Scam Call

Scammers. They're everywhere. But lately they've been trying really hard to get me on the phone. Take this call from "Jason O'Connor" from the ATO. He must think I'm a real dipshit.

Beware of Scam Amazon Emails

Don't fall victim to scam emails. I haven't bought anything from Amazon for years. Then, out of the blue, an email arrives, in my junk mail as I've set the account to exclusive, i.e. only receive emails from contacts in my list, telling me that I've cancelled an order. Seeing as Hotmail allows you to view unsafe emails in a relatively safe manner I decided to check it out. Both of the hyperlinks in the email lead to http://admixturesinc.com/poisonous.html - surely that would be enough of a wake up call if you were going to be redirected there. I certainly won't be checking it out any further as the results could be disastrous. Be careful online and with emails people.

Scam Amazon email

Early Evening Telemarketer Call - Another Scam

The phone has been ringing hot this evening. Well, there's been three telemarketers call anyway.

One of them, quite rudely, asked me to confirm my name. No, it's my phone so she can tell me who she is. Cheryl Baxter, apparently, from the Melbourne head office of Virtual PC Doctor. Oh really? Then she crapped on about viruses and bugs having been uploaded to the Internet, etc, and how I'd have to check my family PC for this. I wasn't sure what a "family PC" was so she explained that it was the PC or computer that I had in the house. But I hadn't mentioned anything about a computer. So she prompted me to admit if I had a computer or not. Hmm, I wasn't sure. So she asked me to go check if I had a computer. I left her waiting whilst I checked. Even though it only took a minute to work out if I had a computer or not she wasn't there when I returned to the phone. Pity, I was having a bit of fun.

Strange, she didn't really sound like her name was Cheryl. A quick check on Google revealed that this, shock! horror!, is a scam.

Ed - a fourth call before finishing this post.

Beware of Scammers - Windows User Call

A couple of weeks ago, on the weekend, I received a call from someone asking to speak if they could speak to Mr Me. I replied, "You are currently." The guy didn't understand this so I realised that I wasn't talking to someone who used English as their first language. Great start. He gave me his name and the company which he worked for and when I asked him to repeat the company name I still didn't catch it although it included "Technology" in the name.

I asked him what was the reason for his call. Was I using Windows on my computer? His concern was based upon the fact that malware was coming down from the Internet and had affected Windows users. His company was ringing all Windows users in my state to warn and assist them. "So you're calling all of the Windows users in my state?" I asked. "That must be four or five hundred thousand people."
"Well, there are other people calling as well," he responded. Apparently he wasn't on his own.

I ended the call with a polite, "So, you want me to turn on my computer so that you can ask me to find a few files and then inform me that they're malware and that I should download your program to fix them when it will, in fact, allow you access to my computer and steal my personal information and identity? Go and stick it up your arse."

With that I hung up. I've heard of this sort of scam. Don't let yourself become a victim. This cold calling amazed me but there must be some serious money in it for them if they do gain control of your computer.

A Malaysian Scam With A Thailand Email

Here's a twist on the old Nigerian scam. I received an email with a message from a lawyer called Michael Soo from Malaysia. Soo, or should that be "Sue", what a great name for a lawyer. He also provides a Thailand email address to contact him on. Ok, the guy isn't asking for any banking details but if you are silly enough to respond then he knows that your email address is legitimate and then he can groom you and get to know more about you. Don't respond to this sort of rubbish. It's just a scam and there's a large degree of social engineering about to come your way to obtain your personal details. The phone number provided uses Malaysia's calling code.


Michael Soo email scam.

UK National Lottery Winner - Another Scam

One of the guys that I work with received this in an email the other day - UK National Lottery Winner. Quite obviously this is a scam.

UK National Lottery Winner

Where do we start to take this fraud apart?

1. "Dear Winner" - Winner? It's not even personally addressed.
2. "emails/company address" - How exactly do you select a company address when it mentions on the next line that the prize offer is for registered member of Internet E-mail user (whatever that means).
3. "Microsoft computer ballot system" - IBM makes computers, Microsoft writes software.
4. "continents" - Include Canada (?), United state (?), Middle East (?) and Oceania (?) as continents and how does 8x3000 equal 21000?
5. ""e-mail"" - This noun doesn't require quotation marks.
6. "ms -word" - Shouldn't it be spelt as MS Word (quite seriously this couldn't have been written on a computer with MS Word doing the spell checking).
7. "internet" is a proper noun, is it not, and should therefore be spelt as Internet.
8. "." - Missing to complete the sentence. Remember rules of sentences?
9. "bellow" - I don't think you have to yell at your claim agent.
10. "dr_johnbriggs@gala.net" - Sounds more like a "galah" (fool) than gala (special occasion.
11. Details for payment - No bank details required. How on earth are you supposed to give these galahs enough info for them to pay you?
12. "Endeavor" - The British spelling, which is something you would expect from The UK National Lottery, means it should be spelt as "Endeavour".
13. "email" - What happened to the hyphen? Bit of consistency please.
14. "Winners are advised to keep their winning information secret to avoid fraudulent claim" - Say that in proper English.
15. Names followed by titles in different parenthesis and fonts doesn't look very professional.

Be warned - this appears to be a scam leading to identity theft. The information requested, sans bank account details, could quite easily lead to somebody impersonating you for reasons of stealing more than just your bank balance. Steer clear of this rubbish.

Spot The Scam

Interesting email I received today;

Westpac Online limited access - Urgent Notice UN385
noreply@westpac.com.au

Dear Westpac Online customer,

Your access to Westpac Online account has been temporarily suspended due to multiple unsuccessful login attempts.
Protecting the security of your account and of the Westpac Bank network is our primary concern. Therefore, as a preventative measure, we have temporarily limited access to sensitive Westpac Online account features.

To restore your account please follow the link below:

Click here.

Thank you for your co-operation
Westpac Bank Security Department.

--
Please do not reply to this confirmation email as your response will not be received.
FH43J5KK345LFSKK6045LGBMC0O492

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Interesting on a few accounts, if you'll pardon the pun. One, the email address - noreply@..... Yes, that really looks official. Two, I don't even have an account with Westpac. Did anyone else spot this as a scam? Don't get sucked in people and suffer from identity theft with Internet banking. And definitely do not click on the link contained in such emails. A bank will not contact you in this manner should your account, if you have one, becomes suspended.