Facebook swamped with FAKE supermarket voucher codes AGAIN!

Another weekend in the UK and Facebook users are both being SWAMPED  and are SWAMPING the web with fake voucher codes AGAIN!

Despite repeated warnings by supermarkets and trading standards across the country, there seems no let up in the social sharing of these codes along with the very high chance of having identities stolen or at the very least being added to email spam lists.

The method of sharing these scams are by using ‘Social Engineering’, ie. Friends and Family share them and add legitimacy to an other wholly illegitimate fraud.

By clicking on these fake vouchers and accepting what appears to be a vaguely official looking terms and conditions, people are effectively handing over their personal details in return for absolutely nothing…

So, what are the giveaways?

  1. An example FAKE voucher

    The vouchers contain an expiry date in US date format

  2. The barcode is the same for each voucher, these would need to be unique.
  3. The issuing store is ALWAYS Greenhithe.
  4. It can ONLY be redeemed with your original receipt
  5. All of the vouchers seem to mention ADSA Direct rather than the store they are supposedly issued under.
  6. The domain name is suspicious to say the least, The URL has not relation to Morrisons other than a VERY DUBIOUS domain name.

All of these would lead me to be extremely suspicious of the validity of the offer. So let us look at the domain name morrisons-f50f83o.grabinn.us

For starters I see no logical reason for any large company to be using such a cryptic URL for anything, but lets look at where this website lives. We do this by using a common command call ‘ping’.

ping morrisons-f50f83o.grabinn.us.
PING morrisons-f50f83o.grabinn.us (178.32.50.152): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 178.32.50.152: icmp_seq=0 ttl=49 time=31.111 ms
64 bytes from 178.32.50.152: icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=31.736 ms
64 bytes from 178.32.50.152: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=32.421 ms
64 bytes from 178.32.50.152: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=30.546 ms

We are returned an IP address, this is the physical address that this voucher code lives at, in the case of this voucher code it resolves to 178.32.50.152

We can then lookup the IP using domaintools.com and it gives the following results

  1. The host (or computer holding the web site is located in France. This makes the tracing of the owner much more difficult as it requires international law enforcement cooperation
  2. This shows that 30 other websites are located on the same server. I would suggest these are probably variants of the web address, possibly other store names.
  3. This is the ‘abuse’ contact for this IP address, in this case it is [email protected] . This is the email address people should contact to report unlawful behaviour. Worth noting.

We now have the contact details of the host in order to report unlawful behaviour.

OK, we can now lookup the domain name to find out it’s owner. In this case it is using subdomains, so we can comfortably ignore the morrisons and hieroglyphics and concentrate on the TLD or Top Level Domain grabinn.us

  1. GRABINN.US is the domain name used to host the voucher
  2. NAMECHEAP is the registrar (or company holding the domain name)
  3. Lisa Alex is the registered owner of the domain (probably a fake name)
  4. This is the registered address of the domain owner (probably fake too), it doesn’t look like a valid address and the telephone and fax numbers are also fake looking.

So, by the look of everything, we have a domain name that cost 99p to register using a LOW COST registrar, hosted on a server that charges £1.60 per month on a  LOW COST server by a fake name at a fake address in Pakistan (supposedly).

Now, YOU need to ask yourself the following question,

Would a multinational company employ a person to run it’s national voucher system whilst sitting behind fake credentials on low cost hardware? Or would they use their own existing IT infrastructure?

Why not spend the time you might have spent being duped by reporting these people to the ‘abuse’ email address and help STOP this kind of thing from continuing.

If you live in Suffolk or Norfolk, we now have our own Cyber & Serious Crime Department which can be contacted by dialling 101. I have spoken to several officers working in this division and they are all very professional and take cyber crime very seriously.

180 Year Old Technology Set To Tackle Smartphone Distractions For Motorists

Smartphone use behind the wheel is a BIG problem, with 31% of drivers admitting to handling their phones whilst driving in 2016 according to the RAC (Up from 8% in 2014).

It seems no amount of fixed penalty fines or danger of accidents can stop people from tinkering with their devices when they should be concentrating on driving.

I have myself been a guest on a fair number of radio phone-ins where this was discussed all including the question,”Surely, there is a way of blocking phone use behind the wheel?”

It seems the answer to this problem lies with a technology that was invented almost 200 years ago by Michael Faraday and later developed by Benjamin Franklin. Yes, the ‘Faraday Cage’, otherwise used to protect engineers working on power-lines, is now being adopted by Nissan GB to try and help reduce smartphone distraction at the wheel.

The ‘Nissan Signal Shield‘ is a compartment which sits in the arm rest of the Nissan Juke and when a phone is placed within this compartment, it blocks ALL the phones incoming and outgoing cellular, Bluetooth and WiFi connections.

It’s all based on the principle of the Faraday cage, with conductive material, such as wire mesh,  blocking the  electromagnetic fields around the phone.

When an electronic device, like a smartphone, is placed inside, any incoming electromagnetic signals – such as cellular or Bluetooth data – are distributed across the cage’s external conducting material and so prevented from reaching the device.

This all allows the driver to make a choice about whether they want to completely eliminate the distractions of text messages and multiple notifications arriving on their smartphones whilst they drive and allow them to concentrate on driving safe.

Smartphone use has become habitual and having the temptation of checking phones every few minutes removed seems like a great idea and brings to mind the old saying ‘out of site, out of mind’.

The Nissan Signal Shield concept provides optional connectivity, giving drivers the choice between being able to contact and be contacted from the road, or creating a ‘phone-free’ space and time. It means a digital detox and a drive that’s free of incoming distractions.

If drivers want to listen to music or podcasts stored on their smartphone, they can still connect to the car’s entertainment system via the USB or auxiliary ports. The device will maintain wired connectivity even when in the Nissan Signal Shield compartment.

To restore your phone’s communication, you simply open the arm rest and all is back working again.

Alex Smith, Managing Director, Nissan Motor GB Ltd. said; “Nissan produces some of the safest cars on the road today, but we are always looking at new ways to improve the wellbeing of our customers. Mobile phone use at the wheel is a growing concern across the automotive industry, and indeed society, particularly with the high number of ‘pushed’ communications, such as texts, social media notifications and app alerts that tempt drivers to reach for their devices.”

“The Nissan Signal Shield concept presents one possible solution for giving drivers the choice to remove all smartphone distractions while driving. This is about delivering more control at the wheel, not less. Some drivers are immune to the activity of their smartphone, but for those who struggle to ignore the beeps and pings, this concept provides a simple solution in this very ‘connected’ world we live in.”

RAC road safety spokesman Pete Williams said: “Our research shows that handheld phone use by drivers has reached epidemic proportions. As mobile phone technology has advanced significantly many people have become addicted to them. However, the use of a handheld phone when driving represents both a physical and mental distraction and it has been illegal since 2003.”

“The Nissan Signal Shield is a good example of a technology that can help drivers be phone smart. For those who can’t avoid the temptation, this simple but pretty clever tech gives them a valuable mobile-free zone. We are asking all drivers to make a personal commitment not to use a handheld phone at the wheel by visiting www.bephonesmart.uk and sharing their promise with their friends and family.”

The Gadget Man – Episode 100 – Cross Peerless Trackr Pen LIVE VIDEO review

Welcome to the 100th Episode of The Gadget Man, this time I set myself a very big task of LIVE STREAMING a technology review of the brand new Cross Peerless Trackr Pen. I hope you enjoy it below. The review itself starts at about 2 minutes in!

A few weeks back I was invited to London to attend the launch of the new Cross Peerless Trackr, the worlds first trackable pen.

Cross have been making writing instruments since 1846, so it was a pleasant surprise to see an established traditional brand embracing technology without losing what makes the company appealing.

The pen has Bluetooth technology carefully embedded inside it which works alongside what’s called ‘Crowd GPS’. This means that if you are unfortunate enough to misplace you pen or worse have it stolen, a league of other Trackr users immediately start helping your reunite your prized pen.  When a person running the Trackr app comes within up to 30 metres of your pen, they detect it and immediately an anonymous message is sent to you informing your of it’s current position.

Upon receiving the notification, you can then go to that location and using the app on your own phone, you cause the pen to light up and sound an alarm to give you an indication of it’s exact position, after a little bit of searching or discussion with it’s new temporary owner, the pen can be returned to you.

Conversely, the pen itself can be used to locate your phone, so if you are hunting around the house in the morning for your mobile, simply hold down the button on the side of the pen and your phone will start ringing!

The pen itself comes in a very nice presentation box along with instructions for pairing and using the pen, spare batteries, a nice suede case sleeve for the pen and your guarantee from Cross.

Once taken out of the box, the pen feels just weighty enough to feel comfortable and writes smoothly. As a pen on it’s own, it was nice and of course the ‘techie’ addition of the tracking appealed to me too. You should bear in mind that the crowd GPS functionality requires a ‘crowd’, so losing it in the middle of a deserted field isn’t going to help. Saying that, most towns have a large number of Trackr users and Central London was packed with them. You can even see how many people use Trackr by visiting their website.

If you are looking for a high end pen for meetings or a nice birthday or anniversary gift for someone, look no further than the Cross Peerless Trackr 125 Pen, available from all good pen shops for around £212.00.

Thanks to Rachel and Dan at Small Man Media and of course Cross for their kind invitation.

 

Gadget Man – Episode 99.2 – Video game nostalgia trips – Galaxian – from Engadget Public Access

From the vaults of the sadly defunct Engadget Public Access, here is my article about the 1980’s Arcade Classic, Galaxian. The article was shared multiple times across the platform, spent 6 weeks in the top 3 articles and was lauded by the editor.

Video game nostalgia trips – Galaxian

My first experience of true arcade games was at the fairground. I grew up in the small market town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire in the UK and every year Stanley Thurston’s fair would arrive for a couple of weeks. The fair would camp out on a piece of ‘common’ land called Butt’s Close. My first memories of ‘The Fair’ was walking around with my parents, there was a feeling of excitement and atmosphere at the fair, possibly caused by the smell of candy floss and loud music blaring from the rides. The elation of winning a goldfish and then carefully carrying around until you got home only for it to inevitably die hours later from shock. All the same, there was an amazing feeling about the fairground almost equal to the annual Carnival.

We always went to the fair as a family, but as I grew a little older, moving into my early teens, the journey to the fair with my parents started to be complimented by additional trips with my friends on other nights. The magnet drawing us to this magical place wasn’t the thrill of the rides or the prizes for knocking over coconuts. There was something much more interesting going on in the mobile arcades, places which were once solely the domain of fruit machines but now something else was eating away their space, something far more alluring and simple breathtaking.

On a ‘parent free’ night, Anthony, Michael, Andrew and myself would walk from the street where we lived to Butts Close, it was a fifteen minute walk which gave us time for the excitement and anticipation to build, as we walked around the corner from the swimming pool the fairground suddenly loomed in all it’s multi coloured glory, a mix of sights and sounds which became progressively louder as we walked across the grass towards the bustling mix of music, laughter and peculiar electronic sounds. We headed eagerly to the source of these sounds, we felt like we were walking into the future.

The arcades back in 1980 were full of a new breed of entertainment. Machine after machine lined every square foot of these buildings. Each one entrancing their player in a mix of colourful graphics and amazing sound effects, from the ultimately recognisable Space Invaders with it’s booming bass line to the apocalyptic Defender (always on full volume) and Missile Command to the quirky Frogger and Centipede, every game enthralled the player, but none so much to me as Galaxian.

Galaxian has everything you could ever wish for from an arcade game, it was simply Space Invaders on steroids, black and white graphics replaced by elaborate animated multicoloured sprites with complex sound effects. From the moment a coin was inserted into the slot triggering a wonderful sound effect you were entering a whole new experience.

With credits inserted, the start screen was displayed, immediately tempting you with a BONUS for achievement, I could barely wait another second, knowing my senses were to be lifted to another level of excitement by what was to come. Finally I pressed START, with this the screen cleared to the left hand side accompanied by the wonderful melodic theme, whilst simultaneously displaying row upon row of aliens ready to attack at any moment!.

I was a Galaxian and my mission was simple, I must destroy these Aliens. I was humanities last hope!

Wave upon wave of Aliens would descend in elaborate formation down the screen, split second timing was required to dodge or destroy these ships that were hell bent on my demise either my firing or simply crashing into me. Once fired, your weapon would not reload again until the laser bolt had made contact with the enemy of disappeared from the screen, this taught you to take care with each shot, making every one of them count. Some ships were worth more than others with regular attacks by a trio of more valuable and more accurate enemy, shoot these in the correct order and you could earn yourself a hefty bonus.

As each wave of aliens was cleared, it was followed by a short pause, enough to calm your nerves followed by a new wave of the enemy, this time faster, more eager, more dangerous ending with the inevitable destruction of your ship and the depletion of your 3 credits and the ultimate soul destroying “GAME OVER”.

Galaxian was available to play as 1 or 2 player, with the latter simply a ‘turn taking’ exercise with entirely separate games between ‘lives’. I played the game in the traditional arcade cabinet and also the more interesting ‘coffee table’ set up with the screen flipping 180 degrees in 2 player mode, extremely popular in pubs and cafes as you could place your beer on the glass to take your turn.

The game set a precedent for others to follow, the look and feel of Galaxian would be used as a template for games that followed for years to come and I think this is why I hold Galaxian in such high esteem. It wasn’t the first shoot-em-up, but it was the first full colour animated game that dragged you into it’s gameplay leaving you begging for more. Galaxian will always remind me of my younger years and even now, the beautiful theme tune and screaming aliens takes me back to the arcade on Butts Close.

Gadget Man – Episode 99.1 – Where does Samsung Go From Here

From the vaults of the sadly defunct Engadget Public Access, here is my article following the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle.

Where does Samsung go from here?

The Galaxy Note 7 battery saga has been nothing short of a debacle to say the very least. After a big budget fanfare preceded by a flood of excitement, leaked visuals and renders, the Note 7 was released on August 19 2016. In the UK this was a big thing, we had missed the Note 5 (the previous model), Samsung instead choosing to champion the Galaxy 6 edge plus instead, so there were many many UK fans hankering for this superstar device.

It looked to all that Samsung had finally surpassed it’s rivals in this market with a multi function device that ticked every box we could think of and every box we couldn’t. It truly was a breathtaking device, Samsung it seemed could do no wrong.

Step forward barely two months, the Note 7 is now no more, it’s seemingly bomb-proof reputation completely destroyed. The phone has been cancelled, the factories tooled up to produce millions of devices have fallen silent and those of us that did get devices have been told to switch them off and return them immediately. Samsung offering replacement with another devices entirely.

The Galaxy Note brand lays in pieces, destroyed by what either looks like a manufacturing error or simply trying to pack too much punch into a device. A smartphone that looks to be a victim of Moore’s Law where components follow transistors by shrinking ever smaller and get closer and closer to the universal physical constraints of miniaturisation.

The problem, it would seem points at that wolf in sheep’s clothing that is Lithium Ion, the scourge of tech companies since it’s commercial use began in the 1970’s. Prone to perceived acts of spontaneous combustion, the Li-Ion cell has been a problem in the past for the likes of Kyocera Wireless (recalled 1 million batteries in 2004), Dell (4.1 million laptops in 2006), Sony (recall of 10 million batteries in 2006 affecting Dell, Sony, Apple, Lenovo, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu and Sharp laptops caused by contamination of metal particles during manufacture making the battery susceptible to fire), Lenovo again in 2007 when it was forced to recall 205,000 batteries at risk from explosion, Nokia recalled a staggering 46 million batteries at risk of explosion in 2007 also.

So, it would seem the Li-Ion problem hasn’t gone away (remember the hover-board issues last year) and it is now front and centre of the Galaxy Note 7 disaster.

What then has made this such a complete mess for Samsung and it’s reputation? It would seem that Samsung might have mishandled the situation, maybe rushed into providing a quick fix to avert a financial disaster for them but inadvertently causing a much bigger marketing and more importantly for their ongoing sales, a ‘trust’ issue. In retrospect, Samsung should have handled the original recall through the relevant local authorities which would have given greater kudos with consumers and that they were taking the reported incidents seriously.

Samsung are a massive company with decent cash reserves, enough to weather the multi billion dollar storm. They have a sturdy enough ship with capable enough crew and their customers will forgive them in time, as they say in the UK “Yesterday news in todays Chip paper”, but until the battery technology and power management requirements of these devices becomes less extreme we will be seeing many more product recalls across the board in the coming years.

Gadget Man – Episode 99 – Hackers, Spammers and Scammers

This morning I was interviewed by Mark Murphy on BBC Radio Suffolk about what makes me grumpy?

At the moment a lot of my time is spent securing websites and investigating hacking attempts, so this felt like a legitimate ‘grump’.

If you own a website, don’t assume it’s secure, make sure it’s secure.

Listen in to the stream and let me know what you think…

The Gadget Man – Episode 98 – The Return of the Nokia 3310

The Nokia 3310 is set to make a comeback in the second quarter of 2017
The Nokia 3310 is set to make a comeback in the second quarter of 2017

Once again this week I was delighted to chat to James Hazell. Today we discussed the relaunch of the Nokia 3310, an iconic mobile handset in it’s original form which went on to sell 126,000,000 units.

In 2017, HMD the new licence holder of the Nokia phone brand will be launching 4 new phones, three of these phones are Android handsets, namely the Nokia 3, Nokia 4 and Nokia 5. Alongside these modern smartphones will be the reborn Nokia 3310. Make no mistake this is a brand new ‘feature’ phone, but there exists the spirit of the original 3310 which is held in such high regard.

Listen in to the stream and find out what I think of the new handset and also what other tech could be making a comeback.

Gadget Man – Episode 97 – Working From Home

Fantastic to be back on BBC Radio Suffolk this week, even more special that I was invited to James Hazell’s home for a very special outside broadcast, where we talked about effectively working from home and I got to play Star Trek Pinball!!

Thanks to James and Isaac for the invitation, fabulous fun!

Listen, Like, Subscribe and Share!!!

 

Gadget Man – Episode 96 – Snapchat comes to the UK

Snap Inc, the company formerly known as Snapchat, has announced that it will set up its main international hub in the UK, in what is likely to be seen as a vote of confidence for British tech following the EU referendum result.

Here I talk to James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk about what I think Snapchat is good for. You can also listen to what Isaac thinks of the Snapchat and whether it is a Millennial Centric app.

Features Matt Porter, James Hazell and Isaac Chenery.

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