vialroom
Fortnightly digest · 2024-10-07 → 2024-10-20

one letter different, and three people nearly paid for it

The scam-watch channel earned its existence this fortnight. Three separate members were within a payment of sending money to a domain that differed from a real supplier by a single hyphen. The channel response was practical rather than outraged: read the address character by character, and remember that the impersonator is not the company being impersonated.

1.5Kmessages
71day logs
3channels noted
5notes

What happened

  • A lookalike domain imitating Bachem Holding was circulating with a copied certificate and a real lot number lifted from a public report.
  • The forged document was caught because the same chromatogram appeared under two different lot numbers three months apart.
  • Members were reminded that nobody legitimate makes unsolicited contact offering a discount, and that the correct response is a report rather than a reply.
  • typosquat_tay started the watchlist that has been maintained ever since, currently longer than anybody would like.
  • A wrong-address payment from earlier in the month was discussed as the unrecoverable event it is, with no comfort offered because none exists.

Channels this fortnight

Most-reacted messages in this fortnight

Pulled from the logs, not hand-picked. Each links to the exact message.

Busiest logs in this fortnight

Topics touched