Mini Gallery
Category Archives: Rants and Raves
EFTPS Scam – Watch Out!
Okay, so this is kind of a strange topic to blog about… but hey.
It has to do with the online world and since I haven’t been doing much online traversing nowadays, I figured I might as well talk about an online scam I ran into recently.
So the latest in online via email IRS tax scamming and information phishing is this little gem here that goes something like this:
Welcome to Eftps
Your Federal Tax Payment ID: insert bogus number here has been rejected. Please, check the information and refer to Code R21 to get details about your company payment in transaction contacts section:
http://eftps.gov/R21
Return Reason Code R21 – The identification number used in the Company Identification Field is not valid.
In other way forward information to your accountant adviser.
on the site. James was appointed guardian of his two younger brothers, William Wright and Joseph Tarpelin,
EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
WARNING!
You are using an Official United States Government System, which may be used only for authorized purposes. Unauthorized modification of any information stored on this system may result in criminal prosecution. The Government may monitor and audit the usage of this system, and all persons are hereby notified that the use of this system constitutes consent to such monitoring and auditing. Unauthorized attempts to upload information and/or change information on this web site are strictly prohibited and are subject to prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 and 1030.
This was copied and pasted directly from my email.
Poor grammar, a random spammy message that didn’t show up until the copy and paste (the bit about James and Joseph – WTF, man? the hell does THAT have anything to do with my taxes?), and the fact that I never signed up for the website in the FIRST place (much less made a tax payment) red flagged this message as a “phishing” attempt or some sort of scam attempt.
To test my theory and suspicions, I opened up the link in a virtual environment where the worst that could happen would be limited to that one virtual environment and… guess what? My antivirus software went nuts over it – complaining that the link linked to malicious malware or a site that contained malicious malware.
Awesome. Continue reading
Heart of Gold
Have you ever bought an item or won an item in an auction on eBay thinking that you had won an item of a specific sort only to receive the package… and then realize that there were surprises in store for you?
It’s been a while since I’ve received any surprises through eBay auctions, but I guess my Tonberry card was feeling neglected because it suddenly activated on me and what was already a good bargain became a VERY unexpected (but much appreciated!) steal of a deal. Continue reading
Knock It Off!
Previously in THIS POST HERE entitled Achieving a Perfect Grade where I reviewed the Perfect Grade Necklace Set featuring replicas of Squall Leonhart’s Griever necklace and his Revolver gunblade, I mentioned that I used to work with fine and bridge jewelry.
So… yeah.
Once upon a time, I used to work with fine and bridge jewelry (including fine watches) where I was constantly exposed to high end sterling silver and other jewelry crafted from fine metals along with fine watches. In addition to selling jewelry I also inadvertently became something of a jewelry appraiser and jewelry consultant as customers would frequently bring in their (older) jewelry with questions on authenticity and repairability.
In the industry – just like in the collectibles field – there are guidelines to follow when determining a piece of jewelry’s authenticity and quality and after all those years… I think I can say that I know a thing or three about both authenticity and quality.
With that said…
I’m going to just be straight up about it.
It REALLY pisses me off to see all those knockoffs of the official Griever necklace replica passing off as the ‘official’ real deal. Continue reading
