Telephone / Internet Scams

It's been some years now I had a ex directory number and was with BT I canceled BT in favour of another provider all most medianly nuisance calls started and I still maintain to this day that my number was passed on !

H

These calls seem to go in cycles. Haven't had any for ages, but just recently I've had a couple about the "government" insulation scheme. The guy told me I didn't need to worry, so I told him I wasn't worried in the slightest - then he put the 'phone down.

Also had a couple from "BT" today about the internet. First guy got really niggly when I put the 'phone down on him. After he rang back and I told him there weren't any lights on the router he asked if I was a scammer! Told him I wasn't stupid enough to be a scammer which got him even madder. On the second one I told the lady the router was in a different building and then put the 'phone down while she held. After a while I disconnected the call. They rang back and I put the 'phone next to the speaker while watching a Youtube video to see if they'd notice.

Andrew

About the only really good thing I can say about our internet / telephone provider is we get zero nuisance calls. The first time any number calls us it automatically diverts to the screening process where the caller needs to record their name and purpose, it then calls us and asks to accept or reject, if rejected the number is permanantly blocked. It's a bit of a pain for genuine callers to hold while the process goes through but once accepted they can call freely. Since we signed up for this a couple of years back we have had absolutely zero scam or nuisance calls.

in fact it has made life a bit boring as I used to try and see how long I could lead them on and how much they got wound up when they twigged!

Paul.

We are with BT for internet and landline, O2 for my mobile 'phone, whilst herself is with EE.

We get a small number of spam calls on the landline, few enough to be ignorable, none on our mobile 'phones, and occasional spam emails, again few enough to be ignorable.

Years ago, I used to get a large number of spam emails: using Thunderbird, I simply set suitable message filters, and at the moment I have two set, one of which is for what looks like a genuine mistake somewhere in Argyll County Council.

We used to get a large number of spam calls, so as our cordless 'phones included the facility of incoming call barring, I set it up to bar up to 30 calls. Today we have 4 set, and I cannot remember the last time the system barred a call (it usually shows the caller with a red x against it.

I did, on one occasion try to lead them on, but lost interest, and now we simply say "Not interested" and clear the call if a human voice. Otherwise we just hangup.

Peter G. Shaw

This morning's offering (it bore today's date):

[email protected]

Dear Sir,

Kindly see our purchase order
And do the needful

Anna Scott

Sales Rep

Sinopec
Address: Suur-niikaa 216 10122 lace>Tallinn, Estonialace>.

Purchase_order

"Purchase_order" was the link, deleted and re-typed here to break.

There is a genuine, Hong Kong -registered company called "Sinotec", a partner in a consortium apparently operating a commercial port in Estonia. So it's hard to know who is trying to defraud whom; but anyway:

- Block Sender,

- Block Domain,

- Foward to "report [at] phishing.gov.uk".

- Delete!

My landline provider provides the same facility described by Paul, and the number of nuisance calls has noticeably declined. Once in a while one gets through and my response is generally to say "Did I request this call?" Followed by "You know it's illegal!". And then I put the 'phone down.

I had a second e-post slightly similar to that above, though with different names, sipposedly about some quote or other. I tried to report that too but the system spotted its inherent virus and blocked the forwarding. So I just deleted it.

The virus might have been in the attached "quote" but I could not see how to remove that safely so I could forward the post itself, with its address information.

It may help when changing supplier, if you also change the number, but could get a different group of scammers! I found that it works very well for a considerable time. Probably the next organisation with your details, who leak thousands of people s data, likely to give out your new number, starting the aggro again.

We haven't had any since we bought a phone that blocks them.

This has to be the daftest yet:

Telephone recording "Hello, this is a free message, press1 to hear it"

At which point I hung up

pgk

I thought that daft too - then thought again.

Recordings that give a lengthy pre-amble about Microsoft, credit-cards etc. are more likely to be spotted as false.

That one is so short and to the point about a "free message" of unstated subject, that I think it was designed that way to trip people up.

It might not be daft at all, and far more dangerous than it seems - the gangs are not stupid but cold and very calculating; and they know catching only a fraction of those called is worth their while.

This might be a new tactic intended immediately to cast their net wider by a ruse likely to take more victims off-guard .

You're right about it being more dangerous - they called back after a few mins and the whole message goes on to say press 1 to hear or press 9 to cancel also again you won't be charged for the call. Again i hung up and a few moments later they rang back yet again - I let it ring until their system gave up and no further calls.
But I can see a lot of folk pressing 9...

pgk

Here is a more unusual scam I just tumbled to:

My wife listed a recliner chair on FaceBook marketplace this afternoon for £150 as we are getting a new one on Friday. We sell a lot of our heavier items on FB with no problems.

After about half an hour we get a Messenger call from a guy wanting it. Says he will come tomorrow with the cash.

Few minutes later comes back and says he has to work so will send a GLS courier with the cash to pick it up.

Asks for our email address which she gives him. No big deal.

We then get an email from “GLS’ full of crappy spelling with a dodgy looking gmail address saying they will be here tomorrow with the cash to pick up the item but we have to pay for “insurance” which we will get back on top of the £150.

Told them item was now sold and to go scam someone else!

Could easily see how a person might go for this if not on the look out.

Cheers Martin (PS, ANYONE WANT A CHAIR?)

Crappy spelling these days means nothing, apparently it is not important even after 11 plus years of full time education.

Tony

Just got in to find quite a sneaky one waiting - two emails allegedly from the account of a sole-trader with whom I used to occasionally do business, telling me that a third party host called 'Sendgb' has a new quotation for me 'that he can't attach in Outlook' and I need to 'click the link below' to download it, if I fail to act now, the document will be deleted in 1 week.. ..the old 'act NOW! or risk jeopardy' ploy..

Viewing the message, I could see that the page layout was that of 'Sendgb' and not a genuine email from me old mate Mr. ********, whom I know has been not working due to illness in any case.

One I hadn't seen before, the 'Sendgb' style / formatting was convincingly modern-day-commercial and glossy-looking.. ..don't click the link..

Edited By DiogenesII on 10/11/2021 20:34:46

Tony -

I think you are right there about our language not being taught in our own country; but remember that the dodgy e-post or web-site might be from a non-English speaking land. In which case the "crappy spelling" is probably genuine ignorance by someone whose native language is neither British English nor the American version (and accent) that many abroad are taught.

You are not allowed to complain about crappy spelling these days. You have to allow that the person is autistic in the range 0 - 100 %

I think you mean dyslexic

.... or both.

(Yes, I did mean dyslexic, thanks Duncan)

Just because it looks all right? You better look very very very carefully.

We recently bought a new house. An exciting time. The usual thing we paid a nominal deposit on the day pending payment of the full amount a couple of days later. Having looked at a number of properties with the same estate agent we knew several of the sales staff and the name of the sales office accountant who had properly handled the initial deposit.

All good so far.

A couple of days later we received an email telling us the bank account details for the rest of the deposit, The email used the logo and office details of the agency together with the names of the sales agent and the details of the amount owing. However, there was one difference. the bank account details had changed to a new account number. Apart from that it looked like the initial deposit email.

Luckily this triggered an alarm in our minds. It was then that we also noticed a difference in the web address, so we phoned the agency to check the validity of the email. They were shocked! They knew nothing of the infiltration of their computer. And yes! it was a scam.

I later found out that this bank account number was indeed a genuine Australian bank account number. The Police told me that this is the norm. However, any money paid into that account would have been whisked out of the country in seconds.

What had happened is that the estate agent’s office computer system had been hacked. The hackers had gained access to the records of current sales taking place at the time and were able to construct bogus documents to use against current transactions. With all the correct names and logos in place.

We were lucky, the small discrepancies triggered that essential check phone call. Had we not done that we would have suffered a substantial loss. As I understand it another client did not notice. and was snared by the scammers net. I don't know if they were compensated. I suspect not.

As a consequence, the estate agent shut their offices for several weeks while a new system was put in place.

We made the payment in person at the estate agents bank after checking the credentials of the account with the bank manager.

In Australia Property is now settled by computer, not like in the past where the conveyancing Layers for the parties concerned sat around a table. and exchanged documents.

Our lawyer who conducted the final settlement told us that many lawyers and other businesses that handle cash had also been hacked in a similar way. She told me that in spite of automation they always telephone other parties verbally and only use account numbers obtained verbally having confirmed that there is no possibility that the party on the other end of the phone is a scammer.

While the settlement is normally done by a layer in Australia the deposit is usually just done personally, typically about 10%, a substantial amount of cash to loose.

The event also triggered a long investigation by our two banks not because we were affected but because they were trying to set up defenses to counter this sort of activity, however in my discussions with them I gleaned that as soon as the cash is out of the country it is almost impossible to recover it.

Naturally we had put a stop on all our bank accounts immediately, We did not know what sort of information the scammers had.

Just because it looks all right? You better look very very very carefully.

Edited By John McNamara on 11/11/2021 13:16:44

Edited By John McNamara on 11/11/2021 13:18:06