Scams like these

[AustraliaPoochie]

If anyone wants to buy something online, anything:
Avoid a website called "Liam Market" even though the price of the item might be very low, whitgoods, etc, ovens etc.
So a family member needed one, something on that website was for $313.87, to be done by transfer by bank account, maybe that should have been a red flag.
But that is how we buy things online, don't we?
So, I do the transfer, to a Ms Vandemyle, who turns outs, supposed to be a real person who was employed by that company, but she did a bunk, ie, ran off.
The gall of the "manager" or whoever, s/he dares to email me back, asking if I want the job, """keep 10% of the sales, and send the rest off to crypto""", as if I would do that.
S/he also wanted my driving licence to be their "patsy", even if it was a legit company, you would not ask any tom/dick/harry/sara/sarah or karent to be your "accounts person/accountant" to handle "sales".
I had made the osko bank transfer, yes, dumb of me, but I needed the item.
Have contacted my parent's bank, and made a SAPOL police report.
About the person who did the bunk, that person who replied to my email, said "s/he" had a very good deal, "can we chat by email or Im", I am not going into im a stranger.
Who replies to emails at 2.50/3.50am Aust time, except either Africa or India.
The person I transferred the funds to was at NAB, maybe that was a money mule, and she got nabbed.
Had a google search, and there was a very young Ms Vandermyle who got nabbed for something, but she was only 19 or so, in the news, and her job was never mentioned.
===
Liam Market is supposedly in Melbourne, but who knows for real what that set up is.
The goods on their website are well laid out, and looks realistic, like God****, etc.
"Free Auspost shipping" on a very heavy 4 burner electric cooktop, and oven combo.
===
Random number generators can work wonders, in the wrong hands.
Like for eg, some of these scammers can work out, that cards with 4 as a starting digit is visa, and I am sure they know 456* is which sort of card type, ...
Maybe they are schooled or tutored, or have to have a cert 4 in dark web scammering.
===
I keep getting calls from Melbourne too, blocked and deleted at least 10 in the past few days on the 2 mobiles I have.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

 

[Brissy1]

Just had interesting call from Virgin Money. They called twice around 2:00pm, then 4 times around 5:00 and 4 times today at 2:00pm. Private number. Wasn’t going to answer but answered just in case it was important.

They asked for my name but did not identify me. They said someone is trying to put a transaction through for $585 and they've been monitoring it. Finance.com is the merchant. They ate buying bitcoin. Is that me? Can I think how my card details were compromised.

He was being extremely helpful and friendly. He said they need to investigate and they will send me one time pin to read out to him. Do I look stupid? You called me from private number, didn't identify and now you are asking me for authentication.

I said that's fine, please cancel card and I will call back. No don't do that. I'm trying to help you. No you're not.

Hung up and called Virgin Money. No unauthorised transactions. Obviously a scam. Even the authentication SMS looks different to what I've ever seen.

So what is he phishing? Did they have my credit card? What was the point of the authentication? Strange indeed.

I think scammers would pick a more mainstream credit provider than Virgin Money if random scamming, so I think they've got some of your details, and phone number.
Maybe sending an OTP was just to gain your trust ( ) and give them credibility. I wonder what he was going to ask you to do next.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Could be money mule(ing)/your bank account is at risk, and we need to transfer your funds to a "safe" bank account, or access to laptop.
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Or maybe he "needs" your d/l photo and data for more "information" to "protect" your account.

 

[JohnK]

I think scammers would pick a more mainstream credit provider than Virgin Money if random scamming, so I think they've got some of your details, and phone number.
Maybe sending an OTP was just to gain your trust ( ) and give them credibility. I wonder what he was going to ask you to do next.

I'm not sure what he was going to ask next but he really wanted me to stay on the call. He must have thought he had me but I'm not that gullible and the way the call was progressing is not the way I'd expect a legitimate call to progress.

If someone has been trying to put charges through my card the first thing I'd expect a customer service agent to say is we have to cancel the card and issue a new card. He was more concerned trying to get me to read out a one time pin.

I suspect Afterpay is easily compromised. I had issues on this card in January right around the time a $600+ Afterpay transaction went through. We cancelled and got new card. Then both HSBC and ANZ Visa both compromised and both have Afterpay payments every now and then.

 

[JohnK]

Received 9 SMS this morning from Courierspls. Delivery coming from 9 different Kmart stores. Burpengary, Warwick etc. Alarm bells right? Reported all 9 as spam.

Then about 2:00pm I get a call from a mobile number saying he was from Couriers Please and that he was delivering my package. What package? I haven't ordered anything. He asks if I specified delivery to a shopping centre. What? So I said "Listen here and stop these stupid scams and get a real job" and hung up.

I don't think he'll take my advice. These scamming attempts are really starting to annoy me.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

If someone has been trying to put charges through my card the first thing I'd expect a customer service agent to say is we have to cancel the card

But, see, that is what the scammers already do now.
They phone people up, and tell them this, I would expect/say/summise, that is the case of the "visa and mastercard service center calls" are all about.
Unless they say, we advise you go to your local nearest bank branch, and they will confirm it... which the scammers never say.
They will try to convince you to "move" your funds, to "safe" account, or crypto, or "issue" a new card, or issue you a "new" bank account, either with them, or with another bank, and then they will then move the funds offshore or to a crypto account.
As for the courier one, maybe that is info gathering, but who knows.
To sum up tho, its hilarious what some of these people will do to get info.
I had one Linkt sms to my mum's phone, blocked and deleted, I know its best to report it, but that is too troublesome, in her case, best just to stop the sms by blocking every spam.

 

[JohnK]

This is becoming extremely annoying.

I've got SMS from AusPost last Thursday. That's legitimate.

This morning at 6:35am I get another SMS from AusPost that my parcel from Catch is arriving and they'll look for a safe place to leave it.

This morning at 7:12am another SMS from AusPost that I have an item to collect at TAILEM BEND LPO.

Hmmm.... Why can't I see the number that sent the SMS? So they are spoofing AusPost and that is all I see. How do I block the spam SMS without blocking the real AusPost?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

 

[Forg]

How do I block the spam SMS without blocking the real AusPost?

You probably can't, because if they'd bothered they could probably have made it look like it came from one of AusPost's numerous numbers.

I guess the closest you'll get is to block all numbers that you don't have in your 'phone book. Note that I don't know how to DO that, but think that's the only way you can do what you want. You'd miss real calls or SMS's from numbers you don't expect though, which kinda reduces the usefulness of your phone.

 

[prozac]

Hi, I am Eiile from Indeed Recruitment. If you don't mind,may I share our latest job offer with you?

Latest mobile text today. Reported to ACMA

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

What was the job?
Jobs?
Just as a matter of interest...
Keep 10% and send the rest to a bitcoin account?
Stuffing envelopes?
Cold calling?

 

[prozac]

What was the job?
Jobs?
Just as a matter of interest...
Keep 10% and send the rest to a bitcoin account?
Stuffing envelopes?
Cold calling?

There is no job. Employment scams are about getting a payment from you, or harvesting your details.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Yeah, I know, in the end, there is no job.
But what I was asking, more so, what did it say, as in, what sort of "job" was there.
As for mine, in that Liam Market one above, it was being the "accountant" or money handler, or money mule for that "business".
Yes, on behalf of my mum, I fell for the "scam", #1 in that I sent the lady the money, for the item on sale on that website.
And of course, the oven never comes, $313.87 for an electric 4 cooker top, with oven.
And Goodguys are selling it for $650 or so, and that one was delivered, next day +++.
Keep 10% of all "sales", and send the rest to cyrpto.
So, the job, would be the continuation of being a money mule.
But seriously, who/what company "in their right mind" would do something like that, the replier of the email, even dared to say, "I have a preposition that could be beneficial to both of us".
Ie, offer the "job" of finance to a numpty like me, sight unseen.
So, if I had gone on and joined them, any money that came my way, I would be the one the banks and the AFP would come chasing after..
They wanted my "driving licence" as id.

 

[mel-world]

Am I getting too cautious? Having retired, we are always being advised to be extra vigilant regarding texts, emails and even WhatsApp messages containing links.

That's fine; but nearly every place I visit to stay or eat or companies I travel with and even everyone I deal with on the phone will inevitable send me a 'customer satisfaction survey' containing a link. (I call them 'customer annoyance surveys' so can happily ignore them). Yesterday, I got a no-reply SMS from a health provider (but via a different organisation) about a recent injection and even that had a link to a site that I did not recognise.

If you don't do the survey or click the link, you can be sure to get one or more follow-up emails or txts.

I'm ignoring everything. My block list is getting longer and longer. So much so that I, at times, miss genuine calls.

Too cautious?

 

[TheRealTMA]

Am I getting too cautious? Having retired, we are always being advised to be extra vigilant regarding texts, emails and even WhatsApp messages containing links.

That's fine; but nearly every place I visit to stay or eat or companies I travel with and even everyone I deal with on the phone will inevitable send me a 'customer satisfaction survey' containing a link. (I call them 'customer annoyance surveys' so can happily ignore them). Yesterday, I got a no-reply SMS from a health provider (but via a different organisation) about a recent injection and even that had a link to a site that I did not recognise.

If you don't do the survey or click the link, you can be sure to get one or more follow-up emails or txts.

I'm ignoring everything. My block list is getting longer and longer. So much so that I, at times, miss genuine calls.

Too cautious?

No, one can never be too cautious. If you wish, find the url, check it’s legit and type it into your browser with AV protection. Surveys? Only bother if they pay you!

 

[prozac]

Am I getting too cautious? Having retired, we are always being advised to be extra vigilant regarding texts, emails and even WhatsApp messages containing links.

That's fine; but nearly every place I visit to stay or eat or companies I travel with and even everyone I deal with on the phone will inevitable send me a 'customer satisfaction survey' containing a link. (I call them 'customer annoyance surveys' so can happily ignore them). Yesterday, I got a no-reply SMS from a health provider (but via a different organisation) about a recent injection and even that had a link to a site that I did not recognise.

If you don't do the survey or click the link, you can be sure to get one or more follow-up emails or txts.

I'm ignoring everything. My block list is getting longer and longer. So much so that I, at times, miss genuine calls.

Too cautious?

Not at all. If it has a link, ignore it, or report it. Press lightly on the text, select Forward and send to ACMA REPORT SPAM (how I have saved to my contacts) on 0429 999 888. Press the green arrow to send.
Now you can block and delete the message.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Not to mention too, a lot of the times, the org that sends you the survey,
a.is not the same as the service provider you used, ie, the hotel/car hire/others have on provided your email address, so sometimes, its hard to remember, who it is that is sending the survey.
b.that place that has sent the survey, now, will see it as their right to keep sending you emails on things they "feel might of interest to you", and you have to "unsubscribe". Might or might not work, officially they have to take you off contact list, but see below,
c.you stop getting mail from survey co a, but they then have the gall to onsell you to the next business.
Charities are like this, in Aust, they have the right to on sell and also trade data.
Unless you contact them to stop.
I must have sent 15 Aust charities to stop over the past few years, these are charities I do not donate to, but they have got/bought my data.

 

[Forg]

Charities have the infrastructure to obtain your details, but don’t necessarily have anyone employed to delete it … when nobody forces them to, why would they spend that money?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

And then they then onsell, and make even more $.
Crooked.