Category: Fight Back

Australians Scammed out of $2 Billion

Australians lost a record amount of more than $2 billion to scams in 2021, despite government, law enforcement, and the private sector disrupting more scam activity than ever before.

This is based on a report including more than 560,000 events and takes data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, major banks and money remitters, and other government agencies in Australia.

The highest losses were from:

  • Investment scams ($701 million)
  • payment redirection scams ($227 million)
  • romance scams ($142 million).

People aged 65 and over reported the highest losses, and reported losses steadily increased with age.

The ACCC is particularly wanting banks to match payee information in pay anyone transactions. This has been shown to have a real impact in countries that have done so, including the UK.

In 2021, the telecommunications sector’s new Reducing Scam Calls Industry Code resulted in more than 357 million scam calls being blocked.

People in Australia who detect a scam, whether or not they have lost money to it, can report scams and learn more about how to get help on the Scamwatch website at scamwatch.gov.au

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Caribbean Resort Fraudster Jailed

David Ames has been jailed for 12 years.

His speciality scam was with the front company Harlequin Group which used celebrity endorsements and aggressive sales tactics to con 8,000 investors out of £226 million.

He secured the backing of tennis star Pat Cash, golfer Gary Player and others and of course they had no idea it was all a scam.

His company had 186 accommodation units to sell, such as beach cabanas, villas and hotel rooms.

But he sold each an average of 40 times over – a total of 8,200 sales.  Those extra sales of non existent properties and hotel rooms were his profits.  It could be called a Ponzi scheme.

The customers of course got nothing and it was only a matter of time before he was caught and convicted.

He was sentenced to 12 years in jail.

That is little comfort to the many people who lost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pounds. In many cases that was their life savings, put down expecting a retirement home but instead being conned out of everything.

Some ‘lucky’ losers may get as much as 2% of their capital back.

Be very careful who you invest with and place your trust in celebrity endorsements- they are paid advertisers.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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What is Hacktivism ?

Hacktivism (a portmanteau of hack and activism) is the subversive use of computers and computer networks to promote a political agenda or a social change. Its ends are often related to the free speech, human rights and freedom of information movements.

Some people believe hacktivism is a growing force and will become more active and take on bigger challenges. But, others believe it is a spent force and will die away slowly over the coming years.

Mr. Robot

“Mr. Robot” is a TV series that tells the story of hacker Elliot Alderson  and his role in an anarchist collective called “fsociety,” whose followers wear masks that resemble “Rich Uncle Pennybags” from the Monopoly board game.

The series was inspired by a notorious computer hacker named H who has gone from trying to bring down the authorities — to working for them.

As a key member of the hacking group known as Anonymous and a founder of its elite “LulzSec” unit, Hector Monsegur helped launch cyber attacks on government and corporate targets including the US Senate, the FBI and major credit-card companies.

But when he was arrested in 2011, Monsegur — known online as “Sabu” — began secretly cooperating with an investigation that led to a wave of arrests across the US, Great Britain and Ireland.

Today, Anonymous still goes by the motto it unveiled in 2009: “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Hector Monsegur

But Monsegur, 35, says society has little to fear from the online anarchists in Guy Fawkes masks as “Anonymous is irrelevant.  “All it is now is a figment of hipsters’ imagination.”

Monsegur pleaded guilty to seven felonies as part of his deal with prosecutors and spent nearly eight months in Lower Manhattan’s infamous Metropolitan Correctional Center before being sentenced to time served in 2014.

The following year, Monsegur, landed a job working remotely as a “white-hat hacker” for Seattle-based Rhino Security Labs, helping companies identify vulnerabilities in their computer systems.

He admits that in comparison to what he used to do before, it’s not the same kind of thrill.

The article at http://www.fightbackonline.org/index.php/guidance/12-explanations/108-is-hacktivism-a-force-for-good has more information on Hacktivism.

Do leave a comment on this post – click on the post title then scroll down to leave your comment.

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Kitboga Has Fun With Scammers

Kitboga is the Internet alias of an American YouTuber whose content primarily focuses on scam baiting against scams conducted over the phone.

His YouTube channel has over 2 million subscribers.

In mid-2017, Kitboga found out that his grandmother had fallen victim to many scams designed to prey on the elderly, both online and in person. He then discovered “Lenny”, a loop of vague pre-recorded messages that scam baiters play during calls with the aim of convincing the scammer that there is a real person on the phone without providing any useful information to the scammer. After seeing these videos uploaded to YouTube, he decided to have a go himself.

. While he started out streaming for his friends on Twitch, his viewership soon started growing beyond his immediate circles, eventually leading to the growth in popularity he has experienced since starting his channel. Kitboga hopes that by wasting scammers’ time, he can prevent them from scamming others, while also providing a source of entertainment and education to his viewers.[5]

In March 2020, with the growing prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kitboga started baiting scammers who were selling an essential oil which they dishonestly claimed was a cure for COVID-19, following a warning from the United States Federal Trade Commission to consumers to be alert for coronavirus-related scams.[6]

Technique[edit]

In his Youtube videos, Kitboga engages in scam baiting with several types of scammers.

Typically technical support scammers, refund scammers, tax  scammers, social security scammers, and more.

To misdirect scammers away from his real identity, as well as for viewer entertainment, Kitboga often poses as a number of different characters during his videos, including a grandmother named either Edna, Vera, Matilda, or Bernice  a Russian man named Vicktor Viktoor.

He always plays characters who know little about IT and can be easily cheated by the scammer.

Kitboga plays along with the scammer, misdirecting, apparently making mistakes again and again and so on.

At the end of bait calls, Kitboga sometimes turns off his voice changer and reveals that he has been scambaiting.

Usually that results in a hangup, but some are so dumb and so used to lying that they carry pretending it is real.

You’ll find Kitboga’s videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm22FAXZMw1BaWeFszZxUKw

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Cyber First

CyberFirst is a programme of opportunities to help young people explore their passion for tech by introducing them to the fast paced world of cyber security.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberfirst/overview

CyberFirst covers a broad range of activities: a comprehensive bursary scheme to financially support undergraduates through university and a degree apprenticeship scheme; a girls’ only competition, thousands of free places on CyberFirst courses at UK universities and colleges and our new initiative CyberFirst Schools and Colleges. Each activity is designed to seek out diverse people with potential, offering the support, skills, experience and exposure needed to be the future first line of defence in our CyberFirst world.

CyberFirst say they were setup by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ to find diverse young– not just programmers but entrepreneurs, public speakers, analysts and more – who’ll become the next generation of cyber security specialists.

Cyberfirst say that their bursary and degree apprenticeship programmes are designed for a new generation of future cyber security professionals. Even if you don’t know how to code yet, these programmes are open to you. The key thing they look for in applicants isn’t genius programming skills – it’s curiosity.

Is this going to be successful?

Nobody knows but it is likely to help some people, but probably not as many as they hope it will reach.

If you’ve signed up for CyberFirst, let us know, by email.

Cathy Deals with Scam Callers

Scammers call you trying to steal your money or your identity or both.

So, why not waste their time, drive them mad and get your own back.

Plus while you’re keeping them busy they cannot be scamming someone else.

Cathy Simpson came up with an unusual way to have a bit of fun while deflecting cold callers, although it needs a little preparation to really work well.

“I used to be plagued with them, sometimes as many as six in a day, so I applied serious thought to the problem. My life changed forever when I discovered that you can download MP3 clips of various sounds, which I saved in iTunes.

“So… a scammer would call, and I’d tell them I’d need to transfer them to my husband, then play a clip of someone snoring REALLY loudly for a few minutes or a chorus of screaming chimpanzees.

“Sometimes I’d tell them my computer was in the other room, and I’d need to go down there to turn it on. So they could accompany me on my journey, they were treated to the sound of someone walking along an interminably long echoey corridor, followed by the sound of wading through water. These guys have no staying power, you know. When I asked if they were still there, they’d already rung off.

“My favourite, though, was the time they phoned to tell me my IP address had been hacked. They told me to turn on my computer. I played a clip of artillery fire, followed by an explosion. I expressed dismay that my computer had just blown up.

“I told them I couldn’t tell, as the computer was now in small pieces all over the floor and the room was full of smoke. They told me not to worry, that they were working on it. I thanked them, of course. It was only polite.”

Have fun.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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