Anatomy of scammers and scam messages

Possibly you have heard the term scam. It is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The person who initiates scam messages are called scammers. Scammers use so many tricks to gain one's confidence. They ask a small amount money from a person in order to pay a large fake amount.

If you want to know types/tricks of scam messages and the contents of the message then have a look at ban scam, Anatomy of Scammers, Make a scam free world, Be aware about Scam messages, Hate scamming the Internet, We hate scam. I have listed so many scam messages that you might feel interesting to read those. You will also have an idea about the tricks of scammers.

Based on the scam mails I will list the characteristics of scammers and scam messages.

1. Scammers used to send email from one account and expect to receive email in another account. The reason is they will be in touch with you with their another email in case of the scam sending email get disabled. Many email providers disable email accounts which is use to send scam emails. Thus changing reply to another account ensures that scammers receiving email address is in tact. Another reason of expecting email to different account is they might use fake account in order to gain more confidence. For example, if you look at the message http://bamscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/your-email-id-has-won1350000-irish.html you will notice scammer used info@winners.con email account which is fake email and they want to receive email in account irishdrawboard@gmail.com.

2. Whenever you receive the very first message from a scammer you will notice that message "To:" field is either empty or it is used a different email address in the "To:" field than yours. This is because scammers use a vast number of email addresses in the "BCC:" field to send the scam messages.

3. Most scam messages are generated from countries Burkina faso, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, South Africa - mainly from African countries. So if you get any emails from these countries be 99% sure that your message is scam.

4. If you look for scam email addresses you will see they are using common domains like gmail.com, hotmail.com, yahoo.com, ymail.com. More importantly they are using less common domains more than common domains like voila.fr, sify.com, rediffmail.com, att.net, yahoo.fr etc. Also if you look for email addresses you will notice 001 or 02 or 1980 or some numbers are appended into their email addresses. For example in http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/please-i-need-your-urgent-reply-dr-john_25.html email address is drjohngo2@gmail.com , in http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/very-important-david-mensah.html dr.davidmensahx7@gmail.com.

5. Scammers try to make you busy to gain confidence by asking you some common questions. For example:
( 1.)NAME IN FULL:....................................
( 2.)ADDRESS:..........................................
( 3.)NATIONALITY:......................................
( 4.)AGE:....................................................
( 5.)Sex......................................................
( 6.)OCCUPATION:.......................................
( 7.)MARITAL STATUS:.................................
( 8.)PRIAVTE PHONE NO..............................
( 9.)PRIVATE FAX NO:..................................
(10.)RELIGION:....................................

They want to collect Sex and Marital status information in order to scam you through romance angle. For example: http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/chuyen-tiep-with-love-and-trust-huubao.html, http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/from-mary-with-love-and-trust-mary.html and http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/this-is-my-full-life-story-with-love.html.

They want to collect Religion information to change their name into your religion and try to swear by your religion. Some examples are http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-swear-with-my-unborn-children-amina.html, http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/very-urgent-and-allah-be-with-you-harji.html , http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/11/dear-allah-elected-one-mrs-elham-farah.html, http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/10/sister-miami-al-musallam.html, http://banscam.blogspot.com/2010/10/please-dont-let-me-dawn-mrs-helen.html etc.

Script to Check Schemas with Stale Statistics

Abstract:
This script is an automated way to deal with stale statistics operations that are required to be done as part of manual upgrade OR when reported by DBUA

Execution Environment:
Any client environment which can connect to database and execute SQL. For example, SQL*plus, iSQL*plus.

Required Privileges:
You need to have sysdba system privilege in order to run this script

Usage:
Save main script in a file named CHECK_STALE_SCHEMA_STATS.SQL. Then,
if you are outside sqlplus then login as sysdba,
$ sqlplus / as sysdba
And then iussue,
SQL> @CHECK_STALE_SCHEMA_STATS.SQL

Instructions to use:
Copy the main script codes into a file named CHECK_STALE_SCHEMA_STATS.SQL and run that script.

Description of the Script:
This script will be primarily used during database upgrade before starting the actual upgrade. Execution of this script will report stale statistics if any.
It reports on schemas which are part of DBA_REGISTRY as these are the ones which are upgraded. If it finds any stale statistics it will give the recommended
commands to remove those stale statistics.

Sample Input:
No input is required as it will report on all schemas in the database.

Sample Output:

SQL> @"E:\All Projects\Arju\Scripts\CHECK_STALE_SCHEMA_STATS.SQL"

-- There are no stale statistics in CTXSYS schema.

-- There are no stale statistics in DMSYS schema.

-- There are no stale statistics in EXFSYS schema.

-- There are no stale statistics in MDSYS schema.

-- There are no stale statistics in OLAPSYS schema.

-- There are no stale statistics in ORDSYS schema.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- SYS schema contains stale statistics use the following to gather the statistics --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_DICTIONARY_STATS('SYS',OPTIONS=>'GATHER', ESTIMATE_PERCENT  => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE, METHOD_OPT => 'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE AUTO', CASCADE => TRUE);

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- SYSMAN schema contains stale statistics use the following to gather the statistics --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_DICTIONARY_STATS('SYSMAN',OPTIONS=>'GATHER', ESTIMATE_PERCENT  => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE, METHOD_OPT => 'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE AUTO', CASCADE => TRUE);
-- There are no stale statistics in WMSYS schema.

-- There are no stale statistics in XDB schema.

SQL>

Main Script:

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Script begins here - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
--  NAME:  CHECK_STALE_SCHEMA_STATS.SQL
--   Execute as SYS as sysdba
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
-- AUTHOR:  
--    Arju - http://arjudba.blogspot.com
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
-- PURPOSE: 
-- This script is an automated way to deal with stale statistics 
-- operations that are required to be done as part of manual 
-- upgrade OR when reported by DBUA.
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SET FEEDBACK OFF
SET LINESIZE 250
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON

DECLARE
-- Variables declared
P_OTAB DBMS_STATS.OBJECTTAB;
MCOUNT NUMBER := 0;
P_VERSION VARCHAR2(10);
-- Cursor defined
CURSOR c1
IS
SELECT distinct schema
FROM dba_registry
ORDER by 1;

-- Beginning of the anonymous block
BEGIN
-- Verifying version from v$instance
SELECT version INTO p_version FROM v$instance;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(chr(13));
-- Defining Loop 1 for listing schema which have stale stats
FOR x in c1 
  LOOP
 DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS(OWNNAME=>x.schema,OPTIONS=>'LIST AUTO',OBJLIST=>p_otab);

-- Defining Loop 2 to find number of objects containing stale stats
 FOR i in 1 .. p_otab.count
   LOOP
  IF p_otab(i).objname NOT LIKE 'SYS_%' 
   AND p_otab(i).objname NOT IN ('CLU$','COL_USAGE$','FET$','INDPART$',
            'MON_MODS$','TABPART$','HISTGRM$',
            'MON_MODS_ALL$',
            'HIST_HEAD$','IN $','TAB$',
            'WRI$_OPTSTAT_OPR','PUIU$DATA',
            'XDB$NLOCKS_CHILD_NAME_IDX',
            'XDB$NLOCKS_PARENT_OID_IDX',
            'XDB$NLOCKS_RAWTOKEN_IDX', 'XDB$SCHEMA_URL',
            'XDBHI_IDX', 'XDB_PK_H_LINK')
  THEN
-- Incrementing count for  each object found with statle stats
   mcount := mcount + 1;
  END IF;
-- End of Loop 2
   END LOOP;

-- Displays no stale statistics, if coun  is 0
  IF mcount!=0 
   THEN
-- Displays Schema with stale stats if count is greater than 0
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(chr(13));
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------');
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-- '|| x.schema || ' schema contains stale statistics use the following to gather the statistics '||'--');
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------');
    
-- Displays Command to be executed if schema with stale statistics is found depending on the version.
    IF SUBSTR(p_version,1,5) in ('8.1.7','9.0.1','9.2.0') 
   THEN
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(chr(13));
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS('''||x.schema||''',OPTIONS=>'''||'GATHER'||''', ESTIMATE_PERCENT  => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE, METHOD_OPT => '''||'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE AUTO'||''', CASCADE => TRUE);');
    ELSIF SUBSTR(p_version,1,6) in ('10.1.0','10.2.0','11.1.0') 
   THEN
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(chr(13));
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_DICTIONARY_STATS('''||x.schema||''',OPTIONS=>'''||'GATHER'||''', ESTIMATE_PERCENT  => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE, METHOD_OPT => '''||'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE AUTO'||''', CASCADE => TRUE);');
    ELSE
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(chr(13));
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Version is '||p_version);
    END IF;
  ELSE
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-- There are no stale statistics in '|| x.schema || ' schema.');
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(chr(13));
  END IF;
-- Reset count to 0.
   mcount := 0;
-- End of Loop 1
  END LOOP;
END;
/

SET FEEDBACK ON

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Script ends here - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

How to install whmautopilot software for your domain

Step 01: Download the whmautopilot software.
You can check your hosting company from where you can download the whmautopilot software. Possibly if you buy a reseller package they will provide whmautopilot software for free with a valid license for one domain. For example, if your hosting company is hostgator you can download the software from http://www.hostgator.whmautopilot.com/whmauto_V2_hostgator.zip or else if you have the license key from your hosting company you can download the latest version of whmautopilot software from the link http://www.whmautopilot.com/download.php.
If you are good with shell you can use wget command to download directly from server machine.

Step 02: Upload the software to server and unzip it.
Normally whenever you download it will come at zip file. You can upload this zip file to your server using any ftp uploader for example filezilla. After you upload unzip the file. You can use GUI tool or you can use unzip utility from shell to extract the files.

Step 03: Create a database and username for whmautopilot.
i) Create a database that you will use for whmautopilot software. Note that database name will be prefixed with our cPanel username – cpanelusername_database.
ii) Create a username and password for database access. Note that the username will be prefixed with our cPanel username – cpanelusername_username.
iii) Add this user to the database for access rights to the database.

Step 04: Copy mib_data and rename_upload folder into appropriate folder.
Following is the list of files after I unzip the whmautopilot folder.
change_log.txt
install-README.txt
linkpoint_setup-README.txt
mib_data
phpSuExec
rename_upload
SQL
user_license.txt
Among the list mib_data and rename_upload are the two files we are interested. Copy the mib_data under publilc_html directory. And copy the rename_upload folder into the location where you want to place whmautopilot into server (above public_html).
- For example if your cpanel username is arju then copy mib_data folder into /home/arju/mib_data
- If you want to access whmautopilot through http://domain-name.com/orders and your cpanel username is arju, then rename the rename_upload folder to orders and place it as folder /home/arju/public_html/orders.

Step 05: Start installation process.
Go to the admin area of your installation and begin the installation process. For example, if you upload your whmautopilot files into http://domain-name.com/orders then open http://domain-name.com/orders/admin in your browser. http://domain-name.com/orders/admin/index.php file will be called and it will begin installation process. It will ask dataabase hostname, database name, user name, user password. Input those information. If there is a problem with the information, the script will notify you when you click continue.

Once the database information is stored, it will create the needed /inc/var.php file that will be used for database access in the script. The next step is the informational setup of your script.

Step 06:
Click on Next step. Then it will ask you General Variables. These basic variables need to be set for the initial setup. The Resolver server is the IP that the script will use to relay nslookups for A Record comparisons for your domains to monitor the resolve status of that domain. Whenever you bought your domain it will give you name server address.
In HTTP web path provide url for example: http://domain-name.com/orders
In Base Server Path provide location of autopilot files in the server for example /home/arju/public_html/orders
In Autopilot Data Directory provide the location of autopilot data directory for example /home/arju/mib_data


If you are a reseller, you must put in the default cPanel theme to be used for ALL packages setup in your script here. Leaving this blank will result in the 'default' theme to be used that may cause failures since sometimes, default reverts to 'y' in the theme - which does not give a cPanel to the end user. Once ready, click continue to go to the next step.

Step 07: Click on next. Then enter in the license number that was issued to you in your license email - exactly how it is displayed in that email. Once inserted click continue. This will take you to a success page with some final instructions for your cron jobs.
You are done! Your installation is successful.