The Fightback Ninja has created the Scumbag Awards 2017 for the scammers and spammers who make our lives miserable through theft of money, time and even identity.
You have voted and here are the results.
We would like to hand over the awards in person to these heartless people, but of course they hide in the shadows until the day they are caught.
Category: Nastiest Scam Winner: Natural Disasters
Every time there is a natural disaster, charities and other organisations appeal for help and the public always respond. But there are always scam appeals as well.
Category: Most Public Ransomware Winner: Wannacry
May 2017, this stopped several hospitals, doctors surgeries and much more for days before it was stopped.
Category: Holiday Scams Winner: Canaries-holidays.com
This company specialised in setting up fake websites offering holidays in the Canaries. A new website each month using the same photos and offers pulled in a lot of people who paid but didn’t get a holiday and often were out of pocket further on flights that couldn’t be cancelled last minute.
Special Award Winner: Walkers Crisps 2016 Competition Scam
Not strictly a holiday scam as it was a competition but the Marketing people at Walkers outdid themselves with this nasty cheating piece of Marketing that backfired as it angered many previously loyal customers.
https://fightback.ninja/test/walkers-crisps-2016-competition-scam/
Category: Financial Fraud Winner: The Evil High Street Banks and PPI
We’ve all had hundreds of cold calls about PPI (payment protection insurance) and this has been going on for years. Millions of people have had their PPI cost refunded by the banks, credit companies and 3rd party brokers who have had to pay back over £26 billion so far.
Category: Dating and Romance Winner: Fake Investigators:
Once someone has been scammed, they are labelled as easy prey and some scammers will approach them with a new story and offer help. There are fake investigators offering to find the original scammer and get the money back and have the perpetrators brought to justice
Category: Biggest Time-Wasters Winner: Lifestyle Survey Calls
Endless calls “I’d like you to answer some simple questions please. It’ll only take 5 minutes”
https://fightback.ninja/test/lifestyle-survey-phone-calls/
Category: Biggest Phone Scam Winner: The Computer Support Call
You receive a call from Microsoft/Virgin/BT to tell you your PC has a virus.
https://fightback.ninja/test/the-microsoft-support-scam/
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