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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:54 am

Hey, all. I work for a company that recently received a suspicious email requesting our services. I don't want to go any further into detail, but the email came from an H S K Travel and Tours Inc. The website is here:

Could you all check it out, give a rundown, and maybe let me know what you think? I ask because the email was 1) Poorly written in English (okay, so maybe they're not native speakers) 2) offering to allow us to charge extra on a credit card for a service we /already/ provide, and 3) they brought up Moneygram in the email. To an experienced scam-baiter, all those things rings alarm bells. What do you all think? Legit or not? Am I right to be wary, or am I just being a little paranoid?

Thanks in advance for your opinions and feedback.

Something the mods dream up Joined: 22 Apr 2014 Posts: 905

looks like they pick up the deals from

http://vco.sax.softvoyage.com/cgi-bin/resultspackage.cgi

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:24 am

First off, did the email definitely come from an hsktravel.com email address or are they just referencing the domain in the email?

The whole thing sounds a lot like a credit card scam - they pay for your service and then ask you to charge extra for something else and forward that on by Moneygram to the "other business" that is providing the extra thing.

As to the domain, it was registered in 2011, so it has been around a while if it is a scam domain - I can't access it at the moment to take a proper look at it though.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:35 am

The website was created in 2011 with a registrant that corresponds to the correct company and address in British Colombia, so nothing wonky about the site itself.

Can't speak to the content, but the address seems kosher.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:42 am

Hi. Do us a favour and post the email headers. Take out your own address from them and we'll take a look. It could be that someone has spoofed a legitimate site's email. Alternatively the site's own email could be compromised, in which case they need to know about it.

You're right though, the initial approach is fishy as hell.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:06 am

The email itself is from a gmail account. And I'd rather not post any details, headers included, without permission from my higher-ups in the company (which I can't get since it's 5am here now.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:07 am

Here's a copy of the actual email:

Thanks for the quote. I am OK with the quote and i would have my clients put things in order for their flight on the XX of XXXXXXXXX. I would have to seek a little favor from you and i would be happy if you can be able to grant me the favor i seek from you. Due to my present health condition, i would provide you my credit card details for you to charge for the total cost of the service and also i would like you to charge an extra sum of $ which would be used by the travel agent in charge of My clients flight arrangements. I am sorry if i am asking for too much but i would have forwarded my credit card details to the Travel Agent but i was meant to know that they are having issues with their credit card facility and the only mode of payment would be through Money Gram and that's why i am seeking your favor on this, i would be willing to compensate you if you can assist me on this.

Kindly let me know if you can assist me so i can forward you with my credit card details for payment and confirmation.

Your urgent response would be appreciated.

Warm Regards,
David Peterson.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:08 am

It's a scam - the legitimate business would have no need to be using a Gmail account when they have a domain of their own.

ETA: You double posted while I was replying Smile

It's a definite Credit Card scam - if you were to tell them that you will charge for your firm's costs, but they would have to settle the payment for the other party themselves directly, they would soon crawl back under whatever rock they came from.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:13 am

I'm half tempted to explain all this to my boss, get them to totally ignore the email, and then bait with it on my own. Although that would bring up the Innocent-Third-Party rule, wouldn't it, since they might think they were dealing with my business after all. Well, hell. Any ideas how I can...oooh, wait a minute. My business regularly 'farms out' work to other agencies when we can't fulfill a customer's needs. If I pass off this joker to a fictitious company related to my own, would that install enough of a buffer from the original company?

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:17 am

The domain has four years, including just over one in the future. Scam domains usually have less than one year in the future and less than two years total.

The email is a scam and was written by an African. That doesn't mean that the site is. Let us know when you can post headers.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:33 am

I wouldn't reply with any connection kept to your employer.

It's difficult to say without knowing the type of business and how unique/specialist the product or service is, but, they've probably mailed this to loads of businesses, so a bland email from a baiting address that is just replying to the initial enquiry shoud be OK.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:57 am

b8er has it Thumbs up

Just get back to him from a blank Gmail address and fry those credit cards Very Happy

There's a very nice how-to just here.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:05 am

It'll be slightly trickier since we're a transport company and provide a service, not a product, but I'll see what I can do.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:08 am

That shouldn't be a problem - I've picked up mails from Scamwarners targetting B&Bs and hotels and just replied saying "thanks for the email, I can confirm that we have vacancies for the period. The cost will be $X per night".