Have u ever received a threatening email from ur inbox?
I have..have u?
Called "spoofed" email!
Called "spoofed" email!
ArishMell · 70-79, M
Not threats, thank goodness, but I have received criminal messages - and yes, they do arrive in the "In-box"!
Some pretend to be from genuine companies or government agencies, by copying their home-pages, including banks with whom I have never had accounts.
Some look like cold-calling sales attempts. A few might be real but I still treat them as criminals.
Some are obviously bogus - e.g. from bizarre names and domains, talking about photographs I know nothing about, claiming I have won something, and such like.
A few are spoofed - using genuine friends' e-identities and trying to beg a loan for an invented reason such as being stuck somewhere abroad. One recent message did not ask for anything but did ask if I had used Amazon recently. These types appear to find club e-mail lists to attack.
Action? Report as "phishing", block name, block domain (unless that is a genuine, public one like gmail), delete.
Some pretend to be from genuine companies or government agencies, by copying their home-pages, including banks with whom I have never had accounts.
Some look like cold-calling sales attempts. A few might be real but I still treat them as criminals.
Some are obviously bogus - e.g. from bizarre names and domains, talking about photographs I know nothing about, claiming I have won something, and such like.
A few are spoofed - using genuine friends' e-identities and trying to beg a loan for an invented reason such as being stuck somewhere abroad. One recent message did not ask for anything but did ask if I had used Amazon recently. These types appear to find club e-mail lists to attack.
Action? Report as "phishing", block name, block domain (unless that is a genuine, public one like gmail), delete.
FreddieUK · 70-79, M
Yes. Best advice I can give is 'never deal with emails when you're not fully alert'. I nearly clicked on a link because I was tired...just stopped myself in time.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@FreddieUK Yes - that has happened to me too - talked into letting a caller pretending to be BT, take remote control while he continued talking to me by 'phone.
Luckily I became suspicious early enough to say I had an "appointment" that morning. "Only about another half-hour", he assured me.
"I'm already running late", I replied, continuing the Little White Lie. We agreed to finish next day, starting at 10am.
He did telephone as agreed, but the blighter had locked my PC so I could not use it in the meantime, let alone scan and cleanse it. This time it was to call me by a foul name: he'd realised I had turned the computer and modem off so he could not reach it, though was not to know I had also taken financial safety steps.
"Takes one to know one," I said, calmly, and rang off. Never heard from him again.
It cost £65 for professional recovery, luckily without losing anything. The attacker had installed a remote-control programme made by a German company for genuine business IT managerment, but stolen by criminals for identity and financial theft.
Luckily I became suspicious early enough to say I had an "appointment" that morning. "Only about another half-hour", he assured me.
"I'm already running late", I replied, continuing the Little White Lie. We agreed to finish next day, starting at 10am.
He did telephone as agreed, but the blighter had locked my PC so I could not use it in the meantime, let alone scan and cleanse it. This time it was to call me by a foul name: he'd realised I had turned the computer and modem off so he could not reach it, though was not to know I had also taken financial safety steps.
"Takes one to know one," I said, calmly, and rang off. Never heard from him again.
It cost £65 for professional recovery, luckily without losing anything. The attacker had installed a remote-control programme made by a German company for genuine business IT managerment, but stolen by criminals for identity and financial theft.
GuyWithOpinions · 31-35, M
JimboSaturn · 56-60, M
seaglass · F
Yes, and texts, but they're always very badly constructed
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@basilfawlty89 LOL!
That scam is so old I'm surprised it is still tried. It goes back to pre-Internet times, using printed letters. I did receive one once, from or via Canada rather than any African country. Binned it, of course.
I had one of the newer versions a year or so ago, pretending to be the corrupt Foreign Minister of some Middle Eastern dictatorship, wanting you help him embezzle his country's funds.
Even earlier still, were those threatening chain-letter attempts, warning of dire consequences if you broke the chain. Binned them of course. I never discovered their purpose, but I am still here!
Then at least on the right side of the law, were the "URGENT SURVEY" circulars: comprehensive shopping-habits questionnaires probably sponsored by the supermarkets so you could be bombarded with gratuitous advertising for nothing you needed or wanted. All since replaced by Alexa, Facebook and Google. I was tempted to create a bogus personal profile as a wealthy high-flyer (so a lie immediately), with a totally fictitious but plausible address, but I think they printed your real name and address on the form so that would not work.
That scam is so old I'm surprised it is still tried. It goes back to pre-Internet times, using printed letters. I did receive one once, from or via Canada rather than any African country. Binned it, of course.
I had one of the newer versions a year or so ago, pretending to be the corrupt Foreign Minister of some Middle Eastern dictatorship, wanting you help him embezzle his country's funds.
Even earlier still, were those threatening chain-letter attempts, warning of dire consequences if you broke the chain. Binned them of course. I never discovered their purpose, but I am still here!
Then at least on the right side of the law, were the "URGENT SURVEY" circulars: comprehensive shopping-habits questionnaires probably sponsored by the supermarkets so you could be bombarded with gratuitous advertising for nothing you needed or wanted. All since replaced by Alexa, Facebook and Google. I was tempted to create a bogus personal profile as a wealthy high-flyer (so a lie immediately), with a totally fictitious but plausible address, but I think they printed your real name and address on the form so that would not work.