Monday, December 6, 2010

Job Scam Emails Tracing




I have been getting emails from Skoda motors , Tata Motors and many other such companies requesting to attend interviews and initially I felt the mails were from the mentioned companies , but realized later the mails were a scam.The sender ID was skodaauto@companyhrd.com , which should have been the other way around something like companyhrd@skodaauto.com . I was wondering who are these guys, the mails themselves contain very little information about the sender or about the company, most of the mails did not have any contact details other then the email from which it was sent.

Thought I'll do a little a little bit of snooping around.
But the sender email address is not from a domain related by the company. A quick Google on the email threw up results on Consumer Complaints websites.


Wanted to dig a little deeper and did a trace of the email.Many do not know that every email can be traced back to the place and IP address it was sent from.

Here is how you do it .Click on the " Show original" tab of the email.
If you are using Gmail , on the right hand side of the mail beside the "show details" tab , click on the arrow mark and then click on "show original ". Google up some email tracing sites and the paste the original content.I use IP Trace .The results show the location of the sender. Though a few smart scamers use a proxy server.
Here is what the trace threw up

My sender Information
IP address: 220.226.195.104
IP address country: India
IP address state: Maharashtra
IP address city: Mumbai
IP address latitude: 18.9750
IP address longitude: 72.8258
ISP of this IP: RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS
Organization: RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS
Local Time of this IP country: 2010-12-06 14:12

A whois search of the IP results show that the ID is registered to Rediffmail Pro , a personalised email ID service.

If you respond to the email the next step would be to ask you to send a bit of money for the travel for the interview which will be reimbursed once you come for the interview.
An example of a mail I had received

"You have to deposit the (Cash) as an initial amount in favor of Company HRD.Department. for Rs. 6, 500/- through any [STATE BANK OF INDIA]Branch from your Home City to Company Senior HRD. Account NO 20037082325 - ACCOUNT NAME SIRO.WILLY
This is refundable interview security. Your offer letter with Air tickets
will be send to your Home Address by courier after receiving the
confirmation of interview security deposited in STATE BANK OF INDIA ."

Many of us don't bother reporting it as spam and others end up getting duped.

Edit:Adding "
Info.team@marutisuzuki.com" to the list of scams. Got an email from them






No comments:

Post a Comment