Massive increase in email and online scams

[Tubetec]

Im hearing some local media reports lately about an huge increase in bogus email related fraud,
In the last couple of days Ive received what looked like two scam emails , one proporting to be an email provider offering me a refund , the second earlier on today apparently from an Irish bank ,  MARK AS SPAM, THEN DELETE ,take absolutely no chances on opening any email from an unknown source , you could find your account cleared the moment you open one of these spoof emails .

If your finding your persistantly getting spammed with what looks like scam emails it might be best to set up brand new encrypted email account with a different provider , keep the old account going for reference purposes ,and gradually migrate email addresses as you need to use them . I did things old fashioned style and using the compose page address field and going through a-z I wrote down  in pen and paper all the important email addresses I needed to keep.

Im not an IT professional ,but thats my best advice , if someone see's a flaw in what I'm putting forward or can add to it
BE SURE AND SPEAK UP LOUD AND CLEAR.

The really stupid thing now is GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS  telling old and vulnerable people they need to use  email and online banking maybe for the first time in their life , making them a potential target for all kinds of stuff 

Activism for the brave new world , my new motto

Be careful out there,
DQ

 

[scott2000]

The really stupid thing now is GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS  telling old and vulnerable people they need to use  email and online banking maybe for the first time in their life , making them a potential target for all kinds of stuff 

I felt a similar way when our healthcare system was changed.  All kinds of information relating to income and taxes is needed in order to  participate. Of course I understand why. Just felt weird that you couldn't have health care if you didn't have this information when it wasn't needed before but, the gov wasn't involved before so I get it...even though it was strange that you were left uninsured if you couldn't provide this info??. Not sure how others are able to get around this and have free healthcare. I know of many.. I never really looked into it though...

This new stimulus stuff with the government having people's bank account information in order to  apply for assistance loans or have any chance of getting a stimulus quickly via direct deposit has that same feel. I totally get why and I suppose it will be nice to have everyone's financials organized nationally for quick processing and verification.. this should speed things up and fill in some holes..

Just adjusting to the changes feels strange I suppose.... I myself like to be organized so I get it...

It would be interesting if I start hearing about people getting assistance without any information similar to how the healthcare is working....

lol....funny if the next big assistance thing says it will require DNA samples....Everyone already fortunate enough to be in the database will receive their help first...... .....no way that would happen...

 

[Tubetec]

Dont be so certain of anything from here on Scott.
Theres a legal term for what you mentioned ,its called the use of 'coercive force'.
I myself was barred from collecting any form of social welfare support for the last three years ,
it was all over the use of biometric facial imaging by a government department who controlled the purse strings ,all under the guise of fraud prevention , now we know what the system saved in fradulent payments was dwarfed by the cost of implementing the system .
I hung tough and had to settle for a very basic lifestyle to try and make my funds last with a small amount of self employment to carry me . Now since COVID they have had to abolish the requirement for biometric recognition , so I can now collect my statutory entitlements once again. My guess is now they have farmed out the collection of biometric data to the private sector as it was very fraught with complicated legalities and obligations on them . Ive been aware the police(Gardai) here in Ireland have been running an ad-hoc biometric database for years , no legal provision ,using their smart phones ,point at a person ,click  and send app , bam up comes every possible detail about you they can scrape from the internet , theres a number of big players in the game ,has been in use in the USA for years also. Law enforcement , the Feds and Inteligence have contracts and can access vast databases. You may try and convince yourself otherwise  but yes definately the next step is DNA profiling on a population wide basis.

 

[PRR]

{redacted}
Still wondering why anyone would want to "restore blindness".

 

[cyrano]

I've seen a slight increase, across several mailservers. Nothing out of the ordinary.

What amazed me today, was a US-CERT release, accusing North Korea of being bad boys. It was stuffed with cases from 2014, 2016 and 2018. Nothing new. It also contained some good advice, along with a call at the int'l sec community to share tech details. A bit funny, I thought. Haven't got anything better to do?

Especially the call to share tech info was weird, as they never do that themselves. And on the same day Trump attacked the WHO for being incompetent. It sure raised some eyebrows in the sec community...

 

[Tubetec]

Ok Paul
I get a supposed email from the main email provider here in Ireland trying to imply some sort of refund ,false
second I get an unsolicited from a bank I ceased to do buisness 35 years ago , false

MARK AS SPAM , MOVE TO TRASH , DO NOT OPEN

and yes that was my antiquated email , that has now been replaced , apart from when sending my message through a known  leaky sieve when it suits my agenda  ;D

And sorry to say the scam merchants have evolved to the point now where acutually opening an email can authorise a withdrawl
from some online accounts, all the account details are already plumbed in , by opening the email you can unwittingly authorise the transfer of funds . 

 

[cyrano]

And sorry to say the scam merchants have evolved to the point now where acutually opening an email can authorise a withdrawl
from some online accounts, all the account details are already plumbed in , by opening the email you can unwittingly authorise the transfer of funds .

That can only happen if you use a very insecure email program, like Outlook AND use a bank that's not secure either. Even gmail isn't that insecure.

If you want a secure email provider, look at Proton.ch. They even have a free option, with 500 MB storage as limit.

According to my gmail spam box, I'm a millionaire this week. Last week was far less amusing, as I seemed to suffer from foot fungus...

 

[Tubetec]

The stink foot extortion methodology ,thats a new one on me .

Another issue Ive had with my old email lately is sent emails vanishing .
Just as a test on previous ocassions I send myself an email , what I find now is if I type my email address free hand the email doesnt reach my inbox , If I pick my email address from the suggestion box that pops up it does . Ive heard of a few others having similar issues .  Is there some metadata stored alongside the actual visible letters of email addresses  stored in email programs ?
At any rate now I've setup a new encrypted email service , I did'nt bother migrating en mass , instead I simply went through my old email and wrote down in pen and ink all the email addresses I wanted to keep , now as and when I need an address it gets added to the new email service.

 

[cyrano]

If you're using Outlook, that's more or less standard behaviour. I'm currently battling a comparable situation at work. Some use Outlook and don't see some emails. Everyone who uses webmail, gets to see all emails.

What's worse, is that it is starting to corrupt the imap database on the server. Suddenly, some older emails show up in the wrong folders. That's very bad if they show up in the trash, or spam folders, as these get deleted by a script once a week.

Maybe you could have a look at Thunderbird?