o_____O

[Spencer]

I got this email the 19th, but I just noticed it (it was packed away in my junk mail)

From : <taff.net@legendsofmystica.de>
Sent : Monday, January 19, 2004 7:01 AM
Subject : Your IP was logged

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Downloading of Movies, MP3s and Software is illegal and punishable by law.

We hereby inform you that your computer was scanned under the IP 194.155.231.228
. The
contents of your computer were confiscated as an evidence, and you will be
indicated.
You get the charge in writing, in the next days.
In the Reference code: #31109, are all files, that we found on your computer.

The sender address of this mail was masked, to protect us against mail bombs.


- You get more detailed information by the Federal Bureau of Investigation -FBI-
- Department for "Illegal Internet Downloads", Room 7350
- 935 Pennsylvania Avenue
- Washington, DC 20535, USA
- (202) 324-3000

I really don't know whether to believe it or not. I'm sure someone could easily pull this together just to freak me out, but still...Has anyone else seen something similiar to this? It's scary.

[ShiroiHikari]

Dude, that is scary, but I don't know how to tell if it's real or not o.o Man, I hope it's not.

Edit: What the heck kinda email address is that? Hmmm...

Edit edit: Um, legendsofmystica.de is a German website. (Google = friend.)

Oh boy...the website says this, roughly (thank you babelfish...)

At present become enamels with (does not dispatch all possible email Namen)@LegendsofMystica.de expressly from us the Stafflern are and meisst one * pif file as appendix to have some Virus/Trojaner contained. I ask to delete all players enamels with appendix of file, which was not met with arrangement. None our Staffler would send appendices of file without evident reason by the area. on behalf for the Staff Admin Rados

o.O

[Spencer]

The only things that lead me to believe it's not real are these:

You get the charge in writing, in the next days.

Well, it's been about a week now, and no charges have come.

The
contents of your computer were confiscated as an evidence, and you will be
indicated.

That didn't happen at all. I still have all my songs..I mean--What songs?

[Gypsy]

Um ... although I can't say for sure, it strikes me as a fake. I wasn't aware of the Department for "Illegal Internet Downloads." Sounds like a load of something else to me. But again, I can't be sure. You may want to check out this link, Spence: http://www.fbi.gov/

[ShiroiHikari]

Have you run a virus check lately? (see my edited post)

[Spencer]

I'm confident that there is spyware installed on my computer (Thanks a lot Limewire) since popups are always popping up randomly. I tried running Adaware, but I don't think it really worked.

[andyroo]

Man that's messed up, but yeah, I agree with Gypsy, I think its very much fraud. It's probably very clever social engineering. The port scanning makes me a bit suspicious of it as well since they would be able to log your ip instead if this were indeed legit.

[ShiroiHikari]

Erk...well, I have no idea how to get rid of spyware if Ad Aware didn't do anything about it...o.O I hope you get it worked out pretty soon. (BTW, switch to Mozilla ;] XD)

[andyroo]

Yeah, if you're worried about spyware check out this thread:http://christiananime.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3385

Also, updating your anti-virus and scanning the harddisk would do good. And a good firewall will keep you from most port scans if not all. There's tiny firewall, zone alarm, and norton that I know of.

edit:I agree with ShiroiHikari, get mozilla

[MillyFan]

The
contents of your computer were confiscated as an evidence, and you will be
indicated.

LOL, I wouldn't worry too much. If this was for real, the writer would at least know how to spell "indicted."

[Gypsy]

LOL, I wouldn't worry too much. If this was for real, the writer would at least know how to spell "indicted."

Heh ... good point. I can't believe I missed that.

[MillyFan]

The whole thing looks both Engrishy and fake to me. I honestly believe that a real FBI investigator would have a much better command of the English language and of writing skills in general (i.e. to even apply to become an FBI agent, you must be at least 30 years old and have a college education and law enforcement experience, if I remember correctly) so I'd delete this one and not worry about it.

[Spencer]

Thanks all for the advice. I think I'll run AdAware again, and then dump IE for Mozilla. Thanks again for your support, it's nice to have a place to ask for advice.

[Saint Kevin]

Total agreement with Milly and the rest. Also they would never tell you that they "confiscated" the contents of your computer. In the rare instances that they break into your house (with a warrant of course) to take files off of your computer, they would have served you the warrant immediately (and you would have had to have done something serious like an electronic attack on government computer systems). Also you would have gotten the notification by snail mail or certified delivery, not e-mail. Total hoax. Maybe with a little more attention to detail, however, they could have really fooled some not-too-computer-savvy parents.

[Michael]

Yeah, I agree with these guys. Also, get Spyware off of your comp as fast as you can. Otherwise it'll cause much bigger problems than popups.

[cbwing0]

I agree with the rest...if you don't get anything in writing I would say that it is a definite fake.

[EireWolf]

I second Millyfan. The letter's grammar is atrocious. I would have a very hard time believing it came from a legitimate American law enforcement source.

... but definitely run a virus check.

[Ashley]

Hey Spence, if you need help with running the AdAWare/Virus scan software, I'm sure either Dad or Chris or myself will help ya out. So sorry to hear this happend!

[TheMelodyMaker]

Which version of Ad-Aware do you use, Spencer? If you use version 6, you can have it check the web for updated reference files; but I don't think version 5 ever did. If you use 5, maybe you should upgrade to 6. Just an idea.

(By the way, should this be in the Computing section?)