A scam phone calls and emails discussion.

[styles]

I had one call a while back of someone pretending to be O2, telling me they had a better contract that was cheaper and faster, which sounded too good to be true... I then handed it over to my dad who found out he was trying to reset his password to his account Luckily we didn't disclose more and he left the call there. Taught me not to answer numbers that aren't in my contact list!

Nearly every week someone tries to reset the password on my Spotify account. It's strange because they obviously don't have access to my email to use these password reset codes. From your Spotify account you can download logs of every login attempt, so I can see these requests are coming from all over the world. Clearly that could be someone doing a distributed attack, or they could legitimately be from every country from Hungary to Portugal.


(screenshot shows Gmail with a number of "your Spotify login code" emails dating back to January).

Also a quirk I have noticed - the emails which are in Spanish give the code 20 minutes to be used, but the ones in English only 5 minutes!

 

[Leyland Bus]

Nearly every week someone tries to reset the password on my Spotify account. It's strange because they obviously don't have access to my email to use these password reset codes. From your Spotify account you can download logs of every login attempt, so I can see these requests are coming from all over the world. Clearly that could be someone doing a distributed attack, or they could legitimately be from every country from Hungary to Portugal.

View attachment 211143
(screenshot shows Gmail with a number of "your Spotify login code" emails dating back to January).

Also a quirk I have noticed - the emails which are in Spanish give the code 20 minutes to be used, but the ones in English only 5 minutes!

I assume they are able to distinguish between free and paid accounts? As I don't see the point of hacking a free account?

 

[styles]

I assume they are able to distinguish between free and paid accounts? As I don't see the point of hacking a free account?

My account is a student account as it happens! Less than half the price of a normal account. I think it's more to do with my username as anything else.

 

[Leyland Bus]

My account is a student account as it happens! Less than half the price of a normal account. I think it's more to do with my username as anything else.

Ahh okay... I must admit, I hadn't really considered Spotify to be a target in this way til now...

 

[Ridgeblog]

Nearly every week someone tries to reset the password on my Spotify account. It's strange because they obviously don't have access to my email to use these password reset codes. From your Spotify account you can download logs of every login attempt, so I can see these requests are coming from all over the world. Clearly that could be someone doing a distributed attack, or they could legitimately be from every country from Hungary to Portugal.

View attachment 211143
(screenshot shows Gmail with a number of "your Spotify login code" emails dating back to January).

Also a quirk I have noticed - the emails which are in Spanish give the code 20 minutes to be used, but the ones in English only 5 minutes!

That's insane! Could that be like a team of multiple hackers distributed to randomly find or detect accounts?

 

[styles]

That's insane! Could that be like a team of multiple hackers distributed to randomly find or detect accounts?

I've honestly got very little idea. Someone doing a distributed attack looks pretty much identical to the same number of real people trying to do the same thing, if all I've got to go on is an IP address.

I can only assume that because my Spotify username is quite lucrative, and relates to a famous songwriter, that maybe that's why it's targeted? Like I say though, it doesn't really make any sense because without access to my email account, the attackers can't actually get the password reset codes to use them, so it feels a bit pointless!

 

[Leyland Bus]

Had another odd call run this afternoon, a Glossop number immediately followed by a Plymouth number for 1 ring. Rang the latter on a landline to be told the number was "out of service", not bad given it had rung me only moments before and the other gave me the answer phone option list for "Advisory Services" so god knows!

 

[Forty29]

Yes whenever you ring back to see on unrecognised numbers never connects or saying number unobtainable or the like.
Different numbers same old scam lately on my landline apparently from BT asking what devices l use on the broadband.

 

[ABB125]

I've been getting a few calls recently from "LinkedIn recruitment" about a job offer, and that I should "add (their) number on WhatsApp". Each time is a different variation, but that's the general summary.
Obviously I'm not going to add their number on WhatsApp...

If nothing else, if you've applied for a job through LinkedIn, surely any communication would be through their website messaging feature? Or, depending on how far along you get, direct contact from the potential employer?

 

[davews]

A quick question. With mobile phones when somebody calls the phone normally tells you who the calling number is, ie 0777777777 Fred Smith. Even if they are not in your mobile contact list. Is it safe to assume that if a number only is shown (helpfully marked by my phone as 'probable spam' without any identifying name it is almost definitely spam?

 

[najaB]

Is it safe to assume that if a number only is shown (helpfully marked by my phone as 'probable spam' without any identifying name it is almost definitely spam?

It's likely but not definite. As a general rule I only answer calls from numbers that I recognise (not that I get many calls in the first place).

 

[Buzby]

almost definitely spam?

Not even remotely! The name (if not pulled from your existing Contacts look-up) is either being sent by C7 signalling over the phone network, or injected as part of the digital VOIP identification stream. As both these processes can be spoofed, you could send them to voicemail BUT genuine calls will be in there too!

 

[Leyland Bus]

A quick question. With mobile phones when somebody calls the phone normally tells you who the calling number is, ie 0777777777 Fred Smith. Even if they are not in your mobile contact list. Is it safe to assume that if a number only is shown (helpfully marked by my phone as 'probable spam' without any identifying name it is almost definitely spam?

I've not come across that before? I only get a name if it's saved in my contacts...

 

[Trackman]

I've not come across that before? I only get a name if it's saved in my contacts...

On an iPhone it shows the number and says 'Possible spam' underneath or something, its not pre-programmed to the number.

 

[Leyland Bus]

A quick question. With mobile phones when somebody calls the phone normally tells you who the calling number is, ie 0777777777 Fred Smith. Even if they are not in your mobile contact list. Is it safe to assume that if a number only is shown (helpfully marked by my phone as 'probable spam' without any identifying name it is almost definitely spam?

On an iPhone it shows the number and says 'Possible spam' underneath or something, its not pre-programmed to the number.

I know the Suspected Spam message, my Samsung does that. It was the part i've bolded that I was (probably poorly) on about, giving the persons name even when not in your contacts...

 

[davews]

Thanks for the comments. My phone (Motorola on EE) comes up with the 'suspected spam'' message. It is not 100% but I think it is safe to say that if a call is marked as suspected spam and there is no associated name shown then it probably is...... My mobile number is known to only a few people anyway most of whom are in my contact list.

 

[Jon_jpwh]

An email, pretending to be from TEMU, received yesterday, about a package waiting for delivery. Apart from the problem that I would never use TEMU, the inability to spell, the random use of capitals and the apostrophe made it obvious that it was a scam. The message read "The package has arrived at our local Dispatch ficility Verify Address/Detail's and Confirm Delivery:"

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I'm getting a barrage of emails at the moment with variations on the theme "You⁡r TV Li͏ce︄nce Is Due for Ren︄ew︎al — Pl͏ea⁡se Updat͏e Your Det︉ail⁡s - S5︄62P︄C".
Whilst these are clearly scams, what's weird is that my TV licence really is due for renewal and I've only started getting these emails within the last couple of weeks! Coincidence, or is there some way scammers can find out when your licence is due?

 

[Ediswan]

I'm getting a barrage of emails at the moment with variations on the theme "You⁡r TV Li͏ce︄nce Is Due for Ren︄ew︎al — Pl͏ea⁡se Updat͏e Your Det︉ail⁡s - S5︄62P︄C".
Whilst these are clearly scams, what's weird is that my TV licence really is due for renewal and I've only started getting these emails within the last couple of weeks! Coincidence, or is there some way scammers can find out when your licence is due?

TV licences expire at the end of the month. They will be 'correct' for one in twelve.

 

[lookapigeon]

I'm getting a barrage of emails at the moment with variations on the theme "You⁡r TV Li͏ce︄nce Is Due for Ren︄ew︎al — Pl͏ea⁡se Updat͏e Your Det︉ail⁡s - S5︄62P︄C".
Whilst these are clearly scams, what's weird is that my TV licence really is due for renewal and I've only started getting these emails within the last couple of weeks! Coincidence, or is there some way scammers can find out when your licence is due?

Game of numbers for the scammers, out of the thousands of messages they send there will be those that blindly follows what the link says and as such nets a payday for them.

 

[najaB]

Has anyone else received a random WhatsApp message from Amazon in the last few days? I received the original "We're now on WhatsApp" message almost a year ago and today I got this:



My first instinct was "What in scam's name is this?" but apparently it's genuine. I've no idea how many sales this is going to generate for them?!

 

[jbqfc]

I had a call from someone this morning asking why I had called there number which I had not done so all I could think was that a scammer using random generated numbers came up with mine

 

[xotGD]

I had a call from someone this morning asking why I had called there number which I had not done so all I could think was that a scammer using random generated numbers came up with mine

I had that a couple of weeks ago. Two confused people on opposite ends of the call.

 

[speedy1]

Getting loads of calls from random mobile numbers. Accidentally answered a couple: "we have jobs available" etc.

I downloaded the SpamBlocker app (Android, has a blue bell icon, not the easiest UI to be honest) and configured:

Regex rule to block

^447\d+

and

^7\d+

(any UK mobile)

but allow:

Contacts, Repeated Call, Dialled Number, Answered Number (min 30 seconds duration), Off Time 10pm-7am, Emergency (allow any calls after having dialled 999 or 111). I don't get spam calls from Unknown numbers - that's usually just the DWP, so I don't block that

For email I set up a rule that if the body contains the word "Unsubscribe" it goes to spam - fairly effective, but obviously occasionally a few false positives.

 

[londonbridge]

It sounds very much as though the “add my number/please add me on WhatsApp” calls that people have been reporting are the phone equivalent of phishing emails and designed to identify active numbers which, if you do add them or respond in anyway, can then be targeted with further scam messages or links containing malware to try and infect your device.