On Friday I came the closest I've ever been to being scammed.

I had an email from a friend (lets call him George) telling me he was
having a problem with Amazon rejecting his credit card. The email
told me that "George" had a friend with liver cancer who couldn't
work and George wanted to send her a substantial birthday gift as it
may be her last.

The emails went back and forth.

Eventually, after it seemed like I had to drag it out of him, he
wanted me to send a £250 gift e-token to an email address and he
would return my money tomorrow. At that point I had every intention
of doing what my "friend" wanted me to do to help the awful situation.

Now, I'm quite sure you guys are thinking "scam", partly of course
because I've already said it was and partly because it wasn't your
"friend". For me, I'm thinking about the sob story my mate has just
told me and that was foremost in my mind - sympathy. This wasn't
someone in Africa needing funds to release millions this was a close
mate.

But as more details emerged like the e-token email address
(c9rlm@outlook.com), I started to notice that none of the
conversation had anything personal in it. No mention of his visit
here the day before and no humorous banter. A little odd.

I emailed back and asked him to phone me as I wanted to be sure this
wasn't a scam. He didn't phone me back but replied --

Okay that's not a problem, here is my mobile 07361620571.

Thanks,
George

At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line and
mobile numbers.

I didn't reply, I did text "George".

"George" told me he'd had a nightmare of a day, an elderly customer
of his computer support business had been close to getting scammed. I
then added to his nightmare with my tale.

I think he's spent the entire weekend looking for a trojan on all his
gear.

The name George used to protect the guilty. The phone number and
email address are what the scammer supplied.

Be warned.

Bob.

On Sun, 27 Nov 2022 09:57:24 +0000 (GMT)
Bob Latham <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:

> On Friday I came the closest I've ever been to being scammed.
>
> I had an email from a friend (lets call him George) telling me he was
> having a problem with Amazon rejecting his credit card. The email
> told me that "George" had a friend with liver cancer who couldn't
> work and George wanted to send her a substantial birthday gift as it
> may be her last.
>
> The emails went back and forth.
>
> Eventually, after it seemed like I had to drag it out of him, he
> wanted me to send a £250 gift e-token to an email address and he
> would return my money tomorrow. At that point I had every intention
> of doing what my "friend" wanted me to do to help the awful situation.
>
> Now, I'm quite sure you guys are thinking "scam", partly of course
> because I've already said it was and partly because it wasn't your
> "friend". For me, I'm thinking about the sob story my mate has just
> told me and that was foremost in my mind - sympathy. This wasn't
> someone in Africa needing funds to release millions this was a close
> mate.
>
> But as more details emerged like the e-token email address
> (c9rlm@outlook.com), I started to notice that none of the
> conversation had anything personal in it. No mention of his visit
> here the day before and no humorous banter. A little odd.
>
> I emailed back and asked him to phone me as I wanted to be sure this
> wasn't a scam. He didn't phone me back but replied --
>
> Okay that's not a problem, here is my mobile 07361620571.
>
> Thanks,
> George
>
> At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line and
> mobile numbers.
>
> I didn't reply, I did text "George".
>
> "George" told me he'd had a nightmare of a day, an elderly customer
> of his computer support business had been close to getting scammed. I
> then added to his nightmare with my tale.
>
> I think he's spent the entire weekend looking for a trojan on all his
> gear.
>
> The name George used to protect the guilty. The phone number and
> email address are what the scammer supplied.
>
> Be warned.
>
>
> Bob.
>

Yep, I had a similar one a couple of years ago, asking me to buy some
store gift cards and scan the numbers off the back and send them to
her so she could give her niece a present. I did not do so.

--
Davey.

In article <5a4dd9edc2bob@sick-of-spam.invalid>,
Bob Latham says...

> Now, I'm quite sure you guys are thinking "scam"
>
This particular type has been featured a couple of times on BBC's "Dirty
Rotten Scammers"

In article <MPG.3ded5e559c8c5a689897dd@News.Individual.NET>,
Unsteadyken <unsteadyken@gmail.com> wrote:
> In article <5a4dd9edc2bob@sick-of-spam.invalid>,

> Bob Latham says...

> > Now, I'm quite sure you guys are thinking "scam"
> >
> This particular type has been featured a couple of times on BBC's
> "Dirty Rotten Scammers"

Hmm, I knew that at some point there would be a down side to never
watching the BBC. :-)

Bob.

On 27/11/2022 09:57, Bob Latham wrote:
> But as more details emerged like the e-token email address
> (c9rlm@outlook.com), I started to notice that none of the
> conversation had anything personal in it. No mention of his visit
> here the day before and no humorous banter. A little od

That is always the big clue, no personal detail - they often quote a
login and password from one that has been hacked from big companies and
available online probably.

I remember a friend telling me about "Microsoft" ringing him up and
asking him to turn on his PC. It is immediately laughable Microsoft
would ever contact a user! But he asked "which computer, I have six",
that completely floored them.

He decided to see what they did so put on an ancient computer with no
Internet connection. They got him to enter CMD then DIR *.<something>.
This brought up a long list of files, he was told this showed the PC was
infected (they were just system file not normally seen). They then asked
him to delete them all which he obviously did not do!

It might be useful to think ahead about possible responses to SCAM
calls, I just hangup if I answer the phone from an unknown number and
all I hear is noise as they switch to one of their call centre operators.

Bob Latham wrote:

> On Friday I came the closest I've ever been to being scammed.
>
> I had an email from a friend (lets call him George) telling me he was
> having a problem with Amazon rejecting his credit card. The email
> told me that "George" had a friend with liver cancer who couldn't
> work and George wanted to send her a substantial birthday gift as it
> may be her last.
>
> The emails went back and forth.
>
> Eventually, after it seemed like I had to drag it out of him, he
> wanted me to send a £250 gift e-token to an email address and he
> would return my money tomorrow. At that point I had every intention
> of doing what my "friend" wanted me to do to help the awful situation.
>
> Now, I'm quite sure you guys are thinking "scam",

actually my scam-meter went off the scale at mention of "cancer", your default
position has to be they're all scams, unless prove otherwise.

> partly of course
> because I've already said it was and partly because it wasn't your
> "friend". For me, I'm thinking about the sob story my mate has just
> told me and that was foremost in my mind - sympathy. This wasn't
> someone in Africa needing funds to release millions this was a close
> mate.
>
> But as more details emerged like the e-token email address
> (c9rlm@outlook.com), I started to notice that none of the
> conversation had anything personal in it. No mention of his visit
> here the day before and no humorous banter. A little odd.
>
> I emailed back and asked him to phone me as I wanted to be sure this
> wasn't a scam. He didn't phone me back but replied --
>
> Okay that's not a problem, here is my mobile 07361620571.
>
> Thanks,
> George
>
> At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line and
> mobile numbers.
>
> I didn't reply, I did text "George".
>
> "George" told me he'd had a nightmare of a day, an elderly customer
> of his computer support business had been close to getting scammed. I
> then added to his nightmare with my tale.
>
> I think he's spent the entire weekend looking for a trojan on all his
> gear.
>
> The name George used to protect the guilty. The phone number and
> email address are what the scammer supplied.
>
> Be warned.
>
>
> Bob.
>

Yes, I see these sort of things a lot. I don't really think they need access
to any machine, they can deduce who people are by cross referencing data
supposedly analysed and things which have been online already. I'm sure its
automated and the data then presented to scammers.

Brian

--

--:
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briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Bob Latham" <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:5a4dd9edc2bob@sick-of-spam.invalid...
> On Friday I came the closest I've ever been to being scammed.
>
> I had an email from a friend (lets call him George) telling me he was
> having a problem with Amazon rejecting his credit card. The email
> told me that "George" had a friend with liver cancer who couldn't
> work and George wanted to send her a substantial birthday gift as it
> may be her last.
>
> The emails went back and forth.
>
> Eventually, after it seemed like I had to drag it out of him, he
> wanted me to send a �250 gift e-token to an email address and he
> would return my money tomorrow. At that point I had every intention
> of doing what my "friend" wanted me to do to help the awful situation.
>
> Now, I'm quite sure you guys are thinking "scam", partly of course
> because I've already said it was and partly because it wasn't your
> "friend". For me, I'm thinking about the sob story my mate has just
> told me and that was foremost in my mind - sympathy. This wasn't
> someone in Africa needing funds to release millions this was a close
> mate.
>
> But as more details emerged like the e-token email address
> (c9rlm@outlook.com), I started to notice that none of the
> conversation had anything personal in it. No mention of his visit
> here the day before and no humorous banter. A little odd.
>
> I emailed back and asked him to phone me as I wanted to be sure this
> wasn't a scam. He didn't phone me back but replied --
>
> Okay that's not a problem, here is my mobile 07361620571.
>
> Thanks,
> George
>
> At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line and
> mobile numbers.
>
> I didn't reply, I did text "George".
>
> "George" told me he'd had a nightmare of a day, an elderly customer
> of his computer support business had been close to getting scammed. I
> then added to his nightmare with my tale.
>
> I think he's spent the entire weekend looking for a trojan on all his
> gear.
>
> The name George used to protect the guilty. The phone number and
> email address are what the scammer supplied.
>
> Be warned.
>
>
> Bob.
>

On 27/11/2022 13:02, Brian Gaff wrote:
> Yes, I see these sort of things a lot. I don't really think they need access
> to any machine, they can deduce who people are by cross referencing data
> supposedly analysed and things which have been online already. I'm sure its
> automated and the data then presented to scammers.

Watch the "The Secret Genius of Modern Life" programme about bank cards.
She visited one very high security place, It was mentioned that they
have one technique where they run through all the combination of account
numbers, credit card numbers, PIN, CCV etc. It showed a Dark Web
displaying these for sale.

In article <tm09b8$1nduk$2@dont-email.me>,
MB <MB@nospam.net> wrote:
> On 27/11/2022 13:02, Brian Gaff wrote:

> > Yes, I see these sort of things a lot. I don't really think they
> > need access to any machine, they can deduce who people are by
> > cross referencing data supposedly analysed and things which have
> > been online already. I'm sure its automated and the data then
> > presented to scammers.

> Watch the "The Secret Genius of Modern Life" programme about bank
> cards.
> She visited one very high security place, It was mentioned
> that they have one technique where they run through all the
> combination of account numbers, credit card numbers, PIN, CCV etc.
> It showed a Dark Web displaying these for sale.

In this particular case my mate says he's now found the trojan on his
mac laptop.

Bob.

On Sunday, 27 November 2022 at 11:23:51 UTC, Davey wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Nov 2022 09:57:24 +0000 (GMT)
> Bob Latham <b...@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:
>
> > On Friday I came the closest I've ever been to being scammed.
> >
> > I had an email from a friend (lets call him George) telling me he was
> > having a problem with Amazon rejecting his credit card. The email
> > told me that "George" had a friend with liver cancer who couldn't
> > work and George wanted to send her a substantial birthday gift as it
> > may be her last.
> >
> > The emails went back and forth.
> >
> > Eventually, after it seemed like I had to drag it out of him, he
> > wanted me to send a £250 gift e-token to an email address and he
> > would return my money tomorrow. At that point I had every intention
> > of doing what my "friend" wanted me to do to help the awful situation.
> >
> > Now, I'm quite sure you guys are thinking "scam", partly of course
> > because I've already said it was and partly because it wasn't your
> > "friend". For me, I'm thinking about the sob story my mate has just
> > told me and that was foremost in my mind - sympathy. This wasn't
> > someone in Africa needing funds to release millions this was a close
> > mate.
> >
> > But as more details emerged like the e-token email address
> > (c9...@outlook.com), I started to notice that none of the
> > conversation had anything personal in it. No mention of his visit
> > here the day before and no humorous banter. A little odd.
> >
> > I emailed back and asked him to phone me as I wanted to be sure this
> > wasn't a scam. He didn't phone me back but replied --
> >
> > Okay that's not a problem, here is my mobile 07361620571.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > George
> >
> > At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line and
> > mobile numbers.
> >
> > I didn't reply, I did text "George".
> >
> > "George" told me he'd had a nightmare of a day, an elderly customer
> > of his computer support business had been close to getting scammed. I
> > then added to his nightmare with my tale.
> >
> > I think he's spent the entire weekend looking for a trojan on all his
> > gear.
> >
> > The name George used to protect the guilty. The phone number and
> > email address are what the scammer supplied.
> >
> > Be warned.
> >
> >
> > Bob.
> >
>
> Yep, I had a similar one a couple of years ago, asking me to buy some
> store gift cards and scan the numbers off the back and send them to
> her so she could give her niece a present. I did not do so.
>
> --
> Davey.

Usually more obvious than this - close friends email from another email address asking for money to be wired to the Philipines where they are stranded having had their money, cards and phone stolen, except of course I had seen them the previous evening, so how had they even got to the Philippines?

I'm sure it goes on, since different bits of data about us may well be
annon. but over time and knowing the geographical location, it has to be
possible to find almost anyone, unless they don't have a mobile use card
payments etc or vote.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"MB" <MB@nospam.net> wrote in message news:tm09b8$1nduk$2@dont-email.me...
> On 27/11/2022 13:02, Brian Gaff wrote:
>> Yes, I see these sort of things a lot. I don't really think they need
>> access
>> to any machine, they can deduce who people are by cross referencing data
>> supposedly analysed and things which have been online already. I'm sure
>> its
>> automated and the data then presented to scammers.
>
>
>
> Watch the "The Secret Genius of Modern Life" programme about bank cards.
> She visited one very high security place, It was mentioned that they have
> one technique where they run through all the combination of account
> numbers, credit card numbers, PIN, CCV etc. It showed a Dark Web
> displaying these for sale.
>
>

So are you going to tell us what he used to find it? I never did find any
sign of anything more than marketing and tracking cookies. Thus when I know
I have some tracking cookies I visit very random sites deliberately before
zapping them. I've learned to not visit blind related sites with them on
board or everyone tries to sell me window blinds.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Bob Latham" <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:5a4e0917bfbob@sick-of-spam.invalid...
> In article <tm09b8$1nduk$2@dont-email.me>,
> MB <MB@nospam.net> wrote:
>> On 27/11/2022 13:02, Brian Gaff wrote:
>
>> > Yes, I see these sort of things a lot. I don't really think they
>> > need access to any machine, they can deduce who people are by
>> > cross referencing data supposedly analysed and things which have
>> > been online already. I'm sure its automated and the data then
>> > presented to scammers.
>
>> Watch the "The Secret Genius of Modern Life" programme about bank
>> cards.
>> She visited one very high security place, It was mentioned
>> that they have one technique where they run through all the
>> combination of account numbers, credit card numbers, PIN, CCV etc.
>> It showed a Dark Web displaying these for sale.
>
>
> In this particular case my mate says he's now found the trojan on his
> mac laptop.
>
> Bob.
>

In article <tlvlli$1lu2q$1@dont-email.me>, MB <MB@nospam.net> wrote:

> That is always the big clue, no personal detail - they often quote a
> login and password from one that has been hacked from big companies and
> available online probably.

> I remember a friend telling me about "Microsoft" ringing him up and
> asking him to turn on his PC. It is immediately laughable Microsoft
> would ever contact a user! But he asked "which computer, I have six",
> that completely floored them.

In my case I'd have added: "And none of them run Windows because I think
it's crap". 8-]

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
biog http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/history/ups_and_downs.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

In article <5a4dd9edc2bob@sick-of-spam.invalid>, Bob Latham
<bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:
> On Friday I came the closest I've ever been to being scammed.

> I had an email from a friend (lets call him George) telling me he was
> having a problem with Amazon rejecting his credit card. The email told
> me that "George" had a friend with liver cancer who couldn't work and
> George wanted to send her a substantial birthday gift as it may be her
> last.

(snip)

> At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line and
> mobile numbers.

> I didn't reply, I did text "George".

> "George" told me he'd had a nightmare of a day, an elderly customer of
> his computer support business had been close to getting scammed. I then
> added to his nightmare with my tale.

> I think he's spent the entire weekend looking for a trojan on all his
> gear.

> The name George used to protect the guilty. The phone number and email
> address are what the scammer supplied.

> Be warned.

FWIW My reaction in the first instance would be to phone my friend using
their telephone number already known to me.

The scam telephone calls I've had recently all warn me of "recent
suspiscious activity on my credit card". I let their machine talk to my
answerphone. Sounded dodgy from the first example. But over a few days got
*identical* messages with the same sums, etc, all for "recent". i.e. clones
pretending to have "just happened".

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
biog http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/history/ups_and_downs.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

In article <5a4e5f373bnoise@audiomisc.co.uk>, Jim Lesurf
<noise@audiomisc.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <5a4dd9edc2bob@sick-of-spam.invalid>, Bob Latham
> <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:
> > On Friday I came the closest I've ever been to being scammed.

> > I had an email from a friend (lets call him George) telling me he was
> > having a problem with Amazon rejecting his credit card. The email told
> > me that "George" had a friend with liver cancer who couldn't work and
> > George wanted to send her a substantial birthday gift as it may be her
> > last.

> (snip)

> > At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line and
> > mobile numbers.

> > I didn't reply, I did text "George".

> > "George" told me he'd had a nightmare of a day, an elderly customer of
> > his computer support business had been close to getting scammed. I then
> > added to his nightmare with my tale.

> > I think he's spent the entire weekend looking for a trojan on all his
> > gear.

> > The name George used to protect the guilty. The phone number and email
> > address are what the scammer supplied.

> > Be warned.

> FWIW My reaction in the first instance would be to phone my friend using
> their telephone number already known to me.

> The scam telephone calls I've had recently all warn me of "recent
> suspiscious activity on my credit card". I let their machine talk to my
> answerphone. Sounded dodgy from the first example. But over a few days
> got *identical* messages with the same sums, etc, all for "recent". i.e.
> clones pretending to have "just happened".

I get them from "Your bank's fraud department"

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England - sent from my RISC OS 4té
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

On 29/11/2022 10:08, charles wrote:
> I get them from "Your bank's fraud department"

At least I believe they can no longer hold the line to make you think
you have rung the bank when you are actually still speaking to them.

In article <5a4e5f373bnoise@audiomisc.co.uk>,
Jim Lesurf <noise@audiomisc.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <5a4dd9edc2bob@sick-of-spam.invalid>, Bob Latham
> <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:

> > At that point I knew it was a scam, "George" knew my land line
> > and mobile numbers.

> > I didn't reply, I did text "George".

[Snip]

> FWIW My reaction in the first instance would be to phone my friend
> using their telephone number already known to me.

Yes indeed, I was trying to be brief though.

In reality I did phone his mobile number but it went to voice mail.
Fantastic, that's helpful. I tried what I thought was his land line
I'd never phoned it before, it tuned out not to be, I've no idea
where I go that number from.

I sent the text, then my wife suggested phoning his mobile again.
This time his wife answered and we had a very surreal conversation as
you might imagine. Apparently, "George" had gone out without his
mobile. Grrrr.

He has since corrected my land line information.

> The scam telephone calls I've had recently all warn me of "recent
> suspiscious activity on my credit card". I let their machine talk
> to my answerphone. Sounded dodgy from the first example. But over a
> few days got *identical* messages with the same sums, etc, all for
> "recent". i.e. clones pretending to have "just happened".

Yes, I've had those and similar pretending to be Amazon.

What got me really was that the email address and signature said it
was my friend and then he hit me with this awful tale which triggered
empathy for my mate and for his very ill friend. It wasn't something
detached it was my mate.

But lack of banter and verbal abuse gave the game away. :-)

Cheers,

Bob.

On Mon 28/11/2022 10:15, Jim Lesurf wrote:
> In article <tlvlli$1lu2q$1@dont-email.me>, MB <MB@nospam.net> wrote:
>
>
>> That is always the big clue, no personal detail - they often quote a
>> login and password from one that has been hacked from big companies and
>> available online probably.
>
>> I remember a friend telling me about "Microsoft" ringing him up and
>> asking him to turn on his PC. It is immediately laughable Microsoft
>> would ever contact a user! But he asked "which computer, I have six",
>> that completely floored them.
>
> In my case I'd have added: "And none of them run Windows because I think
> it's crap". 8-]
>
> Jim
>

Ah, that would be a technical response then Jim?

On 29/11/2022 11:09, MB wrote:
> At least I believe they can no longer hold the line to make you think
> you have rung the bank when you are actually still speaking to them.

I believe there is still a small time window for this, but it has been
greatly reduced. Some out of the way exchanges may not implement the
shortened timeout.

On Tue 29/11/2022 13:13, David Woolley wrote:
> On 29/11/2022 11:09, MB wrote:
>> At least I believe they can no longer hold the line to make you think
>> you have rung the bank when you are actually still speaking to them.
>
> I believe there is still a small time window for this, but it has been
> greatly reduced. Some out of the way exchanges may not implement the
> shortened timeout.

3 seconds is surely quick enough?