Scams like these

[Forg]

All the Borg like the same things.

I dunno, even in the place you’re referring to (CCP Land) I observe differing preferences …

 

[Saab34]

At the moment I’m getting at least three overdue toll invoices all at 2-3am. My phone permanently lives on do not disturb most of the time now.

 

[moa999]

Had a strange SMS overnight

"Hi Joe,
Would love to talk about my Mortgage.
Rgds Chris

PS if this isn’t the friendly mortgage advisor can you please let me know."

Not sure of the angle but not responding - no-one would have that PS on a message normally.
Somewhat of a premium number with a x00 ending.

Number seems to have had a high number of lookups on numberlookup website as well so suspect the SMS went out to a lot of people.

 

[JohnK]

I dunno, even in the place you’re referring to (CCP Land) I observe differing preferences …

I was actually referring to science fantasy but I find the people from 2 of the biggest nations on Earth to be very drone like both in behaviour and thought patterns. They both have an extremely overrated opinion of themselves and their beliefs.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Had a strange SMS overnight

"Hi Joe,
Would love to talk about my Mortgage.
Rgds Chris

PS if this isn’t the friendly mortgage advisor can you please let me know."

Not sure of the angle but not responding - no-one would have that PS on a message normally.
Somewhat of a premium number with a x00 ending.

Number seems to have had a high number of lookups on numberlookup website as well so suspect the SMS went out to a lot of people.

They probably want to glean who you are.
If you reply, I am not Joe/Chris, they would probably ask, your name and your phone #, and thus confirm the phone # is live, and can onsell you, onto linkt, ato, afp, etoro, etc.
Dont belief the # they are sms from, I had seen one, somehow, they were able to spoof the sender as "e-toro" or was it really "etoro" otv 5/6 digit code sent to my (older) mums phone, she does not trade shares.
===

I dunno, even in the place you’re referring to (CCP Land) I observe differing preferences …

Have had several "Nihaos..." of late.
Most likely the CCP "fake" overseas police are after me.
Or its the lead on from "we have kidnapped your child for ransom"... thing.

 

[moa999]

They probably want to glean who you are.
If you reply, I am not Joe/Chris, they would probably ask, your name and your phone #, and thus confirm the phone # is live, and can onsell you, onto linkt, ato, afp, etoro, etc.
Dont belief the # they are sms from,

Definitely the case for spoofed numbers for something with a link.

In this case however they seemingly want me to respond to the number.

I suspect it might have been surreptitious marketing and the conversation might have gone.
Me - Wrong number. Not Joe etc
Them - Ah sorry. Can't seem to contact them. Do you know a broker?
Me - No or no response.
Them - Actually just found a new broker.. Really good rates. Name and number is xx_.

 

[p--and--t]

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

These people have no fear.
Who ever is running this scam.
Linkt themselves are not helping either.
Neither is the Aus govt, or the telcos.
They leave it to us to block and delete.
Just found out, blocking itself on my smartphone, means it does not sound on the ring, ie, if the scammer sends an sms from that same number I have blocked, the Samsung does not sound, but the notification sms from my telco does sound on the phone.
So, in the end, blocking only works for part of the process.

 

[bashworth]

I run a facebook for a charity and at least once a week I get the following message from scammers pretending to be facebook.

Dear
Your account will be deactivated. This is because your page, or the activity on it, doesn't comply with our Terms of Service.
If you think the deactivation of this Account was a mistake, we can walk you through a few steps to request protection. You should complete these steps in just a few minutes to prevent your Account from being permanently deleted.
Please confirm your account here ◉ https://business.manager-metapro.com/meta-community-standard/103544183043902
If you are not confirmed, our system will block your account automatically and you will not be able to use it again. Thank you for helping us improve our service.
Terms of Service Team © 2024 Inc

 

[Forg]

These people have no fear.
Who ever is running this scam.
Linkt themselves are not helping either.
Neither is the Aus govt, or the telcos.
They leave it to us to block and delete.

I know this comment is a bit facetious because the elderly can’t necessarily cope … but given how easy it is to avoid being scammed, in many ways I’d prefer not to pay higher taxes & higher Telco charges, not to mention a reduction of everything I say & do being actively tracked by government, if I get an annoying scam message every few days.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Seriously, nothing can be done (it seeems) with all that fake linkt sms, ... got one at 1.23am thus morning.

 

[Happy Dude]

Not a scam per se, more a spam but I received this can of worms opener by email:

Dear Sirs/ Madam,

How are you.
May I ask what components are you lacking now? I hope to cooperate with you.

It turns out they're selling capacitors but I was a little excited that someone was finally going to listen. They'd better get comfortable......

 

[Duffa]

Another sucker on ABC news website wants me to reimburse him for sending $500,000 to a crypto website, at the behest of his Asian WhatsApp girlfriend whom he had never met.
When will this ever end??

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Yep, so, sooner or later they will get to your bank...
If not NAB, ANZ, WBC, CBA,...
They got to my banks name, was waiting for it.
I didnt click their link, of course not.
Also they wanted me to confirm my mobile phone #.
Reported on my phone #, blocked their ph # and deleted.
Pity no obebor nothing can stop this pshshing.
It was a non descript Aus mobile phone # which know can be spoofed.
That ACCC sub agency is doing nowt.

 

[Saab34]

My bank has recently been hit with fake direct debits so be mindful folks what you do with your bank details. I don’t recall ever giving them out so no idea how they got my details.

Was a nuisance as I’ve had to close that bank account and start another as my details have clearly been breached, luckily these days only click a few links and had a new savings account open on less than a minute.

Ramped up all the security on my accounts regardless including transfer limits, locked cards, amongst other things.

 

[p--and--t]

Interesting, I discovered a phishing voicemail (some BS about my $99 Amazon subscription) on my phone and checking my call records twigged that the incoming call had been intercepted and diverted by an app recommended to me to download recently.

The app is called Hiya and seems to be acting on group sourced info on spammers and intercepts calls from numbers reported by other app users. It also has a search and check and block number function.

 

[p--and--t]

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

My bank has recently been hit with fake direct debits so be mindful folks what you do with your bank details. I don’t recall ever giving them out so no idea how they got my details.

Was a nuisance as I’ve had to close that bank account and start another as my details have clearly been breached, luckily these days only click a few links and had a new savings account open on less than a minute.

Ramped up all the security on my accounts regardless including transfer limits, locked cards, amongst other things.

Probably they have bots working to try out all bsbs and account numbers.
If they put in parameters, bsb are only ever 6 digits, and bank accounts can be 5 digits to 9 digits, starting bsb from 0 to 9, 06 or 76 is commbank etc, sooner or later it will match.
Remember those sim boxes things those China Chinese guys were using in Sydney few weeks back who got nabbed...

 

[OATEK]

1043647c33597464372b283a2a2a272f2d3b3133243736353c346161636c7a6a63517d63606065797d6d34787370307e55

You probably won't like what you're about to read. I gained control of your devices, thanks to your predilection for cough sites. What that means to you is that I can see everything that happens on your screen and in front of your screen.

If you doubt it then don't read any further into this letter. I'm not wasting my time on you either and I'm just gonna post all this cough with you on every possible website and social networks and send it out to all your contacts.

I made a copy of your most interesting files. I also have the contact addresses you use most often. I have your browsing history. I have... everything I need.

At first I wanted to delete all content from your devices and forget about it. But I took a look at the sites that you regularly visit and I changed my mind. I'm talking about sites with all kinds of nasty stuff on them.

After a while, I had an idea. I took screenshots of website pages where you spend your time alone. Then I took screenshots of you satisfying yourself using the camera of one of your devices. (By the way, I had to wait for you to successfully to get in the camera lens.) But it was worth it and it will impress to all your acquaintances and regular people on the Internet.

To cut a long story short I'll make you a deal. You wire me the money and I'll delete all that cough about you and we'll forget about each other.

$1999 USD is fine with me. Although at first I wanted a larger amount.
Payment only in BTC to my wallet (without spaces): 18FCjTksFZ u6vgJwdN ipW2Jfbx QiENEjZ3

I'll give you two days from now to pay. I told you what happens if you don't pay, I don't give a cough, it's up to you. And don't hold a grudge. Everybody's got a job to do.

I almost forgot, you can see some pic and info about yourself here: xx_xx_x.com/file/ca7a57 (look right away, there's a time limit on file storage)

And one piece of advice from me for the future. Don't leave your phone unattended. Seriously think about it.

 

[Happy Dude]

^ Wife sat next to next to a young dude on a flight recently who mentioned that he was in "IT security". Apparently he's an independent contractor that hacks company websites, tells them about it and can fix the problem. It wasn't clear if he gets paid from step 1 or from a subsequent step, but I'd assume he has something more to his pitch than embarrassment.

Interestingly, when my firm was hacked and held for ransom a few years ago, there was a lot of similarities to this ^ ("this is just business, we'll part as friends" etc). It was a legit hack, not a bluff, and our fearless leaders didn't negotiate/pay up and we lost 30yrs of IP and several thousand consulting hours getting the new system up. Not a single sacking in IT management.