Phishing Scams

[Welshman]

Just a warning that I have received two emails in the last month purporting to come from the Inland Revenue informing me that I will receive a tax rebate on supplying personal details by return of email.
The first was for £900 or so and the second for £700! I informed HMRC and deleted them without opening them and ran a full virus check on my laptop.

I know you are on the lookout for such scams, but these did seem extremely genuine, so don't be fooled in a moment of weakness. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

In reply, HMRC thanked me, confirmed they were scams, and reminded me they never send out details of rebates by email.

So, please just be wary.

 

[Cowley]

When I saw the thread title I instantly thought of a text I received from the Inland Revenue a few years ago.
Unfortunately I was a bit stupid and fell for it (feeling embarrassed even admitting it, but it’s always best to be honest), it was for about £500 and being just after Christmas the money would have been very useful...
My bank rang me half an hour later because they’d picked up that it was dodgy. They thankfully stopped it and I didn’t lose any money.
I like to think that I’m less naive now.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I generally pass any scam mails I get on to the action Fraud e-mail address.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Cowley - I wouldn't be embarrased about it, there are some scams that are blatantly obvious but some like that can seem very genuine especially when it's £500 rather than the usual £1,000's scammers offer.

Don't know about anyone else but I got a missed call from 'Inland Revenue' and left a voicemail, which was a dodgy robot voice that couldn't string a simple sentance together, and noted that had something on my file and owed money or I'll face court. Quite scary at first as I was still deciding if it was real, but then it said my house was under surveillance and immediately knew this was just a load of rubbish (to put it politely!)

If it was real I'd at least recieve a letter. I can see how some can fall into that trap though by being frightened with threats

 

[Geezertronic]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...bogus-contact-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples

...
We’ll never send notifications of a tax rebate or refund by email, or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email. Don’t visit the website within the email or disclose any personal or payment information
...

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Just a warning that I have received two emails in the last month purporting to come from the Inland Revenue informing me that I will receive a tax rebate on supplying personal details by return of email.
The first was for £900 or so and the second for £700! I informed HMRC and deleted them without opening them and ran a full virus check on my laptop.

I know you are on the lookout for such scams, but these did seem extremely genuine, so don't be fooled in a moment of weakness. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

In reply, HMRC thanked me, confirmed they were scams, and reminded me they never send out details of rebates by email.

So, please just be wary.

Yep good advice. I recall having an email like that a few months ago, and obviously deleted it.

Slightly nitpicking point, but I don't think merely receiving a scam email by itself gives any particular reason to run a virus scan: All that receiving it shows is that your email address has made it onto some scammer's list of emails - and I suspect that's probably the case for most of us, and there's nothing that can be done to fix that. Receiving an email is not evidence of there being anything amiss on your computer. Obviously if you actually clicked on a link in a scam email, then running a full virus scan on the computer you clicked from would be a very good idea, because the act of clicking on the link may well cause your computer to be infected with something. (And in general, running regular scans is always good anyway, and it's always better to be safe if you're at all unsure).

 

[Darandio]

Yep good advice. I recall having an email like that a few months ago, and obviously deleted it.

Slightly nitpicking point, but I don't think merely receiving a scam email by itself gives any particular reason to run a virus scan: All that receiving it shows is that your email address has made it onto some scammer's list of emails - and I suspect that's probably the case for most of us, and there's nothing that can be done to fix that. Receiving an email is not evidence of there being anything amiss on your computer. Obviously if you actually clicked on a link in a scam email, then running a full virus scan on the computer you clicked from would be a very good idea, because the act of clicking on the link may well cause your computer to be infected with something. (And in general, running regular scans is always good anyway, and it's always better to be safe if you're at all unsure).

Indeed. They are getting much cleverer in terms of finding ways to infect your computer, but merely receiving an email isn't one of them.

 

[Welshman]

Yep good advice. I recall having an email like that a few months ago, and obviously deleted it.

Slightly nitpicking point, but I don't think merely receiving a scam email by itself gives any particular reason to run a virus scan: All that receiving it shows is that your email address has made it onto some scammer's list of emails - and I suspect that's probably the case for most of us, and there's nothing that can be done to fix that. Receiving an email is not evidence of there being anything amiss on your computer. Obviously if you actually clicked on a link in a scam email, then running a full virus scan on the computer you clicked from would be a very good idea, because the act of clicking on the link may well cause your computer to be infected with something. (And in general, running regular scans is always good anyway, and it's always better to be safe if you're at all unsure).

I hear what you are saying.
However, not being too familiar with the scam, I thought a "belt and braces" approach would do no harm.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I hear what you are saying.
However, not being too familiar with the scam, I thought a "belt and braces" approach would do no harm.

Indeed. And other than slowing down your computer for - maybe up to a couple of hours, depending how many files you have on it and how fast your hard drive is (Several hours for me), and perhaps putting a not-very-significant small bit of extra wear on it - there is indeed no harm in running a virus check if you're not sure.

Certainly massively better to run a virus check when you don't need to than to not run one when you did need to!

 

[PeterC]

It is always good to run regular virus checks anyway

Don't know about anyone else but I got a missed call from 'Inland Revenue' and left a voicemail, which was a dodgy robot voice that couldn't string a simple sentance together, and noted that had something on my file and owed money or I'll face court. Quite scary at first as I was still deciding if it was real, but then it said my house was under surveillance and immediately knew this was just a load of rubbish (to put it politely!)

If it was real I'd at least recieve a letter. I can see how some can fall into that trap though by being frightened with threats

Phone calls are far more worrying. I know to just put the phone down, or simply not answer it if the number shows up as "unavailable". On the other hand my late mother, still in a mindset that anything other than a local call was hopelessly expensive, always assumed that these people were local and was afraid to hang up on them. I never could persuade her otherwise however many times I told her to just put the phone down.

 

[341o2]

I had a missed call yesterday, on returning the call there was a non robotic message from "Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. You are the principal suspect in a lawsuit and your house is under survelliance. You are advised to return this call immediately"

sent from an 0208 number, after initial panic, thought, if I was indeed under surveillance, why tell me?
HMRC have advised me to report this, hope this post does something to stop these scammers targeting the elderly and vunurable

 

[northwichcat]

I got a text message claiming to be from HMRC telling me to go to a .com address to claim my income tax refund. I found out who the domain was registered with and informed them what the domain was being used for and they decided to deactivate the domain. Strangely at the time I was eligible for an income tax refund but I think it was just coincide that the scammers guessed or got hold of my mobile number.

 

[northwichcat]

purporting to come from the Inland Revenue

Well that's a giveaway. Inland Revenue became defunct in 2005, there will probably be many people working now who have never heard of Inland Revenue.

 

[Lucan]

Phone calls are far more worrying. I know to just put the phone down, or simply not answer it if the number shows up as "unavailable".

I welcome them, and string them along. I run Linux on my PC and am ready to boot a copy of Windows XP, with some false data in it, within a virtual machine [VM]. I have had calls from guys with Indian accents claiming to be from "Windows" and that I have a virus, so I boot the VM and leave them to play in it as much as they want. They cannot accesss outside of the VM, and cannot detect that they are in one. Afterwards I restore the Windows copy to its previous state - that is all I use it for.

With plain phone calls (I'm sick of the PPI ones) I let them finish their spiel and then ask them to repeat everything loud and slowly "because I'm deaf". Then without hanging up FTTB I leave them to it.

In fact "scam baiting" is taken to far greater heights by some. Search YouTube for some spectacular examples. What I do is very basic.

 

[Strat-tastic]

I tell them about the good news of Jesus Christ

 

[WelshBluebird]

I've certainly noticed some of them become much more realistic in the last few years. Can certainly see how some people fall for them.

I welcome them, and string them along. I run Linux on my PC and am ready to boot a copy of Windows XP, with some false data in it, within a virtual machine [VM]. I have had calls from guys with Indian accents claiming to be from "Windows" and that I have a virus, so I boot the VM and leave them to play in it as much as they want. They cannot accesss outside of the VM, and cannot detect that they are in one. Afterwards I restore the Windows copy to its previous state - that is all I use it for.

I have a mac so one time when I got one of those calls (I was a student and had time to kill that day!) I played with them a bit. Things like "start menu? Whats that? I don't have one" etc. They ended up hanging up after 2 mins!

 

[lyndhurst25]

I opened a current account with the Midland bank over 25 years ago. In those days I didn't have a telephone and or email address so all they have on file is my postal address. Often when I visit a branch of what is now HSBC, they keep asking me what my telephone number and email address are. Is ask them why they want to know and the usual excuse is "so we can contact you in case there is a problem with your account". Seeing as that is the opening gambit of most telephone/text/email scammers, I still refuse to tell the bank my phone number or email address. I tell them that it's a security measure as that way I can be sure that anyone pretending to be from my bank who contacts me those methods is definitely an imposter (and can have fun leading them along too). And not once in all these years has there been a genuine problem with my account.

 

[Lucan]

Often when I visit a branch of what is now HSBC, they keep asking me what my telephone number and email address are.

Every three months for the last 5 years I have got a letter from HSBC (got one today in fact) thanking me for "going paperless" but that they needed my email address to complete the process. In fact, although I use on-line banking, I have never asked to go paperless and have no intention of giving them my email address. Two years ago I phoned HSBC asking them to stop sending these letters and got a cock-and-bull explanation of why they could not. They also said they wanted my email address for "important notifications" but I said they could use their own web-site message system for that - again they gave some Byzantine "logic" of why they could not do that.

I shall never give them my email address as not having it seems to be the only thing that stops them making me go paperless, in which I see no advantage whatsoever.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I tell them about the good news of Jesus Christ

lol!

And wow - some of you guys must have so much time to spare. Whenever I get an unwanted phone call, the instant I realise what the call is, it's "Sorry I'm not interested" followed by an immediate hanging up, and then a few seconds on my phone blocking that number. Much as I'm sure it'd be fun to wind them up, there aren't enough hours in the day. And losing X minutes of my time for X minutes of some stranger's time doesn't sound a good deal to me...

 

[GusB]

I welcome them, and string them along. I run Linux on my PC and am ready to boot a copy of Windows XP, with some false data in it, within a virtual machine [VM]. I have had calls from guys with Indian accents claiming to be from "Windows" and that I have a virus, so I boot the VM and leave them to play in it as much as they want. They cannot accesss outside of the VM, and cannot detect that they are in one. Afterwards I restore the Windows copy to its previous state - that is all I use it for.

I've only ever had one Windows scam call. I was also running a version of Linux at the time, and I knew right away it wasn't a genuine call. I had the caller try to explain where the windows key was (at the time the keyboard didn't have one), and he got more infuriated when I couldn't find the "Start" button in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen (when I do run Windows, I always have my Windows taskbar at the top of the screen). In the end he realised that I'd cottoned on and screamed a few expletives at me before hanging up. It was a good half hour that he wasn't able to scam anyone else, and I had lots of fun winding him up in the process.

I do live in fear of these guys calling up my parents, though. My mum refuses outright to use online banking because she doesn't trust the internet at all. She's not tech-savvy in the slightest, but I do worry that she would be taken in by someone purporting to be from Microsoft. My dad is a bit more comfortable with it all, and probably less likely to be taken in, but I do still worry.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

My mum refuses outright to use online banking because she doesn't trust the internet at all. She's not tech-savvy in the slightest.

Good for her. My good lady wife and I, both in our 70s, point blank to have nothing to do with internet banking, as the banks themselves cannot guarantee any criminal activity will never ensue.

Incidentally, we use the free-of-charge BT Call Protect 1572 system that sends any repeat scam calls direct to a voice-mail junk box.

 

[GusB]

Internet banking is no more risky than going to an ATM and putting your card in. I pro-actively cancelled my bank card after reading in the local rag that our local Tesco had been targeted by people with card-skimming devices, and I knew that I'd used my card there during the period of time that was reported.

I had a tablet before I obtained my first smart-phone, and it's so much easier to perform tasks like funds transfers online. I'm paid directly into a savings account and I transfer a small amount into my "working" account every now and again in order to cover my day-to-day expenditure. Occasionally I'll find myself needing to transfer additional funds (unexpected night out, for example), and not having to wait half an hour to get through to a call centre at a time when they're lightly staffed is a godsend. Sadly, the bank have realised this, and will be axeing their 24-hour telephone banking service soon as a result.

 

[Cowley]

Internet banking is no more risky than going to an ATM and putting your card in. I pro-actively cancelled my bank card after reading in the local rag that our local Tesco had been targeted by people with card-skimming devices, and I knew that I'd used my card there during the period of time that was reported.

I had a tablet before I obtained my first smart-phone, and it's so much easier to perform tasks like funds transfers online. I'm paid directly into a savings account and I transfer a small amount into my "working" account every now and again in order to cover my day-to-day expenditure. Occasionally I'll find myself needing to transfer additional funds (unexpected night out, for example), and not having to wait half an hour to get through to a call centre at a time when they're lightly staffed is a godsend. Sadly, the bank have realised this, and will be axeing their 24-hour telephone banking service soon as a result.

If I give you my bank details can you lend me a fiver Gus?

I was listening to a podcast today with a couple of comedians on and one of them said that when someone rang them and asked if they’d been in an accident that wasn’t her fault she said “Yes. It wiped out my entire family.”
Apparently the phone just went dead...
I then got an identical phone call half an hour later, but I didn’t want to do the same and tempt fate so I just cut the call.

 

[GusB]

I've had a couple of text messages referring to "my recent accident". I do wonder where they get their data from - I've certainly never had an accident in my life. Unless you count a minor bump with a lamp-post whilst parking - not long after I'd passed my test. It was the Fiesta that got the raw deal, and even then it was only a slight dent in the bumper. Hardly anyone had mobile phones then, never mind internet access.

If I give you my bank details can you lend me a fiver Gus?

I'll deposit that fiver only when you reveal the number of the secret deposit box in that Swiss bank.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Internet banking is no more risky than going to an ATM and putting your card in.

I am sure that the globalised criminal elements will be absolutely delighted to hear what you say. It is said that they are always keen users of the talents of computer expertise in a global perspective in order to keep one "new" step ahead of the banks.

 

[PeterC]

I've had a couple of text messages referring to "my recent accident". I do wonder where they get their data from - I've certainly never had an accident in my life. Unless you count a minor bump with a lamp-post whilst parking - not long after I'd passed my test. It was the Fiesta that got the raw deal, and even then it was only a slight dent in the bumper. Hardly anyone had mobile phones then, never mind internet access.

.

I had the same thing when somebody reversed into my parked car. They kept calling, practically begging me to make a personal injury claim despite being told that the car was unattended at the time.

 

[bb21]

It is great fun pretending you don't speak much English but were very keen on hearing them out, accompanied by a string of "ooh", "ahhh", "hmm", "umm", and various other generic noises one can make.

 

[BlueFox]

I've had a couple of text messages referring to "my recent accident". I do wonder where they get their data from

They don't get data about accidents. They use automated systems to phone or text as many people as possible, knowing that some of them will have had an accident. A lot of the phone calls use a pretty realistic automated voice, and only when you confirm you've had an accident will you get through to a real person.
The last person to call me came from a Manchester number, but was obviously actually in India, and he had a very Indian accident. He said his name is Eric.

 

[Cowley]

They don't get data about accidents. They use automated systems to phone or text as many people as possible, knowing that some of them will have had an accident. A lot of the phone calls use a pretty realistic automated voice, and only when you confirm you've had an accident will you get through to a real person.
The last person to call me came from a Manchester number, but was obviously actually in India, and he had a very Indian accident. He said his name is Eric.

I seem to be getting quite a few this week. As you say the voices are quite convincing. I said ‘Needle nardle noo’ to one today and it just hesitated and then carried on so I put the phone down.

 

[Lucan]

You can always automate your response to cold callers with "This is Lenny". Needs some setting up though :-