Heads up on email Phising scam : Thu Apr 07, 2016 11:16 pm  

Just recieved an email with my 'name' and 'home address' on it, claiming to be a debt collection agency on behalf of DuPoint. It said that I owed £1850 and had to be paid by a certain date. It gave a link to click to view my so called debt details (of course I did not click the link, but deleted the email) I think this is a new type of scam (having your name and home address) Here is a link to a BBC web site about the scam: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35977227 It is identical to the type of email I recieved. Just be careful if you get one, and don't what ever you do click the given link, as it would very likely install some kind of ransomware.

Just recieved an email with my 'name' and 'home address' on it, claiming to be a debt collection agency on behalf of DuPoint. It said that I owed £1850 and had to be paid by a certain date. It gave a link to click to view my so called debt details (of course I did not click the link, but deleted the email) I think this is a new type of scam (having your name and home address) Here is a link to a BBC web site about the scam: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35977227 It is identical to the type of email I recieved. Just be careful if you get one, and don't what ever you do click the given link, as it would very likely install some kind of ransomware.

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 7:16 am  

I'm just waiting for the day my Mum gets suckered in by one of these. Every time she gets a suspicious looking email, pop-up telling her she's won an iPhone or a text telling her she's won a prize she rings me to see what to do with it like she's totally forgotten everything I told her about the previous one. If I've told her once I've told her a million times that she doesn't owe, isn't owed or hasn't won anything and never will.

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:03 am  

What used to make me despair was just how many people have to ask about this sort of shoite, instead of just block/delete. The equally widespread "helpful warnings" are just another form of "dire warning spam".

Sad fact is that obviously there are huge numbers around the globe who are naive or stupid enough to fall constantly for this sort of stuff and it is an utter waste of time posting "warnings" as if they really are that gullible then one or other scam will get them very soon anyway. It's a bit like walking round town with a placard warning people not to step out under buses.

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:17 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

What used to make me despair was just how many people have to ask about this sort of shoite, instead of just block/delete. The equally widespread "helpful warnings" are just another form of "dire warning spam".

Sad fact is that obviously there are huge numbers around the globe who are naive or stupid enough to fall constantly for this sort of stuff and it is an utter waste of time posting "warnings" as if they really are that gullible then one or other scam will get them very soon anyway. It's a bit like walking round town with a placard warning people not to step out under buses.

Agreed. I kind of understand my parents generation, they're very nervous of using computers and continually ask advice on all manner of things to avoid "breaking it". But I see people of my generation who have grown up with computers and should be more savvy in using them. I'm nowhere close to a computer/software "expert" yet I'm continually called upon for the most minor of issues to do with computers, one of the most regular is the spam emails. It's as if common sense suddenly departs the scene for some reason. A friend of mine just last week asked me about an email allegedly from EBay saying she'd just bought something. Now my friend literally has a PhD and yet was asking me if she should click on the link in the email, whilst she doesn't and never has had an eBay account. It's the equivalent of you calling the RAC to show you how to put petrol in the car, it's one of those things you should've learnt by now.

I'm struggling to remember the last time I ever clicked on any link in any email other than work stuff.

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:24 am  

My girlfriend got an email yesterday from 'HMRC' saying she had a rebate that was owed to her. Sometimes the email pops up with the name of the person at the top, rather than displaying the email address, but when you open up the email address is was something like hmrc.pst@btopenworld.com. Obviously she didn't fall for it, but the email looked pretty legit, so unfortunately I imagine some people do. Always report/block is the way to go.

My girlfriend got an email yesterday from 'HMRC' saying she had a rebate that was owed to her. Sometimes the email pops up with the name of the person at the top, rather than displaying the email address, but when you open up the email address is was something like hmrc.pst@btopenworld.com. Obviously she didn't fall for it, but the email looked pretty legit, so unfortunately I imagine some people do. Always report/block is the way to go.

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 11:42 am  

The HMRC email has been doing the rounds for a while now, I've had 3 already this year. It does look like it's correctly HMRC branded but as you say, the email address is usually a massive giveaway. Would HMRC really have a btopenworld email address?

I've also been contacted from Burkina Faso this year for someone to use my bank account to transfer $17,000,000 to the US and in return I'd get 10% of it. Out of all the people in the world, all the banks, all the money transfer companies, all the financial companies, they chose little old me to transfer a whopping great sum of money and get a 10% share for my troubles. How lovely of them.

You just can't believe people need to ask for advice about this sort of thing, never mind fall for it!

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 12:08 pm  

King Street Cat wrote:

You just can't believe people need to ask for advice about this sort of thing, never mind fall for it!

On the flip side, there are probably millions of people who get genuine emails who ignore them, smugly thinking they have thwarted an evil crime empire. I know a lad who works in will settlements, and he has terrible trouble convincing people to turn up to the solicitors office as they are convinced it's a scam.

And you never know if one is real. There might actually be a Nigerian Prince who is under threat from the Nigerian Government who needs help getting his funds out of the country. And you refuse to help him. How bad is that!

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:01 pm  

I seem to recall that a few years back, the plan was to change the systems so that you couldn't spoof emails in the sense you couldn't make it appear an email was from any other address than it actually was, but for some reason, it was never implemented

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Fri Apr 08, 2016 3:10 pm  

I've helped several exiled African dignitaries spirit their funds out from under the noses of an oppressive regime, and am now a multi-millionaire international playboy off the back of it; don't be so cynical.

Re: Heads up on email Phising scam : Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:44 pm  

The demographic of people that fall for this sheeite is big. You'd think it would just be the elderly or the stupid but it isn't. I work for a bank and I get doctors phoning up because they received a call from someone alleging to be from BT/TalkTalk/Microsoft etc who get's them to give remote access to their PC, log into Internet banking and then empty their accounts. Another common one is emails involving solicitors, they'll intercept the real solicitor emails and get them to wire funds to different accounts when house purchases are going through. The victim won't contact the solicitor to verify the details, they see a genuine looking email and have at it.

There's no big pay off these days for a fraudster to simply obtain someone's banking details. What can they really do? they set up a DD and it will be cancelled soon enough when the real person doesn't recognize it. Any sizable purchase will be blocked or held up for additional checks. They get into into Internet banking and they'll only be able to transfer to accounts the victim has already paid as most if not all banks have a secure key service.

Now they need real input from the victim to make hay, they need them to open the door which is why we are seeing such a huge increase in these emails and phone calls.

There are companies in china that will employ hundreds of people as part of complex elaborate scams. Now that is bad!