A scam phone calls and emails discussion.

[busestrains]

I had yet another scam call on Friday from somebody calling himself "Michael Williams" calling from Microsoft with a thick Indian accent and poor English and poor grammar. He informed me that Microsoft have received some error warnings from my computer and that there are currently 12 hackers connected to my computer and my computer is infected with 48 viruses. He wanted me to download a software called Any Desk so he could remotely access my computer to remove the hackers and viruses and to put some security software on my computer. Of course i just wasted his time for as long as i could until he gave up and hung up on me.

 

[dgl]

I had yet another scam call on Friday from somebody calling himself "Michael Williams" calling from Microsoft with a thick Indian accent and poor English and poor grammar. He informed me that Microsoft have received some error warnings from my computer and that there are currently 12 hackers connected to my computer and my computer is infected with 48 viruses. He wanted me to download a software called Any Desk so he could remotely access my computer to remove the hackers and viruses and to put some security software on my computer. Of course i just wasted his time for as long as i could until he gave up and hung up on me.

Looked on the anydesk website and the warnings about downloading the software and giving access to your PC to someone unknown was quite small, companies like this should be made to display decent sized warnings on the download pages to help stop this fraud.
I suppose it would be interesting to get a raspberry pi, put RISC OS on it and when they call tell them that you can't find the remote desktop software they want you to download.

As for the whatsapp/email "relative in trouble" scam, it happened to my brother, all that ended up happening was my dad and step-mum going round to his place asking why he wanted money.

 

[cockneyviking]

I find the best way to deal with the "accident" call is to reply "yes I did have an accident, I fell over and I have a crack in my a**e" they hang up very quick.

 

[3rd rail land]

I had yet another scam call on Friday from somebody calling himself "Michael Williams" calling from Microsoft with a thick Indian accent and poor English and poor grammar. He informed me that Microsoft have received some error warnings from my computer and that there are currently 12 hackers connected to my computer and my computer is infected with 48 viruses. He wanted me to download a software called Any Desk so he could remotely access my computer to remove the hackers and viruses and to put some security software on my computer. Of course i just wasted his time for as long as i could until he gave up and hung up on me.

I wish they would call me so I can give them access to my Ubuntu virtual machine as it would throw them off script and it would great to see them being thoroughly confused by the non Windows device. Actually is AnyDesk compatible with Linux? I've never had reason to give anyone remote access to this VM. They'd probably hang up as soon as they realised it was a Linux machine.

 

[dgl]

I wish they would call me so I can give them access to my Ubuntu virtual machine as it would throw them off script and it would great to see them being thoroughly confused by the non Windows device. Actually is AnyDesk compatible with Linux? I've never had reason to give anyone remote access to this VM. They'd probably hang up as soon as they realised it was a Linux machine.

Linux is supported by anydesk, it would still be doubtful if they'd know what to do with it.

 

[GusB]

Looked on the anydesk website and the warnings about downloading the software and giving access to your PC to someone unknown was quite small, companies like this should be made to display decent sized warnings on the download pages to help stop this fraud.

Why should companies like Anydesk provide warnings when they provide software for perfectly legitimate purposes?

 

[AM9]

Why should companies like Anydesk provide warnings when they provide software for perfectly legitimate purposes?

Agreed. A little knowledge is very dangerous for some when it comes to computers.

 

[najaB]

Why should companies like Anydesk provide warnings when they provide software for perfectly legitimate purposes?

It's a delicate balance. The benefit to them would be that they are less likely to end up having their name tarnished by association - they don't want to become known as "the thing that scammers use".

 

[Purple Train]

"Your Apple Pay account has been terminated," followed by an obviously false link.
I don't use anything remotely connected with Apple, and I don't really use online banking either.
Needless to say that went straight in the bin.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

"Your Apple Pay account has been terminated," followed by an obviously false link.
I don't use anything remotely connected with Apple, and I don't really use online banking either.
Needless to say that went straight in the bin.

Did you not on-forward it to 7726?

What to do about a scam call, text or message

If you think you’ve received a scam call, text or message, the most important thing is not to engage with it. Don’t reply, click any links, press any buttons or share personal or financial details.

www.ofcom.org.uk

 

[Purple Train]

Did you not on-forward it to 7726?

What to do about a scam call, text or message

If you think you’ve received a scam call, text or message, the most important thing is not to engage with it. Don’t reply, click any links, press any buttons or share personal or financial details.

www.ofcom.org.uk

Oh gosh, no, I didn't. I didn't even know something like that existed!
I do have a screenshot of the message though (somewhere), and I'll keep that number in mind for future instances (which I suspect will be increased somewhat because I sent a reply to the Apple Pay message) - thanks

 

[ABB125]

Hmmmm...
Something tells me that this is a scam. Not least because I'm male!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Hmmmm...
Something tells me that this is a scam. Not least because I'm male!

Seems to have been multiple scam texts sent out using / quoting this number. Suggest you on-forward it to 7726.

07748222194 who called me? | who-called.co.uk

07748222194 is a mobile number rated Negatively. There have been 480 phone searches, and users have left 30 comments. Find out who has been calling you!

who-called.co.uk

What to do about a scam call, text or message

If you think you’ve received a scam call, text or message, the most important thing is not to engage with it. Don’t reply, click any links, press any buttons or share personal or financial details.

www.ofcom.org.uk

 

[swt_passenger]

Hmmmm...
Something tells me that this is a scam. Not least because I'm male!

View attachment 121738

Not being a WhatsApp user, what is that text intended to achieve? Is WhatsApp membership a necessary part of the intended scam?

 

[najaB]

Not being a WhatsApp user, what is that text intended to achieve? Is WhatsApp membership a necessary part of the intended scam?

It's probably intended to harvest WhatsApp numbers to be used in later scams.

 

[87 027]

I had one of these messages recently too. The likely next step is they will claim to be in immediate financial trouble and need money urgently sending to the "friend" whose phone they have "borrowed".

 

[Typhoon]

I had one of these messages recently too. The likely next step is they will claim to be in immediate financial trouble and need money urgently sending to the "friend" whose phone they have "borrowed".

It's pretty common
https://www.which.co.uk/news/articl...ds-from-whatsapp-to-text-message-an7N34c0gVbP

Scammers impersonating your family members, particularly adult children, in order to ask you for money are now targeting you through text messages.

Earlier this year, Action Fraud warned that it had received 1,235 reports of criminals posing as loved ones in need on WhatsApp between 3 February and 21 June this year, amounting to a total financial loss of £1.5m.

This heartless scam comes at a time when hearing that a loved one is in need of some financial support to pay urgent bills may not be too much of a surprise.

Which? has now seen evidence that scammers are using text message to target victims. Here, we show you what this scam typically looks like, how to avoid it and how to report it.

And those are the victims who report it! (All the more reason to do so as @Mcr Warrior suggests).

I think I've heard of some that ask the call receiver to purchase Apple (or other) gift cards rather than give bank card details. Same result.

 

[pdeaves]

Takeaway from this: if a 'loved one' wants assistance, a) check whether it is written in a way you would expect them to write, b) ask yourself why they haven't made previous contact or said anything about being in need before, and c) contact them directly on a known number (or via a trustworthy intermediary such as a spouse) to be 100% sure.

 

[87 027]

Takeaway from this: if a 'loved one' wants assistance, a) check whether it is written in a way you would expect them to write, b) ask yourself why they haven't made previous contact or said anything about being in need before, and c) contact them directly on a known number (or via a trustworthy intermediary such as a spouse) to be 100% sure.

Why not just ring them on the mobile number that is claimed to be lost/broken/out of battery? If they answer as normal then you know it's a scam.

Alternatively if the scenario is plausible, you could reply along the lines of 'I'd love to help, but just to check it's really you can you confirm the name of Auntie Doris's cat?' You may not even have an Auntie Doris, or she may not have a cat, either way it's another way of establishing whether the request is genuine

 

[3141]

Twice in the past few days we've received texts from a mobile phone number purporting to be from the government telling us that we're entitled to £400 energy support and we should click on the accompanying link. Indications that it's a scam are that the government is unlikely to be texting people from a mobile and the link is not to gov.uk , though it does include "gov". The cleverness about this is that if people don't know that they'll get the $00 automatically through the energy bills, and they are already short of money, this apparent opportunity to get at the £400 may fool them.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

One of my neighbours received a telephone call from a well-spoken Indian female with regards to the "internet connection problem" and answered that he was an insurance assessor investigating a (non-existent) burglary and that the laptop had been one of the stolen items, so he suggested to the woman in question that her best plan of action would be to contact the burglars as they were now in possession of the laptop. The line suddenly went dead.

 

[swt_passenger]

Twice in the past few days we've received texts from a mobile phone number purporting to be from the government telling us that we're entitled to £400 energy support and we should click on the accompanying link. Indications that it's a scam are that the government is unlikely to be texting people from a mobile and the link is not to gov.uk , though it does include "gov". The cleverness about this is that if people don't know that they'll get the $00 automatically through the energy bills, and they are already short of money, this apparent opportunity to get at the £400 may fool them.

My energy supplier has been very proactive in warning about these scams, emphasising that for most people there is no claims process needed at all.

 

[Trackman]

Twice in the past few days we've received texts from a mobile phone number purporting to be from the government telling us that we're entitled to £400 energy support and we should click on the accompanying link. Indications that it's a scam are that the government is unlikely to be texting people from a mobile and the link is not to gov.uk , though it does include "gov". The cleverness about this is that if people don't know that they'll get the $00 automatically through the energy bills, and they are already short of money, this apparent opportunity to get at the £400 may fool them.

I've seen this, not on my own phone but on FB.
Seems to be a massive scam attack so to speak as others have told me about it.
I imagine the cost of living payment by universal credit will be doing the rounds soon as it's been recently announced.

 

[Spamcan81]

Got an email purportedly from my bank saying I needed to update my security details to enable them to protect me from fraud. Alarm bells rang immediately, especially the bit that said “your account ending in xxxx” as those four numbers bore no relation to my actual account number. Email duly binned.

 

[busestrains]

I had another scam call today from "Jack David" (again with a thick Indian accent) calling from Amazon saying that there was a suspicious order for £1099.99 iphone placed on my account from Beijing China IP address and they believe my Amazon account is hacked.

He then wanted me to download Team Viewer on my computer so he could connect to my computer to refund me the money. I think this is the classic refund scam where they connect to your computer and get you to log in to your bank account to refund you. Then they edit the HTML to make it look like you made a mistake on the refund form and they have refunded you extra money (even though they have not refunded anything) and get you to send them thousands of pounds through gift cards or money transfers. They probably also take your bank account details to steal more from you as well.

Of course i just wasted his time for as long as i could until he gave up. I really think the British government needs to put more pressure on the Indian to crack down on these scams. Whenever you get a scam phone call it is from India 99.99% of the time.

 

[PeterY]

Of course i just wasted his time for as long as i could until he gave up. I really think the British government needs to put more pressure on the Indian to crack down on these scams. Whenever you get a scam phone call it is from India 99.99% of the time.

I feel the same and not just the UK government, but governments worldwide need to put pressure onto the Indian government but sadly they're corrupt as well and no doubt take a "backhander" from the scam call centres. Nigeria is another country bad for scams.

 

[John Webb]

Got an email purportedly from my bank saying I needed to update my security details to enable them to protect me from fraud. Alarm bells rang immediately, especially the bit that said “your account ending in xxxx” as those four numbers bore no relation to my actual account number. Email duly binned.

Same here. E-mail source obviously nothing to do with my bank. I forwarded the email to phishing@[my bank] and then deleted it from both the inbox and the trash bin to ensure it's well and truely gone.

 

[busestrains]

I feel the same and not just the UK government, but governments worldwide need to put pressure onto the Indian government but sadly they're corrupt as well and no doubt take a "backhander" from the scam call centres. Nigeria is another country bad for scams.

India and Nigeria are the scam capitals of the world. The difference is that India normally does scam calls (eg, Microsoft, Norton, Amazon, Apple, Ebay, Paypal, tech support scam, HMRC tax scam, grant scam, refund scam, etc) where as Nigeria normally does scam emails and websites (advance fee scam, romance scam, bitcoin scam, money flipping scam, fake cheque scam, fake rental scam, fake pet scam, inheritance scam, lottery scam, etc) so both countries are notorious for scams. Probably around 90% of the scams around the world come from these two countries.

Also the police in both India and Nigeria are very corrupt so it is quite easy for the scammers to get away with it. But i am sure if the British government and all other governments worldwide put pressure on the Indian government and Nigerian government then maybe something could be done. UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, are all targeted by these scammers. But nobody seems to be taking any action. People keep getting scammed every day.

 

[swt_passenger]

India and Nigeria are the scam capitals of the world. The difference is that India normally does scam calls (eg, Microsoft, Norton, Amazon, Apple, Ebay, Paypal, tech support scam, HMRC tax scam, grant scam, refund scam, etc) where as Nigeria normally does scam emails and websites (advance fee scam, romance scam, bitcoin scam, money flipping scam, fake cheque scam, fake rental scam, fake pet scam, inheritance scam, lottery scam, etc) so both countries are notorious for scams. Probably around 90% of the scams around the world come from these two countries.

Also the police in both India and Nigeria are very corrupt so it is quite easy for the scammers to get away with it. But i am sure if the British government and all other governments worldwide put pressure on the Indian government and Nigerian government then maybe something could be done. UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, are all targeted by these scammers. But nobody seems to be taking any action. People keep getting scammed every day.

If only there was away to divert all the calls from India to people in Nigeria, and vice versa.

 

[GusB]

Twice in the past few days we've received texts from a mobile phone number purporting to be from the government telling us that we're entitled to £400 energy support and we should click on the accompanying link. Indications that it's a scam are that the government is unlikely to be texting people from a mobile and the link is not to gov.uk , though it does include "gov". The cleverness about this is that if people don't know that they'll get the $00 automatically through the energy bills, and they are already short of money, this apparent opportunity to get at the £400 may fool them.

I received a text like this last week. The link given is https://apply-gov-uk.com/ and when I clicked on it a few minutes ago, it took me to a site that could quite easily pass for the real thing.

Interestingly enough, having tried it again, I'm now getting a 404 error. Maybe they've been rumbled.