues. The last message was threatening and just plain stupid. This message is even more threatening and absolutely moronic.

Now here is the deal, we do not send spam in any way shape or form, we do not even have a newsletter. If the sender of this message took even a fraction of the time they spent writing this tripe, and actually looked at their email headers they would know that.

Additionally, with a few mouse clicks and keystrokes they could have created a filter in their email client and they would never see the spam. Or they could use a program like spam Assasin and have the issue cleaned up in no time, without spending hours writing profane messages to innocent parties.

So the lesson here is being angry doesn’t solve anything, just makes you look like a bigger fool than the person causing the problem in the first place.

Stop sending us your unwanted, unsolicited and definitely worthless email *! Expletive !*, we don’t want it and have asked repeatedly that you stop sending your emails to us.

We especially don’t want our email information passed on, sold or otherwise forwarded or offered to any other groups like yours who do nothing but proliferate the bombardment of fraudulent scams, rip-offs, etc., type email *! Expletive !* to people like us.

We’ve complied with the law about such spamming and notified all appropriate links, and if you don’t stop sending these emails NOW then we will file a lawsuit against you.

We have informed your ISP and various links that you are in violation of spamming us, along with unlawful contact law violations, and, your original email has been forwarded to the FBI, Secret Service and Interpol as possible links to extremely dangerous terrorist groups.

Take a big hint here, we don’t want your email *! Expletive !* ever sent to us again, so Stop and go away, NOW and never ever send us anything again.

It does not seem to help even for us to be nice, polite and to ask you to stop sending and bombarding us your email *! Expletive !*, and a such, since your group has refused to comply with our requests previous and repeatedly asking that you stop sending us your worthless email *! Expletive !*.

We now pray that you eat *! Expletive !*, live in agony We want all of your family members and those you are associated with to die a horrible death, burnt alive and experience the pain of reality and have a short life and death in agony Go away you have a short life and die you lowlife *! Expletive !*.

ISPs and SERVER systems, you know we’ve bitched and complained about unwanted most definitely unsolicited email *! Expletive !* and for months now We’ve sent you all the necessary linked information and the original email, we are more than to bring a lawsuit against you and your clients Be assured, we will deal with your ineptness and collect the maximum allowed by law in our State for such bombardments and *! Expletive !* sent to us that is not wanted.

We have collected more than $4,999.00 per incident [per email] and have tied up our local courts time for as many as 300 incidents a day and for a week or more at a time from such ISPs and Server Systems who do not become a part of the solution and would rather be a part of the continuing problem and neglect their responsibilities to whose who complain about such spamming, unwanted and most definitely unsolicited email *! Expletive !*.

Our local courts have rendered plenty of judgments in our favor and those judgments are payable immediately and before whomever leaves, along with all applicable court costs, otherwise you go directly to jail.

You should know our local courts will jail and hold those representatives in contempt if those court costs and fees are not paid immediately by cash Our courts frown terribly against such groups like yours who refuse to take responsibility for their customers and stop such *! Expletive !* from taking place.

Deal with it or suffer the consequences of your actions or the lack thereof Don’t ask us to supply you with any other detailed information other than what was supplied to you in the first place and those applicable server links.

We won’t and it is simple enough for your group to deal with your email *! Expletive !* that you allow to be proliferated through your system We have already spent time away from our personal and business activities to research, locate and find all applicable links, which lead us to your group, through private investigative services and found your group to be one of the major problems.

We will not spend any more time on such worthless email *! Expletive !*, that is and unless your group ignores us and your group refuses to be a part of the solution Do your job stop these *! Expletive !* from bombarding us with such fraudulent, scams and worthless email *! Expletive !* When we ask for subscribe to whatever, then and only then do we wish emails from whomever, and not before.

Last courtesy to your group, beware and that your group has been more than forewarned don’t send us any more emails.

We keep each and every original email that has been sent to us and those who we have notified by return path appropriately and those emails will be used as evidence that will be presented for our local courts against you and your worthless clients.

We don’t throw anything away which will be used in court against you as evidence of your unwillingness to take appropriate action and steps to stop this email *! Expletive !* from reaching us! Deal with it or we will and it will cost you thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Rather than use their brain and click on the link of whatever email they did receive and then remove themselves from the list, they chose to be obnoxious and make the most ludicrous threats. If it was truly spam, and not a newsletter, then they would simply need to modify their spam filters to delete all messages from the sender. If they don’t know the true sender (the from field can be configured to say nearly anything you want – including someone else’s domain name) they could have checked their email header. Email headers don’t lie!

To be quite frank we have no idea how they even found our email address, but the carbon copy list was extensive and even contained the emails of some Internet Marketing Gurus.

Now we are willing to give a little bit of credit, in regard to knowing how to distinguish between true spam and someone using a fake email address to send spam; but… Never send an email directly to an electronic newsletter to unsubscribe. Follow the instructions on the automated email – otherwise no one will ever see it. If you have 50,000 subscribers, you don’t have enough time to manually verify the comments from people who won’t follow the instructions in your email. Let’s be realistic, there are only 24 hours in a day!

Note all curse words have been replaced with ****

From: We were tempted to leave this in, but this person obviously has enough issues to deal with. Perhaps some therapy might help?

Subject: Stop sending us your unwanted, unsolicited and definitely worthless email ****

Body: Stop sending us your unwanted, unsolicited and definitely worthless email ***, we don’t want it and have asked repeatedly that you stop sending your emails to us. We don’t want our email information passed on, sold or otherwise forwarded or offered to any other groups like yours who do nothing but proliferate the bombardment of fraudulent scams, rip-offs, etc., type email **** to people like us. If you don’t stop NOW then we will file a lawsuit against you. We have informed your ISP you are in violation of spamming us, along with unlawful contact law violations, and, your original email has been forwarded to the FBI, Secret Service and Interpol as possible links to extremely dangerous terrorist groups (this last line was absolutely hilarious). Take a big hint here, we don’t want your email **** ever sent to us again, so Stop and go away, NOW and never ever send us anything again. Since you have refused to comply with our requests previous and repeatedly asking that you stop sending us your worthless email crap, we now pray that you eat ****, live in terrible agony and then we want all of your family members and those you are associated with to die a horrible death by being set on fire alive and experience the pain of reality and have a short life and death in agony. Go away you have a short life and die you lowlife ********.

If you get an e-mail from Pay Pal, Ebay, Network Solutions, or any0ne else, think twice before entering any information.

These scam e-mails will often look legitimate, containing all kinds of information you would expect from the company. but remember what’s a little copy infringement to someone who is trying to steal from you?

If you get an e-mail stating your account has expired, or was suspended, and you are not certain if it might be legitimate, do not click on the link in the e-mail. Instead type the website directly into your browser, get the companys phone number and call them.

The people sending out these e-mails are counting on you to be responsible and take care of your account issues immediately. The websites they create to steal your information are often only in place for a day or two, so take your time and go straight to the source, and no one will gain access to your personal accounts.

Sample of a scam aimed at Pay Pal members

Dear valued PayPal member,

PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of buyers and sellers. To protect the security of your account, we employ the most advanced security systems in the world and regularly screen our system for unusual activity. Recently, our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. Per PayPal’s user agreement, we have limited access to your account until this issue has been resolved. This is a fraud prevention measure meant to ensure that your account is not compromised. In order to secure your account and quickly restore full access, we require some specific information from you.

1. Login follow our secure site and update all necessary informations to your account.

2. Review your recent account history for any unauthorized payments sent or received, and check your account profile to make sure not changes have been made.

To get started, please go directly to https://www.paypal.com/ log in to your PayPal account and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible.

Here is another common PayPal Scam Mail

We recently have determined that different computers have logged onto your PayPal account, and multiple password failures were present before the login. One of our Customer Service employees has already tryed to telephonically reach you. As our employee did not manage to reach you, this email has been sent to your notice.
Therefore your account has been temporarily suspended. We need you to confirm your identity in order to regain full privileges of your account.
If this is not completed by Octomber 11, 2005, we reserve the right to terminate all privileges of your account indefinitly, as it may have been used for fraudulent purposes. We thank you for your cooperation in this manner.
To confirm your identity please follow the link below:

http://server.vendhost.com/~thomas/p/update.html

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

PayPal – Customer Service

Please do not reply to this e-mail as this is only a notification. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

Hopefully you noticed how the scam is designed to look legitimate, and are now prepared to Delete these e-mails on sight!