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Warning to hippies, email scam

Posted , 5 users are following.

cathie38426
cathie38426

This is nothing to do with hips, but because I feel

we help each other, I feel compelled to warn you

that we got a scam email, supposedly from HMRC

to say we had a tax refund. If this happens to you just bin it.

like we did.

Cathie

4 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • Rocketman_SG6UK
    Rocketman_SG6UK cathie38426

    Posted

    We get that sort of stuff all the time, invoices from phoney companies, 'click on this link' and so on.

    Some are VERY sophisticated - and even I havenearly been fooled before.

    Having been a programmer, I look ath the source of the message (not where it's come from, the source code that generates the page) by right clicking on it.

    Then I can tell where the 'click here' link is taking me- usually Nigeria or Russia.

    Stay safe

    Graham

    • cathie38426
      cathie38426 Rocketman_SG6UK

      Posted

      They used the London address of HMRC FoI 

      Freedom of Information including area code

      all correct. I Googled it and found we weren't

      alone,

      Cathie

    • Rocketman_SG6UK
      Rocketman_SG6UK linnet2015

      Posted

      I have worked with, and for, the police in voluntary and paid positions for over 30 years now, and in computers for some 47 years.

      I just hate the scammers and virus spreaders.

      Graham.

  • linnet2015
    linnet2015 cathie38426

    Posted

    Thanks for the warning Cathie, there are so many of these emails nowadays. You are absolutely right if you are suspicious about an email you should bin it immediately and never click any link in the email. If you click on a link in a suspicious email they may take you to a bogus site to try and get your login and password some are just malicicious and may infect your computer with a virus. So be very careful.

    Saw a tv programme the other day about scams and there are also people who ring and try to scam people in to giving bank account details and passwords over the phone no matter how plausible they seem the golden rule should be never give important account details and/or passwords over the phone or emails. 

    Linnet x

  • shirley17649
    shirley17649 cathie38426

    Posted

    Yes, a friend of mine got one of these scam emails about her" Tax refund" and she knew straight away as she is a non-taxpayer.

    I got another this week from a "friend" called Kim and when I clicked I found it was selling a algorithm to win millions on the stock market. The scammers find out names of people who normally send you emails and pretend to be them! Very confusing.

    • Rocketman_SG6UK
      Rocketman_SG6UK shirley17649

      Posted

      We seem to get them from banks that we don't have accounts at, asking us to change our password - humm - I wonder why ?!

      Graham

  • supercargo
    supercargo cathie38426

    Posted

    Hi Cathie

    Thank you for bringing up this subject.

    I do Voluntary work for AgeCymru Scamsawareness project. We present sessions to groups about Mail, Telephone, and Internet/Email Scams.

    From the replies so far, I can see that members of the site are already aware of Scams.

    Our literature to avoid Scams states.

    Stop, think twice.

    Seek advice.

    Say NO to Scams.

    • cathie38426
      cathie38426 supercargo

      Posted

      The thing that struck me was a genuine postal address

      which if you check it on the internet gives no telephone

      number. HMRC  FoI 100 Act Team 100 Parliament St

      SW1W 2BQ.

      They are so sophisticated, 

      Cathie

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