Damn it, I nearly got scammed!

Cobra

Cobra

In Memoriam. TPer Emeritus
Admin
Messages
115,214
Name
The real Chris
Edit My Images
No
I have been expecting a parcel from Hermes, I received a text earlier saying the attempted delivery had failed and to follow the link to
redirect or some such, it was timed at a time, when I was in the garden, and wouldn't have heard the bell,
so its feasible .
I've mentioned a few times that my local Hermes person is a total idiot..
And it wouldn't surprise me if she had ignored the huge notice on the door, if no answer please leave xxxxx
Again feasible.
Mind you she had left one out in the pouring rain without knocking before now. :rolleyes:

Like an idiot, I followed the link,
first, name and post code, OK no problem ...
Next, Mobile number and DOB, errr how did you get my mobile number to text me?
ebay doesn't have it so nor does the sender ..
DOB? yeah right you can offski!
So hopefully no harm done.

I emailed the seller, just to confirm, and they gave me the tracking number, no idea why that wasn't sent in the first place.
It seems its in transit, but not out for delivery.
 
Fortunately no harm done. I think scammers must rely in coincidence like this when they sen texts prtending to be form Hermes, Parcel Force etc or the major banks
 
boyfalldown said:
I think scammers must rely in coincidence like this
Click to expand...
Normally I wouldn't have even got to the name and post code bit, but as you say, in this instance there
was too many coincidences.
DOB was just a tad too far though ;)
 
I nearly got caught out the other day too. I was expecting a parcel from Hermes and I got a text from DHL with a link to track my parcel - didn't spot it was a different courier until I checked later :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I clicked the link and was immediately suspicious when they wanted my age group. No harm done, but you can see how easily people are caught out.
 
If I buy anything these days from the likes of e.bay I won’t complete if they use myhermes they lost 5 items of photographic equipment of mine last year … going and coming ,, the last one was a return to Amazon .. total joke of a company … why Amazon use them I don’t know ..

Mind you saying that Olympus use cycleon at the moment and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same owners as the m.o is the same

Now there’s a co.incidence after posting the above three lines I did a check on who owns myhermes it’s a German company the u.k boss is a Dutchman ,cycleon logistics are based in Holland .. but if it smells like a rat it often is
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Sky
Bebop said:
I nearly got caught out the other day too
Click to expand...
Easy done Bee, and I'm usually very suspicious of such things, I'm still kicking myself over it TBH.

the black fox said:
I won’t complete if they use myhermes
Click to expand...
I've become like this also Jeff, how the hell I missed this one though :(
Its only low value plants so no real real harm done if they screw it up.
I'd certainly check and double check if it was a high value item though!

the black fox said:
it’s a German company the u.k boss is a Dutchman
Click to expand...
I'm reminded of one of my mum's sayings
"If that <whatever> is true, then I'm a Dutchman"
:D
 
Turn her over then!!!
 
As I perceive it......

The phishing texts, emails etc are like a scatter gun approach in that it does not take many to be lured to make the scum scammers 'keep going'.

Plus bearing in mind the massive upkick in online buying and courier journeys mean enough folk will be in the position @Cobra Chris found himself in.

I hope I can avoid such entrapment and treat all apparently unexpected txt or email with high caution and any unknown CLI number with suspicion and let them all go to answerphone..... = any with meaningful message gets answered but all others get ignored.
 
A few months ago, a friend of mine got a call from “BT” advising her of a refund because her connection speeds weren’t good. At one point she got suspicious of the questions especially when she was asked to share her screen while logging into her bank account which she did.

Thankfully during that time she messaged me to ask if there is anything suspicious at which point I told her to hang up, call her bank and lock all accounts. She was unbelievably close to losing £10k or so. She is normally a very alert and careful individual but the lockdown has definitely had an effect on people.
 
We get a lot of deliveries. and also get a lot of spoof emails texts. This tells us to log in to check a delivery. We never use the link in the email or text, we simply go to the delivery company website, and before logging in there, we check the URL is the correct one. But yes, it is so easy to be taken in. :oops: :$
 
I've also been getting a lot of these missed parcel phishing texts lately. I also clicked on the first one I got, it claimed was from DHL, from whom I was expecting a RMA to come back from Germany. I realised the URL is off so closed the webpage quickly.

As always, make sure the URL is correct before clicking on the link. Eg. dhl.post.me is not the correct URL to DHL, it is pointing to scammer's website with dhl as sub-domain. The last bit before the first / should always point to the official website.
 
chrism_scotland said:
There was a warning a week or so ago from mobile networks advising this kind of scam was rife at the moment; generally they seem to be trying to get you to install software so they can log keystrokes, etc on your phone; helps them break into online banking, etc
Click to expand...
Thankfully never use anything mobile / app based, banking etc,
And this is the reason.
 
chrism_scotland said:
There was a warning a week or so ago from mobile networks advising this kind of scam was rife at the moment; generally they seem to be trying to get you to install software so they can log keystrokes, etc on your phone; helps them break into online banking, etc
Click to expand...
Cobra said:
Thankfully never use anything mobile / app based, banking etc,
And this is the reason.
Click to expand...

Me too.........................I am happy to online banking but a banking app on my phone :thinking: :banghead: not for me :)
 
Cobra said:
Thankfully never use anything mobile / app based, banking etc,
And this is the reason.
Click to expand...
Box Brownie said:
Me too.........................I am happy to online banking but a banking app on my phone :thinking: :banghead: not for me :)
Click to expand...

I use face recognition to access the banking app but I do have to enter a code every now and again.

That said, I don't click links in text messages. ;)
 
Marc said:
That said, I don't click links in text messages. ;)
Click to expand...
I wouldn't normally, but as above, it was total cluster f*** of coincidences, that made me look..
I never got past name and post code which is no big secret before twigging.
 
Cobra said:
I wouldn't normally, but as above, it was total cluster f*** of coincidences, that made me look..
I never got past name and post code which is no big secret before twigging.
Click to expand...

Yup, risk aware rather than risk averse........................afteral 'we' don't want you inadvertently selling TP to the North Koreans when you have only just taken on the responsibility, do 'we' ;)
 
What I do when I’m called and asked for personal information is to inform them that I will call back to confirm because I’m not comfortable giving my details out like this. I never trust the displayed caller ID because numbers can be spoofed. If they are legit they will agree with you calling back.

On a side note, I recall reading somewhere that on landlines, you may think you hung up the call but in reality you are still connected and they can continue the scam making it seem like calling, ringing etc… I use my mobile phone since disconnection is confirmed.
 
Box Brownie said:
Yup, risk aware rather than risk averse........................afteral 'we' don't want you inadvertently selling TP to the North Koreans when you have only just taken on the responsibility, do 'we' ;)
Click to expand...
My Nigerian uncle has already offered me £10,000,000 for it. (y)
 
Mauri3205 said:
I recall reading somewhere that on landlines, you may think you hung up the call but in reality you are still connected and they can continue the scam making it seem like calling, ringing etc…
Click to expand...
That was certainly a thing a few years ago, effectively stealing your number to make long distance calls,
but I guess that as more and more people switched to mobile that has possibly become less lucrative.
 
Cobra said:
...
I'm reminded of one of my mum's sayings
"If that <whatever> is true, then I'm a Dutchman"
:D
Click to expand...

I'd avoid that expression if you ever visit South Africa. 'Dutchman' is a rather derogatory term for an Afrikaner! ;)
 
MartynK said:
I'd avoid that expression if you ever visit South Africa. 'Dutchman' is a rather derogatory term for an Afrikaner! ;)
Click to expand...
I'll try my best :D
 
MartynK said:
I'd avoid that expression if you ever visit South Africa. 'Dutchman' is a rather derogatory term for an Afrikaner! ;)
Click to expand...


Is "soutpiel" still a derogatory term in Afrikans?
 
A friend of mine nearly got caught with a DHL scam as she was expecting a delivery.
Thankfully like you she soon realised it was a scam.
 
With umlauts somewhere as well?

My extremely limited knowledge of Afrikaans comes from Wilbur Smith novels!
 
I've been getting a few texts and it seems phone calls in the last few dats.
Have a BT call blocker phone that only lets people in saved numbers through, phone sits
quietly and then when someone I know calls I see a long list of rejected calls :giggle:
 
Hopefully, THIS might reduce the courier scams. For a day or 2...
 
I have a Vodafone 'pay as you go' account that I top up monthly.

The following arrived by sms earlier this morning: 'Vodafone: Payment for your latest bill could not be processed by your bank. Please update your payment information via: https://vodafone.billing-requests.com/'

I knew my account was up to date, and this was a pretty obvious attempt to scam my banking details, but I called Vodafone anyway. They didn't know anything about it ... as I expected.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Had an interesting one. An email from Amazon to tell me that my last order has been cancelled. "As a sorry, we offer a 70% off all items in you cart for the next 24 hours"


Firstly, the email address is @amazononline.com, secondly, it says "cart" and thirdly, it came to my work email address.
 
Another co-incidence?
or just a pot luck spam text, like the Hermes one?

I had a text from BT this morning telling me that they had been monitoring my speed for the last 3 days,
it was at my min guaranteed 22Mbps and to follow the link for tips on how to speed it up.

1) that is not my guaranteed min
2) I had need to call out an engineer at the end of last week as my speed was, as reported elsewhere 5-10 mbps.
Yet another failing external cable was the culprit.
3) since he left the speed has been just below mid 30'sMbps


Surely most people keep a watch on their speed from time to time?
And would know what to do if its slow?... Call the damned provider :D
 
I'd an interesting phone call on my mobile on Friday - only the number, not the ID, showed

" Hello - is that Mrs ......"
" why do you want to know "
" This is the Bank of Scotland"
" Really ?? "

"This is to introduce the New Branch Manager xxxxx xxxxx.We are ringing you to say he'll be calling in a couple of days to see if you need any help"
" Ah - thank you for telling me "

Having been scammed some 10 years ago my reaction was to say nowt :)
Had to go into my branch this am so asked the teller - and we checked the phone number ;) He told me the one they use - SURPRISE they were not the same :)

I look forward to the follow up call from the new Branch Manager :D :D :D,
 
Apparently our washing machine extended warranty is about to run out. That would be the extended warranty I never take out on the Hotpoint washing machine that isn't a Hotpoint (or any of the many other brands that use the same guts with different badges!) Strangely, the fridge freezer (again, supposedly Hotpoint) has a similar thing about to happen.

I really should find out how to say "I hope Karma catches up with your lying ass!" in assorted South Asian languages...
 
It helps but I'd need to know the dialect(s) understood at the far end to know which epithet(s) to throw at them! "Trevor" and "Patrick" tend not to admit their origins...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top