FCA ScamSmart

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warn that scammers are targeting consumers searching for investments online, in particular through search engines like Google and Bing.

Scams are increasingly sophisticated. Fraudsters can be articulate and financially knowledgeable, with credible websites, testimonials and materials that are hard to distinguish from the real thing.

Warning Signs of Scams

Cold-calls by phone, email, social media, post, word of mouth or even in person at an exhibition
A limited time opportunity – they might offer you a bonus or discount if you invest before a set date or say the opportunity is only available for the next 24 hours or similar
Lots of testimonials – all fake of course
Unrealistic returns – some fraudsters offer the same returns as legitimate businesses do, but many want to attract more attention and offer impossibly high and even guaranteed returns.
False authority – using convincing literature and websites, claiming to be regulated, speaking with authority on investment products.
Flattery – building a friendship with you to lull you into a false sense of security.
Remote access – scammers may pretend to help you and ask you to download software or an app so they can access to your device. This could enable them to access your bank account or make payments using your card.

FCA Authorised Businesses

Almost all financial services firms must be authorised by the FCA – the exceptions are for specific traded items such as wine

Check the Financial Services Register on the FCA website to see if a firm or individual is authorised or registered with us.

Check if the firm’s ‘firm reference number’ (FRN) and contact details are the same as on our Register.

If there are no contact details on the Register or if the firm claims they’re out of date, call our Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.

If you use an unauthorised firm, you won’t have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if things go wrong – and you’re unlikely to get your money back.

Check the FCA Warning List

Use the FCA Warning List to check the risks of a potential investment – you can also search to see if the firm is known to be operating without our authorisation.

You should seriously consider seeking financial advice or guidance before investing. You should make sure that any firm you deal with is regulated by us and never take investment advice from the company that contacted you, as this may be part of the scam.

You can report the firm or scam to the FCA by contacting their Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.

The Financial Conduct Authority is at https://www.fca.org.uk/

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

July 13, 2022

SEO Backlinks and Expired Websites

SEO is Search Engine Optimisation which means how to make a website rank highly on search engines so more people can find it easily and hence go to that website.

There are many techniques used in SEO including use of keywords, headings, quality content, meta-data for pictures etc. and lots more.

One old fashioned approach to SEO was to get as many backlinks to your site from other sites as possible.

Google keep their exact algorithms for calculating ranking a secret but links to your website from other quality high ranked sites is going to help.

Recently emails have started to appear offering huge numbers of backlinks. One email offers to get up to 500,000 backlinks from their inventory of websites (many in your niche).

500,000 backlinks from poor sites is not a good idea.

You should always try to have quality content on your site to attract people and that includes only having backlinks from other quality sites.

Another variant on this is the idea of purchasing expired websites that still have an entry on Google. You buy the expired website and create links from there to your website. There are businesses that specialise in finding and buying such expired websites then selling them on under the guise of SEO.

These are unpleasant practices. Do not be fooled into believing there is a magic answer to endless traffic.

To get visitors – create the best content you can, get links from sites that can appreciate your work, use social media, articles etc. There are lots of worthwhile methods available rather than attempting to cheat.

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July 11, 2022

Common Craigslist Scams

Craigslist is a very popular classified advertisements website and it has had problems with scammers in the past. Craigslist publish the following guidance on how to avoid scams.

Deal locally, face-to-face —follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts.
Do not extend payment to anyone you have not met in person.
Beware offers involving shipping – deal with locals you can meet in person.
Never wire funds (e.g. by Western Union) – anyone who asks you to do this is a scammer.
Don’t accept cashier/certified cheques or money orders – banks cash fakes, then hold you responsible.
Transactions are between users only, no third party provides a “guarantee”.
Never give out financial info (bank account, social security, paypal account, etc).
Do not rent or purchase sight-unseen—that amazing “deal” may not exist.
Refuse background/credit checks until you have met landlord/employer in person.

How to Recognise Scams

Most scam attempts involve one or more of the following:

Email or text from someone that is not local to your area.
Vague initial inquiry, e.g. asking about “the item.” Poor grammar/spelling.
Western Union, Money Gram, cashier check, money order, paypal, shipping, escrow service, or a “guarantee.”
Inability or refusal to meet face-to-face to complete the transaction.

Examples of Scams

Someone claims your transaction is guaranteed, that a buyer/seller is officially certified, OR that a third party of any kind will handle or provide protection for a payment:

These claims are fraudulent, as transactions are between users only.

The scammer will often send an official looking (but fake) email that appears to come from Craigslist or another third party, offering a guarantee, certifying a seller, or pretending to handle payments.

Distant person offers a genuine-looking (but fake) cashier’s cheque.

You receive an email or text (examples below) offering to buy your item, pay for your services in advance, or rent your apartment, sight unseen and without meeting you in person.

A cashier’s cheque is offered for your sale item as a deposit for an apartment or for your services. The value of the cashier’s cheque often far exceeds your item—scammer offers to “trust” you, and asks you to wire the balance via a money transfer service.

Banks will cash fake cheques and then hold you responsible when the cheque fails to clear, sometimes including criminal prosecution.

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July 10, 2022

Stupidest Scam or Spam of the Week Essay Cheating

There are many online services that provide essays on demand, plus academic papers and similar of all kinds.

This is not the same as services that are welcomed by the academic communities for providing test papers, reference materials etc.

Instead, these sites target people who want to do better than they deserve.

Why write a long essay for school or college when you can pay a website to provide it for you with no effort?

That’s effectively their sales pitch and these sites are common.

Large academic institutions have to protect against their students ‘cheating’ in this way but some people will always try.

Some of the latest scam emails offering this service use software to randomly combine stock phrases into messages they hope to get through the spam filters at the email service providers, but they also make it obvious that the sender has no clue what they are doing

e.g. “When it pertains to your career as brilliant future”

or “that way you wouldn’t have to reconsider prior to trusting us”

or “enjoy the incentives of wonderfully created academic documents”

or “We promote your growth in the right direction”

No-one in their right mind would want to trust an organisation to produce documents when they put out this kind of message and sends it from a private Gmail address.

Do the work yourself.

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July 9, 2022

Time-Wasters Update

Hashim Mohammed claims in an email that he is desperate to buy PPE products – face masks, rapid tests, gowns and gloves. So, he is looking for a supplier or distributor to fulfil large orders. Anyone really looking for a PPE supplier could find any number very easily and would not send out emails to random addresses – especially not to a radio station. Just a scam message of course looking for someone dumb enough to reply.

An email from Stuart Scan Data says it’s a designated memo sent to me using Fujifilm ApeosPort C4570. No idea whether that exists or not – it’s a simple scam message. There is attachment labelled as a PDF file but in fact has the extension.pdf.htm so it’s a webpage which is no doubt loaded with malware. No thanks. Never open documents in unsolicited emails.

Chronoboost is a good sounding name but is used by scammers to name a supposed fast acting antidote to sleep problems that would, supposedly, otherwise lead to stroke, diabetes type 3, Alzheimer’s etc. This is another magical health remedy dreamed up by scammers. All rubbish.

“Tea Burn” offers a simple 10 second trick that turns any cup of tea into “super” tea that speeds up your “thyroids” instantly causing weight loss and to top that it also whitens your teeth in the process. Worth a good laugh at the stupidity of this, but definitely not worth clicking the link to see the tea perform its magic.

A fax notification arrives from an email address at toroslav-bid.gov.tr which is a Turkish address but not the government of course. Does anyone in the civilised world still use faxes??? I won’t be clicking the link to check non existent faxes.

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July 8, 2022

The Data Reform Bill

In 2022, the government consulted on plans for data reforms and has now publishing its response to those comments.

It sets out how the Data Reform Bill announced in this year’s Queen’s Speech will strengthen the UK’s high data protection standards while reducing burdens on businesses to deliver around £1 billion in cost savings that they can use to grow their business and boost the economy.

The Data Reform Bill will more clearly define the scope of scientific research and give scientists clarity about when they can obtain user consent to collect or use data for broad research purposes.

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO)

The plans will modernise the ICO i.e. the data regulator, so it can better help businesses comply with the law.

The ICO received 130,000 complaints last year about unwanted calls and messages, but was only able to issue fines totalling £2.8 million.

The ICO will be given more enforcement powers – they will be able to take action over high volumes of unanswered calls by using heavier fines.

Reducing Business Burdens

Data-driven trade generated nearly three quarters of the UK’s total service exports and generated an estimated £234 billion for the economy in 2019.

The European Union’s highly complex General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has many positive features in protecting data but it also has drawbacks restricting the innovative use of data.

This bill will remove the UK GDPR’s prescriptive requirements giving organisations little flexibility about how they manage data risks – including the need for certain organisations, such as small businesses, to have a Data Protection Officer (DPO) and to undertake lengthy impact assessments.

It means a small business such as an independent pharmacist won’t have to recruit an independent DPO to fulfil the requirements of UK GDPR, provided they can manage risks effectively themselves, and they will not have to fill out unnecessary forms where the risk is low.

Organisations will still be required to have a privacy management programme to ensure they are accountable for how they process personal data. The same high data protection standards will remain but organisations will have more flexibility to determine how they meet these standards.

Protecting consumers from nuisance calls

The fines will increase from the current maximum of £500,000 and be brought in line with current UK GDPR penalties which are up to four per cent global turnover or £17.5 million, whichever is greater.

Those Annoying Cookies

Currently, users have to give their consent for cookies (the data points which allow sites to remember information about an individual’s visit) to be collected. To do so users have to opt in to cookie collection every time they visit a new site.

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