Scammer claiming to be a phpBB developer

[RMcGirr83]

It has been a recurring theme that people are getting emails with something along these lines.

Hello,

We stronglly recommend that you update your phpBB forum to the latest secure version 3.0.8

For any assisstance please reply to us , we will be very happy to assisst you .

Thank you

and

Hi
We are professional phpbb forums designers and developpers.We have a long experience in the field of designing new unique styles for your forum and installing different MODs which make the use of your forum easier than before.
we provide paid services , and it is a pleasure to tell you that our prices are the lowest among all service providers.

There have been multiple reports at phpbb.com that the individuals or organizations behind the messages above perform consistently sub-par work and refuse to issue refunds to unsatisfied customers.

Please remember some good practices when searching for a developer. Most of these apply when hiring any independent contractor.

Read the email
Many professional people will not make spelling mistakes, such as the above quoted emails, in their emails. It is unprofessional. I mean if the sender can't even spell correctly......

Internet Detective
Run a Google search on the name of the individual or company. You can also search for the contact email address. This is a simple way of finding reviews or complaints by previous customers.

Ask for references
You should never be embarrassed to request references. Ask for a short list of websites that the person/organization has worked on. For larger projects or if you want to be thorough, ask for contact emails and ask the previous customers for their opinions on the contractor.

Don't pay up front
At least, not the entire cost of the project. Half before, half after is a good policy for reputable or recommended organizations. Never feel pressured to pay first.

Trust your instincts
Does the price sound realistic? Did this person contact you out of the blue?

Be careful when handing out credentials
Only give server access to people you trust. Create new accounts whenever possible and give them only the absolutely necessary permissions. Delete the accounts and change all passwords when the work is complete.

Please be careful when choosing someone to do installs, upgrades, etc. as there are many unscrupulous types out there.

[Ooopsie]

Thanks Rich.

[ShadowmanUK]

Yeah got one of these emails the other day, straight into the trash

[dan filipi]

I've gotten at least 1/2 a dozen of those emails over the last week.
Was wondering what's up, all my forums are up to date!

Thanks for the heads up.

[kconston]

Someone that Im building a website with received one of these emails. Not thinking he game someone the credentials to log into the host. Lets just say they basically made our website their own, before I even had released what had happened.

[WaGuns]

Got my first one today.... sooooo special! :puke:

[Ooopsie]

Got one today also. It was pretty funny too.
Hello,

phpBB's new version ( 3.0.8 ) is now available .We recommend that you update your forum to fix some security bugs in earlier versions .

We provide paid services , Beside updating your forum we can :

+ Design for you a professional unique style with completely new icons and imagesets.
+ Install any MODs you like whatever its number or complexity.
+ Update your phpBB2 to phpBB3 with its many features .
+ Solve any problems that may face you in this moment.

If you are interested , please reply this email and we will send to you our resume .

Thank you.

The kicker was it came from phpbbspprt840@gmail.com

[WaGuns]

Exact same oopsie... verbatim..

Maybe Rich is the masked man? Looking for work Rich?

[RMcGirr83]

Looking for work Rich?

Nope, you guys give me enough to do thanks.

[ShadowmanUK]

For free

[Ashley.S.]

I've not received any recently, but I bet I'll get one about paying someone to upgrade my boards to 3.0.9 at some point.

Any emails like this I tend to junk as I do all the work required myself in my spare time

[neuropass]

just got one. The thing is that I don't understand is how they get email addresses. Is this something that they can do on phpbb?

[RMcGirr83]

No they are probably using the email addresses that they acquired when phpBB.com got hacked via phplist which is what they were using for sending out mass emails.

http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29973

[RMcGirr83]

FWIW, it would appear the nub has a brand spanking new email

Subject: phpBB forum new version: "Bertie's off to the beach"

The new version of phpBB forums is now available. We recommend that you update your forum to this new secure version for more stablity and minor features.
We provide paid services, so we can update the forum for you. Also we provide many services like : new unique style for your forum, installing MODs or fixing any problem that affect your forum and annoy users.

IF you are interested in our services please reply to this email and we will be happy to help you .

Thank you

and the header of the email

From - Thu Jul 28 19:05:36 2011
X-Account-Key: account2
X-UIDL: UID1845-1302723262
X-Mozilla-Status: 0001
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
X-Mozilla-Keys:
Return-path: <phpbbspprt840@gmail.com>
Envelope-to:
Delivery-date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:04:35 -0500
Received: from 50.23.121.86-static.reverse.softlayer.com ([50.23.121.86] helo=phpbb.com)
by cassima.site5.com with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256)
(Exim 4.69)
(envelope-from <phpbbspprt840@gmail.com>)
id 1QmUwk-0004DL-It
for xxx@xxx.xxx.xxx; Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:04:35 -0500
Received: (qmail 4093 invoked by uid 48); 28 Jul 2011 18:04:17 -0000
To:
Subject: phpBB forum new version: "Bertie's off to the beach"
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:04:17 +0400
From: phpbbspprt840@gmail.com
Message-ID: <54852c91ad0767f274edf1409171678b@50.23.121.86>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: CcMail 1.0 - powered by PHPMailer 1.72
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
X-Spam-Status: No, score=2.1
X-Spam-Score: 21
X-Spam-Bar: ++
X-Spam-Flag: NO

Looks like numb nutz is still at it.

[Ashley.S.]

No they are probably using the email addresses that they acquired when phpBB.com got hacked via phplist which is what they were using for sending out mass emails.

http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29973

that's funny, because the email somehow arrived to email addresses that I've not even used at phpBB.com either way, the email arrived in my junk folder so it was deleted straight away