Automated Scammer Calls

PPI callers and many others have been using automated systems for years that call and ask you questions then get you to press a button to be connected to an agent.

Automated systems are a lot cheaper than staff so for the criminals engaged in large scale scamming, this can be the most efficient way.

Action Fraud Technical Support Scam Calls

Action Fraud say people are receiving cold-calls from fraudsters claiming to represent Action Fraud. When the calls are answered, an automated voice asks the responder to “press 1 if you have made a report to Action Fraud.” When the responder presses 1, they are transferred to a fraudster.

Victims are informed that their computers have been hacked, which has led to their online bank account being compromised and funds being withdrawn. One particular victim was told that £40,000 had fraudulently left their account.

The scammer may ask for remote access to the victim’s computer, via a remote access tool. Once the scammer has that, they may be able to access confidential information, login and passwords, credit card details etc.

HMRC

This scam sees people called randomly with an automated message warning that they are under investigation by HMRC and need to call the number given or “face serious legal consequences.”

If you call back the crooks will likely ask for your bank details and make off with your money.

HMRC does not make threatening phone calls. HMRC will call people about outstanding tax bills, and sometimes use automated messages, however it would include your taxpayer reference number.

Sophie’s Story

Sophie says

“I have had an automated phone call from this number 081233472243. It was informing me that my internet connection would be cut at 1pm today, press button 1 to speak to an agent or button 2 to stay connected. I chose to hang up.

This is the first time I have had an automated call, I have had a lot of calls lately concerning my internet connection, I always hang up or sometimes they hang up when I tell them I don’t believe they’re from TalkTalk. They always ask me to turn my computer on, I always refuse.”

Good job she didn’t fall for the scam.

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November 21, 2022

The Modelling Scam

Modelling is thought of by many as a glamorous industry to work in. For some people, especially younger people it can an option to chase after.

One latest scam targets these people.

“Are You Ready To Start Your Modelling Career?”

“New Faces Urgently Required”

“Male and Female”

The email promises to fast track your career.

It says:

Step 1. Take a picture of yourself

Step 2. Fill in the simple form

Step 3. Send in the form

Is this really a model agency looking for new recruits?

No.

There are Marketing companies looking to attract a list of people which they can then send on to photographic studios telling them these people want a professional photoshoot or to agencies telling them these people are keen to sign up and so on. That one list gets sold many times for many reasons.

Some of the messages are pure scam of course – they want your personal information to sell on the dark web to criminals and identity thieves in particular.

If you want a life in modelling – research how to get that and never reply to such emails.

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

November 20, 2022

Stupidest Scam of the Week Caffeine Pants

Norm Thompson Outfitters and Wacoal America claimed their shapewear would help consumers shed cellulite and pounds.

Supposedly it is impregnated with caffeine.

Drinking caffeine does increase your metabolism a little but spilling it on yourself or wearing clothes soaked in the stuff isn’t going to do you any good.

Norm Thompson Outfitters said their undergarments were “infused with micro-encapsulated caffeine, retinol and other ingredients” that would slim and reshape the wearer’s body and reduce cellulite and would mobilize fats and moisturize skin.

They were fined $230,000 by the FTC.

Wacoal made false and unsubstantiated claims that wearing iPants would: substantially reduce cellulite; cause a substantial reduction in the wearer’s thigh measurements; and destroy fat cells, resulting in substantial slimming,

Wacoal, was fined $1.3 million.

Ludicrous

November 19, 2022

Time-Wasters Update

Tesco Bank tell me they are closing all their accounts and credit cards and moving them to a new platform. My account wasn’t migrated due to incomplete information so I need to supply those missing pieces then my accounts will be active at the new platform. It is a little difficult to believe this is a true message from Tesco Bank as it is addressed to someone who died 12 years ago. Spammers don’t bother updating their spam lists – it’s cheaper to keep sending out the rubbish emails by the million instead

Apparently my order has been shipped. Plus, the signed documents are attached in the email. So I have nothing to worry about says Ahmed Sahaj of Arabian Industries. But I haven’t ordered anything from Arabian Industries and the attached files are actually .bz2 files which are compressed archives designed for such as video games, not simple documents. So, I wont be opening the attached files which are no doubt nasty malware.

“The cause of your belly fat has been found”. That’s a typical scam message title – designed to attract your attention and offer a solution to a difficult problem. Losing weight is very difficult for most people and most of us d need to lose more weight, but there is no magic answer. This latest scam offers a new dinner ritual; that supposedly teaches your body to release belly fat once you are asleep and an exotic fruit that has magic properties. Typical scammer rubbish.

There are so many companies selling mailing lists of various kinds that it’s a wonder any of them make a living. But it does explain why the quality of the data is so poor and why the sellers resort to tricks such as taking a company’s domain name then simply guessing email addresses and selling that list. Neida of apexcontactlist may well be a genuine seller of company lists from her set of 40 million records. Or maybe it’s all fake and she has no idea or even doesn’t exist. Who cares?

“The Earth’s core produces 47 trillion Watts of electricity right beneath our feet each and every second”. It’s a good opening line for a scam and the rotation of the Earth’s core does create the magnetic field around the Earth and does generate electricity. But it’s a little hard to get to – being around 3,000 kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface. Let’s leave the scammer to find out how to put some cables that far down. It’s all rubbish of course.

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November 18, 2022

Scammers Get Your Email Address

Once scammers or hackers get your email address, you are likely to find a deluge of spam and scam emails coming your way and it’s virtually impossible to get your name off those scam lists.

What Are Phishing Email Scams

This is where the scammer pretends to be someone you know or a company you buy from e.g. BT broadband or Amazon or maybe from a government department – anyone they think you might trust.

They try to get your email address as well as logins and passwords and financial information.

The easiest way to get your details is often by phishing emails.

They buy a list of email addresses from other scammers and send out emails– maybe pictures of kittens to click on or a promise of a $500 voucher or a threat of fines for overdue tax etc.

The most common are:

Advertisement spams such as online shopping, pharmacy purchases
Work-from-home job offers and schemes
Threats from such as the tax office
Free offers
Lottery wins from lotteries you didn’t even enter

Other Ways That Spammers Use To Get Your Email Address

By using harvesting programs

These programmes search websites, forums etc. and collect email addresses for the scammers.

If your email address is anywhere on the Internet, then it can be found and sold to other scammers.

Creating sets of possible email addresses from a small number of genuine ones.

If your company has emails of the format firstname.surname @companu.com for example then scammer simply make up addresses using common names.

They cans end out messages to hundreds or thousands of such made up addresses and se which ones get replies.

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

November 16, 2022

Scale of Cyber Crime UK

The City of London Police Commissioner Ian Dyson was a victim of credit card fraud some years ago when criminals used his credit card to pay for a hotel stay and tried to pay for their car insurance with his card.

It is estimated that 5.6 million fraud and cyber-crimes are committed each year, of which only about 10% are reported to the Police. This does include virus attacks etc. and some things that many people would not expect to report to the Police but that still leaves a lot of crimes that are unreported, but should be reported.

Recent statistics show that of the fraud and cyber-crimes reported, only about 10% are investigated by Police.

A lot of online crime is effectively anonymous and there is little anyone can do to track down and stop the perpetrators.

Prevention can be the most practical method for getting to grips with such crimes – warning and educating people to have proper security for their online accounts and to behave with common sense in all dealings online.

However, the Police do have a great deal of success in restricting the actions of the criminals.

Each year, the Police are shutting down several hundred thousand websites, bank accounts and phone lines connected to cyber criminals.

The banks and other financial institutions and payment services have a huge role to play in keeping us safe online and paying recompense to victims when necessary.

The authorities are progressively clamping down on online crime, but are always several steps behind the criminals.

Be careful

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