Fake parking tickets lead to computer virus
How could a fake parking ticket possibly lead to a virus on your computer? It goes something like this: You walk out of a store and notice a yellow ticket on the windshield of your car. It's apparently a parking violation, and it directs you to a specific website. Once at the website, there are in fact photos of cars from your area that are supposedly illegally parked along with instructions to download a tool that will show you your own vehicle and explain why you were ticketed. You click to download. Presto. You've been struck by... a smooth criminal. That download is actually a Trojan horse virus.
This new tactic, though certainly creative, is an alarming reminder that unscrupulous individuals will always try and find new ways to trick their victims. Experts warn that attacks combining "physical and virtual worlds via objects that point to websites" could become a much more common tactic in the coming years. Thanks for the tip, NetAddict!
[Source: BBC]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mikemaj82 11:34AM (2/06/2009)
If there are people out there that actually got tricked into getting this virus, then they deserve it. wow
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Farris 11:35AM (2/06/2009)
If there's no direct contact phone number on the ticket, and I'm not obviously illegally parked, that thing would go in the trash.
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JD 11:51AM (2/06/2009)
The question is: From whose computer was that gigantic Trojan horse extracted from?
Nice pic :).
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Screamer 1:13PM (2/06/2009)
That would be the Trojan Horse from the film Troy. Obviously, i'm pretty sure there wasn't a yaught club scene in the film, so that's either a photochop job, or the actual prop (can't remember whether it was CGI'd or not).
paul34 12:04PM (2/06/2009)
>>Experts warn that attacks combining "physical and virtual worlds via objects that point to websites"
Oh? And what happens when an individual like myself decides to combine the virtual with the physical instead, and I end up finding the guy who did this? It does work both ways, right?
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DKB_SATX 12:15PM (2/06/2009)
Yeah, except that the guy who's really responsible probably paid poor and/or homeless people in cash to put the "tickets" out on cars. If he gave any name at all it was fake, and he was probably on foot or driving a rental or had obscured/stolen plates. Someone who's going to go to this much trouble on a phishing expedition is probably sharp enough to be hard to find.
If someone *DOES* find him, however, I'd certainly condone the use of "physical disincentives" to his trying this kind of crap again.
Hugh G 12:15PM (2/06/2009)
Also be wary of getting virus's from those girls that wear skimpy clothing and try to get you to pull over so they can wash your car for "charity". I got some nasty stuff from one of them.
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Randy915 7:11PM (2/06/2009)
Better put some ointment on that.
Steve 12:23PM (2/06/2009)
I gotta say, this is remarkably smart. I'd usually expect them to sit at home with Dorito's and yell at their mothers to buy another box of Corn Pops... but wow... they actually went outside?
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Adam H. 12:38PM (2/06/2009)
Malware and virus' are big money, esp when it comes to the identity theft world.
Likely they paid some kid to do it for them.
Kris 1:13PM (2/06/2009)
"You've been struck by... a smooth criminal."
Michael Jackson for teh win!
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Michael 2:12PM (2/06/2009)
Oh, a program? From a sketchy website? DOWNLOAD! RUN! OH SHI---!
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Brent 2:26PM (2/06/2009)
I got to the University of North Dakota where this happened. The University sent out an e-mail warning about this. The website is horribleparking dot com. There isn't any whois info. You can go to the website but you only get a virus when you click the 2nd picture to download an .exe
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lim 2:42PM (2/06/2009)
yet another bot in a botnet; 5 cents each bot each hour -- a good sum for 30,000 bots for 6 hours. Spam, ddos, cloud usage, etc.
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exkart 4:19PM (2/06/2009)
How is this smart? Wouldn't doing this provide police an easier way to capture you?
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Brent 1:04PM (2/07/2009)
The University police here can't catch anyone. They are worthless.