I’m crushed. I didn’t even know I had a CPA license, and now it’s being revoked. Over and over (19 times in the past 2 days!). According to the AICPA’s web site it’s a phishing scam. Unlike most lame spam, at least they bothered to make it look real. Here’s what they look like (some are more lenient, giving me 14 days to get in touch):
Here are the various versions I’ve received:
Version 1:
Senders: Agnes Jeffers (support@aicpa.org), Carissa Zimmerman (alert@aicpa.org), Simon Babcock (manager@aicpa.org)
Subject: Your accountant license can be revoked.
Links lead to:
http://danielerbiti.com.ar/oMKd5ZYm/index.html
http://jewelsncords.com/mail.html
http://jewelsncords.com/mail.html
http://ftp.semegsaude.com.br/wmv0r6yZ/index.html
Version 2:
Senders: Agustin Murphy (alert@aicpa.org), Fidel White (manager@aicpa.org)
Subject: Tax return fraud notification.
Links lead to:
http://edwardlan.cixx6.com/oscomm/mail.html
http://lediko.com/~ftp/oscpremium/images/mail.html
Version 3:
Senders: Bert Parson (risk.manager@aicpa.org), Melisa Stephenson (manager@aicpa.org), Josefa Olsen (support@aicpa.org), Winston Stern (alert@aicpa.org), Grover Pendleton (support@aicpa.org), Christian Guthrie (support@aicpa.org)
Subject: Fraudulent tax return assistance accusations.
Links lead to:
http://https//ephraimpottery.com/shop/mail.html
http://rppe.it/BJsDQuYe/index.html
http://miss-tswift.com/yAFAUN5Y/index.html
http://nts.info.pl/sklep/images/mail.html
http://mail.grigodin.ro/mail.html
http://strass-discount.de/images/mail.html
Version 4:
Senders: Tommie Hubbard (risk@aicpa.org), Nolan Hinson (alerts@aicpa.org), Ian Perdue (support@aicpa.org), Hilda Espinoza (alerts@aicpa.org)
Subject: Termination of your accountant license.
Links lead to:
http://kangamama.hu/FKhGvBAS/index.html
http://https//telcoled.com/images/mail.html
http://sports.promos.com.tw/merida/images/mail.html
http://rscine.ro/KM8PHYEu/index.html
Version 5:
Senders: Clifton Lyles (admin@aicpa.org), Dominic Riley (manager@aicpa.org), Gustavo Washington (support@aicpa.org), Kurt Mccann (alert@aicpa.org)
Subject: Your accountant CPA license termination.
Links lead to:
http://https//bluviolet.com/images/mail.html
http://mail.grigodin.ro/mail.html
http://airsoft-workshop.com.ua/images/mail.html
http://nts.info.pl/sklep/images/mail.html
I’m crushed too))))
What is going on? I didn’t even know I had a CPA license, and now it’s being revoked. Is it a joke or a mistake?
Yep. This is what I got. The most recent version (the second of two that I’ve received, so far) makes it seem like it’s from one “Maggie Bishop” at “alerts (at) aicpa (dot) org”. I have no way of even knowing that the clown who sent it was actually female. The whole thing is ridiculous.
I received one today saying my CPA license was revoked because of “income tax fakement”
Ken – I got two more today. One says my non-existent CPA license is in danger because the AICPA “received a denouncement about your presumable involvement in income tax hustle on behalf of one of your employees.” The other says it’s due to my “probable involvement in income tax refund affaire”.
I wonder what we all did that has us receiving this scam email. Quickbooks / Applied for a particular job? A database got compromised somewhere.
Dear Happy,
This article lists 3 major sources of spam:
Harvesting e-mail addresses from compromised computers that form part of spam or bot networks
Namespace mining (using an automated program to generate likely addresses that can be spammed, e.g., James@InternationalStaff.net, Jamie@InternationalStaff.net and Jose@InternationalStaff.net).
This article lists 7 sources:
Open Relays
Backscatter
Unsecured Wireless Networks and Business Premises
Email Marketers
Instant Messaging
Social networks
And this 2003 research project listed software that harvests email addresses from web sites and online discussions.