Time-Wasters Update

“A breakthrough study has proven that an ugly plant turbo charges metabolism and melts fat”. Typical scammer lies, backed up by stupid claims such as “It’s 556 times more powerful than exercise – even when sleeping”. The 556 is an example of spurious accuracy. Any such study would not give figures like that as there is a great deal of estimating required in any such trial. The is no such study and the whole thing is laughably dumb.

The next scammer wants us to add one ounce of baking soda to tea in the morning and this will supposedly let you lose 23 lbs of fat in just 21 days. One ounce of baking powder is 5 to 6 teaspoons full which is quite a lot to take and taken regularly is likely to cause organ damage. There is no reason to believe that taking baking powder will reduce someone’s weight. Dumb and dangerous.

An email message claims to be from the radio station asking us to verify one of the radio station email addresses, as it requires an update. But the message sender is actually ka.boom @lawyersofarizona.com which is obviously not the radio station. Ludicrous.

“Brain leak to cause blindness” is a strange email title but this scammer wants to frighten people then reassure them there is an answer to the problem. The email follows the typical scam template of warnings laced with testimonials and supposed scientific proof all ending up with demanding that you watch the video clip. All lies of course – just a scammer trying to get people to watch a useless video for which they get paid.

Not many scammers send malware infected spreadsheets, but those files can contain macros which do try install malware on your computer. “Attached are reconciliations of the payroll/ funding for April” is a title that would convince few people to open the attached spreadsheet (file type xls) but some will because it sounds important or just out of curiosity. That would be a bad move though – once opened the spreadsheet can infect your device. Never open attached files unless you know the person who sent you the email and it is a document you asked for.

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June 17, 2022

SCARS Campaigns Against Scams

https://againstscams.org

The Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams (SCARS) claims to represent more than 25,000 people, dedicated to changing the world of online fraud for the sake of everyone. They have been conducting large campaigns since 2017.

SCARS say they are committed to doing everything possible to eradicate the plague of online scams.

The campaigns aim to enlist the public’s help in providing direct information in the local community. They are asking SCARS Members to begin organizing opportunities in their towns and communities to inform and expand awareness about romance scams and other forms of fraud.

SCARS asks those that are interested, once they are approved for participation in the Campaign, to contact local community organizations, from schools to civic groups, private clubs, and even work with your local police, to better educate your fellow residents about these severe crimes and how they affect us all.

SCARS will provide you with a complete training kit that will help you learn more, and that you will use in conducting these presentations. The materials are designed to provide a 30 to 45 minute presentation, and allow for additional time for questions and answers. This will make it easy to cover the right information, regardless of your knowledge or experience. This helps you make a huge difference in the safety of your local community.

The SCARS™ Act Against Scams™ Campaign Kit consists of:

Introduction Brochure – for attendees
Introduction graphics to promote your presentation (can be used on social media)
Introduction Video – to allow you to promote your presentation (cane be used on social media)
Official PowerPoint Presentation
Presenters’ Guide
How To Report Online Crime Guide
An Official SCARS Presenter ID Card

All of the above are provided for you without cost, for download by the Campaign participant, and can be emailed to the entity or organization that will host your presentation. If you are producing significant results, SCARS may provide additional materials, including signs, etc.

They will also provide support to promote your events, and a webpage where interested persons can sign up for your presentations. This will also provide a means for you to follow up with the attendees for your presentations, enabling future local victims’ support.

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June 16, 2022

Threats To Get Back Links

Some Scammers will threaten you to create their backlinks or else.

People try all sorts of tactics to get back links to their websites or blogs. Often they are paid by someone to get those links because the more backlinks there are to your website – probably the higher the website appears on search lists. So, legitimate companies do this but also scammers.

A lot of people do this for perfectly respectable reasons as they want people to see their website or blog but the scammers are in a hurry and use more nasty approaches, sometimes including threats.

An email from Billie Clancy claims he works for Bizcope SEO company in Bangladesh i.e. a company that among other things will try to get backlinks for websites.

He requests a backlist and a 5 star rating for his company on GMB and Trustpilot and offers to provide a backlink to our website in return.

Then he gets nasty

“If I do not see a backlink within 7 days then I am create one million toxic blog spam to you”

Then he signs off with “Best Wishes from Bangladesh”.

Maybe he is schizophrenic or just plain stupid.

Never provide backlinks to websites you do not know and trust as you do not want to be linked to criminal’s despicable and often illegal websites

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

June 15, 2022

Safer Internet Centre

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk

The safer Internet Centre is a partnership of three leading organisations: Childnet International, Internet Watch Foundation and SWGfL, with one mission – to promote the safe and responsible use of technology for young people.

South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) Trust is a not-for-profit charitable trust providing schools and other establishments with safe, secure, managed and supported connectivity and associated services, learning technologies to improve outcomes, and the toolkit for being safer online.

The partnership was appointed by the European Commission as the Safer Internet Centre for the UK in January 2011 and is one of the 31 Safer Internet Centres of the Insafe network. The centre has three main functions:

Awareness Centre: to provide advice and support to children and young people, parents and carers, schools and the children’s workforce and to coordinate Safer Internet Day across UK
Helpline: to provide support to professionals working with children and young people with online safety issues
Hotline: an anonymous and safe place to report and remove child sexual abuse imagery and videos, wherever they are found in the world

The UK Safer Internet Centre is funded under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme of the European Commission. As such we contribute to the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) core service platform to share resources, services and practices between the European Safer Internet Centres and advice and information about a better internet to the general public.

The website pages are – About, Safer Internet Day, Blog, Training & Events, Research, Get Involved, Translate

Advice Centre, Hotline, Helpline, Pupil powered e-safety

It contains a lot of advice and information, largely to do with young people, parents and carers but much applicable to anyone so it is a useful resource.

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June 13, 2022

Very Expensive Locksmiths

Scam locksmiths are operating again in the Surrey area and probably also across many other parts of the country.

They advertise on Google as a local specialist firm willing to do emergency lock replacements etc. and they probably even have a set of very positive reviews on Google.

Some even run this as a scam covering multiple areas with calls coming into a scammer’s call centre.

The scam is that the work will be poor quality as the staff have little idea of what they’re doing. Plus they will use cheap parts and charge extortionate prices for them e.g. over a thousand pounds to replace a door lock instead of the more reasonable £200 – £250

How to Find Genuine Local experts

Personal recommendations can be very useful – perhaps ask your neighbours for their experiences of local locksmiths and who they would recommend.

Ideally get 3 quotes from local locksmiths and make sure these are in writing. If a business won’t provide a quote in writing then steer clear of them.

These two websites below can offer recommendations but beware that online reviews can be cheated by determined scammers.

https://www.trustedtraders.which.co.uk/

https://www.trustatrader.com/locksmith

Before you let any tradesman or woman into your home – check their identification. Licensed locksmiths have a Master Security License Number provided for identification purposes, which is usually visible on their vehicle and identity card.

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

June 12, 2022

A Delivery of Cash from the World Bank

I am exhorted to “Hurry Up and Contact Your Agent for Your $11 Million Dollars Consignment Box Immediately”.

This is supposedly cash to be delivered to me by the World Bank.

The email claims to be from the World Bank but is in fact from scottanderson929 @gmail.com which is a private email address.

There is a lengthy email explaining about the various bodies that make up the World Bank group, then it claims that due to my ‘horrible experience and losses’ they have discovered I have lost so much money trying to receive my funds but could not succeed. The grammar is strange as in so many of these scam messages.

The scammers seem to assume that so many people have now been scammed by them that they can send this sort of rubbish out in mass mailings and try to scam those people again with a story about how they have been deceived and are due compensation.

Some people fall for these 419 scams i.e. the promise of a fortune and a ridiculous story to explain the unexpected wealth but it seems unlikely such people would be dumb enough to get caught out a second time with essentially the same story, but maybe some do.

To claim the money I have to send an email to a different private email account with my name, address, date of birth, photo, occupation etc. The usual information that scammers want for phishing emails and identity theft.

The email then goes into details about how the agent will travel to my home to personally deliver the consignment of $100 bills. E.g. it will be in an unbranded carboard box to hide its value.

All pathetic rubbish – the World bank don’t send money to people – they only deal with governments.

The catch in the scam is that I have to arrange to pay the $200 delivery fee. Sounds pretty cheap for someone to cross the Atlantic to deliver to my home when any sane person would simply do a money transfer.

Promises of a fortune are always scams.

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