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A scam phone calls and emails discussion.

Typhoon

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Not a sure sign of bad intent though. Where people are WFH, using an employer supplied VOIP system, the area code they appear to be calling from will be that chosen by the employer.
I would hope that a Senior Supervisor would be aware of that and be able to convey that coherently.
 
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Ediswan

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I would hope that a Senior Supervisor would be aware of that and be able to convey that coherently.
There has been some 'embelishment' here. I heard the same R4 programme. A caller mentioned a suspicious call from Redruth. No recording was played. I don't recall the actual content of the call being discussed.
 

Typhoon

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There has been some 'embelishment' here. I heard the same R4 programme. A caller mentioned a suspicious call from Redruth. No recording was played. I don't recall the actual content of the call being discussed.
Recording of call starts at 2:42 into the programme and finishes at 4:14. It is not the complete recording as it doesn't indicate how it ends (after the reporter was asked for her e-mail address) although it is possible that she put the phone down. The caller's response to being asked whether he was calling from Cornwall was in my view incoherent, I would transcribe it but there would be too many gaps as I can't work out what he was saying when he moved 'off script'.
 

Ediswan

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Recording of call starts at 2:42 into the programme and finishes at 4:14. It is not the complete recording as it doesn't indicate how it ends (after the reporter was asked for her e-mail address) although it is possible that she put the phone down. The caller's response to being asked whether he was calling from Cornwall was in my view incoherent, I would transcribe it but there would be too many gaps as I can't work out what he was saying when he moved 'off script'.
OK. Sounds like there was more than one similar report.
 

Typhoon

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OK. Sounds like there was more than one similar report.
Quite probably, Shari Vahl is on a lot - and I think they would be pushing it as this is something they have been going on about for years. The version I listened to is that at present on Sounds. Your comment in #1080 is absolutely true and if the chappie hadn't claimed to be a 'senior supervisor' rather than a member of the call centre staff they probably wouldn't realise. Thinking about it, why would a senior supervisor be making a call in any case?

According to today's programme they have won an award from the body representing Trading Standards nationwide for their coverage of scams.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Looks like scam calls from abroad might be in for a spot of bother, with OfCOM requiring networks to block any calls from abroad that spoof a UK phone number.

The report said that one network has already implemented the new plans, but I see that other networks are still "exploring methods of making it work" That sounds like "company-speak" for doing nothing until they are forced to.
 

87 027

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That sounds like "company-speak" for doing nothing until they are forced to.

I note this phrase in the BBC report referred to above

Ofcom told the BBC in August that introducing full authentication in the UK would only be possible when the technology that supports voice services is upgraded, which is due to be completed by 2025

Which is presumably the same upgrade that we have been discussing in this thread below?

 

3rd rail land

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Still no end to the “anti virus” renewal based emails. Had 3 McAfee just this morning. Every one gets marked as spam and blocked, but as you say blocking the gmail domain is stopping genuine emails.
5 of the wretched emails so far today. Do people think we can simply ride out this epidemic or it is destined to continue for the rest of eternity?
 

swt_passenger

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5 of the wretched emails so far today. Do people think we can simply ride out this epidemic or it is destined to continue for the rest of eternity?
Those I’m getting are also now displaying my own email “name” as sender and recipient. Is that because they’ve worked out people are more likely to open something with the recipients name in capitals in two places, without checking the underlying email addresses?
 

3rd rail land

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Those I’m getting are also now displaying my own email “name” as sender and recipient. Is that because they’ve worked out people are more likely to open something with the recipients name in capitals in two places, without checking the underlying email addresses?
It's a feeble attempt to fool gullible people I suspect.

In addition to the McAfee emails I'm also getting spam pretending I've won a gift card or I've won some reward. These claim to come from big name Brands like Primark, Tesco etc al. In fact they are sent from Gmail addresses.

Realistically I can't see Google being able to do anything about the use of their email domain for spamming, even if they wanted to which I suspect they aren't particularly bothered about.
 

najaB

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Realistically I can't see Google being able to do anything about the use of their email domain for spamming, even if they wanted to which I suspect they aren't particularly bothered about.
That's assuming that the messages are even being sent from Google in the first place. Spammers often use a network of compromised computers to send messages that have a faked sender address. Google would only be seeing the replies coming in, not the original emails going out.
 

DerekC

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5 of the wretched emails so far today. Do people think we can simply ride out this epidemic or it is destined to continue for the rest of eternity?

Those I’m getting are also now displaying my own email “name” as sender and recipient. Is that because they’ve worked out people are more likely to open something with the recipients name in capitals in two places, without checking the underlying email addresses?
I took a look here to see whether others are suffering from the McAfee epidemic. Every emails seems to have different spoof .gmail sent address which (as you imply) makes putting it on the blocked list a waste of time. Has Google said anything about it? They must have a team somewhere that investigates this kind of thing - even if the outgoing mails don't go through their servers.
 

yorksrob

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Looks like scam calls from abroad might be in for a spot of bother, with OfCOM requiring networks to block any calls from abroad that spoof a UK phone number.


Thats certainly good news. They should have been doing it long ago.
 

colchesterken

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Thanks everyone I have had loads of McAfee pop ups, as I am under contract with Norton I deleted them all. I thought it was genuine McAfee touting for business as I used them for a couple of years in the distant past
 

najaB

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Thanks everyone I have had loads of McAfee pop ups, as I am under contract with Norton I deleted them all. I thought it was genuine McAfee touting for business as I used them for a couple of years in the distant past
If you've been getting emails then yes, just delete them. If it's pop-ups then that's something different and indicates a potential problem on the device. My parents were starting to get them on their PC, turned out that somehow a "search provided" had been given permission to display browser popups. Might be time to review the site permissions list on your device and remove anything that you don't recognise.
 

MotCO

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If you've been getting emails then yes, just delete them. If it's pop-ups then that's something different and indicates a potential problem on the device. My parents were starting to get them on their PC, turned out that somehow a "search provided" had been given permission to display browser popups. Might be time to review the site permissions list on your device and remove anything that you don't recognise.

I had been getting some 'rogue' emails to renew my subscription, but I was also receiving pop up reminders for my subscription which expired within 3 months. I have renewed my subscription (not using the pop-up, obviously), and the pop-ups have ceased.
 

najaB

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I had been getting some 'rogue' emails to renew my subscription, but I was also receiving pop up reminders for my subscription which expired within 3 months. I have renewed my subscription (not using the pop-up, obviously), and the pop-ups have ceased.
It's not uncommon to get nagging popups from the software you currently use, but popups purporting to be from a different software vendor (e.g. McAfee when you have a Norton subscription) are suspicious!
 

bearhugger

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I have had a couple of calls over the last couple of days from odd looking numbers (to me). 0113 511 957 & 0115 827 050. Purporting to be about a international order and a bad text to speech voice saying something about an agent will call back as they couldn't be connected right now or try to re-arrange a call back. needless to say I hung up rather than do anything. As it happens I am awaiting a package that is coming from Spain, but that is logged and tracked with Royal Mail and has been cleared with customs at their Heathrow Logistics Centre.
 

swt_passenger

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McAfee reminders.

As they say in westerns and war movies, “it’s too quiet, where are they?”
 

PeterC

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My email provider is excellent at filtering spam but at the cost of blocking many automatic confirmations. I had to resurrect my ancient Hotmail account in order to install the NHS app my phone
 

najaB

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So, new one today. Text message with the following:
Me to you: Supernatural Faith is Limitless, its Believing in Yourself and God jesus christ and the bible can help You All Areas. God bless, #passonmsgifyouwant
A lookup on the originating number on who-called.co.uk indicates that it's associated with fraud/scams. Never had God fraud before.
 

GusB

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So, new one today. Text message with the following:

A lookup on the originating number on who-called.co.uk indicates that it's associated with fraud/scams. Never had God fraud before.
The lord works in mysterious ways :D
 

A Challenge

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My email provider is excellent at filtering spam but at the cost of blocking many automatic confirmations. I had to resurrect my ancient Hotmail account in order to install the NHS app my phone
You should be able to find a message like this in the Junk/Spam mail folder I your Email service, and can generally mark an email address or domain as safe to avoid any further Emails from them being marked as spam.

I've just discovered an Email purporting to be from the council elections department that's in my Junk, it looks genuine (the Email sent address is correct and it's sent to the Email address I put on the registration form) but I'm still slightly wary of opening the attachment as it's been flagged by Outlook - anyone got any advice?
 

najaB

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I've just discovered an Email purporting to be from the council elections department that's in my Junk, it looks genuine (the Email sent address is correct and it's sent to the Email address I put on the registration form) but I'm still slightly wary of opening the attachment as it's been flagged by Outlook - anyone got any advice?
Never open attachments that you're not expecting. Contact the sender and ask them if they really sent it.
 

43096

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So, new one today. Text message with the following:

A lookup on the originating number on who-called.co.uk indicates that it's associated with fraud/scams. Never had God fraud before.
Religion is arguably the biggest scam ever perpetuated on the human population.
 

52290

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Religion is arguably the biggest scam ever perpetuated on the human population.
Except the local vicar doesn't ring people up and promise them eternal life if they bung him (or her) a few quid.
 

Typhoon

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I thought this was supposed to be a thread about scam e-mails and phone calls?
 

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