• Welcome to the FREE TUGBBS forums! The absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 32 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 32 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 32nd anniversary: Happy 32nd Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    All subscribers auto-entered to win all free TUG membership giveaways!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Wish you could meet up with other TUG members? Well look no further as this annual event has been going on for years in Orlando! How to Attend the TUG January Get-Together!
  • Now through the end of the year you can join or renew your TUG membership at the lowest price ever offered! Learn More!
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Someone is trolling the classified ads, trying to steal personal information

K

kctime

Banned
Joined
Feb 12, 2015
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Please be warned that there is someone sending out fake requests to rent timeshare weeks. They are responding to ads in the classified section, trying to trick you into revealing your email password.

I have received 2 emails. The first was from scrosemarydon@gmail.com, inquiring about a Ko Olina week for rent. The wording was:

Please advice the availability for your 2 bedroom, we need it for those dates. Is it still available? Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Click to expand...

I have also received an email from svcareslkaren@gmail.com with the wording

Hi, Please advice the availability for your 2 bedroom, we need it for Jan 14 tru 21st Or closer week. Looking forward to hearing from you soon..thanks
Click to expand...

I am ashamed that I fell for his trap. (My excuse is that I was tired and wasn't as alert as I should have been.) He asks you to send him a rental agreement. Then he says he has filled out his side, and please check it by clicking on this link. The link comes up with a page that is meant to look like Google Docs, and asks for your password. (This is where I'm hitting myself, that I actually typed it in.)

The day after I did this, I received an alert from gmail that someone had logged into my account from West Lagos, Nigeria.
 
you should probably change your TUG password as well.

good reminder to never ever click links in emails from strangers!
 
Appreciate the warning
 
Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately, it is not only links or attachments from strangers anymore you have to look out for. I work for a financial institution and we are even getting emails from emails from what appears people we know (same email address and everything) asking to click on this or open that. I now try not to click on any link or attachment via email anymore.

It is sad.....but the bad guys are getting better and better at this.
 
mdurette said:
Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately, it is not only links or attachments from strangers anymore you have to look out for. I work for a financial institution and we are even getting emails from emails from what appears people we know (same email address and everything) asking to click on this or open that. I now try not to click on any link or attachment via email anymore.

It is sad.....but the bad guys are getting better and better at this.
Click to expand...

This is good advice. Unless you know in advance that a specific item is coming from a specific person, you need to confirm before opening.
 
svcareslkaren@gmail.com

Thank you for posting the alert of the fraudulent "renter" of timeshares. I received the same email asking about availability of my unit. The person did negotiate on the price and wanted me to send them the rental agreement. Something just did not feel right - so I typed in the above email address... and a post from TUG showed up.... just a warning that this person is still at it.

Again, thank you for warning all of us!

Ray
 
Phishing / Nigerian Scammers looking for prays on... TUG Marketplace

Hi,

I really didn't expect this one.
I put an ad on the market place, and got contacted by "Karen" (svcareslkaren@gmail.com). Good communication, everything goes fast, I send a draft rental agreement for review.

The person behind "Karen" sends an email saying that she already signed the agreement, that can be downloaded from a t.co url... strange. She is eager to pay (red flag !)
The URL sends in fact to a web page (poorly) mimicking a google login page, and, in fact, aimed at collecting email credentials from the victim. Information input there are sent to this address url removed (Nigerian domain...)

If you are curious, you can see the "phishing page" here url removed. Just make sure you don't enter anything sensitive. And better not to click if you don't have a good anti-virus, just in case.

Be careful out there...

PS: seems similar to this case reported earlier this year:
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233229&highlight=phishing
Except that this happened on TUG, and not Redweek ! :-(
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for letting us know about this. Let's all be careful to only click on links that we are expecting from someone that we know.
 
Thanks for the info

Thank you for all the advise. I probably would've fallen for the same scheme being anxious to get my timeshare rented. Sadly, we are victims when we just don't know who is contacting us and must open emails not knowing the legitimacy...we are at their mercy. :mad:
 
I would say clicking on the link was not the problem here, but entering your password. You knew better but did it anyhow, just shows us all that it's easy to slip up.

Thanks for posting this.
 
Thank you s much for positing this. It is very sad indeed.
 
Set up a separate "free" email with a password you don't use anywhere else to use for your classified ads.
 
Thanks for the warning. I got a similar message from this Karen as well. I have since changed all the passwords as a pre-caution.
 
another reminder for folks to stop clicking links to attachments within emails from strangers! this individual hijacked another persons yahoo email this week!
 
and another reminder, we are starting to see more and more of these random emails asking about "rental availability" with a link to a google doc (or similar) attachment...do not click these links!!!
 
and another friendly reminder, this is still happening!

another person had their gmail account compromised just today from clicking on one of these google docs linked in an email!
 
picard said:
Hi,

I really didn't expect this one.
I put an ad on the market place, and got contacted by "Karen" (svcareslkaren@gmail.com). Good communication, everything goes fast, I send a draft rental agreement for review.

The person behind "Karen" sends an email saying that she already signed the agreement, that can be downloaded from a t.co url... strange. She is eager to pay (red flag !)
The URL sends in fact to a web page (poorly) mimicking a google login page, and, in fact, aimed at collecting email credentials from the victim. Information input there are sent to this address removed (Nigerian domain...)

If you are curious, you can see the "phishing page" here url removed . Just make sure you don't enter anything sensitive. And better not to click if you don't have a good anti-virus, just in case.

Be careful out there...

PS: seems similar to this case reported earlier this year:
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233229&highlight=phishing
Except that this happened on TUG, and not Redweek ! :-(
Click to expand...

If you don't think we should be close clicking on a link due to phishing then don't put it in your post. Someone will invariably cluck it thinking you vetted it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hudshut said:
Set up a separate "free" email with a password you don't use anywhere else to use for your classified ads.
Click to expand...


That's a GREAT idea. I'm going to do that. Thanks!
 
good catch, looks like we removed one of the links but not the other.
 
I just deleted all my expired ads from my account. I don't have any current ads, but when I do decide to list something, I'm going to use a new email account just for rentals.
 
note that deleting ads from the marketplace deletes all messages for those ads, and deleting ads is non-recoverable.

alternatively you can simply go in and edit any ad to change the contact email address.
 
TUGBrian said:
note that deleting ads from the marketplace deletes all messages for those ads, and deleting ads is non-recoverable.

alternatively you can simply go in and edit any ad to change the contact email address.
Click to expand...


RATS! I never thought of that!
 
The only thing with using a separate address is that many people forget to check that email address, and then we get complaints for people who are trying to contact them.

Also - even if you set up a separate address - you still can't click on links that a stranger sends you.
 
[Post under review.]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
just another reminder that this is still an issue...people are actively sending emails to members with links to click that ends up with them getting access to your email accounts!

had another person today claim they got an inquiry about an ad they had posted, and the potential renter sent them a link to click on supposedly as a contract/agreement to read over etc...ended up having his aol email compromised.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top