Spoof email from BT about email account

KorkyKat

Screw BT. I remember when they gave out POP3 for free when you had a dial up account. Then they changed and made it into Talk21.com unless you paid for the POP3 account They have of course been piggy backing on Yahoo. Now they pull this fast one and unless you are signed up to them they will charge. You can't even access their forum pages unless you are one of their slaves.

There's lots of free email out there. Come the time they can also stick their landline charges if that's the game they want to play. How much would it have cost for them to migrate all customer's emails to Yahoo? Zilch.

Ratboy

There is a lot of cross forum talk regarding these issues, and it seems that anyone accesing the Government Gateway system/Monster.com is being scammed.

btm123

I've also had this email, having had my talk21 account for 10 years.
Anyone had any luck getting free account to continue by speaking to them.

I kind of feel like I'm being held to ransom a bit, and the notice period is totally unacceptable. Sure, I can backup the mails if I'm quick, but its been used and registered all over the place over the last 10 years.

And whilst I accept it was free, it was peppered with adverts, so its not like they were doing me a huge favour by providing it.

Thanks BT - and there was me half thinking about taking you up on a footy package this season.

EIGHTOF8

I sent the offending email to BT last week and today I have received their response.
"Dear BT Customer

Thank you for your email to the BT Customer Security Team. I am sorry to hear about the inconvenience you have had with unsolicited email apparently sent from BT and I can understand how frustrating this can be.
As you may have suspected, this would not be a valid email from BT. BT will never contact you asking for your account number, password or bank details.
It has been brought to our attention previously by other customers and I can advise that the mail that you received was sent from a compromised email account. BT will contact the relevant parties to request that appropriate action is taken to re-secure the account."

It goes on a bit, so I just copied this exerpt.
So basically, it has been confirmed as a Scam.

AVENUE

So is the email saying that these email accounts will be closed from Sept 16th unless we pay £1.60 per month a total scam then?

Regards - avenue

EIGHTOF8

AVENUE wrote: »

So is the email saying that these email accounts will be closed from Sept 16th unless we pay £1.60 per month a total scam then?

Regards - avenue

No mention of losing your email or anything:
Here's the full email:

"Dear BT Customer

Thank you for your email to the BT Customer Security Team. I am sorry to hear about the inconvenience you have had with unsolicited email apparently sent from BT and I can understand how frustrating this can be.
As you may have suspected, this would not be a valid email from BT. BT will never contact you asking for your account number, password or bank details.
It has been brought to our attention previously by other customers and I can advise that the mail that you received was sent from a compromised email account. BT will contact the relevant parties to request that appropriate action is taken to re-secure the account.
If you use Microsoft software, I would also like to bring to your attention the importance of installing any necessary security updates from Microsoft. You can see the available patches at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Also, a useful tool that Microsoft have provided can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/mbsahome.mspx
At BT we are consistently looking at ways to improve the service we offer our customers. As part of this we have put together an online questionnaire about your experience of dealing with the BT Customer Security Team which we would like you to complete. The questionnaire can be found at the following URL: http://home.btconnect.com/btquestionnaire and will only take a few minutes of your time. Your feedback will help us improve the service we offer you.
Once again thank you for your email and I do hope that the information I have supplied has been of help to you today. Should you have any further queries concerning this issue please do not hesitate to contact me again by replying to this mail where myself or one of my colleagues will be happy to assist you further.
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact/c/346,3024
The purpose of this Web form is to provide a standard format for abuse reports into BT. It will assist customers to provide information appropriate to the issue they are reporting and will ensure that BT can prioritise and manage issues efficiently. BT will continue to operate and manage our abuse@ mailboxes alongside the Web form. Thank you for contacting BT.
Yours sincerely,
BT Customer Security Team
http://www.bt.com/acceptableuse
http://www.getsafeonline.org/
BT is a founding member of the Internet Watch Foundation, ISP Abuse Management Forum and the Internet Content Rating Association.
This email contains BT information, which may be privileged or confidential.
It's meant only for the individual(s) or entity named above. If you're not the intended recipient, note that disclosing, copying, distributing or using this information is prohibited. If you've received this email in error, please let me know immediately on the email address above. Thank you.
We monitor our email system, and may record your emails.
British Telecommunications plc
Registered office: 81 Newgate Street London EC1A 7AJ Registered in England no: 1800000
BT does not accept responsibility for the content of third party web sites."

I sent the offending email to abuse@bt.com and then went on to copy and paste the offending email header and pasted that onto a complaint form on their website. So, I have actually received this email twice.

Jivesinger

EIGHTOF8 wrote: »

I sent the offending email to BT last week and today I have received their response.
"Dear BT Customer

Thank you for your email to the BT Customer Security Team. I am sorry to hear about the inconvenience you have had with unsolicited email apparently sent from BT and I can understand how frustrating this can be.
As you may have suspected, this would not be a valid email from BT. BT will never contact you asking for your account number, password or bank details.
It has been brought to our attention previously by other customers and I can advise that the mail that you received was sent from a compromised email account. BT will contact the relevant parties to request that appropriate action is taken to re-secure the account."

It goes on a bit, so I just copied this exerpt.
So basically, it has been confirmed as a Scam.

Yeah... but remember that BT also confirmed to DonnySaver that it was a scam, and then they confirmed it wasn't:

DonnySaver wrote: »

I checked BT's own website for legitimate email addresses they use and btcomms wasn't listed. I was suspicious so I contacted BT about it. They confirmed that it is a SCAM and I should delete it.

DonnySaver wrote: »

I just got an email back from BT saying this:-
Hi
Just to let you know is not a phishing email its real.

Regards
BT Internet Customer Security Team
BT Operate
Telephone: 0808 100 4332
British Telecommunications plc
Registered office: 81 Newgate Street London EC1A 7AJ
Registered in England no. 1800000

Now I am confused!

And, more fundamentally, BT's own website has a page saying the accounts are being closed on 16 September 2013:
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/45245/?s_cid=com_FURL_emailchanges

BT_site wrote:

So we can offer you the best and most secure email, from 16 September 2013 we'll be closing some basic email services. These include BT Basic Mail (also known as Talk21) and the email service that some customers may have retained when they stopped having broadband with BT.
etc. etc.

So I believe the truth is:
a) BT Support are hopeless and

b) it's NOT a scam and

c) people in this situation have only a month to get busy migrating their email address (or pay the £1.60 a month)

Edit: I guess it's possible that some scammers are sending versions of this email with malicious links (and BT are foolish for sending emails with links like this), but if I had a talk21 account in this position, I'd be taking some urgent action to move my account or pay up; I think the underlying message in the email is true.

Jivesinger

AVENUE wrote: »

So is the email saying that these email accounts will be closed from Sept 16th unless we pay £1.60 per month a total scam then?

Regards - avenue

BT's website has the same message so it looks like you'll have to pay the £1.60 or move your emails:
bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/45245

Whether that particular email was a scam sent by someone other than BT, I don't know, and I certainly would be cautious about clicking the links.

You could argue that it is a scam perpetrated by BT, of course.

EIGHTOF8

So BT are lying then are they?
Clicking on the link to pay for it gives me the option to log in> Very dodgy.

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EIGHTOF8

"£1.60a month" is it? Typical spammers error there already.

And "Technical support to help you when you need"

And there is no footnote relating to the *