Category: Website Scam

July 5, 2018

Warning – Web Coin Mining on Your PC

For normal physical currencies, each country has an appointed currency maker – such as The Royal Mint in the UK that makes currency for the UK and several other counties. But with cyber currencies – who makes it and how?

The creation of new coins is called “mining” and involves large amounts of computer processing and this increases as more currency is created. For Bitcoin, the effort involved in making new currency means very few can manage it.

But, if you could somehow spread that computer processing demand out among thousands or even millions — of unknowing user’s computers, it would make mining a lot cheaper and possibly quicker.

This is exactly what some websites are doing. They use your CPU to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin without your knowledge.

This can happen to you simply from visiting a website that uses JavaScript to start using your CPU for processing.

There are other methods but this is the most common and can be avoided if your browser has JavaScript disabled – but that will also block the functionality on some popular websites.

How to know if this has happened to your computer?

It’s not easy to identify unless your PC is suddenly very very slow and the CPU seems extremely busy while doing nothing.

Some websites can quietly use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency and they limit they effect on your work so you wouldn’t know unless you went out of your way to find out.

On a windows PC you can press CTRL, ALT and DELETE at the same time then select Task manager and see the CPU utilisation levels.

But if in doubt, the easiest remedy is to reboot your computer.

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June 22, 2018

Fake Website Gang Sentenced

Six people have been given jail sentences after defrauding the public out of more than £37m in one of the largest UK online crime cases brought to court.

The group set up and operated a number of “copycat websites”, which impersonated official government services to sell British passports, driving licences and other key documents at very high prices. The convictions and sentences followed one of the biggest investigations undertaken by the National Trading Standards eCrime Team.

Peter Hall, Claire Hall, Syed Bilal Zaidi, Collette Ferrow, Liam Hincks and Kerry Mill received sentences of varying lengths.

The criminals plan was to create copycat websites mimicking websites of government agencies that charge for documents such as passports, car tax etc. and spend the time and money necessary to ensure their websites come top of Google searches for people looking at how to get or update their passport etc.

They used the company name Tadservices Limited between January 2011 and November 2014 and their fake websites mimicked those of 11 government agencies and departments.

Customers were conned into paying more than they needed for new or replacement passports, visas, birth and death certificates, driving licences, driving tests, car tax discs and the London congestion charge.

The criminals then expanded their operation to make copycat websites mimicking similar government websites of the American, Cambodian, Sri Lankan, Turkish and Vietnamese official visa sites where travellers could apply and pay for electronic visas.

The illegal profits funded a glamorous lifestyle for the defendants, with extravagant spending on expensive cars and luxury holidays.

“These convictions represent an important milestone in the fight against online fraud,” said Lord Harris, the chair of National Trading Standards. “This was a huge fraud and a very large number of people lost money as a result of the malicious actions of these criminals.”

Handing down sentence on Tuesday, Judge Sean Morris said: “The internet is now the most frequently used marketplace. It is full of busy people in a rush who don’t have time. There is a lot of money to be made by dishonest people out of the honest people who don’t have time to check that a site is an official government service.”

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March 5, 2018

The Beard Czar Scam

There is a trend for fashionable beards and some men will buy products to help them grow such a beard and for grooming.

Beard Czar heavily advertise their products for beard growth and grooming and they have a website at www.beardczar.com

Selling such products is perfectly legal of course.

It’s the special offer they advertise that is the problem.

The offer is that you can try their product for 1 month at a cost of $4.95. The small print with the offer says that you are automatically signed up for their auto-shipment program which sends you 1 month supply every 30 days and charges your credit card.

Unless you cancel that subscription within 14 days then you will be charged $89.99 and so on every 30 days.

There is a phone number to call to cancel but people trying that find it very difficult

See https://www.bbb.org/phoenix/business-reviews/hair-ornaments/beard-czar-in-phoenix-az-1000039261/reviews-and-complaints

for people’s experiences of dealing with this company.

Beard Czar have followed the typical scammers model and created lots of fake reviews online to make it difficult for people to find genuine reviews.

If you type Beard Czar on Google, it finds the Beard Czar website then a lot of reviews with titles such as Beard Czar Warning – Read This Before You Buy It”, “Do Not Buy “Beard Czar” – SIDE EFFECTS REVEALED!!”, Do Not Try “Beard Czar”- All Side Effects HERE!!! – Health Fly Up”

These are just sales pitches dressed up to look like reviews. This is an attempt to deceive people and this kind of action is only carried out by people who don’t want the public to know what’s going on.

Companies that operate this kind of model where they send you a product then do everything they can to make it difficult to stop their charges – are best avoided.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

January 15, 2018

The Fashion Sale Fake Site

We are all used to sales at almost any time of year nowadays even by high fashion companies.

Scammers sometimes go to a lot of trouble to replicate part of the website of a fashion store online.

A recent scam started with a flood of emails about a Michael Kors sale.

Michael Kors is high fashion and comes with a hefty price tag so you can imagine the interest when the email says Huge Savings.

In fact later in the email it says “Take an additional 90% of your entire purchase of $100 or more”

They would not be in business for long giving away good quality product at 90% discount.

Of course, it’s all fake. Visitors to the fake site from the link in the email will find few items (with bargain prices) but it’s when you hand over your payment card details that the scammer has won and will use your card till it runs dry.

There are genuine sales of course and these are advertised by email sometimes.

But do pay attention to any links and which websites they would take you to.

In the Michael Kors email – it was all copied from genuine emails but the word “stockist” was spelled “srockist” which tells you it’s all fake and the unrealistic discount proves the point.

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December 11, 2017

The Santa Letter Scam

Taking advantage of children’s wishes at Christmas is a pretty miserable thing to do, but there are scammers intent on doing exactly that.

There are assorted new services on the Internet to do with Christmas and the festive season and APPS that let children speak to Santa Claus, make wish lists, watch Santa travel across the skies etc. Most of these are honest of course.

One that’s been recently turned into a scam is the Santa letter.

You get emails selling you the idea of buying a personalised Santa Letter package for your child or children.

You are promised

A personalised letter signed by Santa
A certificate
Santa’s map
Santa’s nice list
All sent from the North Pole

Sounds good, but it’s fake – you may get something worth only a fraction of the payment you make but more likely is you get nothing for your payment and probably your credit card details etc. are sold on to other scammers.

Be very careful what you pay for online and preferably use well-known brands.

It’s not always easy to recognise such a scam, but you can do the following

Ignore any spam emails you receive – search online for what you want instead and look for reviews to check.
Ask friends and relatives – if they have had a good experience buying from specific websites then try those first
Check the email sender’s address. If it’s a nonsensical one such as thermosphere or dehypnotised then steer clear.
Check the sender’s domain. If the address is “.date” or “.bid” or anything else that makes no sense for someone claiming to offer Santa Letters then steer clear

Don’t be caught out this Christmas

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May 1, 2017

The Clear Smart Fake TV Sales Scam

Clear-Smart advertise bargain price TVs on the Internet at clear-smart.co.uk

When you try to buy one – the card payment fails. Any card payment fails and they offer a further discount if you pay by bank transfer.

If you agree and pay – then your money is gone.

Meanwhile they fob you off with stories about the TV having been lost or damaged in transit or out of stock. They say anything to put you off for a while.

If you persist, then in time they turn nasty as they don’t like too many calls asking where the product is.

Then it’s obvious that it’s all just a scam – there are no TVs and having paid by bank transfer – the money is gone. Also, as they have your card details – your account may be at risk.

The moral is clear – always check carefully who you are buying from and NEVER pay by bank transfer or money payment agent as the money may be gone irretrievably

Clear Smart is a trading name for CS Online Retail Limited with registered owners – Charlotte Catherine Hicks and Nigel Peter Davis.

If you know anything about Clear Smart or CS Online Retail Limited then do let me know by email.