Scammers - are they really that stupid?

[DaveW]

Apple have a nice feature on IOS called - hide my email. It creates a random mail address that is associated to your real address, so that any mail sent to the random address is forwarded to your real email address. I just create a new one when I need to hand out an email address and know who it’s associated with so if spam suddenly appears on that address I have a good idea who gave away information and delete the random mail address.

[Blaze]

Thanks for that, Dave, I hadn't heard of it.

[niemeyjt]

I have been checking my SPAM for anything misdirected.

I noticed the messages relate less now to increasing a certain part of my anatomy and more to "prostate" and "dementia" topics.

A bit scary.

[Char]

The last week or so I have received a series of messages from La Poste Colissimo purporting to advise me of a delivery. The email address looks plausible but is wrong:
no-reply@notif-colissimo-laposte.info

The mail requires me to do nothing but does allow me to track a package.....


.... which is due for delivery on:
Samedi 27 décembre 2022

Oh sh1t that means Christmas eve is tomorrow night and I've got nothing in yet!!!

So next year I am going to produce a scammers' Agenda - just so they know the days and dates and how they interact with one another.

I got one of those too.
along with all the other ones, I've won umpteen I phones, amazon wants to send me lot's of gift vouchers, my orange account is going to be deactivated unless I confirm my telephone number, ebay warning that I've got to change my password, I could go on because they've certainly been out in force in the lead up the christmas.

[ajm]

33 spams today - is that a record?

[hughnique]

2 phone calls on my mobile yesterday, Paris number which when Googled says it's an arnaque, evidently they want you to phone another number to see what you have won???

[Quiksilver]

One advantage of a Yahoo mail address is the option to select all the spam mails and collectively block the senders. When it gets to 1,000 you have to manually clear them and start again, but it doesn't take long. You'd think that, after a few years, they'd run out of fake addresses
The same goes for dodgy mobile calls. I block the number. It won't stop them but it's satisfying quand même

[ajm]

Some of the senders I have blocked with Orange still get through.

[Hotrodder]

@ Blaze, it is of course a good idea to stay away from the dark side of the internet. For many years the problem is that you are supposed to leave your email address almost everywhere: internet shops, government agencies, you name it. Your email address will also be in a lot of inboxes, also of friends and family members. Do you check their personal computers, laptops, smartphones to see if they are safe? Only one databreach, only one computer without adequate firewall or virus protection, only one organisation using an easy to remember password for its database is enough to get your email address on the free market, worldwide. Where millions of addresses and privacy-sensitive data are for sale, the dark side in action.

The problem is that you can take several standard defensive measures, update your anti-virus program, also install one on your smartphone. If you want more however you'll need an ict training course.

For those already familiar with data breaches these examples.

Easier to understand, but almost unbelievable, the problems of Yahoo or the hotel chain Marriot where hackers accessed 383 million customer records.

Mr. Postman, simple telephone, where are you? It's so easy, it's so easy to fall in love with the internet, but I'm afraid " You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave ".

All good food for thought. There is one more that I picked up years ago. I use a dedicated email client, rather than a webmail system or other system that offers to remember email addresses for you. So you may let your system remember dozens of personal email addresses for convenience. Then one day a bit of malware enters via some seemingly safe download and the malware heads for your email address book. It then has a whole new set of addresses to head for and infect. A bit of a snowball effect. Although I have an Orange account because they are my internet service provider I don't use the Orange address for anything. Orange, like every other business these days, will be selling addresses on the open market. I use email addresses from two other providers that I was with years ago, and a handfull of throwaway addresses that I pick up online as and when I have no option but to supply one for registration confirmation. For whatever reason, I only get maybe two or three spams a week about free light bulbs at the moment. I have no idea why so few but I must be doing something right.

[Blaze]

I have no idea why so few but I must be doing something right.

Same here Hotrodder. I very rarely get spam on any of my email accounts - one a month maybe. The junk calls on the fixed line seem to have stopped because we never answer them. If the call's genuine and important, they can leave a message. I've never had a spam call on my steam-driven mobile, but then I very rarely give the number to anyone - and never on internet.