SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!

[old man emu]

The only way to satisfy oneself is to do the experiment oneself. It's the Doubting Thomas method.

[nomadpete]

Aaaaah...... So, the whole plan is to force every customer to buy one small coffee, one medium coffee AND one large coffee to prove (or disprove) the story.

 

Brilliant marketing! Turning one purchase into three and the customer doesn't even have to want one of their their coffee's

 

Now I see where the bucks go!

Edited May 19, 2023 by nomadpete

[facthunter]

SINCERELY, DJ TRUMP. Has the Don ever used THAT word or ever likely to?  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

Next time you rent a car, don't synch your phone:

 

[onetrack]

I rented a Corolla in mid-April at Tugun on the Gold Coast, and I was staggered to find all the previous hirers phone details on the cars media system. I made sure I deleted their information - and mine - before I returned the car.

[rgmwa]

I hired a car in Melbourne a couple of months ago. Wish I’d seen that video before as I have no idea what the car’s system may have got off my phone. 

[Bruce Tuncks]

my wife has got 2 emails now, apparently from paypal, asking her " to confirm tax residency information" She forwarded the second one to me without opening it and I forwarded it to paypal phishing. What do you guys think?

[Jerry_Atrick]

I would be sceptical of any email asking for confirmation of account, or reregistration or the like. I am starting to receive emails form local chain retailers that look genuine, but I don't have an account with any of them.

 

Best to log onto their sites by typing their web address in the briowser search bar. You will be able to update/confrim details from there if it si not a scam.

[onetrack]

PayPal never sends you any emails requesting anything. They might occasionally send you an email bragging about their site features or the "low cost" of their money transfers (? ).

 

SWMBO escaped a scam by the skin of her teeth a couple of weeks ago. We bank with Bendigo Bank. She bought herself a nice new desktop with Windoze 11 on it and we spent some time transferring all that she wanted off the old desktop onto the new one before the oldie was decommissioned.

 

Of course, she was having a struggle trying to find how Windoze 11 operates as compared to the Windoze 7 she's been using. I forgot to advise her on how to find her favourites/bookmarks again - so she's been looking for her favourites, using Google Search.

 

So .... she types in "Bendigo Bank" into Google Search and she clicks on the first search result - because it's got "Bendigo Bank" on it, hasn't it? You know where this is going, don't you?

 

She logs in and starts doing her banking - and next thing she says to me, "A person named Gladys XXXXXX has just taken $4200 out of my bank account? I didn't authorise this?"

I immediately hit my straps and yelled at her, "WTF?? What have you clicked on?? Have you clicked on a link in a scam email??"

 

"No", she says, "I was just doing my banking on the Bendigo Bank site, and as soon as I typed in my security token code, this $4200 payment was made to this woman I don't know?"

 

"Did you check that the URL you were on was the genuine Bendigo Bank site?" I asked. "No, how do you do that", she says. I groan inwardly, I thought she knew better than this.

 

I jumped up and took over her computer and brought up her browsing history - and sure enough, there it was - "https://www.bendigbrrhgggsnnn.com".

 

I said, "You've clicked on a scam Bendigo Bank website and now the scammers have all your banking details and now they'll empty your account!!"

 

She says, "But Google had it listed as the Bendigo Bank site!". I sighed and said, "I thought you knew better than this, Google Search finds scam websites constantly, they can come up as the first search hit! You have to check carefully that the URL is the correct one!!"

And so I went into explaining how she had to look at the actual address in her URL bar when she went to any site she found in a Google Search - and more preferably, BEFORE she clicked on any Google Search result.

 

I said, "Call Bendigo Bank immediately and report the scam and they'll lock your account on the spot, and hopefully, stop the scammers in their tracks. There's no guarantee you'll see that stolen money again".

So she did this, and to Bendigo's credit, I have never seen any bank operate so fast. They locked her account over the phone instantly and told her to go to our local branch and lodge a scam report on the Banks system, and fill out a Cybercrime report.

It was late Friday morning, and she went to the bank immediately, got straight onto the Manager and did all that was required. The Cybercrime report required a heap of detail that she spent some time digging up and lodging online. The bank promised they would do what they could, but could not guarantee they would get her money back.

 

There was one saving grace - the scammers had used Osko to make the payment. As Osko is an Australian-based payment system, it has good records and security - and it's not as "instant" a payment system, as it appears.

 

Her bank account stayed locked up until the following Tuesday afternoon. She had to go through a pile of Bendigo Bank access request procedures (over the phone), before she could get back into it again.

Incredibly, once she got back into her account again, she found the Osko payment had been stopped and reversed, and the $4200 was back in her account. Just shows you the advantage of moving fast, if you've been scammed.

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by onetrack

[facthunter]

The Boss Uses Bendigo and no problems but one day I observed she was getting problems on line and I said just turn it OFF at the wall. She didn't and that computer is in the NEVER connect it to the Internet AGAIN category..   Nev

[red750]

They're at it again.

I have bought a few things online recently, forwarded from overseas.

 

Today, I received a text message saying "Failed delivery on Aug 14. Visit www.city-auspost.site for tracking or plan a redelivery or pickup."

 

I am expecting another parcel, but not for a few days. I got an email yesterday saying the item was in transit in the USA. Knowing that it most likely a scam, particularly because of the weird web addess to log onto, I thought I'd check it out but enter no details. The web address appeared like this (in three images because it was so long).

 

 

I confirmed with the local post office that it was a scam, and blocked the number. Then a report appeared on Yahoo advising that this was a scam.

[Jerry_Atrick]

An interesting scam.. probably won't impact your day to day life, but when travelling to non-English speaking countries, beware:

 

[onetrack]

The worst thing you can do is hit the site that comes up first in a Google search result, because it's nearly always not the one you want.

 

I can type in "Joe Bloggs Plumbing" when I'm looking to contact Joe Bloggs and the first thing you get is 5 other plumbing companies who have paid Google to rank above Joe Bloggs Plumbing in search results - or scammers who have paid Google to have their scam site "Joe Bloggs Plumming" come up first.

[onetrack]

Well, it appears the authorities have nailed at least one of the scammers - but I reckon it's only the tip of the iceberg. What gets me, is the fact that this bloke is a total waste of oxygen, he's a permanent criminal, who's been jailed multiple times previously for fraud - and the judge effectively says he's an "entrenched and remorseless" offender - so she only gives him 6 yrs and 5 mths, and he'll be out again in 4 yrs and 6 mths to start up his scamming again.

It'd be nearly worth paying someone to top him in prison, f******* arsehole he is!! What is worse, is the number of people he's recruited to do his scamming!!

He should've got 15 or 18 years at least, I'll wager he's wrecked thousands of peoples lives, his life needs to be totally wrecked. In the Middle East, he'd have lost both hands, and probably his feet as well!!

 

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/crime/entrenched-fraudster-jailed-over-12-million-rort-c-11770130

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by onetrack

[Old Koreelah]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:27 PM, onetrack said:

Well, it appears the authorities have nailed at least one of the scammers - but I reckon it's only the tip of the iceberg. What gets me, is the fact that this bloke is a total waste of oxygen, he's a permanent criminal, who's been jailed multiple times previously for fraud - and the judge effectively says he's an "entrenched and remorseless" offender - so she only gives him 6 yrs and 5 mths, and he'll be out again in 4 yrs and 6 mths to start up his scamming again.

It'd be nearly worth paying someone to top him in prison, f******* arsehole he is!!

In the good old days, the King/Emperor/Shogun/Don, etc. would either remove his head, or brand his forehead as a permanent warning to everyone he meets, that he is a defective humanoid.

[red750]

Just received a call, recorded of course, 

 

"The Australian Government has reported fraudulent use of your passport. Press 1 for English, 2 for Chinese."

 

I have never held a passport.

[rgmwa]

Could be a scam.

[red750]

That's why I posted in the Scam topic.

[spacesailor]

I didn,t know you had '' dual '' nationality .

I only have three passports .

English , New Zealand and Australia . The cost is cheapest for the first & dearest for the last .

I should talk the missus into getting an ' IRISH ' passport , that gives access to all EEC countries .

spacesailor

[red750]

I have never been outside Australia, in fact never been to W.A. or N.T. I've lived in Vic, N.S.W and S.A., and holidayed in Qld and Tas. I have no intention of travelling overseas, at least not at my age. 

[facthunter]

Trips and fights are good for some but a trip down a flight of stairs is not for US, red.  Nev

[onetrack]

I can't remember the last time I was in a fight, but I wouldn't have said it was good.

[spacesailor]

I had my ' trip ' a couple of weeks ago ! 

Broken bone , crunched elbow & torn ligament.  (  blooody potholes ) .

Stopped my ' rust repair ' On the car roof . No climbing ladders  or even painting .

Such a lot to due and I just have to wait till it gets  better.  HOPEFULLY. 

PS I have just 6 places to visit in Australia,  to say " been there , done that .

spacesailor

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by spacesailor
ps added

[facthunter]

Yeah I don't bother with Fights of the pugalistic type either OT but My typing  mistakes are more frequent that I like.   Nev

[red750]