Students heading to uni hit by bursary 'phishing' scam

Former_MSE_Faye

Students at major UK universities have been targeted by emails which claim to offer them a Government bursary...

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'Students heading to uni hit by bursary 'phishing' scam'

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agarnett

As a parent of members of the targeted victim group, I say get parliament to pass an emergency law, then a judge to sentence one of these phisher organisation heads to forcible removal of their crown jewels, and I would willingly volunteer to do us all a favour by doing those honours without anaesthetic. Total scum. If the perps are ladies, I would defer to the superior sex for design of suitable alternative punishments executed by them.

Pincher

There was a Open University program 40 years ago, asking
"Is body identity necessary and sufficient?"

Criminals are always trying to take over your identity one way or another. People have been known to sell your house without you knowing, and that's before we had computers.

It's pretty obvious the post code and birthdate questions are totally inadequate, but so many companies seem to think that mother's maiden name is sacrosanct and proof enough that you are who you say you are. These Genealogy sites will sell your mother to anybody! What school you went to is on your Facebook page!.


I said so before, I say again.

I want a bank where I can only transfer big money if I turn up in a branch; or at least a secure booth in a shopping centre, if they don't want to staff it. Something photo booth size. You sit down, and latch it inside. Videoconference with a webcam can't be too hard to include.

Finger print scan, iris scan, facial recognition, in combination with a card, a PIN, etc.

It doesn't matter for small amounts, but large amounts should only be sent to destinations that were set up in branch, under secure conditions. To save on staffing, they can set up some terminals in branch, so you can DIY.

agrinnall

Pincher wrote: »

I want a bank where I can only transfer big money if I turn up in a branch

You may want that but I, and millions of other people, are perfectly happy to do such transfers from the comfort of our own homes. We're not going to let you dictate what we can do, and having invested billions in payment infrastructure and security the banks are not going to accommodate you either.

agarnett

Pincher wrote: »

There was a Open University program 40 years ago, asking
"Is body identity necessary and sufficient?".

Yes, and as you say, experts were alive to the risk even before any of us even imagined something like the internet, but abetted by myriads of haphazard online banking and telephone banking implementations, we have all been surrounded by a kind of BigData fallout from the clever combining of bits of our personal data (a fusion explosion from which otherwise inert names addresses birthdays etc have become toxic to us).

We now need special suits to roam this earth in that cloud, to make sure nothing gets in or out.

Criminals are always trying to take over your identity one way or another. People have been known to sell your house without you knowing, and that's before we had computers.

What our government and banks and police are not making clear is that it is organised crime that is responsible for such phishing scams and ID Theft generally. They are putting their heads in the sand.

Most of us thinkers on this subject are far more concerned thesedays about protecting ourselves from ID Theft than about protecting ourselves from burglary, for the very reason that burglary is hardly a problem anymore. Burglary used to be scourge but it usually wasn't a deep-seated cancer like ID Theft or drug-dealing. Doing legwork for ID Theft is much safer for the burglars who now perhaps work ultimately to the benefit of various BigData !!!!!s whether they appreciate it or not.

There is a similar hierarchy as in drug dealing I think. And even at the bottom end, bent bank staff and call centre operators, letterbox dippers, ATM skimmers etc, the chances of being caught are virtually zero, and even if you are, you are more likely first to be thought of as very entrepreneurial and just a bit misguided, as opposed to antisocial. You'll be sacked of course if you are stealing data at work, but it'll be largely hushed up because the government, banks and big corporate don't want to admit the problem, so you'll be able to move on soon enough.

It's pretty obvious the post code and birthdate questions are totally inadequate, but so many companies seem to think that mother's maiden name is sacrosanct and proof enough that you are who you say you are. These Genealogy sites will sell your mother to anybody! What school you went to is on your Facebook page!

Yes exactly. Obviously large companies now realise the risks they have created that threaten their customers, but they are not remorseful. Their line is that it is an environmental thing that they have to suffer too, and it is up to us to protect ourselves.

In some ways that's a bit like the public information propaganda broadcasts of the early 60s - if you hear a siren for a nuclear attack, gather some tins of beans and your little ones and hide under the stairs until you hear the all clear :rotfl:

It doesn't matter for small amounts, but large amounts should only be sent to destinations that were set up in branch, under secure conditions. To save on staffing, they can set up some terminals in branch, so you can DIY.

Trouble is, we are talking students and the example given in the article was that £300 was the stolen amount - that is a small amount to most established households - only the cost of a cheap flat screen telly, or to tax the car, but it is a big inconvenience to a student starting out in life. That they eventually get their money back via the bank does not mean this is a victimless crime. The worry and inconvenience of repairing your ID are awful. And as for the cost refunded via the bank - their shareholders aren't paying - it is rigged so we all pay.

I put the scammers of impressionable young students in the same bracket as those who beat up old ladies.

Pincher

agrinnall wrote: »

You may want that but I, and millions of other people, are perfectly happy to do such transfers from the comfort of our own homes. We're not going to let you dictate what we can do, and having invested billions in payment infrastructure and security the banks are not going to accommodate you either.

Did I say "everybody" should have a bank like that?

Wait till you get stung by a scam, and want some security.

Carry on like:

"I'll wear sexy clothes, and get into Uber cabs driven by unlicensed drivers in the early hours any time I feel like it. I will never get raped, because this is Britain." "

all you want.

agrinnall

Pincher wrote: »

Did I say "everybody" should have a bank like that?

No, but you did say this, which implies you want all large amounts processed your way.

Pincher wrote: »

...large amounts should only be sent to destinations that were set up in branch, under secure conditions.

As for the rest of your nonsensical rant, I'll just treat that with the disdain it deserves.

agarnett

agrinnall, what do you think should be done by Metropolitan Police about the particular scam example apparently tailored to students at Queen Mary London University?

jaydeeuk1

agarnett wrote: »

agrinnall, what do you think should be done by Metropolitan Police about the particular scam example apparently tailored to students at Queen Mary London University?

99% of scams come from abroad.

Absolutely FA the met can do about it, other than raise awareness of the scam.

agarnett

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

99% of scams come from abroad.

Absolutely FA the met can do about it, other than raise awareness of the scam.

So don't most London residents policed by the Met come from "abroad"? Students too ... aren't they largely from "abroad"? Where is this place "abroad"? Is your abroad the same as mine? Is it somewhere neither I nor a policeman can travel to freely, and where untouchables live? Or do we just choose not to touch? Is it Malaga? No sorry, I've been there. Is it a that massive gin palace moored somewhere in the Med called BHS Destroyer wot I saw on Sky News? No? That's different. So maybe just everywhere east of Dover?

Oh yeah, almost forgot - Brexit means Br ... er sorry! ... Just remind us what it means again, I'm often confused by who's them and who's us, and who's the good guys and who's the baddies :rotfl:

agrinnall

agarnett wrote: »

Where is this place "abroad"?

Calm down! It's pretty obvious that the 'abroad' referred to is the common meaning of the word, "foreign countries considered collectively", i.e. anywhere that is not the UK. And in the case of scams, the vast majority of them are run from countries outside the EU/EEA where the Met have no jurisdiction and quite often little influence.