One born every minute

[Patsy]

I was once called (supposedly) by 02, my phone provider. It came up on the screen as being 02. He spoke about offering me a better deal which I was looking for. However I was in John Lewis at the time and obviously didn't want to deal with it then, I said call back later. However he was very insistent I should do it then and there, I wasn't comfortable about it and ended the call. I now know that cyber criminals can change the caller ID to another company's name, its called spoofing, to make you trust who you're speaking too. Didn't know that then.

Patsy, you sound pretty savvy with the VPM. I love the Microsoft story, we used to get loads of those calls when we had a landline. My mum, who was in her late 70s, knew they were a scam so she used to play the dotty old lady routine and annoy them so they put the phone down! And once I got an obviously scam call so I said "you'd better speak to my husband when he gets home, he's a chief inspector in the fraud squad". They put the phone down pretty quickly! As I'm not married it was a naughty lie.

Since O2 now is our provider after joining with Virgin I've had one or two calls supposed to be O2.
As soon as they say they are from O2 or wherever I stop them and ask them how they've got this number,they soon disconnect the call.
I've been well trained by hubby.

 

[Patsy]

Yes, hovering over the 'from' box is good. The password advice they gave is good, I use three random words with a number at the front and a symbol at the end. Generally, the longer the password the longer it will take to be hacked. And some people use the word 'Password' as their password! It's good to change important ones every few months.

The MAC make up story is interesting. Would be so easy to check if the party was genuine.

Yes 3 words that are random separated by number or symbol is a great tip.
We have Nord VPN and use Nord pass that stores any online accounts and it can,if you want,generate an encrypted password. Trouble is I don't know anyone who would remember the ones I've got.

 

[ianrobo111]

Since O2 now is our provider after joining with Virgin I've had one or two calls supposed to be O2.
As soon as they say they are from O2 or wherever I stop them and ask them how they've got this number,they soon disconnect the call.
I've been well trained by hubby.

good and they get your details because either the pampers have an inside person leaking details or they have got inside undiscovered so far. Either way O2 should answer how come you got contacted so recently after transferring. IS there a third party DB that tracks where numbers are and that got compromised ?

Is it O2 ?

 

[donna255]

Yes, hovering over the 'from' box is good. The password advice they gave is good, I use three random words with a number at the front and a symbol at the end. Generally, the longer the password the longer it will take to be hacked. And some people use the word 'Password' as their password! It's good to change important ones every few months.

The MAC make up story is interesting. Would be so easy to check if the party was genuine.

It is all done by word of mouth and Facebook. No one checks just see the name MAC and off they go and of course all fake. Liz Earle used to do parties which were real.

 

[Muttley]

but mine was complicated the usual mixture, I have no idea how it happened ... it said the login was was from Kent as well, though IP's can be spoofed. All fine since, no money came from any of the accounts but I work partly in network security ...

I tell my wife and daughter anything suspicious come to me straightaway and thats working well, daughter is nearly 18 and is tech savvy that way. Imagine parents with lower understanding or frankly dont care ?

Of course I find that BBC prog with ethical hackers to get these people immensely fascinating and satisfying ... presume something you either do or know about ?

I have seen that programmes, and know of the concept of ethical hackers. They're good because the hackers know all the tricks to look out for to try to prevent the scam in time. Where I work it's more concerned with very unethical hackers!

It's good that you're on the ball regarding safety. And any password can be hacked even complicated ones. Another thing is to not do those 'personality tests' on Facebook. They can often include personal info like mother's maiden name and first pet which are popular security questions. Also putting your whole life in the public domain on social media is not good because criminals learn too much about you which makes it easier to scam you.

I got a WhatsApp message saying "hey mum I dropped my phone down the toilet, here is my new phone number". You reply because you think it is one of your kids. Then they want money but paid into a different account. I answered "which one of my idiot children are you?" I got no reply. I knew it wasn't genuine because I have no children!

As for less tech savvy people, just questioning things and not assuming everything is genuine is a good start.

 

[Muttley]

Since O2 now is our provider after joining with Virgin I've had one or two calls supposed to be O2.
As soon as they say they are from O2 or wherever I stop them and ask them how they've got this number,they soon disconnect the call.
I've been well trained by hubby.

Yes, that's a good answer, I always use it too. I once had a cold call talking about compensation for an accident. I asked how they got my number, gave a load of legal crap about the data protection act and he transferred me to someone. The person I then spoke to was really aggressive, saying I'd been transferred as I said I'd had an accident. I repeated the usual rubbish and said he could be arrested (not true obviously). He was very rude and started shouting at me! I'd had my fun and ended the call.

 

[Toril]

I’m ex-directory so my phone rarely rings unless it’s someone to whom I’ve given the number. However, last week I had a phone call telling me that I was eligible for a grant to install solar panels. I’m guessing it was a random number generated call although there was a human on the end rather than an automated message. I let her waffle on for a while and when asked “are you interested in getting them?” I said “no.” She then asked why. I replied, “because I think solar panels are ugly.” She hung up.

I also had one from “Microsoft“ a few months ago. He told me that they’d detected a fault with my laptop and they wanted to help to fix it. I knew it was a scam but decided to play along with him. He asked me to turn my laptop on. (I left it in the case in the other room) After pretending to follow his instructions for about 15 minutes, I asked him if he actually knew what he was doing because nothing he was telling me to do was working. He insisted that his instructions were correct.

After another 5 minutes I was getting bored and so I asked him why he had rung me because I didn’t actually need his help to sort out a computer problem. He said, “why not, madam?” My reply? “Because I work in technology.”

He immediately put the phone down. I don’t work in technology, so that was a white lie. I was a teacher for 44 years so am used to talking to children.

 

[Muttley]

I’m ex-directory so my phone rarely rings unless it’s someone to whom I’ve given the number. However, last week I had a phone call telling me that I was eligible for a grant to install solar panels. I’m guessing it was a random number generated call although there was a human on the end rather than an automated message. I let her waffle on for a while and when asked “are you interested in getting them?” I said “no.” She then asked why. I replied, “because I think solar panels are ugly.” She hung up.

I also had one from “Microsoft“ a few months ago. He told me that they’d detected a fault with my laptop and they wanted to help to fix it. I knew it was a scam but decided to play along with him. He asked me to turn my laptop on. (I left it in the case in the other room) After pretending to follow his instructions for about 15 minutes, I asked him if he actually knew what he was doing because nothing he was telling me to do was working. He insisted that his instructions were correct.

After another 5 minutes I was getting bored and so I asked him why he had rung me because I didn’t actually need his help to sort out a computer problem. He said, “why not, madam?” My reply? “Because I work in technology.”

He immediately put the phone down. I don’t work in technology, so that was a white lie. I was a teacher for 44 years so am used to talking to children.

I love that! I've dragged calls out just to cost them money, waste their time and to have a bit of fun. The Microsoft calls are dangerous because you end up giving them access to your computer.

 

[Toril]

I love that! I've dragged calls out just to cost them money, waste their time and to have a bit of fun. The Microsoft calls are dangerous because you end up giving them access to your computer.

That’s one thing I would never do no matter who asked me to do so. Sadly some people are too trusting and that means that they get scammed.

 

[stratobuddy]

That’s one thing I would never do no matter who asked me to do so. Sadly some people are too trusting and that means that they get scammed.

On the other hand, when I was scammed and rang the bank fraud number (from my bank card) they had to take over my PC to check I had anti-virus and try to investigate how the scam had been done.

They were on the phone with me for quite a while, and I could see them accessing different parts of my PC, then they told me I would get my money back (over £3K as posted earlier on here).

 

[ianrobo111]

I have seen that programmes, and know of the concept of ethical hackers. They're good because the hackers know all the tricks to look out for to try to prevent the scam in time. Where I work it's more concerned with very unethical hackers!

It's good that you're on the ball regarding safety. And any password can be hacked even complicated ones. Another thing is to not do those 'personality tests' on Facebook. They can often include personal info like mother's maiden name and first pet which are popular security questions. Also putting your whole life in the public domain on social media is not good because criminals learn too much about you which makes it easier to scam you.

I got a WhatsApp message saying "hey mum I dropped my phone down the toilet, here is my new phone number". You reply because you think it is one of your kids. Then they want money but paid into a different account. I answered "which one of my idiot children are you?" I got no reply. I knew it wasn't genuine because I have no children!

As for less tech savvy people, just questioning things and not assuming everything is genuine is a good start.

well remeber those FB tests was around the whole Cambridge analytical thing and got everything about you. it is like never answer 'what is port star name' first is month of birth, second your parents age ... that kind of thing gives valuable info to hackers

 

[Muttley]

On the other hand, when I was scammed and rang the bank fraud number (from my bank card) they had to take over my PC to check I had anti-virus and try to investigate how the scam had been done.

They were on the phone with me for quite a while, and I could see them accessing different parts of my PC, then they told me I would get my money back (over £3K as posted earlier on here).

Yes, good that they were thorough particularly trying to find out how it was carried out.

 

[merryone]

It turns out that my friend didn't fall for that perfume scam at all, as I said at the beginning that she'd be one of the last people I'd expect to fall for something like this. Cut to about half hour ago and she'd messaged me to ask me whether I had time for a chat as she had something important to tell me, and she then told me that my name had popped up on a company's facebook page inviting people to claim money from this dubious sounding source. I told her I hadn't heard of this company before but thanks for the heads up and that I'd warn others should they receive an invite from me that they should ignore it. Instead of the usual great, thought I'd let you know response I would've expected the reply was click on this link to claim the money you're entitled to. Immediately I realised she'd been hacked, unfriended her and blocked her on messenger. Then about 5 mins later I saw a post from her on my feed saying that the hackers had been at it again and had been sending all her contacts this dodgy message. I didn't realise that I'd actually got her twice on FB once the old compromised account and her new legit one...when I looked at the perfume thing that was also from the compromised account. Bloody hackers!!!!

 

[Patsy]

That’s one thing I would never do no matter who asked me to do so. Sadly some people are too trusting and that means that they get scammed.

My hubby's advice to Microsoft scams was to say that your son,husband or yourself worked for Microsoft and you weren't aware of a problem. As he used to tell people Microsoft only contact you if you have contacted them about a problem.

 

[Toril]

My hubby's advice to Microsoft scams was to say that your son,husband or yourself worked for Microsoft and you weren't aware of a problem. As he used to tell people Microsoft only contact you if you have contacted them about a problem.

When Microsoft rang me to tell me there was a fault on my computer, I wasted his time for about 15 minutes while I pretended to follow his instructions, despite the fact that I hadn’t got my computer on. In the end I asked him why he had rung me and he reiterated that I had a computer fault that he could fix. I said that wouldn’t be necessary because I was actually a computer technician and that I knew there was nothing wrong with my computer at all but that it had been my absolute pleasure to waste his time.

For some unknown reason he put the phone down.

 

[donna255]

Now, this is something which appeared on a documentary about scammers. Modern Day Slavery. Yes, seems some of the big hackers scammers, especially Asian countries, have the ones making the phone calls housed in large warehouse like blocks. They are locked in and, if they do not make their quota, beaten or worse.

A man from N.I. was hacked, had his Identity stolen, so with a film crew went to find out who and where it was done. They actually filmed across a river, and they could not get closer as the place had armed guards patrolling. Sitting in a van with all lights off filming you could see the armed guards, the man who took them there suddenly said we need to move now, or the shooting will start.

 

[merryone]

I play games on my phone quite regularly I find them really relaxing, I like solitaire, yahtzee, block building games - nothing that taxes the mind, but as I say a relaxing thing to do when I've got a bit of downtime. The unfortunate thing is the amount of ads that punctuate this type of game, ok I've found some other games I've wanted to play, but on the whole they're blinking annoying and I'm not prepared to pay money to go ad-free, or to pay for boosters etc. There's a lot of ads especially for solitaire type games which cost nothing to download and purport to give away monetary prizes that you can claim via your paypal account or get the monies paid directly into your bank account, they make it sound so easy (well of course they do, they're not gonna show someone not winning!) All I can think is why would they do this when people like me are happy to play solitaire just to get a "well done" and go onto the next level in the game? I've been on the edge of being tempted however good sense always stops me. I would never expose my paypal, or bank account to anyone I wasn't 100% sure of.