Most scammers use email or text messages or adverts but some still use old fashioned letters.
The letter looks legitimate – from a business which actually does exist on the Companies House register. Plus, the letter is signed in the name of one of the directors of that company and matches the companies house records.
So, what is the scam?
The letter says Nathan is interested in buying my company and that he has been in this industry for over 10 years. The phrase ‘this industry’ is used repeatedly throughout the letter without ever saying what industry it is – so the letter is general purpose and has probably been sent to a long list of random businesses.
The letter does say he is keen on Marketing and that is give-away that most likely he is just looking for leads for companies where he can sell Marketing services.
He claims to have plans to buy more businesses this year.
Maybe that is true, but a letter with no reference to what my company actually does or even what industry it is in means the whole thing is suspect and to be avoided.
If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.
Elvira Mortoon tells me that she is shipping the free Keto diet book to me, that I asked for and she only has a few left as they are so popular. I didn’t ask for any such book and have no interest in Keto diets, but you can see this is intended to catch people who may be interested and may then return a message asking for such a copy. The book is called “The Wicked Good Keto Diet Cookbook”. Most of the message is about how quickly the books are disappearing but make no difference as she is a scammer and there is no such book. Of course, the bookshops are full of Keto diets so similar books are easy to get legitimately.
“You have a simple bathroom habit that is killing thousands – it increases your risk of sudden death by 530%” is the overly dramatic opening for a scammer’s email. These dramatic emails are always from scammers as messages from honest people are tempered by reality. It’s just made-up rubbish and the point is to get you to click a link to watch a random video clip that is likely little to do with bathroom habits. No thanks.
Jane Cunningham claims on email that she has written to me several times about an outstanding amount of £424.15 for invoice number #10982566213/4. The email is signed by Jane Williams and the sender’s email address is max.jones so the scammer seems very confused on who she is. Not that it matters of course as it’s all just a scam – she hopes that some recipients will be dumb enough to reply to the message and then pay up. Most scammers include a link to click but perhaps she is too stupid to do that or doesn’t understand the game she is playing.
Dongliang Caol Michael wants to place a trial order for our products having seen them online. So, he asks for a price list and delivery times and payment terms. But he sent this to the radio station so there are no products to sell. Why do scammers send out these meaningless messages? Usually it’s just to check the email addresses they bought are valid not simply made-up and then to see if the owner of the email address is stupid enough to reply to such an obviously fake message. If you reply, your details go on to a scammers list to be sold to other scammers and spammers. Never reply to such messages
Anstey Omar wants to interest me in buying a CBT Mail Extractor – that is a piece of software that reads websites, social media posts, business directories etc. and picks out any email addresses. This isn’t illegal but it is a nasty way to get email addresses to sell to punters. The owners of the websites, social media accounts don’t want or expect their email addresses to be copied in this manner but it is difficult to stop. Bear Tech Software – get lost.
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If you are or were a TSB client then you will remember the meltdown of their computer systems back in 2018.
TSB tried to move their computer systems from their own to those of Sabadell which bought TSB in 2015.
Whether it was lack of testing or bad management or unrealistic expectations or just plain incompetence, the result was millions of their customers couldn’t access their money, direct debits failed leading to penalty costs on their customers and more.
It was the lead story on the news for days as many people had their lives turned upside down by the sudden shutdown of their accounts.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) concluded that TSB failed to organise and control the programme of work and failed to manage the operational risks of the software migration.
The FCA fined TSB £29.8 million and PRA sanctioned TSB for £18.9 million, adding to the £32.7 million it cost TSB to set right damage to their customers accounts.
We rely so much nowadays on computer systems and their information and its up to all organisations to protect their customers data and access.
If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.
Anstey Omar wants to interest me in buying a CBT Mail Extractor – that is a piece of software that reads websites, social media posts, business directories etc. and picks out any email addresses. This isn’t illegal but it is a nasty way to get email addresses to sell to punters. The owners of the websites and social media accounts don’t want or expect their email addresses to be copied in this manner but it is difficult to stop. Bear Tech Software – get lost.
Lots of scammers send out messages trying to trap Netflix subscribers. Your account is due for renewal or your invoice is overdue or something similar. This latest one claims my subscription has been paid twice so I am due a refund. Unusually the sender’s email address is @linkedin.com which is not Netflix. All rubbish.
A message claiming to be from NatWest bank tells me that my mobile number has been changed and I need to authorise that change. Seems unlikely as I dont have a NatWest account. Just the normal scammer lies.
Most people’s mobile phone come with a free voicemail service, but some people take out a paid voicemail service for various reasons. An email says there is a new voicemail waiting for me at the radio station voicemail account and I just have to click to listen to the message. All lies of course as the email is from somos-nante.com which is a not a service I ever subscribed to.
Bitcoin cryptocurrency is very popular with scammers as it is difficult to trace. Coinpayments tell me that my Bitcoin payment to some unknown person has failed and needs to be repeated. All made-up of course.
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A USB drive (also called USB thumb drive or USB stick) may look innocuous but may contain malware and if you are tricked into attaching it to your computer then that malware will attack your computer.
This scam was invented around 2010 with a hacker selling rubber duck USB drives and there has recently been an upgrade to the methods it uses.
These cost around $50 each so you wont find thousands of them spread around. Instead, they are typically used to target high value individuals.
The rubber duck typically uses pop up login boxes to capture the targets credentials, but it can search for confidential information, financial details etc.
Also, some are setup to be able to infect windows devices, Apple devices and others by determining the operating system of the device and adjusting accordingly.
If you are offered a free USB drive or someone asks to plug one into your device, think twice on how much you trust them and understand that if the device infects your computer you’re unlikely to notice any difference until it’s too late and your bank account has been emptied.
If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.
