Yet another scam

Yes, I read that too.

The TV Licence attempt did not seem of ropey English but the source was a dead give-away. If not expecting a message I always look at the name and domain.

Also, BT Internet has a "View Source" tool that goes into much greater detail, although it also shows many such attacks are evidently designed to appear "clean" to the security software.

However, those caught by not spotting spelling errors or bad grammar might be unlikely to spot dubious addresses either. The messages are designed to draw your eye away from such details.

I have no experience of "smart"-'phones for Internet use, but would such a 'phone be too small to show the source clearly? (I view everything on a 19" screen, not one smaller than a post-card.)

Wow, you must have a really big phone!

Maybe you were thinking of this thread I started?
https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=186184
Spam emails

Yes, it could have been so. I thought I had read it in the newspaper.

I remembered the content but not where I had read it.

Rod

Vic -

I like that!

No pick-pocket will get away with that one. There was an item on the News yesterday about the number of portable 'phones stolen in London. One was traced to Shanghai but they didn't say if it was recovered.

Given that so many insist on carrying the damn' things protruding from hip pockets I do wonder how many are pinched, simply fall out and are lost, or are wrecked by being sat upon!

Mine is a basic one small enough to fit a trousers front pocket.

On the subject of TV Licences

Mine arrived in today’s Post … showing the Licence number and my Direct Debit schedule

It also has a QR code, and very simple instructions for activating the ‘online licence’

That should render most of the scam attempts futile.

… Well done chaps !

MichaelG.

Received a very strange one today … forwarded it straight to report@phishing.gov.uk

[quote]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Graham Little <fglittIe@hotmail.com>
Date: 16 April 2023 at 16:13:07 BST
Subject: Catch Up
Reply-To: Graham Little <fglittIe@hotmail.com>



Hello,

How you doing today, sorry to bother you, do you order from Amazon often? Love Graham.

[/quote]

MichaelG.

Michael

How nice, it's good to know somebody somewhere loves you

Martin

Michael,

I have received a very similar email. Subject : Quick favour! ( usual old hurry up and dont think about what you're doing)

Message : Sorry to bother you, do you order from Amazon?

You can bet that if you replied, yes, it would lead to some yarn about his card being stolen/lost/blocked/maxedout or similar and could he borrow the use of yours? Yeah, and I arrived on the banana boat.

I actually had 2 emails as above about an hour apart one evening sometime ago. One was supposedly from Colin somebody, (cant remember Surname) @btinternet.com

The other was identical except Colin had been reduced to c. etc

Alarm bells jangled louder than Big Ben, as I dont know anyone by that name so why would I do a favour for a complete stranger?

John

My latest run of Scam eMails, all of which have been reported, mostly feature ladies offering photographs and/or their services

To the best of my knowledge I have not strayed into those corners of the web that might attract such attention.

… My guess is that this is the start of a new cyber-attack on the U.K. using very basic ‘click bait’

Several of them have close to 200 recipients, none of whom I recognise.

[ will they collect more addresses as they do the rounds ? ]

Interestingly; the accompanying text has recently become more complex … probably in the hope of avoiding security filters.

Example: I replaced my hat and turned in the direction of the signal which was whipped away at once by the driving mountain wind theeverlasting plague of all frontiers

Take care folks … and send all such messages to: report@phishing.gov.uk

MichaelG.

I saw this yesterday:

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/29/us/ai-scam-calls-kidnapping-cec/index.html

One day I will try to use a link thingy.

JA

But is it scam if these ladies actually deliver these photographs/services ?

.

I would be surprised if the messages are anything other than a means of collecting potentially useful addresses.

MichaelG.

Is there any safe way that I can check for that, Frances ?

I note that what purports to be either a video or a sequence of pictures in the last one, is actually a small pdf

.

.

Needless to say, that ^^^ is only clipped from a screenshot of my eMail page

MichaelG.

I often wonder if the 'Report Phishing' system does? Or just another heading on the task bar. The 'Block' facility ( dots) is totally ineffective as the same olds regularly re-appear.

Regards Ian.

I agree. Sorry - I was trying to be humorous...

No problem, Bob

MichaelG.

For what it's worth, I very rarely give out my actual phone number on electronic forms, and my email address does not contain an obvious person's name. The number 0123456789 usually is accepted by software as your phone number.

If a delivery company need to contact me they will email me. Nothing is so urgent that they need my actual number - if they can't deliver, they will have to come back another day, that's their job.

Too many times, after I have given my email address to a company or supplier for work related reasons, I get a lot of unsolicited spam. And these are companies who supposedly adhere to the GDPR rules, but clearly their systems are unprotected or riddled with viruses, allowing hackers to trawl their contact lists.

Regarding emails, they are best thought of as an electronic postcard. Any body who handles them can read them. So don't send personal details, photos or data over unencrypted email. One such GDPR company, (above), sent my bank account details back to me in an unencrypted email...........Another, sent my full home address, and this was after I had told them I didn't want to give out my email address but they insisted. A doctor really had a problem understanding why I did not want personal medical data sent over email.

So be very careful with your data, especially anything relating to your identity. Many people and companies who should know better, are very cavalier with sensitive data in emails. Some are just lazy and cannot be bothered sending things via the Royal Mail. Apple iMessage is encrypted, and I believe What'sApp is too, although I do not use the latter.

Edited By John Doe 2 on 01/05/2023 10:51:57