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.

What the hell does anyone do with all that hacked data?

"Yesterday JP Morgan Chase admitted to a cyber-attack earlier this year, saying it was cooperating with US law enforcement officials investigating the breach. Names, addresses, passwords, Social Security numbers and dates of birth of 76 million customers were stolen, as well as details of 7 million small businesses. They added that the company had not ‘seen any unusual customer fraud related to this incident' ."

Email scam from Delta airways to download your ticket , anybody had one today . My one was sent straight to spam.

HARRYCAT it's a v.good question - but I guess they are after sufficient details just to extract money, or re-use your computer to attack some Government or Utility/Company they dislike ( or will sell-on to someone else).
The situation is so bad and flawed that any Institution that says they have security systems in place (etc.) is in denial - they can't have - and as computers get more powerful (mention "Cloud" Arrgh! ), the whole system will become open to abusers.


You wouldn't send your bank-details through the Post on a post-card, but that's what you might as well do, if using a computer - the only real security is to present yourself in person to your branch that knows you.
er, IMHO.

hangon, I agree with some of what you say, but every time that you wrote a cheque in the past, you were passing on your bank account number, sort code, your full name and an original signature! I think chip and PIN has got to be more secure.

Harry, glad you said that, I have said exactly the same to others, also same for electronic transfers if you wish to be paid that way.

I've been getting odd phone calls lately - both direct and via viber.

I've finally tracked it down to IFX (Cyprus based).

Anyone else have any experience of them?

I don't know if you have registered your number with the Telephone Preference Service skinny, it does stop a lot, if not all of these nuisance calls.

Thanks - this is them - IFX Forum.

Britain's oldest scam victim': 103-year-old loses £60,000 in 10-year catalogue fraud

It won't stop them calling from Cyprus.

Here is a few cold caller numbers they use 0277, 078, 0161, 0139 , 0843 ,0034 , 006 ,0162 ,0208 , 08006121.

For all Talk talk customers read this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34611857

For Mac users watch out for the "MacKeeper" outfit https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3297970?start=0&tstart=0

Had an email purporting to be from British Gas regarding my Homecare contract, despite having all my details correct, including my account number, it did not look right because it was suggesting that my contract was due for renewal which it isn't. I rang British Gas who confirmed it was not theirs. Another phishing email. Whoever is responsible, I hope the Easter Bunny craps all over their Easter Eggs before they get them!:o)

A General Rule:

Just do a mouse pointer 'hover' over the e-mail's links. As you see the URL address of the link, it should give you a good indication of credibility.

Here's the link's URL address taken from a scam e-mail from PayPal:

Important Notice

Security Alert: On Thursday, 10th March 2016 12:35 GMT, we noticed an attempt to sign in to your account from an unrecognised device in United Kingdom.

We require you to complete our account verification process in order to restore access to get started click the link below.


PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON IT!!!!!!

Validate Account

A hover over the link shows a URL address of: http://ecoo3.eu/admins

Qn: What on earth has that address got to do with PayPal?
Ans. Not a thing! So the e-mail must surely be a scam! Agreed?

Thanks for the tip!

A Google search for that website would take you to a Polish domain. I haven't gone into the website but it looks hazardous!

Thanks for that ExecLine

Have I ever been 'done' with a scam?

Yes.

I was in the middle of ordering up a product for my wife from an online 'too good to be true' Free Trial ladies make-up deal, when she shouted to me,

"Come on! Your dinners getting cold!"

So I rushed things through and completed the transaction and duly did as she ordered.

Later, I found out, how I'd actually signed up for a monthly subscription scam. It was an utter bugger to get out of! What I should have done at the time, was notice the Terms and Conditions of the Trial which told you on a pop-up page how to cancel the Trial and which had to be done within just a few days. I missed the cancellation opportunity and got hit for 2 months of subscription fees, costing a little over £400.

Was it actually a scam?

Definitely. However the Terms and Conditions were there to be read, albeit somewhat hidden away. This meant, I had only myself to blame and the Credit Card wouldn't refund my money becasue I hadn't returned the goods and cancelled the subscription all according to the T&Cs. The refund would have cost the credit card company the £400. I guess they just didn't feel confident enough to deduct the money from the other amounts due to the merchant.

There are reams of stuff on internet forums about subscription scams.

Heres' a typical story in the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2945236/Bank-warns-free-skin-cream-costs-80-month-Thousands-mistakenly-signing-subscriptions-registering-free-samples-online.html

Does anybody know anything about a company called International Mergers? I have been contacted by them regards compensation regarding rubbish shares I invested in many moons ago. The offer sounds too good to be true hence I'm very wary. Any information would be gratefully received.