New scam to beware of

[MikelkieParticipant @mikelkie]

A very well spoken lady from the UK called me and told me that a cousin of mine passed on a while ago, and left me one hundred and fifty five thousand pound which a haven't claimed yet if i would furnish her with my bank details and id number she will do the transfer. Problem is my cousin left England 18 years ago and died 5 years later in Canada as a pauper. Not all South Africans are idiots

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

As Martin W i do tend to treat the scammers as a sport.

I’ve had 30 minutes on the call sorting out problems on my computer whilst having a Bath with the scammers getting increasingly more angry at me misunderstanding what they want me to do.

But the one i had today was a first and I’d love to know what me giving them the code ends up as. Funningly enough

the same sort of call happened about 2 hours later and hovering over the email address didn’t offer up any other real address …and yes I’d put a space in the address by accident

[Joe Metcalfe 1Participant @joemetcalfe1]

i had a new one the other day supposedly from the delivery people DPD. It was a text which said they had tried 2 times that day to deliver a parcel but could not as I was not in to sign for it. They said I could collect it from the depot where it now was ( in London about a hundred miles away) and pay £60 or I could pay a fee for a delivery later that day. the fee was £2.20.

I was in all day and I know that DPD currently don't ask for signature and let you know before the delivery that they are coming. A bit amateurish but they had copied all the DPD format so looked OK at first glance.

Just deleted the text

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Ian, I think the code is there to make it look more official, probably use the same code for every punter they call. What would be amusing would be to give them a deliberately different code and see if they notice!

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I just had the DPD one. It was from "DPD UK <contest@fireandice.co.uk> " the link in the email started  "keramopt.biz/.login/dpd.co.uk"  just hover over it to see the link.

BTW with any of the big companies like BT you can do a reverse DPA on them to check their bonafides. Although they may not have your account open when they call the should know your account number, they should also be able to access your account and tell you the amount of your last bill, and when you last had an engineer visit even if it was 5 years ago.

Edited By Bazyle on 02/12/2020 19:26:13

Edited By Bazyle on 02/12/2020 19:43:59

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

John H

i did give them the wrong code 3 times each time they said that it was wrong

I do wonder if the email and 4 digit code actually comes to me from bt that the scammers are originating..then it comes to me as the registered email address and they need the code that bt have sent me to progress?

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

"… If I understand correctly, spaces cannot be used in any eMail address or URL

MichaelG."

Spaces can be used in URLs but they are substituted with %20 when processed, at least for the internet. Email addresses are a different animal.

The only useful info to capture from a dodgy email is the X-SourceIP: embedded in the email header which gives the true IP address of the computer the email was sent from. Email addresses visible in the email itself can be and usually are fake.

I had a couple of text messages (not emails) last week supposedly from the Halifax saying that unauthorised transactions had taken place and I need to click a link for more info. I'm not with the Halifax. The messages were deleted and the numbers blocked.

Ed.

 

Edited By Ed Duffner on 02/12/2020 19:52:27

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Bill Dawes on 02/12/2020 18:53:08:

Had several calls recently purporting to be from BT Openreach, no such thing as far as I know …

.

As the Pantomime season approaches …

“ Oh Yes there is !! ”

**LINK** : https://www.openreach.com

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Ed Duffner on 02/12/2020 19:33:38:

"… If I understand correctly, spaces cannot be used in any eMail address or URL

MichaelG."

Spaces can be used in URLs but they are substituted with %20 when processed, at least for the internet. […]

.

Thanks Ed … but that’s a bit too philosophical for me today

MichaelG.

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Michael,

Wot do u mean, pantomime is on most of the year – @ Palace of Westminster!

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

I usually 'move on' after a contract ends – gas and elec., phone and broadband. One year, went on hunt for new power supplier and one claimed to be much cheaper but compensated by using higher, incorrect useage figures, still coming out marginally lower bottom line. Clever trick! Told him to use my figures which he did. Cut a long story short, after much buggering about he wanted me to go ahead and supply Bank details. I had guessed long before, that it was a scam, so told him I wasnt going to and why. He phoned me on a different no. several times each week with me cutting him off and blocking his no. All finally ended when on last call he apparently used my no. but last digit wrong and I blocked no he used. I am sure you all realise that the hope was I would automatically block my no.!

Dodgy calls in 2019 so bad that I asked for and got phone contractor to change the no. It was OK for a while then it all got bad again. Changed to new supplier and peace at last but it's the only good thing I have to say. Another fly in the ointment they havn't got awful customer service, it's simply non existent in my experience. In my opinion their phone and broadband is the poor relation of their ultimate owners and only want my £18/month. Make most of it, M., contract nearing end, will move on.

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Just had a text message stating "Your EE account is on-hold. Your action is required message on Express Entry row: " and giving a link to which apparently went to http://www.eeuk1220.com.

So I went on the REAL EE site and found their reporting procedure, which apparently works for any mobile provider in the UK, so may be useful to you all. You forward the text to 7726 (free of charge) which then responds with a request for the number that sent the text. Send that, and job done.

Found further info about this on the Which? website.

Rob

[Alistair Robertson 1Participant @alistairrobertson1]

A few days ago I had a call from "OpenReach" saying there was a problem with my broadband connection at which I asked when they were coming to get it repaired as I had been waiting for the last two days and nobody had appeared (Not true as everything was working OK!).

The guy asked me to log on to my computer and enter a website address but I asked how I could do that when my Broadband was down and I was waiting for Openreach to come and fix it! This flummoxed him completely when a invented a repair code for him and asked for an update!

This threw him off his script completely as he then asked me to log on six or seven times and he always got the same answer from me that my Broadband was down and I was waiting for the enginer to call. I then told him to wait until I had checked something out and he was still on the line when I returned and told him the Openreach engineer wanted to speak to him! Well he dropped the line instantly and I had about 10 minutes of entertainment.

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Michael

Oh no there isn't!

About half way down the page you have linked to is a "It's Openreach not BT Openreach" and an explanation that they removed the BT about 2 years ago.

Rod

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Rod – it's behind you!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Rod Renshaw on 04/12/2020 15:28:35:

Michael

Oh no there isn't!

About half way down the page you have linked to is a "It's Openreach not BT Openreach" and an explanation that they removed the BT about 2 years ago.

Rod

.

A fair cop, Rod

MichaelG.

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Thanks Grindstone!

It's not often I can second guess Michael, And I still expect a clever riposte.

Rod

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

Well me and my big mouth. my wife was checking a recent bank statement and there were two transactions for amazon. Now we have dealt with amazon a fair bit recently but fortunately my wife is red hot on the accounts side and keeps meticulous records of what we spend and these figures didn't ring a bell at all. Reference to our amazon account showed no such transactions for that value and date. Got onto the bank who cancelled card and said the sum would be refunded.

No harm done in that sense then but unnerved us a bit as we are so careful.

I have also deleted our card details which amazon tends to keep, makes it easier when doing orders and details are supposed to be safe? but from now on I will enter a card for each order and delete it afterwards.

Where do these scammers get peoples card info from?

Bill D

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

Bill, I recently had an attempt to use my card, luckily my bank account is linked to my phone, and if it detects use at a location it assumes I'm not at, it stops the transaction, and sends me a text msg asking me if the transaction was me, a 'no' reply will freeze your account instantly, and a new card will need to be ordered.

While ordering my new card, I asked how someone could have got my card details, she told me it could be possible that an unscrupulous employee at a legitimate business either uses your info, or passes/sells it on as I haven't used my card any sites that could be considered even slightly dodgy.

The person who had my details tried making a fast food delivery from 'deliveroo' or something for less than a tenner, so not a professional fraudster.

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Posted by Pete. on 04/12/2020 20:01:35:

Bill, I recently had an attempt to use my card, luckily my bank account is linked to my phone, and if it detects use at a location it assumes I'm not at, it stops the transaction, and sends me a text msg asking me if the transaction was me, a 'no' reply will freeze your account instantly, and a new card will need to be ordered.

While ordering my new card, I asked how someone could have got my card details, she told me it could be possible that an unscrupulous employee at a legitimate business either uses your info, or passes/sells it on as I haven't used my card any sites that could be considered even slightly dodgy.

The person who had my details tried making a fast food delivery from 'deliveroo' or something for less than a tenner, so not a professional fraudster.

"Not a professional fraudster "?? How sure can you be, that transaction could have been a test and if it went through, next one could have cleaned you out.

John

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

If you have a number of cards, I suggest only using Sainsburys cr card to buy in Sainsburys, Tesco cr card only to buy in Tescos, M&S cr card to buy in Mark's only.

Keep all till receipts for each company on a separate bulldog or similar Spring clip to await comparison with Statement.

Strict adherence to para. 1 will soon show up, say e.g., Tescos petrol on Sainsburys Statement and draw attention to a dodgy transaction. Amazon items on Tesco Statement?, same thing. Keep say, a Halifafax card for swipe n go at smaller food shops in general or only takeaways and use Nationwide card for smaller food shops other than takeaways. No fraudster is going to know what each card is used for, exclusively.

Dont allow card issuers to "award" you with ridiculously high credit limits. I used an Esso garage in Brighton many years ago, paying witha a card witha very low limit with several items already on it. Got a call from the issuer asking if I had any connection with a certain district of Brighton and have I tried to buy a computer with that card because it busted the credit limit! "No." so card was replaced and Police visited house involved. Bit surprised that they shared so much info with me. I should add that I always pay cards " in full" to quote Martin Lewis.

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

John, it's entirely possible, but it seems to be a location trigger which trips the Banks security measures, I'd hazard an entirely uneducated guess, that people who know what they're doing have a means of tricking the measures put in place to determine location, and bypass the account owner being notified.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

The following message about scammers came from our Neighbourhood Watch yesterday:-

 

Online Shoppers Beware Emails from Scammers – They are trying to get access to your Cards and Accounts

More and more of us are shopping on line and ordering goods to be delivered direct to our homes.
Criminals know this and are sending scam emails or texts appearing to be from Royal Mail or a courier company, stating that they tried to deliver a parcel but no one was at home and there wasn’t a safe place to leave it, and ask you to click a link to reschedule the delivery.
The link directs you to an authentic looking website, which asks for your full name, address, date of birth and mobile number.
Anyone completing the form will then be prompted to enter their bank or credit card details, which the scammers will then use to drain your bank account.
PROTECT YOURSELF – DON’T CLICK ON ANY LINK WITHIN SUCH EMAILS.

The fraudsters may have obtained your email or mobile number, but they are unlikely to know who you are or where live. The fraudster who sent me an email earlier this week claiming to be from dPd Courier company presumably doesn’t know of my previous fraud investigation experience. The fraudster sent the message from his own personal email account .
Any genuine email from Royal Mail or a Courier company will never be sent from an individual’s personal email account.
If you receive an email which you’re not quite sure about, forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS): report@phishing.gov.uk
Feel free to share this information and advice with family friends and neighbours and on social media.

Neighbours looking out for each other, and been prepared to report suspicious activity also helps deter offenders and reduce crime. If you want to find out if there is already a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in your area, or you’d like to find out more, check out their site http://www.ourwatch.org.uk

Edited By V8Eng on 05/12/2020 07:43:40

[peter smith 5Participant @petersmith5]

I just ask them what they are doing with the other hand???????

pete

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

I have had a lot of the BT scam emails, and usually forward these to report phishing who are in my contacts folder.

The other day I had another scam email, and attempted to forward it, but the computer said no. I tried several times and could not forward it. As a test I forwarded a couple of other emails with no problem, and went back to the rogue email, and again i could not forward it, so just deleted it. This is the second time I have had this experience. Has anyone else had the problem? Any one know if the scammers are responsible somehow? I did ask action fraud who did not seem to know or want to answer my question.

Chris Gunn

[Author]

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