<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>$1,788 poorer from kitten adoption scam
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>African con men prey on woman after she types in wrong online address of SPCA </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Weizhen
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</TD><TD width=10>
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The victim wanted to adopt kittens from the SPCA and became suspicious when none arrived. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A WOMAN in her 30s who wanted to adopt kittens from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) fell prey to African Internet scammers instead, losing $1,788 in six days.
On April 28, she logged on to www.spca.com.sg, not realising that the correct address was www.spca.org.sg.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>A CASE OF 'TYPOSQUATTING'
'Specifically, this is a form of 'typosquatting' because it banks on the user to mistype the URL of his or her intended site.'
A spokesman from Trend Labs of Trend Micro
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>It directed her to www.sgadsonline.com, where she e-mailed the scammers through the contact details in one advertisement hawking kittens for adoption.
Over the course of six days, she transferred $1,788 in amounts of $300 and $500, using money transfer service Western Union.
'The two kittens originally cost $300 but the dealers kept asking for more, saying it was for the extra cost of vaccinations and transporting the kittens to my house,' said the manager, who works in a delivery company.
Speaking to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity, she said she became suspicious when the kittens did not arrive, and she discovered the people she was dealing with were not located in Singapore.
When she called them, a woman claimed to be from Singapore but in Cameroon on business. On Monday, she rang the SPCA and confirmed that it was a scam. The people she had been dealing with have been uncontactable since then.
Ms Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the SPCA, told The Straits Times: 'The SPCA does not carry out any adoption transactions online. Potential adoptees must come personally to the SPCA.' Prices range from $10 for hamsters to $65 for a cat or $155 for a bitch.
Both SPCA and the victim made a police report on Wednesday, but she is resigned to having lost the money. 'The police said they probably can't do anything as the scammers are overseas,' said the woman.
Web security experts say Internet users should beware of cyber squatters using similar-sounding Web addresses as legitimate organisations to mislead people.
'Specifically, this is a form of 'typosquatting' because it banks on the user to mistype the URL of his or her intended site,' said a spokesman from Trend Labs of Trend Micro.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation condemns the practice of typosquatting, which is used by cyber crooks to 'phish' for private information, or cause users' computers to download malware.
Last year, major companies such as Verizon and Microsoft brought lawsuits against Internet registrar OnlineNIC, charging that it had registered more than 900,000 domain names that were close to some of the world's largest companies, including Google, adidas and Wal-Mart.
Microsoft has reached a private settlement, while the court ordered OnlineNIC to pay Verizon US$31.2 million (S$45.8 million). [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>African con men prey on woman after she types in wrong online address of SPCA </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Weizhen
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
The victim wanted to adopt kittens from the SPCA and became suspicious when none arrived. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A WOMAN in her 30s who wanted to adopt kittens from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) fell prey to African Internet scammers instead, losing $1,788 in six days.
On April 28, she logged on to www.spca.com.sg, not realising that the correct address was www.spca.org.sg.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>A CASE OF 'TYPOSQUATTING'
'Specifically, this is a form of 'typosquatting' because it banks on the user to mistype the URL of his or her intended site.'
A spokesman from Trend Labs of Trend Micro
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>It directed her to www.sgadsonline.com, where she e-mailed the scammers through the contact details in one advertisement hawking kittens for adoption.
Over the course of six days, she transferred $1,788 in amounts of $300 and $500, using money transfer service Western Union.
'The two kittens originally cost $300 but the dealers kept asking for more, saying it was for the extra cost of vaccinations and transporting the kittens to my house,' said the manager, who works in a delivery company.
Speaking to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity, she said she became suspicious when the kittens did not arrive, and she discovered the people she was dealing with were not located in Singapore.
When she called them, a woman claimed to be from Singapore but in Cameroon on business. On Monday, she rang the SPCA and confirmed that it was a scam. The people she had been dealing with have been uncontactable since then.
Ms Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the SPCA, told The Straits Times: 'The SPCA does not carry out any adoption transactions online. Potential adoptees must come personally to the SPCA.' Prices range from $10 for hamsters to $65 for a cat or $155 for a bitch.
Both SPCA and the victim made a police report on Wednesday, but she is resigned to having lost the money. 'The police said they probably can't do anything as the scammers are overseas,' said the woman.
Web security experts say Internet users should beware of cyber squatters using similar-sounding Web addresses as legitimate organisations to mislead people.
'Specifically, this is a form of 'typosquatting' because it banks on the user to mistype the URL of his or her intended site,' said a spokesman from Trend Labs of Trend Micro.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation condemns the practice of typosquatting, which is used by cyber crooks to 'phish' for private information, or cause users' computers to download malware.
Last year, major companies such as Verizon and Microsoft brought lawsuits against Internet registrar OnlineNIC, charging that it had registered more than 900,000 domain names that were close to some of the world's largest companies, including Google, adidas and Wal-Mart.
Microsoft has reached a private settlement, while the court ordered OnlineNIC to pay Verizon US$31.2 million (S$45.8 million). [email protected]
