A scam phone calls and emails discussion.

[najaB]

Can someone remind me how that scam is supposed to work?

It's about harvesting information that can be used as a later date.

 

[swt_passenger]

It's about harvesting information that can be used as a later date.

Why does WhatsApp usually get mentioned specifically? It is something I have never considered joining.

 

[najaB]

Why does WhatsApp usually get mentioned specifically? It is something I have never considered joining.

I think because people are largely aware of SMS scams but are less likely to have their defences up about WhatsApp due to not appreciating that you can send messages to people outside your contacts list just as easily as you can with SMS or regular phone calls.

 

[DelayRepay]

Can someone remind me how that scam is supposed to work?

I’m never going to get bona fide texts from my parents, in fact I have never had a text from either of my parents, even when they were alive…

It usually works the other way, i.e. the parent gets a text supposedly from their son/daughter.

They story is that the son/daughter has lost their phone and bank card, so they are messaging from a new phone or friend's phone and they want the parent to send some money to the friend's bank account. Someone I know fell for it and lost £400. Easily avoided though, just ring the son or daughter on their normal number and chances are they will answer. If not ring the 'friend' and ask to speak to the son/daughter!

 

[pdeaves]

It usually works the other way, i.e. the parent gets a text supposedly from their son/daughter.

They story is that the son/daughter has lost their phone and bank card, so they are messaging from a new phone or friend's phone and they want the parent to send some money to the friend's bank account. Someone I know fell for it and lost £400. Easily avoided though, just ring the son or daughter on their normal number and chances are they will answer. If not ring the 'friend' and ask to speak to the son/daughter!

I would hope that suspicions would be raised by 'put money in my friend's account', rather than my account. If a relative contacted me for money, I would want to give it to them and them alone. Still, clearly some people think differently and fall for the scam.

 

[najaB]

I would hope that suspicions would be raised by 'put money in my friend's account', rather than my account.

That's why both the phone and bank card are usually 'lost'. As you said though, you would want to actually speak with the child/relative rather than exchanging messages.

 

[DelayRepay]

I would hope that suspicions would be raised by 'put money in my friend's account', rather than my account. If a relative contacted me for money, I would want to give it to them and them alone. Still, clearly some people think differently and fall for the scam.

My cousin got himself into a pickle when he was abroad after losing his wallet (so his cards and money). The only way I could get some cash to him quickly was to send it via his friend's account who was travelling with him. But I did speak to my cousin to confirm it was legitimate, and although I had never met his friend I did know his name and that he existed. I expect if it had been a scam I would have been told they couldn't speak to me because the friend's phone had no credit or something.

 

[3141]

Yes, im getting them too. Ive had 3 from a bloke called Jeremy Everett rambling on about sending photos. I've deleted them and thought id blocked the email, but ive just had yet another telling me I must take a look at the latest 4 photographs.

Here's a variation on this one. From an email address in Spain, it says "Wasn't this you a few ago, i don't think you wanted this to be public?...." Not clear if they meant to say "a few years ago" or "a few pints ago". It goes on "How did they even get the picture?", and it then gives a link. Quite ingenious. I don't know anyone with that particular email address in Spain, and I'm reasonably confident there are no photos taken there that I wouldn't want to be public.

 

[AndrewE]

Here's a variation on this one. From an email address in Spain, it says "Wasn't this you a few ago, i don't think you wanted this to be public?...." Not clear if they meant to say "a few years ago" or "a few pints ago". It goes on "How did they even get the picture?", and it then gives a link. Quite ingenious. I don't know anyone with that particular email address in Spain, and I'm reasonably confident there are no photos taken there that I wouldn't want to be public.

I keep getting similar emails ("I should have sent you these pictures before..." or similar) but they are always "from" people who wouldn't be sending such messages! Most are in my Gmail spam box but recently 1 did get through. It got deleted straight away, I didn't even hover on the link to see where the "pictures" were hosted.

 

[Sprinter107]

I sent mine (screenshot) to 7726

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I sent mine (screenshot) to 7726

I think they need the actual message forwarded? I don't think the can trace the culprits from a screenshot?

 

[Sprinter107]

I think they need the actual message forwarded? I don't think the can trace the culprits from a screenshot?

Oh right. Thanks for telling me that. I'll have to find a way of forwarding the message then without clicking on the link.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Oh right. Thanks for telling me that. I'll have to find a way of forwarding the message then without clicking on the link.

If you've received it in WhatsApp then the usual forwarding arrow should work.

Not sure about if you get it in regular text messages as I hardly ever use those...

 

[Sprinter107]

If you've received it in WhatsApp then the usual forwarding arrow should work.

Not sure about if you get it in regular text messages as I hardly ever use those...

Theyve been coming in emails. Not had a WhatsApp one yet.

 

[Bevan Price]

Oh right. Thanks for telling me that. I'll have to find a way of forwarding the message then without clicking on the link.

If you happen to use Thunderbird to read email. then click View / then Message Source. Select everything with mouse, then press Control+C to copy everything, followed by Control+V to paste it into the email you want to send to report the scam.

 

[najaB]

If you happen to use Thunderbird to read email. then click View / then Message Source. Select everything with mouse, then press Control+C to copy everything, followed by Control+V to paste it into the email you want to send to report the scam.

Or use the 'Forward as attachment' option when you right-click on a message in the message list:

 

[Sprinter107]

Thank you both for that. I'll pass the next email on using those methods.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Theyve been coming in emails. Not had a WhatsApp one yet.

e-mails? Forward as an attachment ( not as a straight forwarding ) to [email protected] - it's the same service but for e-mails.

 

[Sprinter107]

e-mails? Forward as an attachment ( not as a straight forwarding ) to [email protected] - it's the same service but for e-mails.

Thanks very much for that.

 

[John Webb]

Late last year my phone provider moved me across to their internet-based system from the previous copper-wire based network. Unwanted calls have subsequently dropped by half, although already reasonably low due to having 'Call Guardian' on the phone handsets for the last 5 years. (These hand sets have continued working on the new system, I am happy to say.)
But it makes me wonder if one of the few advantages of the changeover is a better ability to intercept spoofed or otherwise suspect numbers?

I spoke too soon! Since my post on the 26th Jan '23 above, I've had 8 unwanted calls. Seven of these didn't bother with trying to get through the 'Call Guardian' system on my phone. One did, claiming to be calling from 'Bank Security' (without saying which bank!) and asking "Have you made any transactions on your bank card today?". I told him I didn't believe who he was and cut off the call. Subsequent checks on the "Who called me" site showed the number to be concerned in a bank scam!

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I got one Saturday - from someone "I knew".

Said they were going to send me a text message from a "trusted friend" with a Facebook password reset code. Came through Facebook messenger. I got the code and when they said "give me the code" very rudely, I knew it was not my friend. So I sent a a false code. They came back and said it was not working. I said "YOU ARE A SCAMMER" and I have since heard no more.

 

[londonbridge]

Just had a text saying I can apply for my £400 energy discount!…..”GOV: You are now eligible to get a £400 (GBP) Energy Discount, apply today via utility dot supplier dash saveuk dot com. I forwarded it to 7726 and then noticed the responses from them seem to have changed since the last time I used the service. It used to be:

“Thanks for telling us about this spam message. So we can investigate, please reply with the shortcode or phone number the message came from.”

You replied with the number/shortcode and would then get:

“Thanks for that. We'll look into it.”

Whereas it now says:

“Thank you for sending the spam message. Kindly send the information of the originator of the message”

followed by:

“Thank you for sharing the information”

Not sure when/why this has changed.

 

[AndrewE]

Just had a text saying I can apply for my £400 energy discount!…..”GOV: You are now eligible to get a £400 (GBP) Energy Discount, apply today via: https://utility.supplier-saveuk dot com….I forwarded it to 7726 and then noticed the responses from them seem to have changed since the last time I used the service. It used to be:

“Thanks for telling us about this spam message. So we can investigate, please reply with the shortcode or phone number the message came from.”

You replied with the number/shortcode and would then get:

“Thanks for that. We'll look into it.”

Whereas it now says:

“Thank you for sending the spam message. Kindly send the information of the originator of the message”

followed by:

“Thank you for sharing the information”

Not sure when/why this has changed.

so if you have forwarded it why can't they see it on the original message?

And "Kindly send the information of the originator of the message” is the sort of English which immediately makes me suspicious... How ironic! Could the reporting itselfhave been hijacked?

 

[londonbridge]

You forward the content of the text then it replies asking for the number the text came from so that they can investigate.

 

[DelayRepay]

A warning from the BBC that scammers are posing as fake humanitarian charities, asking for donations following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Scammers profit from Turkey-Syria earthquake

BBC News investigates the tactics used by scammers to make money when natural disasters strike.

www.bbc.co.uk

Scammers are using the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria to try to trick people into donating to fake causes, security experts have warned.
These scams claim to raise money for survivors, left without heat or water following the disasters that have killed more than 35,000 people.
But instead of helping those in need, scammers are channelling donations away from real charities, and into their own PayPal accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.

We've identified some of the main methods used by scammers, and tools you can use to double check before donating.

On TikTok Live, content creators can make money by receiving digital gifts. Now, TikTok accounts are posting photos of devastation, looped footage and recordings of TVs showing rescue efforts, whilst asking for donations.

Captions include phrases like "Let's help Turkey", "Pray for Turkey" and "Donate for earthquake victims".

Please be careful if you are considering donating.

The safe way to donate is via the official Disasters Emergency Committee appeal at https://www.dec.org.uk/

 

[londonbridge]

Here’s a new one I’ve not had before, from “iCloud storage”, says my iCloud storage is full but I can get another 50Gig of storage for free as part of my loyalty program….usual grammatical errors and other obvious signs give it away as nonsense.

 

[najaB]

Here’s a new one I’ve not had before, from “iCloud storage”, says my iCloud storage is full but I can get another 50Gig of storage for free as part of my loyalty program….usual grammatical errors and other obvious signs give it away as nonsense.

That one has the potential to catch out a lot of people since everyone's heard of iCloud but not everyone is savvy enough to know exactly what it is. I wouldn't be surprised if even a few Android and/or Windows users fall for that one.

 

[McRhu]

Funnily enough I’ve just had a message (which appears within the iPhone settings messages) asking me to confirm my iPhone passcode so that I can continue using iCloud. The fact that it appears within the iOS alerts makes it very likely genuine but, but, but…..

 

[londonbridge]

Here’s a new one I’ve not had before, from “iCloud storage”, says my iCloud storage is full but I can get another 50Gig of storage for free as part of my loyalty program….usual grammatical errors and other obvious signs give it away as nonsense.

This one seems to be particularly aggressive, I will usually check my spam folder and empty it out every couple of days and this message keeps coming in and is there at least three/four times every time I empty the folder.

 

[swt_passenger]

In my latest batch of “Bank security department” calls they have changed the amount of the mysterious Visa payment - and it’s now a large payment to an “American web site” rather than Amazon etc…