Fraudsters keep trying to "give" me money

Moneybookers.com is a legitimate payment service along the lines of PayPal. Recently I received what purported to be a message from the service. They had $290.56 for me, they said. There were two immediate giveaways that this was just a run-of-the-mill hoax: First, the message came to an address I would never use to register for anything. Second, I'm smart enough to know better than to play poker on-line (or at all, for that matter.) So I thought I'd look a bit deeper.

The message itself didn't inspire a lot of confidence.

You've got cash  	

Greetings from moneybookers.com! We would like to inform you that you have 
received a payment from moneybookers_usd@partypoker.com

Payment details 	

Amount: USD 290.56
ID: 23455643
Subject: You must use the link below to accept the payment.
Note: https://www.moneybookers.com/accept.php?payment_id?=23455643

Your money is waiting for you : https://www.moneybookers.com/accept.php?payment_id?=23455643

We hope you enjoy your cash.Use this link to accept the 
payment : https://www.moneybookers.com/accept.php?payment_id?=23455643

Moneybookers Security Reminders 	

Protect Your Password
Moneybookers and its representatives will NEVER ask you to reveal your password. 
There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. If anyone asks for your password by phone 
refuse and immediately report this to security@moneybookers.com.

Case Sensitive Login
Please remember your password is case-sensitive, at least 6 characters long 
and contains at least one number or non-alphabetic character such as '-'.

There's the funny punctuation for one thing. In English, there is no space before a colon but one is required following a period. Both of those errors are present. The link provided claims to go to MoneyBookers and to be secure, but the actual link looks like this:
http://www.aol.com/ams/clickThruRedirect.adp?1073762100,2147779757x2147568413,http://213.136.107.114/index.htm

The link actually goes to the IP address (213.136.107.114) and you might wonder who owns that IP address. It may not surprise you that the owner of the IP address is not MoneyBookers in Great Britain, but a private individual in Ivory Coast.

WhoIs Lookup performed by Karen's WhoIs
http://www.karenware.com/
% This is the AfriNIC Whois server.
inetnum:        213.136.107.0 - 213.136.107.255
netname:        AVISONET
descr:	        ISP Cote d'Ivoire
country:        CI
admin-c:        CJ1-AFRINIC
tech-c:	        AE496-AFRINIC
status:         ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:	        CIT-DT
mnt-lower:      CIT-DT
source:         AFRINIC # Filtered
parent:         213.136.96.0 - 213.136.127.255
person:         CHRISTOPHE JELEN
address:        CI2M
address:        Avenue Houdaille
address:        Bp 310 cedex 01 Abidjan
address:        Ivoiry Coast
phone:          +225 20 30 09 71
e-mail:         cjelen@aviso.ci
mnt-by:         CIT-DT
nic-hdl:        CJ1-AFRINIC
source:         AFRINIC # Filtered

	The e-mail contains glaring proof that it's fraudulent. I don't gamble, so I wouldn't have gambling winnings coming to me. If I did, they wouldn't be coming to the address shown. Then there's the matter of the link. It goes to an IP address instead of "MoneyBookers". • CLICK THE IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW.
	MoneyBookers is a legitimate service. This is their website.
	I clicked the Thawte logo and carefully noted that I was taken to the Thawte site where the certificate was verified.
	The real login page is secure. Note the green URL at the top of the screen and the correct URL and key symbol at the bottom of the screen.
	Also note the Turing number or "CAPTCHA" (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart): This number changed each time I reloaded the page. "CAPTCHAs are used to prevent bots from performing actions which might be used to make a profit on the part of the person running a bot. Most often, this relates to spam. For example, free email accounts (such as those provided by Google or Yahoo) can be used to send spam, so these sites use CAPTCHAs to prohibit bots from registering. Likewise, many sites which display email addresses could be used by spammers, so CAPTCHAs protect the addresses. Other spam related applications include CAPTCHAs to prevent blog comments, or accounts on other systems that might allow link spam (eg, Wikipedia)." SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
	The rogue site did a passable job of copying the original, right down to the inclusion of warnings about rogue sites: URL in your browser's address bar should begin with https://www.moneybookers.com (the 's' after 'http' indicates: this is a secure page) The URL did not begin with HTTPS. You must have a 'padlock' in the bottom right-hand corner of your browser. Double click the padlock to verify that the security certificate is issued to www.moneybookers.com There was no padlock. A thinking person would stop here.
	I tried reloading the page several times and 520085 reappeared each time. This is not a working CATPCHA.

I can't tell you what's behind the door because I didn't go there. It's probably a standard identity theft come-on that tries to get your name, Social Security number, address, credit card number, credit card PIN, your mother's maiden name, bank account details, and other information they can use – all of the guise, of course, that they need this information to securely transfer your winnings to you.

It could be even worse, though. It might be a site that does all of those things and then infects your computer so that the fraudsters can take it over and use it whenever they want.

Publish or perish

Scribus is an open source publishing program. If you're a PageMaker user, this might be something you'll want to consider. But if you're still using Ventura Publisher or if you have modern versions of InDesign or even Quark Xpress, you'll probably want to keep using them. Publishing programs are particularly complicated bits of programming and the open source community hasn't yet shown that its capable of doing a credible job in this area. At least so far.

Scribus is less forgiving than commercial applications such as InDesign or even Quark XPress. For one thing, Windows 98 and Windows Me have not been tested. Scribus does not support them and the developers say that they will ignore bug reports relating to Windows 9X/Me because many Scribus functions depend on features available only on Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

Scribus requires Ghostscript 8.54+ or newer for EPS and PS import and printing. It is "very intolerant of poorly constructed or marginal grade fonts" so using any of the widely available free typefaces you can find on the Web is not recommended. The developers also point out that Scribus is beta software that is undergoing many code changes daily. "While it is fairly stable and usable, caution is advised. It is not recommended yet for production use. The underlying file format is undergoing rapid changes and will not be finished until the 1.3.4 or 1.3.5 version is released."

That probably gives you little confidence in using Scribus for anything that's important.

When Scribus starts the first time, the start-up process will be much longer than usual because it needs to create a cache file of installed fonts and it disables any that it feels are broken or problematic. This is still an application that's early in its development cycle. I won't rule it out as a possible eventual contender, but I certainly wouldn't recommend that anyone use it in a production environment today.

Shopping on the Internet

I received a message from SuperMediaStore on December 22nd. This is an on-line store that I've used to acquire CDs, DVDs, laser toner cartridges, and such. The e-mail was the usual last-minute specials leading up to Christmas, but it took a different tack – a clever approach.

Most brick-and-mortar stores are closed on Christmas day and some are closed the day after. People want to be home with their families and store owners don't want to be seen as inhuman ogres. They also don't want to pay quadruple or quintuple overtime, or whatever it is they pay people who work on Christmas day.

But the Web is there every day. A well designed website doesn't need to have people running it, except for the system administrators who keep an eye on the servers and the connections. So what if you advertised some specials that were good only on Christmas day or the day after along with your last-minute specials.

That's exactly what SuperMediaStore did.

Follow the logic: Most people will be home on Christmas day. Many of those people will use their computers. A lot of those people who use their computers have high-speed Internet access. Some of those people who have high-speed Internet access will be willing to place orders on Christmas day if they get a bargain.

But there are also 1-day-only specials for the 22nd, the 23rd, and the 24th.

Maybe other on-line store owners have done this. If so, I don't receive their e-mail messages. No matter how many store owners used this approach in 2006, I'll bet that a lot more will use it in 2007. There's little or no cost involved in creating the promotion and the result will be sales on days that would otherwise have few sales. It doesn't require that a lot of people work on the holiday.

In short, it seems like a winner for everyone involved.

Click the image at the right to see the full-size version.

Come fly with me

This has nothing to do with technology other than how the company in question uses the technology, but I sometimes wander far afield. This is one of those times. I spent the week in New York City and stayed, as I have on most trips since the late 1990s, in Harlem. One difference this time was the airline that took me there. I flew Jet Blue for the first time and it won't be the last time.

Jet Blue launched in 1999 as a luxury budget carrier that connected New York City with vacation destinations. The airline has been expanding since then. Columbus became part of the Jet Blue network in October 2006. The cities Jet Blue serves from Columbus is limited, but if you go where Jet Blue goes, give them a try.

There's a TV screen at every seat and the seats themselves are wider and offer more legroom than most. I had an Ipod along for entertainment, but could have listened to XM radio or watched DirecTV (premium channels cost extra). Instead of pushing a cart that blocks the aisle to serve drinks, the airline's attendants take orders and then return with a tray. Snacks are served from a wicker basket.

Jet Blue flies a combination of Airbus A320 and Embraer E190 jets. I didn't say "Embraer regional jets". Although that's what the Brazilian manufacturer is known for, the E190 is a twin-engine plane with 100 seats and a range of 2500 miles.

Those TV screens I mentioned earlier also report near-real-time information about the plane's airspeed and altitude. Port Columbus is about 795 feet above sea level according to the display and JFK International is about 5 feet above sea level. And if you have a WiFi-equipped computer, you'll find that Terminal 6 (if memory serves, this is the former TWA terminal) has free WiFi throughout.

In New York City, I stayed at Harlem 144, a bed and breakfast that's a quick walk from the subway station at 116th St where I could catch a train to the daily conferences I was in the city to attend.

The bed	The breakfast

If you haven't been to New York City for a while, you may want to know that the terminals at JFK are now connected to the A-train subway station at Howard Beach and the E, J, and Z trains as well as the Long Island Railroad at Jamaica Station. The light-rail AirTrain is fully automatic and is free for travel between terminals or to any of the long-term parking and hotel stops; you'll pay $5 when you exit at Howard Beach or Jamaica Station. That means the trip into the city costs all of $7 ($5 for the AirTrain and the $2 subway fare).

Harlem 144 Bed and Breakfast: 144 W 120th St., phone 212.749.7289
Jet Blue: www.JetBlue.com

Nerdly News

Becoming larger by becoming smaller

Intel seems to be in the process of breaking the law. Moore's Law, that is. It the rule handed down by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that computer power doubles about every 12 months (later amended to 18 months). The law has held since 1965.

Now Moore says we're entering a new phase, claiming that not since the late 1960s have computer chips seen as dramatic an improvement as the new 45 nanometer (nm) transistors.

Intel says it will use two new materials to build the insulating walls and switching gates of its 45nm transistors and that the next generation of processors will contain hundreds of millions of transistors. The company says it has five early-version products up and running – the first of 15 45nm processors that are planned in the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and Xeon families of processors.

Ethics sometimes a mystery to Microsoft

For a company as large as Microsoft is, I sometimes have to wonder if anyone is in charge of examining projects for inherent stupidity. Apparently there is no such person at Microsoft judging from its plans to pay "independent" bloggers to "correct" Wikipedia articles and its plans to give expensive laptop computers to bloggers. Somebody at Microsoft should look up the meaning of a few words, starting with "independent" and "ethical".

If Microsoft feels that articles in Wikipedia have done violence to its image, then it is Microsoft's duty and right to suggest changes. Instead of trying to secretly hire people to do the work for them, the company should have been above board and expressed its concern.

And then there's the question of giving computers (pre-loaded with Vista) to bloggers. Most of the bloggers seem to think this is OK. I don't. In reviewing hardware and software, I am sometimes given evaluation copies of software. These rarely need to be returned because they have little value to the manufacturer. Hardware is different. Hardware can be sent on to other reviewers or the company can sell it as refurbished. Hardware has an intrinsic value; that's why hardware is almost always loaned for review, not given.

Organizations such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have strict written policies on how their reporters may receive products or services for testing and review. Most organizations (including TechByter Worldwide) do not live up to the rigid ethical standards of these organizations; but most of us don't put ourselves in the position of accepting what looks like a quid pro quo, either.

On the other hand, ethical companies don't offer them, either.

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