scam emails

I just thought I'd let the forum know of a email scam I've just received supposedly from the BBC licencing department. They say my last direct debit has not gone through and I must set up a new one .They even say that my licence may be cancelled if I do not renew (chance would be a fine thing ) it was sent by someone @columboworld.com (not very original ) and they spelled it License and further down Licence . Just thought I'd let everone aware

Just thought I would add this. Received the same TV licence renewal, licence ID number wrong with attachment to catch the unwary. Actually had the legitimate TV renewal email a couple of weeks ago and this latest went into the Junk box.

Today received two reportedly from EE stating that they couldn't take this months debit 😂 shame I'm not with EE.What does seem strange however is that I did once have two EE accounts and the spam emails appeared to know that !

H

I had one a couple of days ago. I initially had a text message from a UK mobile number, albeit prefixed with a +44. Asking whether the mobility scooter I had advertised (on the For Sales on this site) was still available. I replied that it was and a short while later received an email saying that the person concerned was an oceanographer and did not have the time to see it but would send a courier at her cost to collect. I was asked to give Paypal account details for payment. the paypal website was given as www.pay pal.com. Note the space between the pay and pal. I was fairly certain this was a scam and text messaged back asking where they had seen the advert but got no response. I copied the email to a friend of mine who keeps his eyes on these sorts of things and he used a quarantined machine to go to the website concerned. It certainly was not Paypal.

Keep your eyes open for spelling issues like this. When he tested it went to a site called pal.com set up to capture details fraudulently. My mate said the fact that the phone number was prefixed +44 most likely put the guy somewhere overseas

Colin

Got a variant new to me recently. A while ago I was put on an informal club related mailing list by the friend of a friend.

I received an email apparently from him last week where the content didn't quite match his usual style. Looking at the email's internals showed it was phishing from Russia.

Basically the mail viewer displays the sender is someone you know like 'Joe Bloggs', but when the email source is inspected it's really from [email protected] rather than [email protected]

Somehow the bad guys have got hold of the club mailing list, which contains the actual email addresses and aliases used by club members. Once their alias is known, it's trivial to send emails that appear to come from someone else. Please don't share email addresses with people who don't need them.

Now I'm checking email from everyone. No matter who an email says it's from, if it asks me to click links, spend money, call strange phone numbers, or is remotely suspicious I look at the senders actual address.

Dave

+44 often appears before mobile numbers, it means they are UK based.

BUT this is a well known scam.

So... we have a scammer who's got past the initial posting screening. Has anyone else been affected?

Can anyone email me with the dates they got in touch, we might be able to spot them.

Neil

Had something similar, some time ago, SUPPOSEDLY, from Talk Talk. Needed to confirm my bank details, sort code, account no, etc etc.Talk Talk told me "We know about this one, It has been running for some time. Ignore and delete it".

Along the same lines as the lovely Asian lady who phoned so that she could reclaim my bank charges for me from Barclays.

"I don't bank with Barclays"

"Natwest?" She was most upset when told that she was a scammer.

Quite often the E mail address gives them away, being French, German or Russian, rather than the correct location.

Howard

Another point is the credibility of the name the supposed organisation uses: there is no BBC Licencing Department, any more than there is that old favourite, The Windows Corporation.

If the e-mail address is not obviously false, try looking at its source (on BT its "More" -> "View Source". Among the screen-ful or so of pure code, should be the source IP and routing - which can involve a string of addresses relaying the message. One I received allegedly came via a donkey sanctuary, of all things.

This is useful when you receive a message that on the surface looks real, from a real person such as a fellow club-member. Compare the details with a known message from that person. Usually though, this type of message (often the "Help I'm stuck in Paris with no money" type) looks wrong on first site.

My security software flags up potential spam, and the "View Source" has that word all over its display showing where the message was trapped (at least, showing it was trapped - the surrounding stuff is gobbledegook unless you are a programmer!).

An American on an other forum tells me he sometimes receives private messages on it, in Russian! He sent me a sample, which I carefully copied and threw at Google's translator. This revealed some nonsense about untoward happenings in diplomatic buildings in a city I established separately, is real. Clearly we agreed this was some sort of fraud but we could not guess what, nor why he was receiving messages in the Russian language!

I did once try reporting a fraudulent message to ActionFraud, an outfit which lets you think is a UK Home Office department but is apparently some American company, and was exposed recently as being about as much use as a polythene firing-shovel. I'd guessed that a couple of years or so ago!

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Colin,

Further to Neil’s response ... May I suggest that your mate does some reading ?

This is a good place to start: **LINK**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbering_plan

[quote]

Country code

Country codes are necessary only when dialing telephone numbers in other countries than the originating telephone. These are dialed before the national telephone number. By convention, international telephone numbers are indicated in listings by prefixing the country code with a plus sign (+). This reminds the subscriber to dial the international dialing prefix in the country from which the call is placed. For example, the international dialing prefix or access code in all NANP countries is 011, while it is 00 in most European countries. In some GSM networks, it may be possible to dial +, which may be recognized automatically by the network carrier in place of the international access code.

[/quote]

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Basically, the +44 is included as a courtesy to international callers ... it advises them that the number is a UK one.

Whilst your text may, or may not, have been from a scammer, I see nothing in the inclusion of +44 to cause concern.

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MichaelG.

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P.S. ... Have a look at the numbers on this page: 

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/about/

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 02/12/2019 09:18:57