More dodgy emails

[Snowman]

Funnily enough "Black Hat Europe" is hosting a show in the building my office is located in - BDC Islingtong, London (http://www.businessdesigncentre.co.uk/)

[stona]

Cyber security is a major issue for me and my business and we need to be so careful.  These email scams are getting cleverer and cleverer.  Good software is essential but even so you need to keep alert. Those responsible for these emails really are the scum of the earth.

I couldn't agree more Barry, but most of these clowns can't spell or write English correctly, which makes them dumb scum and less likely to succeed. Sadly they can simply send many, many emails of this type and they only need one vulnerable person to fall for the scam to make it pay.


I have noticed efforts by some financial institutions to alert customers to these sorts of scams, Barclays are running a good TV commercial at the moment. This sort of commercial is not cheap, which implies that Barclays are having to make good losses due to cyber crime which justify the expenditure on the advertising. I don't believe they are doing it as a public service, though they would like us to think so. They are doing it because it is in their own interest.


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

I wonder how much productivity is lost in a years time by these dirt bag scammers? It's got to be some horrendously large number I'm sure.


ray

[stona]

SWMBO received a very convincing email purporting to be from HMR&C telling her that she hadn't filed her VAT return and they had calculated her liability at some large sum, which they would take from her business bank account in a few days time. She knew she had filed her return, literally the previous week, and had no such liability. The email is a scam, but far better than most, well composed and in good English, and has since been forwarded to HMR&C's 'phishing' department. The scam is well timed to coincide with a period when many small businesses and self employed people are indeed supposed to be filing their returns.


Cheers


Steve

[rickoshea52]

My wife had some from Netflix and PayPal informing her of some payments she had made, she doesn't have an account with either.

[stona]

My wife had some ..... she doesn't have an account with either.

At least that's a bit of a give away


Cheers


Steve

[Gern]

When you open a bank account, aren't you supposed to supply information about who you are and where you live - or a business name and address. When folks fall for this sort of scam, their money must end up in a bank account somewhere. With all the resources available, why is it impossible to find the account holders and recover the money?

[dave]

One problem is that the scammers often incorporate a second scam.  They persuade some poor sod to take a job working for their company in the U.K. to handle "payments" with a uk bank account and transfer the money to their accounts in foreign parts.


they do this with all sorts of scams, when the police do investigate the chap in the U.K. is left holding the basket and guilty of criminal offences and the money has vanished.