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Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Lizzie_Zoom on 01 October 2014, 16:06:14

Title: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: Lizzie_Zoom on 01 October 2014, 16:06:14
Kent Police have asked us to communicate to the community the following as a warning on a current national scam that is producing a high volume of complaints:

"The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) has recently received a high volume of reports about emails purporting to be an invoice or details of a transaction which has taken place.

The specific wording of the email is new and convincing. It contains details of a fake order which appears to have been sent by a legitimate company (the email address of this company is spoofed).

The payment method is always described as having taken place by credit card, with details of a fake transaction number.

The email will state you can find more detailed information on the purchase in the attached file, many people fall victim to opening the attachment because they cannot remember placing an order and wish to find out more. Opening this attachment may infect your computer with a virus.

The telephone numbers provided at the bottom of the email are not genuine and are often connected to people who have no knowledge of the email or that their number is being used.

An example of this is email is detailed below:

Thank you for using our services!
Your order #1190618185 will be shipped on 30.08.2014.
Date: August 27, 2014. 03:36pm
Price: £135.61
Payment method: Credit card
Transaction number: 43000F36A771
Please find the detailed information on your purchase in the attached file (order_2014-08-27_14-56-37_1190618185.zip)
Best regards,
Sales Department ******
Tel +07************

NFIB advice

The NFIB advises people to take the following steps to reduce the potential for falling victim to this type of virus:

Do not click on any attachments or links within emails unless you are sure you know who has sent them.
If you have not recently made an order with the company specified in the email do not open the attachment.
Check the legitimacy of the email with the company that supposedly sent it – find a telephone number for them independently from the email as the number provided may be fake or go straight to the suspect.
Ensure you have up-to-date anti-virus software and perform regular scans.
If you have opened the attachment be extra vigilant when logging on to online banking and consider having your machine checked by an expert.
Should you have any information or concerns on any fraud please ensure you contact Action Fraud, National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre on tel 0300 123 2040 or   www.actionfraud.police.uk. There may be vulnerable individuals who prefer to speak to ring the Police therefore they are still encouraged to call 101."

 
Please warn your family, friends and contacts of this, yet another example of many scams doing the rounds out there. Keep safe!

Lizzie

 :y :y
Title: Re: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: Tony H on 01 October 2014, 20:07:35
Thanks  for the "heads up" Lizzie I have had a lot of these e-mails got on to my credit card provider to  discover the charges where totally bogus, as said do not click on any links
Title: Re: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: Lizzie_Zoom on 01 October 2014, 20:17:44
Thanks  for the "heads up" Lizzie I have had a lot of these e-mails got on to my credit card provider to  discover the charges where totally bogus, as said do not click on any links

My pleasure Tony :y :y

I personally have had need to report a number of telephone scams to the Action Fraud line and as implied above throughout the country the authorities are aware of these growing internet/telephone scams that often target the vulnerable and old.

The more we all personally report these crimes the more the authorities can/will take the appropriate action against individuals and groups who operate from "boiler rooms"either within the UK or, as often the case, abroad.
Title: Re: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: Vamps on 01 October 2014, 21:53:30
It is a worry how good some of these are though, I get loads and just ignore, I have a number of threats to suspend accounts with banks etc that I do not have anything to do with.

payPal phishing email has exactly the same sender details as genuine ones, had me checking my account a couple of times, but not through any of their links..... ;) As does BT......I can see how some people may be taken in with some of these emails....... >:( >:(

I did get one recently about my house insurance, said to swmbo someone trying it on, as it was an auto renewal....... :y :y  Got a letter a few days later, my payment had not gone through, I forgot that I cancelled and replaced my debit card earlier in the year..... :-[ ::) rang them up and paid there and then...... :y :y
Title: Re: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: 05omegav6 on 01 October 2014, 21:55:02
Mother had one purportedly from BT regarding her standing order... fortunately, following her scare earlier this year, she was careful to double check with BT and didn't open the link. On closer inspection it also included a reference to Amazon :o

Presumably this would have been an easy way into the PC, her bank details, her BT account and her Amazon account all in one fell swoop >:(
Title: Re: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: aaronjb on 01 October 2014, 22:42:19
These have been floating around for 10 years or so by now.. and the chances of the police managing to do anything about massive organised crime that is predominantly run out of Russia, China and other closed systems is pretty much nil..
Title: Re: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: dbug on 02 October 2014, 00:18:42
Ensure your email server has decent anti virus and anti spam facilities - then they wont get to your inbox ;)

As said above - nothing new - been going for a few years now
Title: Re: Crime prevention advice - Warning of phishing email scams: fake payment amount -
Post by: 2boxerdogs on 02 October 2014, 15:00:33
Had one yesterday ,supposed to be from BT saying my direct debit had failed to go through, complete nonsense , quick check on line showed everything was ok.