Wapsi Square Forum

Bookworm, if you still have that email (or can retrieve it from wastebasket) I strongly encourage you to report it to local authorities... while pointing out that, in your specific circumstances, it have serious credibility problems on its face, and mentioning the link Dave provided. So your local authorities won't take it seriously in a PRACTICAL sense, i.e. ask you to evacuate while the bomb squad searches your premises etc., but will take it seriously in a LEGAL sense, i.e. escalate it to the FBI.

The more they can bring down the hammer on these idiots, the better. And each separate instance of someone receiving the threat is one more count of whatever criminal charges they find appropriate (at least charge, definitely - more than one distinct charge, possibly). I wouldn't mind if the idiots end up being eligible for consideration for parole in, oh, 250 years...

(Except... some of the charges, I'd lay money on it, will be federal, and the feds don't do parole.)

Warrl wrote: ↑Thu Dec 13, 2018 4:12 pm (Except... some of the charges, I'd lay money on it, will be federal, and the feds don't do parole.)

25 CFR 11.402 - Terroristic threats at the very least. Only a misdemeanor, but add up enough individual counts, and persuade the judge to run the sentences consecutively, and I suspect this bozo is going to be in Club Fed until his bones have undertone spontaneous proton decay and turned entirety to nothingness.

18 U.S. Code § 875 (d) - Interstate communications comes in at 2 to 20 years in prison per count, for sending threats against property or persons (or reputations!) via interstate or international communications of any sort.

I do hope they catch this bozo. CNN reported that at least some of the institutions that received the threat letter did evacuate their buildings.

Is the Bitcoin account address traceable? A clue, at least.

Been seeing this one being discussed in the infosec twitterverse lately. Can’t remember if it was Jester, HackerFantastic, or x0rz, but someone in those circles is discussing it.

1) It's coming from Russia, so there's no way for them to track it.
2) I checked, and the FBI doesn't have a way to report this sort of thing. They have a terrorist tip page, but it's oriented around everything _but_ electronic threats. The Electronic section just wants to know how you've lost money to whoever it is.
3) The local police wouldn't be able to touch it - the email's from Russia, which makes it CIA, FBI, and NSA.

The sad part? There are a lot of folks like me that could counter-attack, but the government won't let us. We could shut down many of the spammer sites in a heartbeat.

Bookworm wrote: ↑Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:22 am We could shut down many of the spammer sites in a heartbeat.

"Heartbeat" heh heh heh heh...

Heard that in a Beavis and Butthead computer hacker voice...

Latest:

I have some important Business to discuss with you and if you could lend me your attention it will be interest and profitable
More information available

Thanks

btw- the Title of this email is, en toto: ----BS--IMPORTAN BUSINESS----


I agree about the BS part...

Spelchak is not un importunt pard of e-male hackerng.

Wow, I'm in for a treat, this Christmas!

I was checking my spam folder, and lo and behold, both Walmart and Fedex have packages for me, that will be delivered once I contact them with better address info (apparently, whenever I order something online, I can't be bothered to type in my info correctly the first time...) And this, even though I have not ordered anything online recently. What luck! And when I look at the button on the Walmart email, it links to several email addresses, all on different domains, but all starting with "Walmart-services" before the '@'. Sounds legit, right?

I can't wait to see what stuff-I-didn't-order I'll be getting!

Furthermore, I also had an email from the UN Compensation Fund (money coming in from the Republic of Benin), and one from the NY State Supreme Court... the first one with $39 millions, and the other with a more "modest" $10.5 millions for me. Oddly enough, the one from the New York State Supreme Court kept repeating that they are a legitimate organization, while the first one wanted me to beware fraudulent emails. Well, that's reassuring...

Of course, there was another from somewhere else, I forget where, but it was sent from a Reverend, so it had to be safe, right? And it even included the security question "God" and security answer "is good" at the bottom of the email. What more proof do you want, right?

Boy, I'll be rich in no time!

lake_wrangler wrote: ↑Sun Dec 23, 2018 3:03 pm I can't wait to see what stuff-I-didn't-order I'll be getting!

Do remember to give them your credit card number and expiration date and CVC (just so they can verify the order, of course), and the key number for your front door and the disarm code for your security system (so they can deliver the package safely, if you happen to be away from home when the truck arrives).

And leave the key to your safe deposit box under the doormat so they can put it there if you're not home.

From: USPostalService <resorcinol@dog.com>

"... could not verify that it actually came from dog.com. Avoid clicking links, downloading attachments, or replying with personal information."

Duuuuuh...

To add to stupidity, the local school district, HISD, is now using SchoolMessenger to send alerts to people - including those who signed up for information on _one_ elementary school alone. So I'm being bombarded by them, and there's no real way to contact them.

The stupidity? Instead of sending text, they keep sending links to voicemails that people leave, saying "Click on the link to listen to the message from the school. No, really, it's a perfectly harmless voice file.. Download it."

Yeah. It may be harmless, but since I didn't sign up for it, and there's no reason for _doing_ it... no.

Bookworm wrote: ↑Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:05 am To add to stupidity, the local school district, HISD, is now using SchoolMessenger to send alerts to people - including those who signed up for information on _one_ elementary school alone. So I'm being bombarded by them, and there's no real way to contact them.

The stupidity? Instead of sending text, they keep sending links to voicemails that people leave, saying "Click on the link to listen to the message from the school. No, really, it's a perfectly harmless voice file.. Download it."

Yeah. It may be harmless, but since I didn't sign up for it, and there's no reason for _doing_ it... no.

Plus, I bet a dollar at least ONE of the kids in that school district will replace the harmless file with a less harmless one at some point, just to screw with the school.

GlytchMeister wrote: ↑Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:26 am Plus, I bet a dollar at least ONE of the kids in that school district will replace the harmless file with a less harmless one at some point, just to screw with the school.

I will not take that bet. I was an inventive high school nerd once, myself.

This situation is leaving itself open for all sorts of pranks, and the security of voicemail systems is often as robust as damp tissue paper. One upload of the right sort of prank recording, and all Hell will break loose. Wanna bet that the prankster couldn't fake the Caller ID and make it look as if the recording came from the least-favorite-teacher's home number?

It should be interesting to watch, from a safe distance.

Dave wrote: ↑Fri Feb 15, 2019 8:14 amthe security of voicemail systems is often as robust as damp tissue paper.

Really? That strong? I think you're being generous, here...

Heh, you think that's bad, you should see the username and password for the manual valve override on the autocells at work.

admin 1234
admin password
username password
user password

Actually, the username is 1234. The password is also 1234.

It's so ridiculously dumb as a password that very few would guess it, which might make it good.

Alkarii wrote: ↑Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:14 pm Actually, the username is 1234. The password is also 1234.

It's so ridiculously dumb as a password that very few would guess it, which might make it good.

On a lot of things, the point of the security is not to stop someone trying to be destructive; it's to stop the random numbnuts that will just go "I wonder what this does."