What can really get you hacked?

skipnrocks · Oct 16, 2012

Can replying to an email really open the door for you to get hacked? If you use a dummy account to reply to suspect emails and dont have any personal info period in that account is there any danger? ie... fake name, bday, password?

leehype · Oct 17, 2012

It isn't the reply that can get you hacked. Some people have a email signiture with a bunch of details about themselves, and even a digital signiture, and that is information that can be used against you. The danger comes from someone else knowing that an email address is active. Say your trying to scam people, you wouldn't want an email address that has been ignored for years, you would want some 19 year old kid's email address, and you could send a email asking anyone in the contact list labled "mom" for money for what ever reason. So replying to [email protected] is blaitently telling the scammer that "this email address is active and in use." Then, the scammer will attempt to break into your account. Make sure your account has a lock out after so many attempts (they will try first and last name, password, birthday, and any combo of other data they can get.) If those fail, and the account does not lock out their attempts, they will use a bot (a computer program that is programed to randomly enter passwords.) Make sure to use extreemly strong passwords, with capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

If your trying to get into scam baiting, best bet is to get a hook up with a private email server set up by someone. Anyone that owns a domain can set you up.

skipnrocks · Oct 17, 2012

Heres the background story. I got an email on a cl ad. Had red flags but the rest of the email was typical of legit... Lowball offer etc, local drop off etc. Paid in cash. I wanted to reply since the exchange would be made in person but didnt want my acct to get hacked.... I didnt know if scammers had gotten smarter and stopped offering 2x what your asking to get peoples attn. What I ended up doing was opening a fake email acct with fake name and no personal info, no state , phone number, alt email, or contacts.

Here are the red flags the guy lives in equidore, his sister lives in denver and is moving back home. Ding ding ding....

However he does claim to be a chiropractor (hence buying my old adjusting table) the name he is using has a legit website and facebook page. His "sister" lives in denver and will pay cash on delivery.. He did use some chiropractic lingo when asking questions about the table. Nothing someone couldnt find verbage on the net for.

Any scam I had in the past has shipping, and checks etc... Should I give my phone number to set up a meet? or is there a danger in that?

ranger11 · Oct 17, 2012

Re: Re: What can really get you hacked?

Just pic a spot and time then send it via email no need for phone number. Also you can buy a counterfeit marker to check the money when they pay. People freak when I do it but its the only way to be sure your not getting screwed.

I the old days of buying/selling stuff. Hell I even miss the first few years of ebay.

ridered3 · Oct 17, 2012

Re: Re: What can really get you hacked?

ranger11 said:
Just pic a spot and time then send it via email no need for phone number. Also you can buy a counterfeit marker to check the money when they pay. People freak when I do it but its the only way to be sure your not getting screwed.

I the old days of buying/selling stuff. Hell I even miss the first few years of ebay.

That is a great idea. When I sold my CJ7, dude drove from North Carolina with cash in hand. After we swapped cash for title, I set mom up the road to a gas station to do some "shopping"/to check each bill with the store's marker to see if all the bills were legit. Sadly enough, it is hard to trust alot of people nowadays.

leehype · Oct 17, 2012

skipnrocks said:
Heres the background story. I got an email on a cl ad. Had red flags but the rest of the email was typical of legit... Lowball offer etc, local drop off etc. Paid in cash. I wanted to reply since the exchange would be made in person but didnt want my acct to get hacked.... I didnt know if scammers had gotten smarter and stopped offering 2x what your asking to get peoples attn. What I ended up doing was opening a fake email acct with fake name and no personal info, no state , phone number, alt email, or contacts.

Here are the red flags the guy lives in equidore, his sister lives in denver and is moving back home. Ding ding ding....

However he does claim to be a chiropractor (hence buying my old adjusting table) the name he is using has a legit website and facebook page. His "sister" lives in denver and will pay cash on delivery.. He did use some chiropractic lingo when asking questions about the table. Nothing someone couldnt find verbage on the net for.

Any scam I had in the past has shipping, and checks etc... Should I give my phone number to set up a meet? or is there a danger in that?

Ok, so he lives out of country and is meeting you in person? Or is it requesting you deliver to his sister?

If the former, just wow. If the later, sounds like more than a scam. It could simply be some guy from out of country wants the product. But I also think it could be likely his sister could be 5 guys wanting a bit more than a table.

GO GET A PREPAY PHONE!!! Walmart and other places have them for what, $10 bucks? Buy one, they are cheap insurance, and no chance you will have to deal with them later. And if you pay in cash, they are completely untraceable.

There are scammers out there simply trying to get phone numbers. A valid phone number can be sold quite a few times for a bit of money.

skipnrocks · Oct 17, 2012

He asked me to deliver it to his sister. I emailed him back and said that would work and that I needed her name and phone number so I could set up a drop off. I have a counterfeit marker I will take. I guess this will be the determining factor if we can talk.

TacomaJD · Oct 17, 2012

I put my phone number out there in every craigslist ad I list.....and ignore all emails I get through craigslist. If my number is clearly listed in the ad and they don't call or text, then they obviously don't want whatever it is that I'm selling bad enough to show up with cash...so :flipgotcha:

them

skipnrocks · Oct 17, 2012

TacomaJD said:
I put my phone number out there in every craigslist ad I list.....and ignore all emails I get through craigslist. If my number is clearly listed in the ad and they don't call or text, then they obviously don't want whatever it is that I'm selling bad enough to show up with cash...so them

I do the same thing. The bottom of all my adds states call or text me. I will not respond to emails due to scam issues. LOL so much for that. I did call his sister. Goggled her too and her name popped up as a real-estate attorney as he said. She grilled me on the details of the table and set up a cash exchange for Saturday night.

I guess we will see how it goes.