Reports of frauds, deceptions and scams keep appearing, weekly even daily, on
major news channels and newspapers. Some of these frauds seem just too big and remote to be of immediate, direct relevance to our daily lives. But, we will eventually pay for the consequences and damages, in taxes, costs of goods and services, regulations, copy-cats etc.

I hope we can collect, in one thread, frauds and scams, reported or heard. We must become more aware and more educated to guard against frauds and scams
which impact upon the health, well being, and wealth of ourselves and our families.

Chocolat: possible enough but much more likely someone just seeing if he could fill the internet with his email. It's been around for at least a year. Any message which finishes asking you to copy it to all your friends should be treated with suspicion :-)

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_credit_card_fraud.htm

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22Jason+Richardson+of+MasterCard%22

Hook, line and sinker jobbie then..
at least I didn't bother mailing it to anyone :)

Did anyone watched Dispatch on Channel 4 tonight?
It may not be frauds by current definitions of the law but decide on your own words ...

"DISPATCHES: PROFITING FROM KIDS IN CARE

Thursday 25 November, 9pm

In 2004, caring for Britain's most vulnerable children is a multi-million pound industry. Children in care cost the taxpayer over 830 million pounds a year. That's an average of 2,500 per child, per week - more than four times what it would cost to send a child to Eton. Yet many homes are failing to provide children with even a basic standard of care.

In this programme, Dispatches goes undercover to investigate the consequences of the increased privatisation of residential children's homes. The investigation reveals how homes are run by private businessmen charging social services departments enormous and unethical mark-ups on services - many of which aren't even provided. Fees of 7,000 a week are not unusual yet Dispatches finds private children's homes which are failing the children in many respects. Homes often use untrained, and sometimes unvetted, agency staff to look after some of the UK's most at risk youngsters - many of whom have been the victims of abuse, prostitution and drugs.

The current system is failing thousands of children a year. According to a recent report, three in five kids leave care with no qualifications at all. One in five will be homeless after two years and one in three of the current prison population has previously been in care. Tragically, some don't make it at all, with approximately 60 youngsters dying in children's homes every year."


http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/P/profiting_from_kids_in_care/index.html

chocolat:

Interestingly, re your Mastercard/Visa scam in post 117, when you validate a newly issued AmEx card, they ask you to read the security number to them to verify that you have the card in your possession (in the same way as you would when making a purchase). The difference is, of course, that you phone them on the number stuck to the card.

D.

Do you have recent experiences of being short-changed when paying for grocery?
IMO, it is on the increase.

It happened to me again and this time at the cigarett/lottery/newspaper till in
a well-known supermarket.

Supermarkets must send out more plain cloth shoppers ..,

Of course, short-changing in goods and services are probably fairly comoon.

The below 2 scams have recently been circulated to staff.

>

>1. Watch our for any phone calls , home mobile or work.

>When you pick the phone up a recorded message congatulates you on winning an all expenses trip to an exotic location. You will then be asked to press 9 to hear more. If you press 9 you are immediately connected to a preminum phone line that charges 20 a minute. Even if you hang up straight away the call continues for 5 mintes charging you 100. If you stay on line you are eventually told to enter your house number and postcode only to be informed that you are not the lucky winner. Total cost of call to you is 260.

>

>The only safe solution to the above is to hang up before you are asked to press 9

>

>BT and the other phone companies are powerless to act as the set up is from outside the UK.

>

>Further to the above. People have recieved calls from persons claiming to be engineers testing the line. The "engineer" asks you to press 9 or 0# and text messages similar to the above.

>

>DO NOT press 9 or 0' or 0 for anyone.

>

>BT have been contacted and confirm the above is true.

>

>

>2. Mobile phone cost - but totally legal (apparently)

>

>There is another scam involving mobile phones. A missed call comes up the number is

>

>07090 203840 - the last 4 numbers may vary but certainly the first 4 are the same.

>

>If you call the number back you are connected to a premium rate phone line charging 50 per minute.

>

>Please pass this one to your family and friends to warn them

Ian

I'm not sure about the first one but as regards the second, I'm certain the max charge rate is nowhere near 50/min

Ian,

Following Yukos's example, the victims or quick-buck-getters might try to sue BT etc for "accomplices to theft" ?!

Iain, they are both hoaxes. The telephone system is simply not set up to reverse charges unless an operator connects you and the maximum charge for an inland number is 1.50 per minute (from a BT line, see http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/current/docs/Call_Charges.boo/00161.htm. 0709 02 is only 50p per minute in fact.

Kayak, are these charge levels and limits legally binding?
How about other landline and mobile providers ??

In my opinion and estimate, without exaggerations, it is becoming urgent necessities for every man, woman and child in this country to spend at least ten hours per week learning about and defend themselves against scams and frauds of all kinds small and large, blatant and subtle, drop-bled or wholesale slaughters. Added to thos msut be the extra time we should spend in warning others as well as finding out about hoaxes. So, a total of 15+ hours per week per person.
It is no good waiting for government or big companies to do much about scams
and frauds unless their own personal interests, profits or well-beings are under threat.

All IMHO, DYOR etc

axdpc, other providers would be more but if you think about it there would not be a market for telephone calls costing 50 per minute and therefore no one is going to offer them.

Kayak, these may not be offered but will the providers (first and subsequent tiers) explicitly and competently prevent over-chargng? They have nothging to lose by not plugging loopholes and not strengthening weaknesses in their monitoring, charging and accounting systems.

"Eight men arrested over an alleged attempt to defraud the National Lottery and children's charities have been released on bail, police said.

Two have been bailed to a date in January and six to February, Scotland Yard said.

A ninth man arrested is now being questioned by immigration authorities. None of the men have been charged.
..."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4089323.stm

TV reports suggested that the detections were made because the same address were made on multiple applications. If true, the SLACKNESS of checks over the last ten years is frightenning and almost criminal. Wonder whether the applications have to supply UK passport AND NI details which should be cross-checked with the Home Office and Department of Health.

"New IE hole could perfect phishing scams
It allows attackers to create a fake Web site that looks like a genuine site.

News Story by Joris Evers

DECEMBER 20, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - SAN FRANCISCO -- A newly reported security problem in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer Web browser allows attackers to create a fake Web site that looks exactly like a genuine site.
The vulnerability lets an attacker display any Web site while the address bar in Internet Explorer displays a trusted Web address -- https://www.paypal.com, for example -- and even shows the icon indicating that Secure Sockets Layer security technology is in use, security researchers warned on Thursday.

The flaw could result in more sophisticated phishing scams, which are online attacks that typically use spam e-mail messages with links to phony Web pages that look like legitimate e-commerce sites, where users are duped into revealing sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers.

..."


http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/holes/story/0,10801,98413,00.html?source=x584

few years ago at a shop in hull docks prior to ferry departure i made a small purchase and received my change
fortunately my brain worked quicker than normal....and i heard myself saying "hi i gave you a 20 pound note and you have given me change for 10 only". to shorten the subsequent dialoque i was assured many times that only a 10 note had been given and "i could see if i leaned over there was no 20 note in the till".....and they were 100% confident that a check of the till would not reveal a 10 surplus All put over against me on a calm but firm basis.
eventually i asked for a look at the till contents again....and this time i did take up the offer to "lean over"

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? my sharp eyes saw the very tiny tip of something protruding from underneath bottom of the inside of the cash box.......and YES IT WAS MY 20 NOTE!!! ....and YES i did get the further 10

i cannot now recall why i did not call the police or report the incident to security.....so often sadly too many complications

the above con must have operated very successfully not only at hull docks but in other places

"Agency warns of tsunami relief scam."



http://www.kbcitv.com/x5154.xml?ParentPageID=x5155&ContentID=x51828&Layout=KBCI.xsl&AdGroupID=x5154&URL=http://localhost/apwirefeed/d87a4ovo0.xml&NewsSection=StateHeadlines

Want to report the suspicious URL of a site you think is a 'phishing site"?

Want to get it blocked?

Here's a tool:-

The Netcraft Toolbar

The Toolbar is compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer, and a FireFox version is underway.

This site also has a facility to help you practice blocking an attack by:

1. Requesting a sample of a fictional phishing attack mail.
2. Visiting the URL contained in the mail that you receive.
3. Click on the Netcraft logo in the toolbar.
4. Select "Report a Phishing Site" in the menu that appears.
5. URLs from fictional phishing attack mails will be blocked automatically.
6. You can test that the URL has been blocked by re-visiting it after reporting.

"Public warned of fake aid appeals"

"People donating to the UK's tsunami relief fund have been warned by police to remain vigilant to bogus collectors trying to cash in on the disaster.

Police say fraudsters are trying to find out people's financial details by sending out e-mails asking for money.

False websites purporting to be linked to aid organisations are also spreading computer viruses, the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) warned.

NCIS said people should not be put off donating, but should be vigilant.

More than 150,000 people have been killed by the Boxing Day tsunami in South East Asia, with the UN warning the death toll could soar as the fate of many thousands remains unknown.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Friday that about 440 Britons were either dead or missing in the disaster.

Press reports on Saturday suggested the final toll of Britons could be closer to 2,000.

Websites investigated

The Disasters Emergency Committee, which has received more than 100m in donations from the British public, said any faxes or e-mails purporting to be from the umbrella group of charities were hoaxes.

Some of the e-mails offer to locate loved ones and ask for money to be deposited in overseas banks.

Oxfam received a bogus e-mail asking for a donation of 1.50 to be paid on a phone number that cost further money.

Scotland Yard said it was investigating a number of websites set up following the Indian Ocean earthquake.

Essex Police said bogus collectors had left envelopes appealing for cash at homes in the county.

Last Sunday, thieves stole a collection box from Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire.

In Berkshire, Reading man Julian Hodgkins, 37, is due to appear before magistrates on 14 January accused of taking money collected for tsunami aid.

Father-of-two Christopher Pierson, 40, of Ruskington, Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty on Monday to sending hoax e-mails to relatives of people missing since the tsunami.

He sent messages to people who had posted appeals on the Sky News website, in which he said their loved ones had been killed.

Unsolicited messages

NCIS warned people not to respond to unsolicited e-mails or text messages, not to open attachments from unknown senders and to donate only to recognised relief organisations.

A spokesman said: "We do not in any way wish to dissuade members of the public from donating money to the registered charity tsunami appeals.

"But we urge them to exercise vigilance in order to prevent and disrupt these and other possible criminal scams."

Hundreds of British Sri Lankans are expected to gather in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday to pay respects to over 30,000 people who lost their lives when the tsunami hit the island.

The Association of British Travel Agents has said that the majority of holiday resorts hit by the tsunami will be ready to welcome tourists again within weeks.

NCIS can be informed about any suspicious activity at the following email address: tsunamifraud@ncis.x.gsi.gov.uk
"



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4156409.stm

"Madrid: Police have arrested a ganag of 18 men who posed as traffic officers to rob dozens of holidaymakers. The thieves followed them from hotels and popular tourist spots and waited until they were on the motorway before pulling them over ...
the gang would shoud victims fake ID and search the car on the pretence that they were looking for drugs or explosives. They would then distract the trippers and steal cash and valuables."

- Daily Express Thur 27 Jan 2005.


"fake", "pretence", "security" ...