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Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:00 pm
by compugeek63
Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud
Hi,

This evening I’ve discovered a funny Fraud attempt, based on a fake membership to Download Open Office 2009. This is the mail that I’ve received:

—————————————————————–

Code: Select all

[b]Open Office Suite 2009[/b]

Open, Create & Edit Your Files
Download Office Suite 2009??Here
Edit Word, Excel & Power Point files- 100% MS Office Compatible.
Office Solutions

Read and write PDF files just like Adobe.
Here’s how to download Open Office 2009:
1. Go to: Download Page
2. Download Open Office 2009
3. Receive access immediately
This software package is the best way to edit your documents.
Publish all of your documents online in the HTML format.
Thank you for choosing us, the worldwide leader in Open Office 2009.
For More Information Visit our Website
Thank You,

David Matthews

If you want to stop receiving mail, please go to:
http://daily–new-product.org/
or you may contact us at the following address:
Plaza Neptuno, local #7
Via ricardo J Alfaro, Tumba Muerto
Panama Ciudad
Republica de Panama

—————————————————————–

Republica de Panama? and OpenOffice?..that really strange you don’t !?!?

but let see this ‘great offer’..by clicking on the link reported into mail we are suddenly prompted to:

http://67.214.168.130/openoffice/index.asp?aff=001&camp=openoffice_espd&kbid=1587&sub=oo_espd&pop=1

and also this as you should understand sounds strange.. OpenOffice Website that is based upon an IP..



A classical well designed fake page, now let’s click on download, and as we can see we are asked for Membership, after filling email and Name/Surname fields appears the core of the Scam, the Membership to Be Activated needs a Credit Card Payment  

After accepting we are infront off a classical phishing form that contains:

Name 
Surname 
Location 
PostalCode 
E-Mail 
Cc Number 
CcV2 
Scad 


After clicking system “validates” you transaction and the fraud is successfully completed  

Here some information about the used IP

IP Information for 67.214.168.130
IP Location:  United States South Bend Colostore.com 
IP Address: 67.214.168.130       
Blacklist Status: Clear 

Whois Record
OrgName:    Colostore.com
OrgID:      KCA-7
Address:    1805 South Michigan Street
City:       South Bend
StateProv:  IN
PostalCode: 46613
Country:    US

ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.colostore.com:4321/

NetRange:   67.214.160.0 - 67.214.191.255
CIDR:       67.214.160.0/19
OriginAS:   AS12260
NetName:    COLOSTORE-COM
NetHandle:  NET-67-214-160-0-1
Parent:     NET-67-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.COLOSTORE.COM
NameServer: NS2.COLOSTORE.COM
Comment:    http://www.colostore.com
RegDate:    2007-09-28
Updated:    2008-07-21
See you to the next post..

P.S> I have got this 3 times,,can something be done?

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:10 pm
by acknak
Basically there's nothing to be done, except to warn people to be very careful shopping on the Internet.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:30 am
by PCgeek87
No one can do something about it.
All we can do is to tellpeople to be aware of these things.

Thank you for posting this.
It should be helpful to others.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:58 am
by sradus
David Matthews must have a brother named Greg Matthews!! I just got an email from him :lol:

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 1:43 am
by Hershey
Hi: I just downloaded Open Office, but could not receive the download until I joined a member program through mbcontact.com. Is this a company a legit company through Open Office or have I been scammed?

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:18 am
by acknak
You do not need to pay anything or register for anything to download OpenOffice. Just go to www.openoffice.org and download it. There are absolutely no strings attached. The software asks you to register, but it's entirely voluntary.

Anyone who adds requirements beyond that has their own agenda--whether that makes it a "scam" or not, I can't say. Someone could have a legitimate registration program for some reasonable purpose, but you would still have the choice to get it from openoffice.org with no registration.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:38 am
by kassjean
I was checking the dates of posts about Credit Card Fraud. I can believe this has still been going on since July.
I, too just purchased the Open Office 2009. I wasn't able to download it. I tried to email someone but my emails came back. I called a company called Advanced Telecom and they said they've been getting a lot of calls. They also told me URL I wanted was Advance Tele,Inc. Do you notice the missing 'D'?

I should gone to the Ripoff site first. There have been several complaints about this. I purchased this with PayPal. I filed a complaint so hope I get my money back. Meanwhile, I don't have the Open Office.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:52 pm
by acknak
So sorry you had a bad experience trying to get OpenOffice.

You can always download the full software, completely without charge, no strings attached, from http://www.openoffice.org.

It is a large download--many hours on a dial-up connection. If you don't have a high-speed Internet connection, you can order a CD through any of several places mentioned on the OOo web site.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:49 pm
by Gieto
I hope this thread is still read, as my questions/concerns seem to never be in the FAQ.

I had been told of this 'free' office product and as i tried to find the free product was brought to a pay site, which was for openoffice suite. Are these the same products, or what is the difference? Here is the google #1 search link i got for [free open office]; http://openoffice-software.com/new/home ... op=howgood
and the disclaimer at the bottom of the page; {This website that no affiliation whatsoever with the owner of this software program, and provides only a link to the software program. if you are a member of fileguru.net and need support please contact us and not the software owner }.

So is there a suite? is it free? is it better?

TIA
gieto

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:51 pm
by Villeroy
The name of the office suite is OpenOffice.org like it's home page http://www.openoffice.org

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:15 am
by rsakuma
I got one too, asking to go here:
http://net--office-tools.net/re.php?lnk=1203372526&e=_______@____.com <---any email there

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:39 am
by bobban
Wow, they certainly look convincing. :o

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:47 am
by rsakuma
Heh.....and I found the guy doing it. He's in Montreal, Canada.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:50 am
by rsakuma
Registrant:
Adam Mathers (adam.mathers@gmail.com)
Internet Solutions

And a quick search for Mr Mathers finds this post, showing he is in Montreal, and his wireless provider is Fido.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:05 pm
by Villeroy
Whatever that name means in the real world. If it stands for a living person, he may not even know about this affair. Since the western world abandoned all those unwritten laws of business, there is not much you can do about it. Or do you know somebody in Canada, able to submit an offer he can't reject?

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:11 pm
by bobban
Villeroy wrote:Or do you know somebody in Canada, able to submit an offer he can't reject?
This might have to go in the 'paid support' section of the forums! :lol:

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:41 pm
by acknak
What are you hoping to accomplish by posting someone's email address here?

I guess nothing is off-topic in this "General Discussion" forum, but Is it appropriate to do that?

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:08 pm
by DrewJensen
First - FYI, I sent the following to folks at colostore.com

To whom it concerns,

I admin a web forum support site for an open source package - OpenOffice.org. Recently we have received a number of posting regarding some outright fraud being carried out by individuals, using your computing services.

For details on these reports please have a look at this conversation
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 698#p51698

I would appreciate it very much if you would acknowledge receipt of this email.

Sincerely,

Drew Jensen
OpenOffice.org User Community Forum
Administrator
Don't know what if anything I'll hear, but if and when I will pass it along to you folks.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:32 pm
by DrewJensen
Well, the response was quick and to the point
This site had been pulled on the first complaint we got on this, if you see anything similar like this on our network let us know we will make sure its taken down.

Jay Kramer
Colostore.com

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 7:26 pm
by bobban
I just realised that googling "Open Office" reveals two sponsored links that offer Open Office for FREE, 100% guaranteed (they even promise to only lighten your credit card account balance by $11.67 per year if you get the '3 year bundle'). I don't know how new these are but this and the spam pushing this ripoff probably explain the large number of people who come here questioning this scam. I must say, the sites are very convincing.

I guess telling Google would be pointless since they aren't breaking the law, and are paying for sponsored links. :evil:

Ripoff websites:

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 12:03 am
by aptdoc
Open Office is a great product, but the developers had better protect it from Malicious scammers. All downloads should be under HTTPS!

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 12:04 am
by TheGurkha
aptdoc wrote:Open Office is a great product, but the developers had better protect it from Malicious scammers. All downloads should be under HTTPS!
How will this prevent people from putting up bogus sites?

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 12:20 am
by ME3TV
they got me. then i got curious. indeed i was taken. nowi need to to call my cc company and cancel all cards.
damn... i know better... but it was the "upgrade" that got me and the version downloaded as if it is a real product is oo2.2 .
that was my first tipoff to check... word need to get out quickly to all potential users and all users.
well, lessoned learned..

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:43 am
by big_def
i just came this close ( ) to falling for that 'til the asking for money bit raised my suspicions!
having clicked on the link to this thieving scumbag scamsite i will have verified my email address - does this mean im gonna be bombarded with dodgy stuff?
thanks for the info, cheers and seasons greeting to all :)

big_def

big man in a wee man's body

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:02 am
by IanDavis1953
If you have made the mistake like I did of downloading OpenOffice via the Google advert for OpenOffice-Software.com (i.e. via Fileguru) all you need to do is lodge a sevice reuest with Fileguru asking them to cancel your account. They well then direct you to Clickbank who will provide a prompt refund. I guess this probably only applies within the the 6 week refund period.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:08 am
by MichaelOO
I got an email from 'Mathew Steiner' asking me to go to a site and download OpenOffice 2009, with 'Your Office Code: 1419'.

What concerns me is this;

I'd already Google OpenOffice and found a download site which asked me to pay for support, with various packages on offer. I ignored it and found the free version. Having downloaded it, I then got the 'Mathew Steiner' email.

Is this coincidence? Seems unlikely to me, as I've never had it before. So how did this person get my email address, the one I registered with OpenOffice? Any ideas welcomed.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:15 am
by keme
MichaelOO wrote:I got an email from 'Mathew Steiner' asking me to go to a site and download OpenOffice 2009, with 'Your Office Code: 1419'.
What concerns me is this;
I'd already Google OpenOffice and found a download site which asked me to pay for support, with various packages on offer. I ignored it and found the free version. Having downloaded it, I then got the 'Mathew Steiner' email.
Is this coincidence? Seems unlikely to me, as I've never had it before. So how did this person get my email address, the one I registered with OpenOffice? Any ideas welcomed.
Several ideas. You didn't describe the nature of your mail address (did you tag it somehow? Is it an address you've used exclusively when registering OOo?) or details of the mail you got (exactly when did you get it, and have you looked at the mail header?), so I'll take the broad view:
  • Some rogue site you found when googling somehow acquired your email address when you visited. Unlikely, but possible under certain circumstances.
  • Openoffice.org registration included your email address, and their site security is compromised. Also highly unlikely, in my view.
  • As above, and the openoffice.org organization security is compromised (i.e. a bad apple in the staff).
  • Internet service infrastructure (mail servers, routers, etc.) have security flaws, allowing extraction of data (like mail addresses).
  • Your computer security is compromised, and you are victim to the attack scheduled for april 1st, known as "Conficker" and by several other names.
  • Someone else was the victim of that attack, and they had your address in their address book. In my view (and based on what little you have told), this is the most likely cause.
IMHO the two most likely causes (the last two) imply that the harvesting of your address coincided with malicious activity on the internet. If it's one of the other causes, it's more likely to be directly connected to you acquiring OpenOffice.org software.

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:43 am
by MichaelOO
Thanks for the input Keme. I agree with you that the most likey reason is havesting of some kind, but I haven't received any other spam at that email address, and got the fake one the morning after downloading OO the night before. (Can someone make an OO Morning After pill..?)

I'm not going to worry about it, as gmail knows it's spam and I won't see another from that address. If I start seeing spam from others then all I can do is delete them. In the end, spammers are persistent and always seem to get through somehow. No worries: that's just life, eh?

Just out of interest, is Open Office 2009 a legitimate OO product, along with the pay-for-support packages, or is OO3 the only current version..?

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:10 pm
by Hagar Delest
MichaelOO wrote:Just out of interest, is Open Office 2009 a legitimate OO product, along with the pay-for-support packages, or is OO3 the only current version..?
I don't know if they just provide the official OOo version or if they tweak it in some ways. That's not illegal. You can sell OOo if you want. So it may be the legitimate product sold when it's free in fact. It may be the legitimate version with a modified splash screen, ...

Do you remember giving your mail in a form after the OOo download?

Re: Fake Download Open Office 2009 - Credit Card Fraud

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:25 pm
by Hagar Delest
MichaelOO wrote:Seems a bit too much like making money out of someone else's work, really. Especially as people could get all the help they want from the forum, if only they knew. I wonder how many people happily pay through such sites, and how many who have then find OO is completely free?
Indeed. We all agree here. But can't do much about that however. Note that some charge a small fee for a CD-ROM with sometimes additional material like extensions, ... it can be useful for people without fast internet access. But the worst ones are those who just give (for money) the link to... the OOo download page!