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Phone and email SPAM and SCAM alerts

This isn't by phone or email but last week I was on a web site where I could listen to a radio station and the music stopped. I went to the site (normally there's nothing to see there, or there are ads which I wouldn't be seeing) and the normal appearance of the site had been replaced by a message that my McAfee protection had expired and to download the software now. Which I didn't.

I have to wonder if this is related to why I couldn't find my virus protection this morning. No logo where it was supposed to be, McAfee Virtual Technician was the only thing that worked and it couldn't find any McAfee software. When I contacted McAfee tech support and they had to fix something unrelated on my computer to do something else, I had to restart the computer. All of a sudden the McAfee logo was back.

Since no one at the radio station would contact me to tell me who to tell about this when I told them, the site is securesystems.net.
 
I heard from the radio station. The manager was willing to try to help me.

I just got the call from the company I paid for technical support, which must refund the money since they're going out of business. There was an 800 number but she was going so fast I couldn't hear it.
 
I got another double-first-name e-mail overnight by "Christine Janet".
Gee, why is the theme of "Three's Company" playing in my brain.
 
My Mom and I don't answer numbers we don't know. One came in last evening from a 347 number. I Googled it and it's a NYC area code. They left a voicemail message something to the affect of "Your computer is infected you need to call our security team at 347-xxx-xxxx and we'll fix it. If you feel you have received this message in error please call us 347-xxx-xxxx and press one at the prompt, we will remove your number from our list."
 
MarcB said:
My Mom and I don't answer numbers we don't know. One came in last evening from a 347 number. I Googled it and it's a NYC area code. They left a voicemail message something to the affect of "Your computer is infected you need to call our security team at 347-xxx-xxxx and we'll fix it. If you feel you have received this message in error please call us 347-xxx-xxxx and press one at the prompt, we will remove your number from our list."
Click to expand...

Sadly, there are people who will fall for this scam.
I receive many calls in which the called ID displays my area code and the first three digits of my cell phone number.
Since I know nobody with the same prefix as mine, I set my phone up to dismiss all incoming calls which contain my area code AND the first three digits of my number (prefix).
 
Now I got one from "Brittany and Jacqueline". Maybe whoever sends these has some sense now?
 
https://tidbits.com/2018/05/23/beware-icloud-breach-phone-scam/

Apparently the I cloud scam is more Widespread than I thought.

TidBITS reader David Brugger has alerted us to a new phone scam targeted at Apple users. The automated message claims to be from “Apple Support Care” and warns that your iCloud account has been breached and that you should stop going online. It then tells you to press 1 to be connected to Apple Support. Yeah, right, that’s going to happen.

Needless to say, this is just another form of the classic tech support scam, and if you get such a call, hang up immediately. (To hear what happens if you respond, and then take it to the logical extreme, check out “Turning the Tables on a Tech Support Scammer,” 19 September 2017.) Others have reported this scam on the Apple Support Communities as well.

The best defense against this sort of intrusion is carrier-level call blocking, since then the spam calls never even make it to your iPhone. AT&T offers the AT&T Call Protect app and service, which is based on the Hiya crowd-sourced database of known bad numbers, and T-Mobile offers Scam Block. Both are reportedly quite good, and you must sign up for them manually.

AT&T Call Protect identifying a call and showing activity
AT&T Call Protect identifying a suspect spam call and showing call log activity.
For those on other cellular networks, there are a variety of call-blocking apps that integrate with the call-blocking capabilities of iOS 10 and up. These can identify calls as coming from spammers or even block them right off, based on information from crowd-sourced databases. This approach works better than blocking the numbers manually yourself, since spammers are unlikely to use the same number twice when calling you, but they do reuse numbers across multiple people. So if five or ten people report a particular number as bad and then it’s used to call you, these apps can know to identify or block the call.

Although I’ve just switched to AT&T Call Protect, I previously used the roughly similar Hiya and Mr. Number, which come from the same company and are free with premium add-ons for $14.99 per year. They’re not perfect but are distinctly helpful in identifying and blocking phone spam. Alternatives include Truecaller (ad-supported or $17.99 per year) and Robokiller ($24.99 per year).

Once you install one of these apps from the App Store, it appears in Settings > Phone > Call Blocking and Identification for you to enable.
Click to expand...

Problem here is that I don't own any IOS or MacOSX Devices and these people claiming to be from Apple got my number. Note Since I own Google devices like Chrome OS and Android OS I had to check if similar scams were going on at Google where the Google Drive was affected and either delete the Google Account and start a new one or use 2 factor authentication.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KupjY1oF1I
 
https://tidbits.com/2018/05/23/beware-icloud-breach-phone-scam/

https://www.inc.com/business-insider/scammers-claiming-icloud-hack-phone-call.html


If you get a phone call claiming to be from Apple warning of an iCloud breach, beware: It's a trick.

Telephone scammers are cold-calling people, claiming that iCloud, Apple's cloud service, has been hacked, and asking them to give up their accounts details.

They seem to be exploiting the recent headlines about a group of hackers who claim to have access to hundreds of millions of iCloud user accounts. (In short: iCloud wasn't hacked, although bad password practices mean many people's accounts are still vulnerable -- but more on that in a moment.)

There are numerous accounts of people being called by the fraudsters online. Glenn Fleishman, writing for Macworld, says his wife was called five times by them. Twitter is full of similar tales -- with some people falling for the phishing scam.
Click to expand...


This GOes on
 
A text arriving on Sunday afternoon which read "Amex Fraud Alert. A charge for $723.26 was just made
to your account at Kohl's. If you did not make this charge please call 800-XXX-XXXX."

Only thing is, I don't have an Amex card. Nice try, guys.
 
Well, now I go and get one from "Samantha Lillian", so I guess not.
 
They're going a different route entirely. Now I have one from "Rkafula". I guess they thought "He's not responding to double first names, so now let's try garbled letters. Better than nothing I guess".
 
Phone spammers have taken to calling with recorded messages that let you know they are calling on a recorded line. Is it a safe guess that they have taken to the "recorded line" game after trying wire scams, only to have the scams caught by bank wire departments?
 
frankberry said:


Sadly, there are people who will fall for this scam.
I receive many calls in which the called ID displays my area code and the first three digits of my cell phone number.
Since I know nobody with the same prefix as mine, I set my phone up to dismiss all incoming calls which contain my area code AND the first three digits of my number (prefix).
Click to expand...

Frank,
Just wondering was this a feature built into your phone, and if so what type? Or if this is available as an app, what app is it?

I like the idea of being able to block entire area codes or prefixes, except for possibly work, personal business, friends, or family. Is there any app for Android available that will do that? Thanks!
 
anotherguy said:
I like the idea of being able to block entire area codes or prefixes, except for possibly work, personal business, friends, or family. Is there any app for Android available that will do that? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Here is what I did:

Dropped my landline and subscribed to VOIP.com (you need a broadband Internet connection but you do not need a PC). VOIP is my primary phone number and I can filter incoming calls by a wide variety of subjects. If I determine the call is invalid I mark it as 'rejected' and will no longer receive calls from that number (and "number" can be a range, an individual number or whole area codes). If the call is acceptable I either answer it on VOIP using my landline phone instrument or I can forward it to any other number (including my mobile). It is almost foolproof. My pesky calls have dropped from very invasive to practically nil in just a few weeks. Oh, and the cost of the "landline" dropped from $30+/month to just over $6/month. VOIP also maintains a database of reported spam numbers that will result in no connection if they try to call you. You can opt in or out of this feature. You can also refer spam numbers to them if they are not already listed.

If you want to maintain your mobile as a normal "friends only" instrument then just give that number out to family and friends and they can call your mobile direct.

VOIP offers a ton of features you would pay extra for at the phone company and I have had no problem with dropped calls or call quality. If you are interested in this offering go to VOIP.com. And no, I get no compensation for this. Just a free friendly suggestion.

I also run an Android app called Mr. Number on my cell phone which can also perform some of those tasks above.
 
I just got at least my third call since they began from a company that supposedly provides computer tech support. The company is required to notify those of us who were supposedly getting service from them because it is shutting down, and we are supposed to call 888-408-3028.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I just got at least my third call since they began from a company that supposedly provides computer tech support. The company is required to notify those of us who were supposedly getting service from them because it is shutting down, and we are supposed to call 888-408-3028.
Click to expand...
I just got my fourth message from these people in as many days. It costs money to block calls and I don't want to do that.
 
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