And another phone scam/nuisnace

[Il Grifone]

On 30/07/2022 at 15:09, JJGraphics said:

Make sure you forward any dodgy e-mails to: report@phishing.gov.uk

John

 

I've done that in the past, but that's been the last I heard of it, not even an acknowledgement.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Il Grifone

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

 

I've done that in the past, but that's been the last I heard of it, not even an acknowledgement.

It goes into a big black hole. I don't see much point in thousands of exactly the same email being reported to such sites. If they sent an acknowledgement for every one sent, it would just clog up the whole email system and then be detected as spam, anyway.

 

What needs to happen is more work to stop them being sent in the first place. This is not easy to achieve, because what you don't want is genuine emails deleted. Also your email provider doesn't want to spend the money, because they will get zero return on their efforts.

[JJGraphics]

10 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

 

I've done that in the past, but that's been the last I heard of it, not even an acknowledgement.

 

The first time on each day when I forward an e-mail to report@phishing.gov.uk I get an almost instantaneous response like the one below. Subsequent forwarding on the same day doesn't get a response. (I have left off the bottom of the message as it is irrelevant to this discussion).

John

 

[Il Grifone]

Perhaps I should have done that with the Makita drill I 'won' yesterday! As it was, I sent it to spam and deleted it.

The next time!

[Nick C]

8 hours ago, kevinlms said:

What needs to happen is more work to stop them being sent in the first place. This is not easy to achieve, because what you don't want is genuine emails deleted. Also your email provider doesn't want to spend the money, because they will get zero return on their efforts.

On the contrary - reducing spam would substantially reduce the volume of emails their systems would need to handle, so reducing their outgoings. A quick look in my gmail inbox and spambox shows that roughly a third of the incoming emails are spam - though my personal domain gets far less, probably because I use the gmail for online shopping...

 

One fairly sensible suggestion I saw a while back was to charge 1p/email for bulk emails. Most people wouldn't notice, as you only tend to send a handful of emails. For companies sending mailing lists, they probably spend more than that anyway, but it'd really hit the spammers hard as they send out millions in the hope of getting a handful of 'hits'

Edited August 1, 2022 by Nick C

[Reorte]

10 minutes ago, Nick C said:

One fairly sensible suggestion I saw a while back was to charge 1p/email for bulk emails. Most people wouldn't notice, as you only tend to send a handful of emails. For companies sending mailing lists, they probably spend more than that anyway, but it'd really hit the spammers hard as they send out millions in the hope of getting a handful of 'hits'

Isn't a large amount / most spam (at least the genuinely criminal sort) sent by hijacked computers anyway, so it's not as if that would hit the spammers at all.

[teaky]

3 hours ago, Nick C said:

One fairly sensible suggestion I saw a while back was to charge 1p/email for bulk emails. Most people wouldn't notice, as you only tend to send a handful of emails. For companies sending mailing lists, they probably spend more than that anyway, but it'd really hit the spammers hard as they send out millions in the hope of getting a handful of 'hits'

Nice idea, but the spammers would just charge any cost to a stolen credit card.

[Nick C]

Sadly, I think you're both right...

[kevinlms]

On 29/07/2022 at 21:01, kevinlms said:

Last Friday my wife did receive a call from her bank. To ask if she'd made some purchases earlier that day, as someone had. She told the caller that she hadn't touched the card that day, which we knew to be true as she'd been with me all day.

Anyway some thief had tried to make some on line purchases, but fortunately because a low balance is kept on that account, it triggered an over withdrawal alarm.

They had apparently had all the card details, including the 3 digit code on the back, so presumably someone has hacked where the card details had been used on an earlier purchase. This was surprising, because she hadn't used it for on line purchasing for months.

While Mrs KevinLMS, was on the phone, I carefully went on line and checked the transaction history and sure enough, a major retailer had a pending transaction.

The card has been cancelled and it's replacement arrived today. Still waiting for the funds to be returned.

 

I assume the delay is because the retailer gets a few days to 'prove' that the purchase was genuine - is that right? The bank did say the money would be returned in a few days.

 

The lost money (so far) isn't a huge amount, just annoying.

The funds have still to be returned to her account.

But yesterday she received an SMS on her mobile that there was a problem with her NetFlix payment. Because she was thinking that the payment failed, because her card has been cancelled, she actually replied to the mobile number, that had allegedly sent this message. She stated that the payment might have failed because the card is cancelled.

Tonight she mentioned it to me and I'm a bit alarmed, because I know the NetFlix payment is due TOMORROW, which is proof that the message is FAKE.

However, I'm somewhat relieved that she replied to the message and DID NOT click on any link. However, I'm not 100% sure, because she now has trouble remembering things.

[JJGraphics]

8 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

The funds have still to be returned to her account.

But yesterday she received an SMS on her mobile that there was a problem with her NetFlix payment. Because she was thinking that the payment failed, because her card has been cancelled, she actually replied to the mobile number, that had allegedly sent this message. She stated that the payment might have failed because the card is cancelled.

Tonight she mentioned it to me and I'm a bit alarmed, because I know the NetFlix payment is due TOMORROW, which is proof that the message is FAKE.

However, I'm somewhat relieved that she replied to the message and DID NOT click on any link. However, I'm not 100% sure, because she now has trouble remembering things.

 

Golden Rule Number One: NEVER reply directly to e-mails or SMS of that nature.

Always look up the actual contact address/phone number on a bill from the supplier or the back of your Credit/Debit Card and use that.

John

[Il Grifone]

I've just sent two expired McAfee accounts and a Win a Fryer draw entry to report@phishing.gov.uk. We'll see what happens....

[johnofwessex]

What about handing the details over to the Ukranians?

 

They seem pretty good at tracking phones and emails then sending the user a little present?

[AndrewC]

Not email but the latest scam going around is the "you have been exposed to covid" texts that have a link to order tests. I've blocked about a dozen numbers so far in the past 2 weeks. 

[Il Grifone]

I got 2 alleged LIDL offers this morning just after 3 AM. The timing would suggest a Russian origin, I think.

[Liam]

If you’re like me and enjoy a good chuckle at wasting the time of phone scammers, I can recommend this chap on YouTube. He has several aliases which he uses in scam calls, one of which is The Major, unsurprisingly a retired army major who finds it very easy to drift off and have memories of comical stories from his military career relayed to him during calls... 

 

 

[Bill Radford]

On 02/08/2022 at 06:27, Il Grifone said:

I've just sent two expired McAfee accounts and a Win a Fryer draw entry to report@phishing.gov.uk. We'll see what happens....

I've had one of my email accounts flooded with "McAfee" spam. I know its not from McAfee as I use a different account for them.

 

There seems to be some correlation between the wife using Amazon and spam  arriving in that account.

[ejstubbs]

On 03/08/2022 at 20:01, Liam said:

If you’re like me and enjoy a good chuckle at wasting the time of phone scammers, I can recommend this chap on YouTube.

 

Actually that's about the only reason I can think of for doing anything other than simply putting the phone down on these people: that you might be able to monetise your 'public service' by putting it on YouTube.

 

Then again, we pretty much never get any such calls because our phone automatically intercepts calls from numbers not in its contacts list and routes them to an automated 'secretary' who asks the caller who they are, then keeps them on hold while it calls us to ask if we want to speak to that person.  That immediately puts a stop to scammers (because their auto-diallers immediately disconnect the call if they detect a machine at the other end) and we've never missed a genuine call from a number we weren't familiar with.

[Liam]

2 hours ago, ejstubbs said:

 

Actually that's about the only reason I can think of for doing anything other than simply putting the phone down on these people: that you might be able to monetise your 'public service' by putting it on YouTube.

 

Then again, we pretty much never get any such calls because our phone automatically intercepts calls from numbers not in its contacts list and routes them to an automated 'secretary' who asks the caller who they are, then keeps them on hold while it calls us to ask if we want to speak to that person.  That immediately puts a stop to scammers (because their auto-diallers immediately disconnect the call if they detect a machine at the other end) and we've never missed a genuine call from a number we weren't familiar with.

The man who runs that doesn’t just do videos of wasting the time of phone scammers; he also uploads clips of classic radio comedy. 
 

But actually I do consider it a public service, for any time of theirs which I or anyone else is wasting is time when they cannot be phoning someone who is much more vulnerable and possibly likely to carry out the payment they request. 

[JJGraphics]

Just in case you happen to be on the receiving end of a phone call which tries to get you to part with your hard-earned cash, this new service may be of help:

https://stopscamsuk.org.uk/159

John

[johnofwessex]

What about

 

WWW.CinCFleet/TridentStrike.Gov.uk

 

To book

 

[Il Grifone]

I've just received a dodgy looking email allegedly from Paypal re updating my account due to some Government nonsense.

I forwarded it to report@phishing.gov.uk (and actually received a reply!)

[big jim]

I’ve been receiving regular emails from Les Kent at Haslington models with a link saying ‘have a look at these pics, you may remember some of the guys’ or words to that effect 

 

Pretty sure it’s dodgy unless he’s trying to scam me from beyond the grave as he died Last year, might get Derek Acorah to have a word with him (assuming Derek went up not down!) 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by big jim

[AyJay]

Tempting though it is to say something, waste their time etc .

I know,  in response to that shallow and meaningless opening "Hello, how are you", I am tempted to reply something like "There has been a tragedy in the family and we are waiting for the Funeral Directors" 

 

By far the best response is, if you don't recognise the number, don't answer it.  If someone wants you, they can leave a message.

 

Well I just found this on Quora and it reinforces what I already suspected....

 

 

What should you never say to a scammer?

I know that it makes you feel better to tell off a scammer but at the end of the day, it doesn't bother them. Understand that these people are thieves. They are preying on vulnerable people - typically the elderly, students, and immigrants - who they feel they can bully. They often use threatening language to scare taxpayers into giving up information or money: in one such instance, an older victim was so distraught as a result of threats from the scammer, that he crashed his car on the way to pick up a wire. These are not nice people. Your threats, bad language, telling them off? They've likely heard and said worse. You're not fazing them one bit. Don't waste your time.

Rather than engage with the scammer which may result in you giving out sensitive information about yourself, Just hang up. You can also contact fintrack.org (OR support@fintrack.org) to report the scam and have a shot at getting a refund on your stolen funds. They only get 10% of the recovered funds at the end of a successful recovery process so you must have gotten your refund first before undergoing any payment.

I think you should never engage with scammers because when you do, you've just confirmed two pieces of information for the scammers: they've called a working phone number and you'll answer the phone. Remember that identity theft isn't just about getting money out of you one time or stealing a tax refund check, it's an entire industry. Your data typically isn't getting stolen in one fell swoop: your identity profile is being put together piece by piece. Key bits of information about you may be stored, repackaged and sold from one scammer to the next. The fact that you answered the phone and were willing to engage? That's valuable to scammers who might try it again later - or sell your number to the highest bidder.

When you tell scammers to stop calling you, you may inadvertently give out more information about your phone number. When you offer comments like "stop calling my house" or "don't call me at work" or "this is my cell phone," you've just added to the database. Not only do the scammers know that it's a good number, and you'll answer, you've now offered up more details about the number the scammer just called (i.e. it's your house, workplace or cell number). If they're simply calling off of a stolen call list, you've just made your phone number more valuable.

When you tell scammers that you know you don't owe anything, you might have confirmed your name, that you're a taxpayer, and worse, possibly your Social Security Number (SSN). Remember, this isn't some kid calling with a script: these are professional thieves who likely do this for a living. They know how to get what they want. It can be easy to give out or confirm additional information even if you don't intend to. For example, if a scammer says, "Our records indicate that Charlotte Vogel with SSN 123-45-6789 owes $5,400," and I reply "That's not true, I always pay my taxes," I might have inadvertently offered up more information. Not only does the scammer now know that my phone number is good, they have a name to attach to it. And since I automatically didn't say, "That's not my Social Security Number," that may be an indication that they have the right SSN, too. So now they might have the name and SSN of a taxpayer who claims to be current: that strongly suggests that I have a job or other taxable income and that I have enough in assets to pay my bills regularly. I just became an even more valuable commodity to the scammer.

When you make threats back, you might be offering valuable "out of wallet" information. It may be tempting to bring out the big guns like "I'll get you, I'm a lawyer" or "How dare you, my dad is a cop" or "Just wait until my Army husband, Bill, gets home." But think about what you've just said. Yes, more information about yourself. Those additional nuggets are helping form your profile. Pieces of data are matched to other data. Suddenly, you’re no longer just a random phone number. You’re Jane Smith, SSN 123-45-6789. You're a lawyer, and your dad is a cop. You live at 123 Elm Street, Anytown, USA 12345 (since that address matches your phone number). Your spouse’s name is Bill, and he works for the government. That data – especially once it’s been matched with more data which can be found in other places, such as social media sites or from a recent hack – is incredibly valuable.

Don’t fall for their tricks. Keep your personal information safe by remaining alert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Metr0Land]

1 hour ago, AyJay said:

By far the best response is, if you don't recognise the number, don't answer it.  If someone wants you, they can leave a message.

 

 

Certainly if I don't recognise I would wait for them to speak into the answerphone.  However thanks to digital voice (thanks Openreach) anything that's not in my phonebook now comes up as 'out of area'  meaning I have to do this more. 

[AyJay]

Has anyone received a text saying that you have been exposed to the omecron virus?   I just binned it without opening.