Religion and Ethics Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Sebastian Toe on February 03, 2021, 05:22:23 PM
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Just received an automated call, suggesting that my NI number has been "compromised", press 1 to speak to find out more.
Obviously a scam.
Seemingly these are becoming quite prevalent.
It is a very common and lucrative scam in the USA.
I normally engage the bastards in order to waste their time.
Too busy on this occasion.
Anyway, be warned if you get similar call.
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Moderator Sticky-ing this topic as noted these are very common, and people can add any new ones they know of.
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We've had a few recently purporting to be from Amazon, saying that something has been charged to our account that costs £1,000+ and that to discuss press '1'.
Sometimes I do, play along for a minute and then tell them to fuck off.
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We keep getting spam calls saying they are about to cut off my landline service! I just put the phone straight down on them never engaging them in conversation.
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In general, banks, paypal, phone companies, etc. will address you by name in an email. If they only use your email address, eg "Dear bongo@yahoo.co.uk", it's almost certainly a scam.
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I've had several scam calls and where the number is not with held, I post it on this site with some comments: https://who-called.co.uk/
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My mobile telephone contract is with Tesco. The network used by Tesco is O2.
Yesterday I received a text, ostensibly from O2 telling me that there is a problem with my billing arrangements and that as from today my "bundle" will be cancelled and requesting that I go to 02billingcentres.co.uk. I tried that but was immediately presented with a warning message.
I shall go to Tesco later today to see if hey can provide me with any further information.
Confirmation
It is a scam.
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My mobile telephone contract is with Tesco. The network used by Tesco is O2.
Yesterday I received a text, ostensibly from O2 telling me that there is a problem with my billing arrangements and that as from today my "bundle" will be cancelled and requesting that I go to 02billingcentres.co.uk. I tried that but was immediately presented with a warning message.
I shall go to Tesco later today to see if hey can provide me with any further information.
Confirmation
It is a scam.
Yup.
A textbook example of an SMS phishing (smishing) scam where fraudsters will send out fraudulent links in the hope that a customer clicks and enters personal details!
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Just received an automated call, suggesting that my NI number has been "compromised", press 1 to speak to find out more.
Obviously a scam.
Seemingly these are becoming quite prevalent.
It is a very common and lucrative scam in the USA.
I normally engage the bastards in order to waste their time.
Too busy on this occasion.
Anyway, be warned if you get a similar call.
Had the same one ten minutes ago!
Owlswing
)O(
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Two scam calls today: one an automatic message from Amazon to say they will be deducting money ... but since I am only on Amazon as one of my son's five, I just put the phone down as usual. the second was a person saying something about a protection policy I'd taken out last year, so I just said, 'Rubbish!!' and put the phone down.
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I had a call earlier today from this number, 02086975683, stating that my debit card had been used to extract £600 from my account. I immediately put the phone down suspecting it to be a scam. I checked my account and all is as it should be.
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Just had one telling me that my Sky Sports payment couldn't be processed, and asking me to "Press 1" to resolve the problem.
Needless to say, I don't have Sky Sports.
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I had a brilliant one the other day, while sitting in the Tesco car park in Milngavie waiting for Mrs G: the message said that a warrant had been issued for my arrest by HMRC and that I should press '1' to discuss: so I pressed '1' and when a someone came on the line I told them to fuck off (which is my standard response to spam calls) and ended the call.
I used to keep them on the line so as to waste their time - but I can't be bothered with that any more.
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On Thursday, my meanderings through cyberspace were interrupted by a couple of electronic gong sounds. I was immediately presented – on screen – by a notice apparently from Microsoft together with a feminine voice, with an American accent, both giving me warning messages.
The notice was well presented, it contained no spelling or grammatical errors and looked ... err ... professional.
The pop-up visual and verbal messages both told me that my computer had been infected with a malicious agent and instructed me to telephone Microsoft at a London (020) telephone number. The message stated that my computer had been locked so that no further access was possible. It also warned me not to switch my computer off since doing so would result in permanent damage to my computer but to telephone Microsoft for assistance.
My immediate reaction was to consider that my computer would be protected from attack by the McAfee total protection package which I had installed in October and I therefore switched the computer off by pressing the power switch for five seconds. I waited a few minutes, switched the computer on and it booted booted normally. I used my McAfee program to do a security and safety check and it found nothing of any consequence.
I did an internet search based on the messages that I had received and learned that this was indeed a malicious message and that Microsoft will not ask people to telephone them. Any telephone conversation would be an opportunity for the harvesting of information from my computer – I would be given instructions on how to eradicate the “malicious software” but this “eradication” would actually be installing malware which would be used, presumably, to investigate my bank accounts.
Something to be concerned about. I did wonder whether it was the use of this forum which permitted this notice to appear. I am constantly warned that access to the Religion and Ethics Forum is not secure.
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On Thursday, my meanderings through cyberspace were interrupted by a couple of electronic gong sounds. I was immediately presented – on screen – by a notice apparently from Microsoft together with a feminine voice, with an American accent, both giving me warning messages.
The notice was well presented, it contained no spelling or grammatical errors and looked ... err ... professional.
The pop-up visual and verbal messages both told me that my computer had been infected with a malicious agent and instructed me to telephone Microsoft at a London (020) telephone number. The message stated that my computer had been locked so that no further access was possible. It also warned me not to switch my computer off since doing so would result in permanent damage to my computer but to telephone Microsoft for assistance.
My immediate reaction was to consider that my computer would be protected from attack by the McAfee total protection package which I had installed in October and I therefore switched the computer off by pressing the power switch for five seconds. I waited a few minutes, switched the computer on and it booted booted normally. I used my McAfee program to do a security and safety check and it found nothing of any consequence.
I did an internet search based on the messages that I had received and learned that this was indeed a malicious message and that Microsoft will not ask people to telephone them. Any telephone conversation would be an opportunity for the harvesting of information from my computer – I would be given instructions on how to eradicate the “malicious software” but this “eradication” would actually be installing malware which would be used, presumably, to investigate my bank accounts.
Something to be concerned about. I did wonder whether it was the use of this forum which permitted this notice to appear. I am constantly warned that access to the Religion and Ethics Forum is not secure.
No, but see here
http://www.religionethics.co.uk/index.php?topic=17537.0
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I have in the past had similar notifications pop up as you have described HH.
Mine was triggered by going down one of the countless pathways presented to you when on commercial websites. As this happened several times I identified one of those stupid "20 photos just before death" type sites as being the cause. Forgotten the exact name of website now.
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Thank you for that reminder, NS. I shall follow its advice (as, indeed, I do now).
To the best of my recollection, I may have been in Facebook when the "warning" appeared.
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I had a phone call from a woman in Kent just now. She had phoned to ask if I had called her, so I said no, I hadn't. The phone call had started with 'This is your bank.' so she had rung off, but using 1471 she had been told the num ber that called her was mine. Well, we had a short interesting chat, but I wonder how that would have worked. How would my phone number have got into the picture?
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SD
I wasn't aware of this but it can happen. It is called "number spoofing"
This article from Ofcom explains it in more detail:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/scams/phone-spoof-scam
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SD
I wasn't aware of this but it can happen. It is called "number spoofing"
This article from Ofcom explains it in more detail:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/scams/phone-spoof-scam
Many thanks, TV, I've just read it ... and phoned the woman too to tell her about it.
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This is a useful site if you receive suspicious calls .... https://who-called.co.uk/
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I am currently at my maison secondaire in south west France.
For various reasons, I decided that I needed a mobile phone which would be used exclusively in France. I was given an unused phone by a friend and today acquired a new SIM card for it - essentially a new mobile with a new - hitherto unused - telephone number.
Three hours after activating the SIM I received my first scam text message - telling me how to ensure that my parcel could be delivered. Is this a record?
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Wow!