Stupidest Spam of the Week The CIA

There are some scam messages that involve the CIA but they are rare so this new one is an oddity.

Waylon Miethkle tells me he has been instructed to contact me (doesn’t know my name though) as the CIA have been carrying out research into life for the last 50 years. He wants me to have the results of that research.

Sounds remarkably boring.

The tag to try to get me interested in clicking the link is

“Now governments and others have developed technology around these concepts for their own deceptive use. You will be contacted by other methods about counter measures and the part you play in this”.

I think this scammer has been watching old Cold war movies and thinks she’s a part of the spy game.

“By other methods” – maybe I should keep a watch out for carrier pigeons carrying secret messages or a microfilm turning up in my breakfast cereal or clandestine phone calls with strange pass phrases e.g. “The weather is Siberia is colder than a London Tuesday in the summer”.

Ludicrous.

The link to be clicked is to a shortened URL so there’s no way to know which website it goes to unless I click on it which I will not be doing.

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The Consumer Action Group

www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

The Consumer Action Group is an online forum which provides free support and advice to anyone with consumer problems.

This covers dealings with banks, credit companies, retail organisations, employment, armed forces – you can see its wide reaching and it’s a huge forum with hundreds of thousands of members and millions of posts.

There’s also a library of information about consumer rights, an out of date blog, an email newsletter, access to webmail, a consumer action group magazine and more.

But really it’s the forum that makes it work and that’s where people can get free advice.

If you’re new to using a forum – basically people pose questions and any other member is free to post answers or comments. You don’t have to post something if you don’t want to – you can simply search and read on anything that interests you in the realm of being a consumer.

The site is paid for by donations and by advertising. Most of the adverts are at the top of the pages so once you scroll down they are out of sight.

The forums cover all forms of consumer action from buying, to being an employee and there is a community centre with advice on how to stop smoking, technical support for electronic devices, cost cutting tips, weight loss etc.

This is a comprehensive and useful resource generally on being a consumer but especially if you have problems with a supplier’s products or service. Whatever the problem, there is likely to be someone on consumer action group who has been through it before and may be able to help you.

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Scammers Target the Elderly

Many scammers believe that they can more easily trick older people, or that older people have the time to listen and be some are more opportunistic and realise that retired people are more likely to be at home during the day when scammers call.

The Most Common Scams Targeting the Elderly

  1. Health insurance scams – scammers offer unrealistically cheap insurance cover but really they just want your money and personal details – there is no insurance.
  2. Fake prescription drugs – it’s very dangerous to buy prescription drugs from a non accredited source as you can not be sure what you get will be safe and contain the genuine medicine.

3.Funerals —fraudsters use obituaries to find out information about the deceased, then attempt to extort money from family members or grieving spouses, by falsely claiming for debts.

4.Anti-aging products — scammers offer various products which either don’t exist or are worthless.

5.Investments — pension release schemes, Ponzi schemes, guaranteed winners on the stock market etc. However good a scheme sounds, always check with an independent reputable expert.

  1. Homeowner/reverse mortgage scams – it is quite common for people who have paid off their mortgage and would like some cash to take out a new mortgage and the scammers offer an assortment of fake mortgages.
  2. Lotteries —This is generally invitation to join a wonderful lottery, but the tickets are fake so you have no chance of winning.
  3. The grandparent scam —this is a very nasty one as it frightens people. The scammer calls and pretends to be a grandchild. They wait for the victim to use the grand child’s name then claim to be that person but with urgent financial problems. The scammers asks for payment by transfer through Moneygram or Western Union usually as these payments cannot be traced or reversed.
  4. Charity Scams – scammers setup fake charities to take advantage of people’s generosity.

Trust your instincts. If you feel at all wary or suspicious, you’re probably right!

“Sixty and Me” have created a detailed list of the common scams targeting elderly and how to avoid them.

Got to https://sixtyandme.com/seniors-scams/

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

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Australian Scam Losses

 

Statistics show that in 2019, Australians lost $634 million to scammers, made up as follows:

 

(note: this only covers scams reported to the authorities).

Scam Type

Money Lost
Investment Scams $61.8M
Dating and Romance $28.6M
False Billing $10.1M
Hacking $5.3M
Online Shopping $4.8M
Remote Access Scams $4.8M
Identity Theft $4.3M
Threats to Life $4.3M
Classified Scams $2.8M
Inheritance Scam $2.6M

 

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

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