Could emails regarding alleged ticket frauds actually be scam emails?

[fandroid]

Moderator note: split from

Refunds

Hello Guys i hope you can help me. I receive some email about refunds from Fraud Digital Team. How can i contact them?. I tried to email them but i cant send any emails on that email address what they gave me. Any idea what can i do? Thank you

www.railforums.co.uk

That email looks close in style to one of the far too many scam emails that still get through my spam filter. The only thing in its favour is that the West Midlands Trains email address looks genuine.

If it is Trainline sending those out, I would suggest they try rewriting them. They almost look as if the author has modelled them on real phishing emails.


== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Aug 2023 ==

Refund fraud and Railcard abuse would be very suitable areas for some real fraudster to go phishing in. I'm sure we'll see some examples sooner or later.

 

[Heathen]

That email looks close in style to one of the far too many scam emails that still get through my spam filter. The only thing in its favour is that the West Midlands Trains email address looks genuine. If it is Trainline sending those out, I would suggest they try rewriting them. They almost look as if the author has modelled them on real phishing emails.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Aug 2023 ==

Refund fraud and Railcard abuse would be very suitable areas for some real fraudster to go phishing in. I'm sure we'll see some examples sooner or later.

That is a thought. The wording of the last sentence “I kindly await your response” strikes me as very odd. The OP would best sit tight and await a response.

 

[dciuk]

That is a thought. The wording of the last sentence “I kindly await your response” strikes me as very odd. The OP would best sit tight and await a response.

While we cannot see the full name in the email, signing off with a name starting "Investigator" also points towards the style of language used in phishing emails. I wonder if the OP did anything different when his email replies did and did not work. For example sometimes clicking on the email link (which could have linked to a different email address or be using "lookalike" letters to route the reply to a scammer) and other times typing it in manually

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Can't say whether the e-mail that @Nika123 is querying is 100% bona-fide, but it does seem quite similar to the one previously reported (in post #22), here...

Contacted by Digital Fraud Team regarding excessive refunds

Hi hope I can explain my situation,my seventeen year old son was this week contacted by the Digital Fraud Team of West Midlands trains regarding excessive refunds made on his Train-line account last year. The dates concerned are 1/6/22 to 21/6/22 when he refunded 13 tickets for a total of...

www.railforums.co.uk

Extracts...

...Dear

Re: Trainline Refunds

We have been notified by Trainline that you have claimed an excessive amount of ticket refunds on your account when travelling on West Midlands Trains services and these refunds have been highlighted as potentially fraudulent.

We have details of your refund requests made which appear to be fraudulent together with the amount repayable to West Midlands Trains. Please respond to us within 7 days by email to

digitalfraudteam@wmtrains.co.uk

quoting the reference number in the subject field.

Based on your response the decision will be to either (a) offer you the opportunity to repay any claims that have proved to have been made fraudulently; or (b) pass your file to West Midlands Trains Prosecutors or the British Transport Police for further action to be taken.

If option (a) is chosen you will be given our bank details upon our receipt of your response.

We look forward to hearing from you...

Opinions on here were divided. Many posters were of the opinion that was perhaps a fishing exercise, where the evidence was quite possibly minimal, and the TOC was therefore hoping for an admission of guilt without relying on their non-existent/flimsy evidence. Having said that, the previous OP did subsequently report (in post #82) having paid them a settlement amount.

 

[najaB]

The advice for any suspect* email is the same, regardless of source: write a new mail to the company/organisation on an address that you know to be good (eg. from their website) attaching the original email and ask if it was genuine.

*Where you're fairly sure it's legitimate, but have some doubt.

 

[Nika123]

The advice for any suspect* email is the same, regardless of source: write a new mail to the company/organisation on an address that you know to be good (eg. from their website) attaching the original email and ask if it was genuine.

*Where you're fairly sure it's legitimate, but have some doubt.

Thank you everyone but i sorted my problem!