Jump to content

New scam alert!


cymaz
 Share

Recommended Posts

Always float the mouse over any links in an email being careful not to click on any and observe the actual address on the bottom left of your browser (in Firefox this may vary in other browsers). You will almost certainly see some address that has a foreign domain or has a name that looks nothing like the organisation who claims to have sent the email, this indicates a definite scam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over the last 6 years I've won 25 Toyota 4WD's, 2 Jags and around $25,000 worth of Woolworths, Aldi, Coles shopping gift vouchers, lucky hey. Yet to see any of it.

Twice I've had relatives in the UK die leaving me $24Mil, one of those was funny, the name of the Queen counsel whom sent me the email just happens to be married to a girl I went to school with, her husband was not happy to find his name being used in a scam.

At it's peek I was receiving 170 virus/scam emails a week, after blocking, they go straight into the scam file, this week I received 67, they must be getting tired of not getting a bite from me (never been caught, so far).

Watch out for the phone call scams as well, here in OZ it's calls, about a car accident you had or the Federal Police coming to arrest if you don't pay back Tax and I'm from Microsoft or my ISP telling me there are issues with my PC or service. Lately, it's "bank security" calling about strange purchases on your card, they ask for your card number to verify, I asked her which bank I'm with, she refused to say (she didn't know) the bank name is not a security issue, the card number is.

The scammers are getting creative all the time, if it sounds or looks to good to be true, it's not.

Cheers,

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a scam but worth mentioning, I recently bought some car cleaning products from a well known high street car shop via there online click and collect service, day later I was invited to complete a online survey which I did ( I got good service and a keen price) ever since I've been getting 4 or 5 emails daily from datting sites, "local" women looking for fun etc etc, they all end up in spam but it's annoying never the less.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The one that I keep getting is a company phoning about my "washing machine contract"

As my washing michine is about 20 years old and still working well I get extremely peeved with them.

There was a contract on the previous washing machine and when that packed up the company we had a contract with didn't want to know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apologies for repeating myself again but please follow the golden rule yourself and communicate it to everyone else that will listen.

NEVER EVER DO BUSINESS OR ANSWER QUESTIONS ON THE DOORSTEP, ON THE PHONE, OR FROM AN EMAIL WHERE YOU HAVEN'T INITIATED THE  CONTACT .

Even then, be careful and vigilant and although inconvenient make contact through separate means to your bank or whoever it might be, but on your own terms.

I had a call from my bank last year, quite out of the blue, about something that I hadn't previously inquired about. I refused to talk to them and politely terminated the call. As it happened, it was genuine as I found out a few days later when I phoned by local branch - they understood my reluctance to engage with their original marketing call and praised me for my vigilance and removed me from their calling list.

 

 

 

Edited By Cuban8 on 13/10/2020 09:59:08

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted by SIMON CRAGG on 13/10/2020 08:44:54:

These are all really useful warnings IMHO.

If the thread just stops one member from getting scammed, it has been more than useful.

I know somebody who got turned over for 40k, so am hyper vigilant these days.

Thanks to the original poster for the heads up.

OK, but be aware that those who share a lot and are "helpful" online can end up being targeted themselves because of that very behaviour.

There are much more tailored and sophisticated attacks out there than these ones (which are frankly pretty amateur); whilst spear fishing is generally reserved for high value individuals with a public profile or those in positions of power, that's not exclusively the case. In particular those with a passion that they share extensively online are ripe for a tailored exploit (i.e. someone who perhaps has a leaning to animal welfare issues will get a tailored phish based on them giving details to a group who fight against cruelty etc).

What can you do? Lock down your social media profiles tight (no public posts from an account that can be easily lined back to your real world name i.e. Facebook), ensure you have different passwords for everything (especially important for online banking and the linked email account where you would reset any password) and don't share content excessively. Remember, there are literally billions of phishing scams circulating at any one time, so you may think it's helpful to share the one you've just received but in practise it's like declaring you found a piece of hay in a haystack, not a needle!

PS - Yes, I am an IT security professional. No, I'm not going to give you any more specific examples from practical experience!

Edited By MattyB on 13/10/2020 10:22:55

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted by Doc Marten on 13/10/2020 11:50:08:
Posted by fly boy3 on 12/10/2020 22:54:19:

Can you explain again how to check senders email address ? Thanks.

......to add to my previous reply, most browsers will show the email address if you hover the cursor over the message, that way you can check and delete without opening the window.

TBH, I've even deleted genuine emails in the belief that they were scams, they've then contacted me by other means where I've explained that I've received a load of scam mails so deleted it, they've always been understanding, sometimes even in agreement and approved of my vigilance then explained their security policy.

With the old BT Mail one could indeed hover the cursor over an unopened message to see the sender's ID, but with the recently introduced new and improved version (their words) it's not available. AFAIA, all my emails have to be opened to see the sender's ID at the top of the message, but there are options to mark as spam or block the sender as required. Obviously opening any links or attachments contained within is a no no.

 

I've just Googled the problem and many BT customers are saying the same as me. To be fair, one can check the source of the email from a list of options in 'more' but it gives reams of unfathomable text in which one is not always able to be sure where the message originates. Not brilliant.

Edited By Cuban8 on 13/10/2020 14:43:01

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted by iflylilplanes on 13/10/2020 03:46:20:

Watch out for the phone call scams as well, here in OZ it's calls, about a car accident you had or ...

Those ones are common here too. It's always a very similar wording that they seem to use, they've got information about "an accident you were involved in that wasn't your fault". And they want you to confirm that and tell them when it was.

Depending how busy I am I might string them along for a short while. I might say, "Oh no... that sounds dreadful! Really, when was it?" And of course their script depends on you giving them answers to their questions, not asking you own questions. So they then tend to start repeating themselves and then hang up.

With the most recent one, the Smart Call app on my phone had flagged the call as "potential fraud." I told them this and asked why that might be. For some strange reason they hung up. How rude of them! teeth 2

Edited By John Privett on 13/10/2020 20:31:05

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My response to the 'non fault accident you were involved in' is to agree with them but then say unfortunately the amnesia I suffered following the accident means I can't remember any details, you obviously have them just send me the cheque. They always hang up.

I recently discovered another way to really annoy the 'market research' type caller. They obviously have your name, address and phone number which I confirm they then ask your age or age group which I refuse point blank to answer. They reiterate the question several times getting increasingly annoyed then they hang up. Try it it's good fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I might have previously mentioned it. A call from Inland Revenue Dept (tax) from an India. I asked for his name and rang off. I then rang IRD and told the girl who answered what had happened. She laughed and said it actually was OK and she'd deal with it for me. She knew why I'd called them and understood why I was suspicious.

Otherwise, bank wanting you to press the Windows key and "R", obviously wanting into my computer. Unfortunately for them, running Linux it doesn't do any thing. The best way of dealing with it is carrying on eating dinner, watching TV or what ever and not going near a computer. The longer you hold them up the fewer other people they can bother.

And no, not a continuous conversation and not in the same room as the computer, "I'll have to go and boot the computer." which you don't do and a few minutes later "Oh, it has crashed again." five minutes later "What do you want me to do?" "OK, now what?" "Errors? A couple of pages of them. Why?" ... "Oops, it's crashed again." Five minutes later, "Oh, he's hung up !!!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...