In the last two weeks, two major frauds have been perpetrated online. One claimed to be the IRS, telling millions about a phone tax rebate, the most recent has been ironically a fraud warning from the FTC.
Both of these emails, widely distributed, referred the user back to exact replicas of the us .gov sites, and then attempted to get users to give their social security numbers.
I followed one of these on a public library computer to a site run by something called snowpony... then I called the IRS to find out if they knew.
They told me they knew of the frauds, but that they had no means of tracing them.
Do you believe that the government is really powerless to track illegal activities on the web? I build web pages for a living, and I have to often track web sites to servers because my clients lose their record of who they took their accounts with. I can always find the provider within a day.
What are your thoughts about this? Did you receive the IRS or the FTC emails
2007-10-31 10:05:25 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Government
Stephen H... yes, you are right. A web site can be put up and collapsed in a minute. And I do understand the theory of packeting... and yet, and yet... I cannot help but feel that server logs can't be compared and IP's tagged. If the internet was really all that wild and wooley, it wouldn't be a very stable model for business, and in this regard, it seems to be doing fine.
2007-10-31 10:28:00 · update #1
Your Federal government like Yahoo has in my opinion the most brilliant spyware, and they can and do spy whenever it suits them and you will never know.
2007-10-31 19:12:27 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
No... but I think that the Feds are telling the truth. Come on there has to be at least one honest organization in the US gov. They can't trace websites because they could be over seas or from anywhere. Even if they did trace it someone would just open up another website just like it in another location. So it would be a great waste of time or money to trace it. But the Feds are proud and don't want to admit they can't stop anything. In order to run an extensive trace they have to get permission from the other governments to insure they are not spying yadayadayda. Besides if they have only one sight then its easier to warn the people and not tip off the perp and let them go out of business.
2007-10-31 10:13:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was thinking about this recently. If someone opens an email account using a computer in a library and then uses that account to send email using just public computers and maybe by logging on via un-encrypted wireless routers they can only be traced to the locations they logged on from, which isn't traceble to them, personally.
I wonder why they can't trace where the website is being hosted.
If it is all done from a foreign country, maybe they can't do anything, anyway.
2007-10-31 10:20:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
E-mail is, wether you believe it or not, untraceable. You can determine end recipient, (You) and back to your server, from there you can get the NAME of the source-server and the IP addy at the time of that particular sending, but, past that, it is not possible to trace, ESPECIALLY if they use proxies, and don't have a permanent IP address. Websites are a whole different animal, they are (usually) on fixed IP addresses, and at permanent servers. The source IP is the best you're going to get unless the perpetrator is just totally stupid/careless. If you do web programming, you KNOW how easy it is to set up a server and front a website, and how quickly that server can disappear, both physically and electronically.
2007-10-31 10:23:16 · answer #4 · answered by Stephen H 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
depends on your definition of "can't". They have the ability to trace whatever they want now with the patriot act as long as the ISP's are storing the data. However they haven't budgeted out the time and resources it would take to do so. If you've ever worked with govt this is a big deal and it really means they can't help you. Technically they could do it but there hands are tied.
2007-10-31 10:13:02 · answer #5 · answered by icpooreman 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They lied. The Secret Service, with the assistance of the Canadian intelligence folks traced a threat against the U.S. President to a fellow sitting in his parent's basement in Nova Scotia.
2007-10-31 10:51:46 · answer #6 · answered by desertviking_00 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Although I have always just done the smart thing and deleted spam e-mails, the basic reason that the IRS is unwilling to chase down spammers is because it takes significant tracing abilities as well as sophisticated hardware and software. Your typical IRS agent is not trained to be technologically savvy, and does not wish to expend the time and effort.
2007-10-31 10:10:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
IP addresses can be faked or bounced from hub to hub, so I believe they can't trace them to a specific person. They may be able to isolate it to a specific area, but a very skilled hacker will not be caught.
I did not see these emails personally, but I wouldn't have followed them anyway. I'm very picky about what emails I open and read. I actually marked a message from an acquaintance of mine as spam because it had an attachment, and I didn't know her last name.
2007-10-31 10:12:10 · answer #8 · answered by xK 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
you could be right. i use a software called WhosOn (for chat and other purposes) and i can click on the visitors name and nt only does it give me very speciafic details abt the person (IP address, where they are coming from etc etc etc) but i can click a button and the google maps pop up and i can see which HOUSE they are coming from!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no kiddin man. and this is a one software... i cant imagine what the feds and fbi etc have.
quite wicked. lol. love it. i got one for my page and i see exactly whos is coming to my personal website too... its frikkin insane. and being a single guy i got a number of friends etc and its so funny when i know my ex's coming to check me out...llol..
hope this helps
2007-10-31 10:12:55 · answer #9 · answered by go_cavs 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
yes they can how do you think they find killers and stalkers and rapist....they can find out where you been how long you been there and why you where there once they they find you.... i was just watching court t.v. on this subject and I'm glad i watched it because you never know when you will get a knock on the door saying are you ****** well your under arrest for being a suspect in the murder of ******* and if you did it .......they have proof! INTERNET
2007-10-31 10:23:00 · answer #10 · answered by phil 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dont believe that at all. They simply dont want to expend the resources to correct the issue. Have you seen them trace electronic stuff to foreign countries? I do think the total quantity of data makes things difficult.
2007-10-31 10:08:51 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋