EE Scam

tempus_fugit

When I read the original post I thought the email had just told the OP to log in to their account, which is not inherently a security issue. What was missing from the post, presumably, was the fact that it actually asked them to log in via a link in the email, which of course would direct you to a clone of the website and grab your login details. This is the crucial bit of information, there is nothing wrong with logging into the legitimate website in order to check your account.

Takmon

Moglex wrote: »

Your points would make some sense if people kept creating threads for the same scams.

However, these scammers send out batches of their crud, baiting with different companies and organisations.

Obviously, in an ideal world, everybody would exercise the utmost diligence with every email they received.

If you find such warnings annoying or pointless, simply don't open the threads - they are usually fairly clearly labelled.

In the real world, however, people don't, and it can be useful if people get a heads up when the scammers move to a new 'bait' organisation or company.

But that's not really how scammers work. They don't just focus on one scam and then move on to another. There are many scammers sending out many different emails/texts pretending to be a large number of different organisations. Just search the name of a large organisation and add the word "scam" and you will usually find one.

Like the old saying goes "give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime". Warning about individual scams doesn't really help because there are so many different types and if someone thinks they know "all the latest scams" then it could make them more likely to fall for one they don't know.

Moglex

Takmon wrote: »

But that's not really how scammers work.

Yes it is.

They come up with a new email for a scam, and an associated fake site.

Then the send out tens/hundreds of thousands of emails and hope to get some bites before the site is taken down.

I know this, because I often click on a link to check the quality of the site that has been created. It's usually gone by the time I do.


Anyway, MSE put this forum here for, amongst other things, warnings.

It's not really for you or any other curmudgeonly little internet gods who believe in their own invulnerability* to unilaterally change the rules.

If you aren't happy with people posting warnings on a warning board, write to MSE and ask them to change the rules. And good luck with that.


*And it's those who believe in their own invulnerability that invariably bleat and whine the loudest when the fall for a scam.

Raxiel

I've just had one of these. It arrived 20 minutes after my genuine bill notification, and I've only been with EE for 1 month.

I must admit, despite normally being quite observant about these things I didn't spot it wasn't genuine because the timing was so perfect. It was only during a live chat (made by logging into the genuine website, I still never follow links in messages, even one's I trust, it's just too ingrained now) that I realized. The timing was just too perfect.

Takmon

Moglex said:

Takmon wrote: »

But that's not really how scammers work.

Yes it is.

They come up with a new email for a scam, and an associated fake site.
Then the send out tens/hundreds of thousands of emails and hope to get some bites before the site is taken down.
I know this, because I often click on a link to check the quality of the site that has been created. It's usually gone by the time I do.

Anyway, MSE put this forum here for, amongst other things, warnings.
It's not really for you or any other curmudgeonly little internet gods who believe in their own invulnerability* to unilaterally change the rules.
If you aren't happy with people posting warnings on a warning board, write to MSE and ask them to change the rules. And good luck with that.

*And it's those who believe in their own invulnerability that invariably bleat and whine the loudest when the fall for a scam.

So you think there is only one group of scammers who focus on one scam at a time then move on to the next? Like i said there are so many scammers online that there are literally thousands being run at any one time by many different people. 

Clicking on these kinds of links is a very bad idea because it might contain a zero day vulnerability that is not yet patched in your browser/operating system and you could end up having some nasty software installed. 

But i can't see why you would disagree that people should learn how to spot all scams and not just specific ones?

Moglex

Takmon said:

Moglex said:

Takmon wrote: »

But that's not really how scammers work.

Yes it is.

They come up with a new email for a scam, and an associated fake site.
Then the send out tens/hundreds of thousands of emails and hope to get some bites before the site is taken down.
I know this, because I often click on a link to check the quality of the site that has been created. It's usually gone by the time I do.

Anyway, MSE put this forum here for, amongst other things, warnings.
It's not really for you or any other curmudgeonly little internet gods who believe in their own invulnerability* to unilaterally change the rules.
If you aren't happy with people posting warnings on a warning board, write to MSE and ask them to change the rules. And good luck with that.

*And it's those who believe in their own invulnerability that invariably bleat and whine the loudest when the fall for a scam.

So you think there is only one group of scammers who focus on one scam at a time then move on to the next?

I've no idea where you got that from, but, no, that's not what I think. (Are you trying to come up with a straw man argument?)

Clicking on these kinds of links is a very bad idea because it might contain a zero day vulnerability that is not yet patched in your browser/operating system and you could end up having some nasty software installed.

Don't you worry your head about that. Virtual OS on a sacrificial machine.

But i can't see why you would disagree that people should learn how to spot all scams and not just specific ones?

Again, a straw man argument. I never suggested any such thing. It just seems a shame that there are a group of people here who seem to be trying to subvert the purpose of the "warn" part of this forum by ridiculing people for issuing warnings.

Takmon

Moglex; So why do you disagree with my posts when you seem to be agreeing with the points that i'm making?.

I just believe that if people follow the same rules when being contacted in any way they can easily avoid most scams. People are obviously free to post whatever warnings they want but there are so many scams about that i really don't think it's going to really help. A person is either going to spot it's a scam anyway or if they don't know it's a scam then they will likely get caught by one of the many thousands others that they didn't see a specific warning about. 

Moglex

Takmon said:

Moglex; So why do you disagree with my posts when you seem to be agreeing with the points that i'm making?.

I suppose because I do agree that people should understand the general rules. I just think it's as well that there is as much information as possible available, so when a new scam comes up it does no harm to warn people.

And I don't understand why people who think they are invulnerable can't just sit and quietly feel superior, rather than belittling people who post warnings, just because they feel that they don't need them.

Takmon

Moglex said:

Takmon said:

Moglex; So why do you disagree with my posts when you seem to be agreeing with the points that i'm making?.

I suppose because I do agree that people should understand the general rules. I just think it's as well that there is as much information as possible available, so when a new scam comes up it does no harm to warn people.

And I don't understand why people who think they are invulnerable can't just sit and quietly feel superior, rather than belittling people who post warnings, just because they feel that they don't need them.

I don't know why you keep on about this being "invulnerable" and feeling "superior" thing. How to avoid scams is a basic life skill that all adults should be taught, just like crossing the road without being hit by a car for example. Just because i can cross the road without being hit by cars it in no way makes me feel invulnerable or superior i just know to be cautious and what to do. If people started posting on here on how to cross specific roads i would again say it's a bit pointless and much easier to just teach people how to cross all roads....

Zedicus

Takmon said:

Moglex said:

Takmon said:

Moglex; So why do you disagree with my posts when you seem to be agreeing with the points that i'm making?.

I suppose because I do agree that people should understand the general rules. I just think it's as well that there is as much information as possible available, so when a new scam comes up it does no harm to warn people.

And I don't understand why people who think they are invulnerable can't just sit and quietly feel superior, rather than belittling people who post warnings, just because they feel that they don't need them.

I don't know why you keep on about this being "invulnerable" and feeling "superior" thing. How to avoid scams is a basic life skill that all adults should be taught, just like crossing the road without being hit by a car for example. Just because i can cross the road without being hit by cars it in no way makes me feel invulnerable or superior i just know to be cautious and what to do. If people started posting on here on how to cross specific roads i would again say it's a bit pointless and much easier to just teach people how to cross all roads....

I think the problem is that you are making post after post after post, essentially defending your right to criticise someone for doing exactly what this forum is here for them to do.

There are many things in life that people should do, such as reading the T&Cs, knowing all the signs of scams, taking care when crossing the road. Unfortunately, not everyone does these things, or does not do them (or understand their implications) perfectly, or occasionally forgets,  so any extra help can be valuable.

It's a little hard to see where your obsession with only warning people in a general way is coming from. It seems a little odd, to say the least.