Don't let your email account fall into the hands of scammers

Last month I warned about scam messages from known contacts urgently requesting money. The case that prompted that post has now thankfully been resolved and everyone who received the messages acted with the appropriate caution and it appears nobody lost money. Kofi Odum, a Kabissa member in Ghana, has given me permission to post the message he sent to all of his contacts after Yahoo! gave him his account back as well as the original phishing message he fell for that caused his account to be hijacked. These are both available below and serve as a valuable warning to us all.

What are your experiences? Do you have a horror story to share? What advice would you give? Which online resources would you recommend to African organizations seeking to protect themselves from scammers?

Key lessons: Yahoo! will never ask for passwords and keep backups of your addressbook!

1. Yahoo! and other online services will never send you an email like the one below asking for passwords and other credentials that can be used to gain access to your account. If you receive such a message, simply delete it or forward it to the abuse department of your provider - for Yahoo you would use their abuse form. If you have any doubts, feel free to send it to me and I will review it and advise you.
2. Keep backups of your contacts so that you do not lose them in case something happens to your email account. I recommend you export your email contacts regularly and save them to a USB drive to carry with you as well as to a DropBox account. DropBox is an online service that provides 2GB of disk space for free which you can even use to automatically backup and share files between computers and teams. Kabissa uses it actively and it works very well for us.
3. If you have access to your own Internet-cnnected computer, you can also backup your actual email folders from web-based emal services by setting up the account in Mozilla Thunderbird using IMAP and downloading it from time to time. I backup all Kabissa mail on an ongoing basis, which we host for free at Google Apps, by keeping Thunderbird open on my computer at all times.
4. Change your password regularly and don't use a dictionary word. If you have not changed your password for a while now is a good time!

Message from Kofi Odum: Hurray! My 'hijacked' email address - *****@yahoo.com is redeemed

(I have redacted Kofi's email address to protect it from spammers but you can reach Kofi via the Friends of the Handicapped International (FHI) profile on Kabissa at http://fhi.kabissa.org)

Dear Friends, Partners and Well-wishers,

I am very glad to inform you that my email address with Yahoo Account, *****@yahoo.com often used to communicate with you on Friends of the Handicapped International (FHI) business, which was recently hacked by fraudsters, has now been redeemed.  For more than 30 days, I was absolutely denied access into all the addresses in my Inbox at *****@yahoo.com thus losing your contact email addresses.   The delay was when Yahoo Office engaged me into rigorous security screening trying to ascertain the truth of knowing the actual person, “KOFI ODUM” when I lodged a complain that my Yahoo Account had been hacked and blocked by fraudsters.   I tried to contact only those I have your telephone numbers, and also shared a Warning Note to those at FACEBOOK.

It all came about when I received an email purported from Yahoo Office asking for information to enable them update their database manually in order not to affect our documents being deleted.  Fearing not to lose any of our documents, I readily obliged, including my password. Not quite two days, I received a telephone call from a friend telling me that the ‘Nigerian 419’ has hacked my email address and that, they said, I have been stranded in Nigeria for which I needed US$2,900 to enable me settle my hotel bills and purchase air ticket back to Ghana.

It is so sad how the perpetrators have tried to soil my name and damaged the hard won reputation of FRIENDS OF THE HANDICAPPED INTERNATIONAL to the public and especially to you my dear and cherished partners, donors, friends and well-wishers with me at FHI.

On behalf of the board of FHI and on my own behalf, I wish to say SORRY to all who received such an unprecedented email from those fraudsters.  To those, who might have responded positively because of
your love and concern for me and the work you and I are doing for the children with disabilities in Ghana, please accept my APOLOGIES for the harm done you by these INTERNET THIEFS AND CRIMINALS.

I am therefore, earnestly pleading with you not to be SCARED about emails coming from me *****@yahoo.com with regard to FHI business, especially when there is a need to raise funds for our Child Sponsorship Program and other Projects since FHI depends solely on you to reach out to working with People with Disabilities on donations and/or fundraising.  Right now, please prepare to help us through GLOBALGIVING OPEN CHALLENGE in December 2010.

Thank you for your co-operation and understanding.

Your Faithful Servant in the Lord Jesus Christ,

KOFI ODUM
FOUNDER/EXEC. PRESIDENT
FRIENDS OF THE HANDICAPPED INT. (FHI)
P O BOX GP 20275, ACCRA – GHANA

Web:    http://www.fhi-ghana.com and other links:
      http://www.globalgiving.org/

Tel:    00233 277 609 701

Faked message from scammers: Yahoo! Alert: Important Information Regarding Your Yahoo! Account!!!

From: Yahoo! Inc© <yahoo-account-services-us@cc.yahoo-inc.com>
Subject: Yahoo! Alert: Important Information Regarding Your Yahoo! Account!!!
To: undisclosed recipients
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 1:44 PM
Dear User,

We are sorry to inform you that we are currently working on securing our server, during this process account which is not manually verified by us will be deleted, Please confirm and submit your information for manual verification by one of our customer care.

Information which is to be provided is below:
User Name:
User Id:
Password:
Date Of Birth:
Country (At Sign up):

Upon confirmation of information from you, we will manually verify your Yahoo! Account and reserve it not to be deleted, We are sorry for any inconveniences this might have cause providing your information over
the email.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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