The scammers are getting smarter

[Grumpy John]

I have been getting at least one of these every month for the past 4 months. They look pretty good, but the account number doesn't match anything we have with Telstra.

Link (http://www.mailguard.com.au/blog/have-you-heard-from-gerd-breaking-telstra-email-scam)

405261



405260

[Big Shed]

.......and their arithmatic is a bit wonky......150.42 * 2 = 300.76?

[Chesand]

They have been offering me 202-42 but as Fred says their arithmetic is woeful as the double figure is not correct.
My phone bill has never been that much. I have been reporting it as spam and now seems to be finished.

[Grumpy John]

.......and their arithmatic is a bit wonky......150.42 * 2 = 300.76?


Rounding down???????

[woodPixel]

I see the problem. At the bottom there are two people smiling while reviewing their Telsta bill.

Nobody likes Telstra and fewer still are happy at receiving a bill.

405314

Wife: Look dear, a bill from Telstra. What are those funny 1800 numbers?
Husband: (kill me now)... grins. Must be a mistake! Bloody Telstra!

[Bohdan]

Real Telstra would not quote the price as 300.76 AUD but as $300.76 so if people are falling for this think what will happen when the scammers get the details correct.

[Grumpy John]

Real Telstra would not quote the price as 300.76 AUD but as $300.76 so if people are falling for this think what will happen when the scammers get the details correct.

If they ever manage to get the customers name and account number there would me a real cause for concern.
I know a lot of people don't like direct debit, but it helps in knowing emails like this are fake.

[rrich]

The scammers, probably want a bank transit and account number so they will probably tell you that they want to direct deposit.

Here all public utilities and credit card companies are required to issue a refund for over payments. Changing providers can create an overage. We just do nothing and if it is legitimate, a check will arrive in the mail in several months.

Besides if you're irritated enough to change providers, just letting the excess funds sit there costs them money with the notice every month.

[AlexS]

I've been getting one or two of those a day. They go direct to the trash bin.

[Chesand]

My latest is supposedly from AusPost who want to charge me $80 a day storage for a parcel they could not deliver. The frightening part about this one was that it was addressed to me by name at the time when we were expecting 2 small parcels from an eBay purchase. Of course, it went straight to the spam report folder.

[Bob38S]

This will come here, if it isn't here already.


Do not answer "Yes" to anyone you don't know, no matter how simple the question.


For sure it can be proven you didn't give permission but it will cost you heaps in time and money to prove it.


Can you really afford the inconvenience?

Answering your phone with this one word could get you scammed (http://www.news.com.au/technology/answering-your-phone-with-this-one-word-could-get-you-scammed/news-story/bf8a9f7f50277a8ec25d78ca5dd8f0ae)

[smidsy]

What can ducks do and people wish Telstra would?
Stick their bill up their a$$

[Sawdust Maker]

Best thing I ever did when we got the phone connected here, was put the number in the phone book under another name. I chose my grandmother's maiden name.

So when people ring and ask for Mr Bloggs* I know that they aren't after me and I hang up. Occasionally when I'm in one of those moods I'll say: "He died, you'd better warm up the ouija board"

*do you think I'd tell you lot the real name?

[rrich]

I listed our land line as Noné Xyzzy. (Pronounced non-E cizzy)

Some of you may recognize the last name as an old worn out magic word from "Adventure".

[smidsy]

I have an unlisted number, always have so work clients can't call me.
But I have had the number 12 months and I'm still getting calls asking for the previous owner.

Back when I worked at Telstra I got a call from an unhappy customer.
He had just had the phone connected at his new house, had paid the premium for an unlisted number, only to find that the number had belonged to a travel agent who had closed down 1 week in to the second year of a yellow pages ad.

[Chesand]

Many years ago, my in-laws received the former number of one of the local working girls. Needless to say it was promptly changed after a complaint.

[AlexS]

Back when mobile phones were new, we (work) hired a brick to check on reception around the riverina. We were out in the middle of the Hay Plain, when it rang. "Is that the Wagga stripper?" I explained that it wasn't, and when I took the phone back, told the place we'd hired it from. He said that it had previously been hired to a working girl, and when she first returned it they were getting about 20 calls a day!

[smidsy]

I can remember the early days of mobile phones - being able to listen to them on a scanner.

[Bob38S]

I can remember the early days of mobile phones - being able to listen to them on a scanner.

Isn't that how Charlie Windsor was caught out?

[BobL]

My son has been working for an IT security company as a "Penetration tester".
This is a "legitimate hacker", hired by Government, Corporates and Businesses to test their IT security,
Much of the testing involves phishing rather than sitting in a dark room trying to hack direct into a network.
He also dresses up and poses and company IT guy and enters their buildings and plugs gizmos direct into their network (lone PC or network point) that directly connects to the outside world via independent WIFI or telephony.
On one corporate test he was able to enter and place a gizmo onto their network and then sat in a car on the street and was able to hack and download most of their most sensitive data files within 30 minutes.
He attributes his skill in doing this successfully to the acting experience he gained in school productions.

In a recent test of a major Resources company he sent out 2 emails to the employees and senior managers of the company.
This company has been tested every year for the last 3 years and have been upgrading and educating their employees on IT security.
This time the boss of the Resources company reckoned their IT system would not be compromised.
My son's boss told them "we have a gun new pen tester and I reckon we will have full access within X time period"

Email A was, posing as company IT employee with company letter head, signature, and logos etc, "Here's a link to a new piece of software we would like you to try" - Within 24 hours he had the login details of ~20 general staff.
Email B was, now posing as an overseas company rep, "Here's a link to a document that could potentially compromise company PR, please read and comment" - Within 24 hours he had the login details of ~20 senior staff.
A few dozen staff did report email A as suspicious but the company's IT staff took more than 24 hours to investigate and put out an alert and by then it was too late.
Give that there are thousands of staff and only ~100 senior staff the latter are clear less IT security savvy than their general staff.'
From these accounts plus some direct hacking my son was able to get access to most of the companies IT resources and information well within X time period.
Only 30% of the employee had passwords that were strong enough not to be cracked in the time period allowed.

The results of some of the testing my son has done on Govt departments involved with vital infrastructure would make your hair curl.
He reckons the only organisations that are taking this matter seriously are financial institutions and the military but everyone else systems are so full of holes that it is embarrassingly easy to access.
BTW he has also tested several forum software apps and says they are one of the weakest apps out there and the reason they are are not targeted that often is because they contain little of real value.