Hoax distress callers

[onetrack]

I don't know what one should do with these mindless scumbags who make hoax distress calls. We had one yesterday afternoon, the weather was pretty atrocious with gusty, near gale-force winds and regular rain squalls - and this idiot calls in with a distress call saying there's 3 people in a sinking boat 70 miles offshore from Fremantle.

 

AMSA organised to launch the Challenger, but in the meantime, they tried to get verification of the boats position, and any other previous sightings.

I'm not sure whether the Challenger went up (I don't think it did, when suspicions started to be aroused the distress call wasn't genuine). The Police were supposed to make a statement this morning, but they've said nothing all day.

 

So, I'm not sure what finally eventuated, but I think everyone was stood down in the evening when no confirmation of any boat in the area could be found. I trust they catch this bastard, and hang him out to dry. What a moron.

 

https://www.swtimes.com.au/news/disaster-and-emergency/search-and-rescue-underway-after-a-mayday-alert-off-perths-coast--c-7138242

[old man emu]

What these fools don't realise is that it is normal practice for the source phone number of calls to 000 are logged.  Expect someone to get a knock on the door from the Police in a day or so.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Sadly, spoofing phone numbers is pretty easy for those in the know

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Sadly, spoofing phone numbers is pretty easy for those in the know

Do you think that morons who cry "Wolf" have the "know"?

[onetrack]

I know that the 000 operators already have the ability to find your phone position pretty promptly (Push MoLI), as an aid to finding people in distress. Today, they have advanced further on Push MoLI, and have AML for many phones (Advanced Mobile Location).

Every time I've called 000 in the past (not many times, I can say, and it was always an emergency), the operator immediately asks who you want (police, fire or ambulance), and they ask for your mobile number (to also check it against the number on their screen), and they then pass you on to the immediately required service - who also take your number, so they can call you back - which they will often do. At worst, the hoaxer could be calling from a stolen phone.

Regardless, the authorities have a pretty good idea rapidly of your location, within a short time after you make a call to 000.

 

https://www.triplezero.gov.au/triple-zero/How-to-Call-000/advanced-mobile-location

[Jerry_Atrick]

10 hours ago, old man emu said:

Do you think that morons who cry "Wolf" have the "know"?

Sadly, yes.. In the hallowed words of Adam Bandt, "Google it, mate" (I don't mean it to be disparaging).. It is pretty easy. I would put sites on here, but I don't trust what they will download to my PC, even with anti-virus

[Bruce Tuncks]

I have wondered if the anti-virus lot are not responsible for the viruses themselves.

Of course , this would need to be a well-kept secret, but what a great marketing idea huh?

Please tell me I'm too cynical.

[onetrack]

You're too cynical. We all know that John McAfee was a model of honest virtue, and would never do anything even remotely devious, such as indulge in massive tax evasion - or indulge in the promulgation of viruses to improve sales of the McAfee AV programme.

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by onetrack

[facthunter]

Look I'm from Nigeria and have just come out. My daddy is very rich and understands I can't stay here.  I want to transfer some of his money out of this country, There's 100,000 USD in it for you if you help me........... Nev

[red750]

My wifes email and mine get four or five emails A DAY saying our McAfee or Norton is expiring/expired, even though we use another antivirus program. 

 

When you try replying to the email to tell them to p*ss off, it says "unable to send - spam". Why doesn't it say that to them?

[onetrack]

This is where Mailwasher comes in, you can "bounce" the email back to the sender - and you can "blacklist" either or both, the sender and the domain. This ensures that Spam Cop gets the information, which they report back to service providers.

Once a source of spam is identified, the ISP can stop them, as soon as they hit the ISP's servers. But it's always a cat-and-mouse game, the scammers simply register different domains, and keep up their efforts.

All the porn sites are part of the scammers and spammers, they're all owned/operated by the global criminal gangs. The instant you open a porn site, your email is logged, and the "AV expired" spam starts within an hour or two, or sometimes even less.