Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Doorstep Cold Caller Warning Signs

Doorstep or cold calling is the act of making uninvited visits to your home with the intention of selling goods or services. It is not illegal and does not require a licence.
Door step cold caller sticker scheme.

Are you fed up with receiving visits to your home from cold calling traders?

Are you concerned about rogue traders calling on your elderly or vulnerable neighbours, seeking work?
If so, say "no" to cold calling doorstep traders with a Trading Standards door sticker.

This sticker initiative is designed to empower residents, giving them the confidence to deal with cold calling traders. Traders should respect your wishes but if they don't, they may be liable to prosecution for ignoring your request to leave and not return.

How do you get a sticker?
Sticker packs can be collected from your local district council, police station or library. If you have any trouble getting a sticker pack, please contact Trading Standards. You can find details of your nearest Trading Standards office by entering your postcode at https://www.gov.uk/find-local-trading-standards-office

Register your sticker

You can register your stickers online.

Registering your sticker pack enables the council to gauge their popularity and success at deterring cold callers and identify neighbourhoods where stickers are not being displayed and attempt to increase take up in those areas.

Trading Standards Newsletter
Many Trading Standards offices publish regular newsletter including information on scams and rogue traders.
Check the online details for your nearest Trading Standards office.

Q. What should you do if my sticker is ignored?
Unfortunately, not all cold calling traders will respect your wishes and some will ignore your sticker. If this happens, try complaining to the company and ask them not to visit you again in the future.

Also send a copy of the letter to Trading Standards.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

FBI Take-Down of Fake Security Software Sellers

In 2011, an FBI and international cybercrime initiative set out to seek and disrupt hacker organizations.
Operation Trident Tribunal was born, which included the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice and authorities from many other countries including Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Latvia, the Ukraine, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Operation Trident Tribunal targeted specific sophisticated business enterprise believed to have the ability to steal millions and found to be associated with criminal gangs responsible for selling $72 million in fake Antivirus programs to over 960,000 computer users.

The money was made by selling software that claimed to find security risks on PCs and then asked for cash to fix the non-existent problems.

Operation Trident Tribunal, seized more than 40 computers used to host Web pages and conduct fake scans designed to scare people into believing they needed to purchase bogus security software to clean their systems. Raids conducted in Latvia enabled police to seize five bank accounts that were apparently used to funnel money to one gang of scammers; other accounts were seized in Cyprus. Latvian authorities also arrested two people accused of running one of the gangs.

The scam operation targeted by the FBI allegedly used the Conficker worm to infect “hundreds of thousands” of computers with scareware, then turn around and collected more than $72 million peddling fake antivirus products to clear up the problem.
The FBI says up to 960,000 users were victimised by the scheme, paying prices of up to $129 for fake software to resolve the problems.

Good riddance to a lot of thieves and their scam.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Roger Annies and the Royal Mail Opt Out of Junk Mail Deliveries

Roger Annies was a good neighbourhood postman in South Wales.
The Royal Mail have an opt out service for people who don’t want unaddressed mail from their postman.
(for how to register – go to http://fightback.ninja/royal-mail-op...il-deliveries/).
Royal Mail don’t advertise this service as they make a great deal of money from delivering Marketing mail..
Roger Annies was asked by his customers how to stop the junk mail and he created his own leaflet and distributed it to his customers. Mr Annies was disciplined after Royal Mail bosses discovered he had delivered his own leaflet to houses on his south Wales round highlighting the little-known opt-out clause which can stop unwanted mailshots.
He was suspended on full pay but the subsequent publicity led tens of thousands of people to join the direct mail rebellion. After a national outcry over this, he was reinstated, but was told he would not get his old round back and was relegated to a sorting office job.
The Direct Marketing Association said 200,000 extra people had signed up to the Mailing Preference Service, which removes people's details from companies' mailing lists, in the month after Mr Annies delivered his leaflet.
Royal Mail said it did not have specific figures but its switchboard had been jammed with callers wanting to find out how to stop so-called "door to door" items.
Mr Annies drafted his leaflet after being inundated with complaints about junk mail. The note read: "You may have noticed your postman now has to deliver anonymous advertising material called door to door items. This means a lot more unwanted post in your letterbox. "You might be interested in reducing your unwanted mail and reduce paper usage in order to help save the environment. If you complete the slip below and send it to the Royal Mail delivery office you will no longer receive door to door advertising items."
Bad Royal Mail.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Google Safe Search

Google Safe Search is a feature in the Google Chrome browser designed to keep adult Internet content out of search results for children. It also provides some protection against malicious websites. Google maintain a list of websites that have been hacked and hence are dangerous to visit and warns you if you try to go to one.
To activate Safe Search:-
1. First of all, login to Google if you have a Gmail or other Google account.
2. Go to page https://www.google.com/preferences
3. Tick the box to turn on Safesearch
4. If you want to lock the PC so no-one else can change those settings or bypass Safesearch then click on Lock SafeSearch
If you have more than one browser available on the computer then you’ll need to repeat this process for each browser.
Then you’re protected by Google Safesearch.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Scambaiting with the Crown Prince

There are a lot of the so called Nigerian 419 email scams around.
Here’s how one recipient made it fun.
Mohammed Abacha.
Plot 23,Tjani Street G.R.A, Kano State, Nigeria.
Attn:Sir/Madam
I am Mohammed Abacha, the eldest son of the late president of Nigeria, i was falsely acussed of murder and as such was imprisoned, but thanks to Allah,i have been released for my innosence. Well dear friend i need your assistance in transfering some of my money into your account, because the government is making plans to seize them, as they did to my fathers own.Please view these site and read it'scontent carefully,http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/wor...wsid_741000/74
1506.stm The ammount is $12 million in a Security Company Abroad. All that is needed is for me to instruct the company to transfer the funds to your account, i will renumerate you with 20% at the end, but most of all is that i solicit your trust in this transaction. I have been confined only to Kano and all my calls are monitored,So i will get my private attorney to get you the needed informations.
Please reply to (mohammed48@...)
Best Regards
Mohammed Abacha
This is the response:
Dear Mohammed: I know just how you feel. My uncle, the Emperor of the People's Republic of Arkansas deposited 500,000 Arkansas shekels in the bank of Nigeria. He was assassinated by the Baptist Christian Militia And thereafter had to go into hiding. I was accused of helping my uncle hide from the revolutionary forces and for three years was surrounded by pygmies who followed me everywhere I went . Thanks to Allah, or maybe it was Zeus, all of the pygmies called in sick one day and I was able to escape. Now, I'd need to recover my Arkansas shekels from the Bank of Nigeria .
All I need from you is your bank account number, routing code, credit card numbers with expiration dates, a few samples of your signature, your birth date, your mother's maiden name, your thumbprint, the name of your pet, your astrological sign, and a naked picture of your grandmother. I'm sure you would end up with more Arkansas Shekels than you can count. I will also introduce you to an attorney, also a friend of Capt. DuBois, who is prepared to send you a huge bill for doing absolutely nothing to facilitate this transaction. The bill should be paid promptly, or he'll sue you. For extra money, he'll refer you to a patent lawyer, an accountant, and a psychic.
Mohamed, you seem to be the kind of guy that I can trust. If you help me you will have more Arkansas shekels than you can count. you will not have to worry about your 12 million American dollar chicken feed. We're talking shekels here .
Crown prince Mr. Doctor Kazimierz Korwiczski

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Ollie and the Microsoft Support Scammer

Ollie says he rarely engages with scam callers, but last week he did.

“I had that scam caller that purports to be from Microsoft and telling you that you have a virus on your PC. Ok, so I thought let’s talk:

Me - “Oh so I have a virus and you really are Microsoft calling me, wow, thank you. Where are you actually ringing from?”
“the USA”
Me - “ha, yes I guessed that Microsoft is a huge American company, but where, what address in America”
“Los Angeles”
Me – “OK, Los Angeles, I was just wondering what address”
“I don’t know just in USA”
Me – “You don’t know where you are working from?”
“Microsoft in America”
Me – “Yes I know, you said, but can you tell me the street and building in Los Angeles”
“No, I don’t know”
Me – “You don’t know where you actually are in Los Angeles. Are you sure you are in Los Angeles? Not perhaps Seattle where Microsoft are based?”
“No”
Me – “I think you are trying to scam people and I do not want to talk to you anymore. I will just wish you and your company lots of BAD luck, bye”

By the way I only did this because I saw his caller ID showing starting with a number 1 so I believed it would cost them to hang on………

This is a common scam – do not believe a caller who tells you that your computer has a virus or has been hacked or is being used for illegal purposes or anything similar. They are just calling randomly in the hope of finding someone with a computer who will fall for the lies and then end up paying the scammer to fix non existent problems.

[ostell]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

But I always talk to the "Microsoft" experts who tell me there is a problem on my computer. This is on the principle that if they are talking to me then they are not scamming the little old lady down the road.. My record so far is to keep them busy for about 40 minutes before they hang up in disgust after a few choice expletives.

I just talk to them pretending I can't really type and make mistakes. No downloads, though the programs that you download are usually not a problem, they are commercially available software that has good purpose in other applications.

I then query them on the technical content of their spiel. One of their favourites is to get you to go to what they say is the Computer Licence Serial ID (CLSID) and tell you what is in it. Not difficult when it's the same on every computer. Falls flat when I tell them that the other computer on the desk has the same number. They get even more annoyed and irate when I insist that the initials stand for Class ID (true).

Even funnier is the argument when you ask them what the IP address is for my computer. They fumble and say it doesn't matter but they don't have an answer when I ask them how do they know it's my computer. Everyone has a unique IP address, else how would the information get to you?

There are recordings of a few hours of these conversations.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Crackdown by Information Commissioner

Welcoming recent government changes, Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said:
"The rules around marketing calls have been a licence for spammers and scammers, and people are sick of them. This law change gives consumers the chance to fight back.
“We still need people to report these calls to us, but now we can use those complaints to better target the companies behind this nuisance.”
Electronic marketing, including marketing calls and texts, are covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The regulations require organisations to have an individual’s consent to make automated marketing calls or send marketing texts to that person.
For live marketing calls, the organisation must not contact people that have opted out of receiving them; most commonly by registering with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
The Information Commissioners Office currently has the power to issue penalties of up to £500,000 if able to prove that the marketing calls or messages caused, or had the potential to cause, ‘substantial damage or distress’. The ICO has called for this bar to be lowered to make it easier to fine companies who are breaching the regulations but who would currently not meet this statutory bar.
The changes which came into effect on 6 April 2015.
1. Spam texters held to account
Any company sending you a marketing text without your permission is already breaking the law. As it stands, the law requires the ICO to prove ‘substantial harm or substantial distress’ and now this threshold has been reduced. Making it easier for ICO to make fines stick should create more of a deterrent, and that would lower how many nuisance messages we all get.
2. Companies will need to play by the rules
It’s a myth that nuisance calls are all from a handful of bad guys. In September, the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) received over 2,000 complaints about nuisance calls. Of those, 38 companies featured in more than ten complaints. That suggests they’re probably breaking the law, but not in a way serious enough for the ICO to be able to fine them.
3. More fines means fewer calls and texts
While fines for nuisance calls and texts are relatively new, recent independent analysis of those Data Protection Act fines showed that 60 per cent of organisations had looked to improve their compliance with the law after a company in their sector was fined. More fines for companies making nuisance calls and sending spam texts should have the same affect.
4. People complaining will be more important than ever
The ICO received 161,720 concerns about nuisance calls and texts in 2015. That’s a lot of people who want to see us take action, and their complaints have meant the ICO has been able to raid offices and call centres, prosecute people and issue fines. You can report a nuisance call or a spam text to the ICO online.
Have these changes proved worthwhile?
Since the change in the law was introduced, the ICO has issued fines totalling more than £2 million compared with just £360,000 during the previous 12 months.
So that’s a YES

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Carol’s Story of Dealing with Lloyd Loom of Spalding

Carol says she was looking to buy some bedroom furniture – a bedside table and a couple of other items. I knew the name Lloyd Loom was a good British make and searched on the Internet for what I wanted.


I found a supplier (Lloyd Loom of Spalding) with stock and chose the items. I received an invoice online and paid by bank transfer (nearly £1,000). This felt safe as the “company” has a good reputation.


I did speak with the supplier and he seemed very helpful. He could deliver to Cornwall without any problem. He sent a set of swatches so I could pick the exact colour I wanted.


Over the next period, I received regular updates from the supplier but no furniture. There was no difficulty contacting him and I still believed the furniture would arrive.


But it didn’t.


I had paid by bank transfer and the bank tried to recover the money but the account had been emptied and I wasn’t able to get any money back.





Below is an update by Wikipedia.


Lloyd Loom of Spalding Ltd. and Lloyd Loom Weave Ltd., a subsidiary, entered Creditors voluntary liquidation at Companies House in February 2016. The factory in Wardentree Lane, Pinchbeck, was emptied under the instruction of company director Anthony Draxler just before Christmas 2015, with production machinery then apparently shipped to Romania.


Staff who have been laid off say they are owed up to 14 weeks’ wages and some ex-workers claim agreed redundancy terms have not been settled.


Several firms are owed money by Lloyd Loom Furniture Ltd – a subsidiary of Lloyd Loom of Spalding.


Lloyd Loom Furniture Ltd. was placed under a HMRC Winding up Petition and is now in liquidation.


A police investigation has been undertaken into Anthony Draxler due to unfulfilled customer orders. A Lincolnshire Police spokesman said: “There is an enquiry under way in relation to this business and an individual involved with it.”


As of 20 January 2016 a new company Lloyd Loom Spalding Limited was registered at Companies House.


BE WARNED Anthony Draxler is believed to be behind this latest venture.


Please note that Lloyd Loom is a style of furniture making and that there are other Lloyd Loom companies that are respectable and have no connection with Anthony Draxler and his companies.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

How Mrs. X Was Scammed

There is a very common scam where the scammer calls to tell you that your bank account has been hacked in some way and your money is no longer safe. But they will help you to move it immediately to a safe account.


Several years ago, Mrs X was caught out by this scam.


Mrs. X received a call claiming to be from her bank to tell her that her account had been compromised and it was unsafe to leave money in it. Also, that the perpetrator was a bank employee so Mrs. X should not phone them directly. In order to catch the perpetrator and save Mrs. X’s money, it needed to be moved immediately to another bank, to a safe account the caller had set up for her.


The caller was very persuasive and determined but Mrs X wanted to check the story.


She then called her bank and was assured the story was correct and Mrs X agreed to the transfer.


Mrs X didn’t realise that the scammer had left the phone line open so she was in fact talking to another of the scamming team rather than her bank. They had even faked the ring tone.


She didn’t give the caller the information he wanted but instead went into the bank to transfer the money and it was transferred to another bank which Mrs X now believed was her new safe account. Her bank made no attempt to query such an action even though they knew this scam had been used before.


Her husband Mr. X heard what had happened and realised there was a problem. He contacted both banks and the supposedly safe account had been largely emptied but the remaining money was then blocked from being removed.


The scammer called Mrs. X to ask for the block to be removed (these people have no shame) and the call was recorded by the Police, but the Police made no real progress in tracking the scammers.


The end result is that after months of effort and legal involvement (and the Press), the two banks did return much of the money that was stolen but some was permanently lost.


Remember:


Do not trust a cold caller unless they can prove who they are and you can independently verify their story.


Do not be pushed into precipitate action by a caller’s story. Take your time and consider your actions carefully where money is involved.


Always be aware there while most people are honest, there are some who will stop at nothing to steal from you.

[ostell]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Had those Indian scammers on the phone again today. The latest appears to be pretending to be from BT security trying to convince me that my computer had been taken over by scammers. They then show you the evidence, a list of network connections and finally try to get you to download remote support software to allow them to connect to your computer so that they can "Fix" the security problems. The software is valid, perfectly good commercial product but don't let them in. At least I kept them occupied for 17 minutes until they hung up.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Dealing With a BT OpenReach Scammer

“Hello, My name is Katie and I’m calling you from BT OpenReach.”


Then she paused , waiting to see if I said I didn’t have a contract with OpenReach. When I didn’t say that she continued.


“The reason for the call is that we have to suspend your account in the next 48 hours.”


Again the pause to see if I was worried by the statement.


Me: “Right”


“We have to do that because we have received reports of some unauthorised activity at your IP address and because your IP address is active between 2 am and 4 am


So we have to suspend your account.”


Me: “OK”


“To help us fix the problems you need to tell me some information


Sir, are you using the Internet on your computer or mobile phone or other device?”


Me: “Oh I don’t think I can tell you that”


“But Sir you must tell us or we cannot fix the problem and that means the whole network is in danger”


“That’s terrible, but can’t you fix the problem anyway?”


Katie put the phone down.


This is a variant of the Microsoft support call scam where the caller tells you your PC is infected with a virus and they can fix it for a payment.


In this case, I assume she was after basic information of who I am then she would no doubt need my login and password details etc. And likely would want to download remote control software to my PC so she could take control of it and find credit card details etc.


Just a pathetic scam.


When you recognise a scam phone call – you can choose to tell them straightaway what you think of them or you can choose to play along and let them talk or even join in and act the part as if you are being conned. At some point they realise you’re not falling for the scam and typically they just put the phone down and move on to their next target. But wasting their time is quite fun.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Bob Servant Fights Back Against Scammers

Bob Servant likes dealing with scammers – and playing them at their own game.


The book “Delete This at Your Peril” gives eight of his best dialogues with scammers and they are very funny.


This is the story of Peter’s Pots by Bob Servant.


A typical scam email arrived.


“Dear Beloved,


I have a job offer for you. My name is Peter Anderson and I work with Union Ventures Inc . Ltd. We extract raw materials from Africa for clients in America and Canada.


We are looking for a representative in America to work for us part-time and are willing to pay you 10% for every transaction. These payments would come to you in your name. You cash it, deduct your payment and send the rest to us via Western Union.“


Bob replies: This sounds very interesting indeed. Can you tell me more about the raw materials you trade in as my friend Frank Theplank is also a trader in raw materials.


Peter: Union Ventures is number one registered company in West Africa that deals on all kinds of raw materials.


Bob: Frank asked me if you deal in rubber, timber or china pots?


Peter: Yes we deal in rubber, timber and china pots and can do discounts for your friend.


[lots more emails about various products, nights out, freezing weather, favourites foods etc. – all very silly, but the scammer doesn’t seem to notice]


Bob: Frank needs 2,000 pots for the end of the month for a major reworking of Dawson Park. It’s going to be “Frank’s World of Pots”.


Then a long description of Frank’s World of Pots – with lots of very silly features.


Peter agrees to provide the pots quickly and wants a $10,000 deposit.


Bob: The 2,000 pots are to be filled with different things. Some plants but also surprises like chocolate bars, yo-yos, magazines and Chinese food.


Peter: I think what you and Frank are to do will be a great success and I am glad Union Ventures will be part of this. The order will only take us a week and we will have the entire factory working on it. You must pay the $10,000 through Western Union so we can start on the work.


Bob: Frank just called me from the dog track to say I have to make sure the pots are suitable for people to put their hands in without risking the hand getting stuck. This must include motorbike riders who haven’t taken their gloves off.


Peter keeps insisting on the payment by Western Union and Bob agrees but then invites Peter to come over with the delivery of pots and stay at his house.


This exchange goes on for weeks until eventually Peter makes an ultimatum and the game is over.


Bob’s website is at http://www.bobservant.com/

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Chris Deals With Cold Callers

Chris says:-
I don’t intend to be rude to cold callers but they do have scripts to work to and I disrupt that by giving unexpected answers or questions.


If they claim to be doing a survey, then I might say


“What’s in it for me?”


Probably, they’ll tell me there isn’t anything or the slow witted ones just keep asking questions.


I might say “I cannot believe you are asking for information without giving me anything.”


If they say I am going to be entered into a draw or be given £100 voucher off double glazing for example then I might say “Send me the cash or draw coupon or whatever first then I’ll answer questions”


A lot of the cold callers are from call centres in India and I have visited India several times so I might ask them whereabouts they are and ask about the weather or is my favourite hotel still there or something similar.


They don’t like talking about these things as it’s not on their script.


Other times, I might try to make the cold caller feel guilty.


I could tell them I have come down from the top of a ladder where I am painting the roof or been dragged in from the garden where I am cutting down trees to answer the phone.


Sometimes that works and other times they just stick to the script.


If they ring at lunchtime I always tell them I am hosting an important lunch party and cannot discuss my power suppliers or whatever it is they want at that time.


Of course that can lead to them suggesting they call again which obviously I don’t want.


If they are calling from England at lunch time then I might say


“Why are you calling at lunch time – are you not allowed lunch? I should have a word with my boss about that”


It can be entertaining dealing with cold callers but can just be an annoyance.

[fightbackninja]

Re: Let's Fight Back Against Scammers and Spammers

Security Blogger Scams the Scammer

A French security blogger named Ivan Kwiatkowski was incensed when scammers tried to scam his parents by pretending to be Microsoft helping them sort out virus problems.


Ivan decided to find out more about these scammers and see if he could turn the tables on them. He called the number his parents had called and a lady named Patricia answered. He spun her a yarn about his computer having problems with Zeus virus and could she help.


Oh yes she could.


It is typical with these scams, for the scammer to install software on the victim’s PC supposedly to ‘see how bad the problem is’ but in fact to use a cheat so as to show the extent of the ‘fake’ problem’ and maybe to look for credit card details and passwords etc.


Ivan had setup a PC off the network so he could let the scammer have a look around safely.


He allowed Patricia to take control of the PC and install her software. She told him she’d found that the PC had 1452 viruses and she could supply anti-virus software and fix it for $189.90. Ivan told her he’d buy the software in Paris where he lives and the conversation ended, to the scammers surprise.


But Ivan wasn’t finished yet – he phoned back and spoke with a new scammer, Dileep, who checked the situation and offered to clean the PC of viruses and install anti-virus protection for $299.99.


Ivan offered to buy the package but when it came to giving credit card details – he had fake card details to use but pretended he couldn’t read very well so when the card number was rejected he claimed poor eyesight was the problem. After numerous attempts he had a brainwave. Ivan had j.Locky ransomware on disk as he had been researching it recently.


He convinced Dileep to accept a photo of the card so he could read the numbers himself, but Ivan send the photo with j.Locky attached.


The scammer didn’t know it but j.Locky would be busy in the background encrypting all of his files then would demand a ransom to have them released.


Scam the scammer.


Nice one Ivan