Roast Beware of Scams

[Kangaroos4eva]

Hi guys,

What scams have people, mysterious numbers/websites or internet third parties have people been affected by over the long years?

I've copped, the British Lottery, several Nigerean ones and now I've been slugged with unauthorized third party charges on my phone, despite not even clicking on the page in question, yet they still tried to charge me for $10 for it all. I basically told Telstra l wouldn't pay it on pure principle, since it was a pure scam. I was just scrolling through this site on my phone and then a pop-up came up, then l got texts from two different numbers, stating that l have subscribed, l told them to GAGF and unsubscribed.

 

[giantroo]

I haven't personally been scammed but have heard of people who have. Australia Post/ATO/centrelink ones being the main ones at the moment.

A good website for scam awareness is http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

I haven't personally been scammed but have heard of people who have. Australia Post/ATO/centrelink ones being the main ones at the moment.

A good website for scam awareness is http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/

I haven't lost anything, but all it takes is going to a website to be hit with third party charges nowadays. Playing hardball with Telstra worked for me and I've had my money returned to me.

 

[naturally north]

1998 GF was a scam, bought right into that s**t.

 

[giantroo]

I haven't lost anything, but all it takes is going to a website to be hit with third party charges nowadays. Playing hardball with Telstra worked for me and I've had my money returned to me.

Scammers will and are finding easier ways to get/steal your money. Unfortunately there are people who believe anything and click.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Funnily enough, I was scanning bigfooty on my phone and it took me to a pop up, I didn't even click a thing, then hit me with a bogus subscription.

 

[giantroo]

Funnily enough, I was scanning bigfooty on my phone and it took me to a pop up, I didn't even click a thing, then hit me with a bogus subscription.

Have you got any ad blockers/virus scanners on your phone?

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Only on computer, Telstra have blocked the feature that handles subscriptions, so shouldn't be a concern.

 

[giantroo]

Here is a scam doing the rounds

 

[Arden]

Misread the thread title, thought it was a warning about *essendon supporters.

 

[giantroo]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/31426909/mobile-phone-billing-scam-hits-telstra-clients/


Thousands of Telstra customers are being caught up in a mobile phone billing scam, with some claiming to be charged thousands of dollars after simply clicking on a website or advertisement.

Known as third-party billing, the process, which is legal but described as “very, very dodgy” by one telco insider, is understood to have netted Telstra millions in revenue despite thousands of customer complaints.

The practice involves mobile customers unknowingly signing up to a subscription service by simply clicking on an advertisement or website that pops up on their mobile while users surf the internet.

Telstra, as well as Optus and Vodafone, have a commercial agreement with the subscription service providers, and provide them with a customer’s mobile phone number.

Subscription service providers, which usually offer products such as online games, are owned by companies registered all around the world.

They charge the customer anywhere from $6 to $15 a week, with the charge appearing on a customer’s monthly mobile bill.

Because the charge is automatically embedded into a bill, many customers do not notice it for months, with one victim claiming to have been billed $4000 over two years without her knowledge.

Others have told of drawn-out processes of trying to “opt out” of subscriptions while continually being billed.

Although the practice has been going on in different formats for almost a decade, it has recently spiked in prominence, with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman reporting a 30 per cent increase in customer complaints on the issue last year, rising to just short of 2000.

All three major telco companies are involved in the third-party billing method, and it is used for legitimate methods such as buying online subscription services such as Spotify.

But investigations byThe West Australian found Telstra was the only telco that still operated what is known as a “one click opt-in” method of acceptance for the subscriptions, where a customer can subscribe to a service simply by accidentally clicking on a website or advertising banner.

Optus and Vodafone have a “double click opt-in” method, which is considered to offer more protection for customers because it asks them twice if they want to subscribe.

Telstra said it was now “in discussions” to introduce the double opt-in process.

The issue is causing major problems for the telco, with a thread on Telstra’s crowd support portal having hundreds of examples of customers claiming to have been ripped off by the method, with the charges ranging from $6.60 to $4000.

One telco insider said'''' the one-click process had netted Telstra multimillion-dollar windfalls, with the telco getting about 30 per cent of revenues from each subscription. Telstra declined to comment on specific revenue numbers.

Julie Davies and her husband Dave, of Sorrento, were among the thousands of customers caught up in the ruse.

The couple received a text message in March saying they had subscribed to (German company) Jamster for $30.76.

“We have no idea how it happened,” she said. “After we saw it we made three phone calls. Three times they said they had unsubscribed us, and then we got another bill. And you get charged for calling and texting.”

She said Telstra eventually reimbursed them, though a Telstra employee wrote her an email and encouraged her to take the matter further because of the sheer number of complaints.

“How can they do this? For us, it’s fraud,” Mrs Davies said.

 

[chugginon]

Thanks for this thread Kangaroos4eva . I received a pay something something on a gmail account that I had just set up a couple of weeks ago. Checked it last week, and found this email on it . I clicked on whatever to say "not me" and it came back that I must have paid something. OR got onto their account site I deleted the gmail address straight away. So could have been something like this on the computer .

 

[hilly]

Just the Spanish lottery.

 

[Only Forwards]

Had someone hack my paypal and buy a heap of nintendo DS s**t.

they lived in the phillipines somewhere.

Paypal halted teh account and gave me all my money back.

I then disconnected my bank account from my paypal account.

 

[giantroo]

New scam to be aware of:

https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/beware-of-scammers-imitating-centrelink-officers


Beware of scammers imitating Centrelink officers
11 November 2015
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is warning consumers to beware of scammers imitating Department of Human Services or Centrelink officers to trick you into handing over your money or personal details.

“The ACCC has received a spike in contacts about fake rebate scams in which the scammer claims to be from Centrelink or the Department of Human Services. One hundred people contacted the ACCC about this scam last month, compared with 20 reports in May. Four people have reported losing over $3,000 to this scam in the past 6 months, with 300 contacts in that time,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

How these scams work

• You receive a call from someone claiming to be from the Department of Human Services or Centrelink.
• The caller tells you that you are entitled to more money but you must provide some personal details to prove your identity. At this point the scammer attempts to gather as much as they can about you for identity theft.
• If you provide these details the scammer will then ask you to send money directly via a wire transfer service or may even direct you to your nearest Post Office to pay the ‘fee’.
• The scammer may claim that your Centrelink payments will be cut off unless you pay the fee.
• If you send any money via wire transfer, you will never see it again – it’s nearly impossible to recover money sent this way. You will also never receive the promised rebate or refund.
• If you refuse to do this, the scammer might use any bank details you provided to access your bank account directly and attempt to steal your money. These details may also be used in the future for identity theft.

Protect yourself

“If you receive a phone call out of the blue from someone claiming to be from a government department and they claim that you are entitled to money, hang up,” Ms Rickard said.

“If you have any doubts about the identity of any caller who claims to represent a business, organisation or government department, contact the body directly. Don’t rely on numbers, email addresses or websites provided by the caller – find them through an independent source such as a phone book or online search.”

“Never give your personal, credit card or online account details over the phone unless you made the call and the phone number came from a trusted source. If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately,” Ms Rickard said.

You can report scams to the ACCC via the Scamwatch report a scam(link is external) page or by calling 1300 795 995.

 

[giantroo]

Tax time and scammers are out in force

 

[giantroo]

 

[giantroo]

Latest scams:

June 2022 – 2022 tax lodgment email scam​

Scam alerts | Australian Taxation Office

Find information and examples on the latest tax and super-related ATO impersonation scams.

www.ato.gov.au

 

[giantroo]

'Hi Mum' scams

ACCC warning of suspicious messages as “Hi Mum” scams spike

Scamwatch is urging the public to be wary of phone messages from a family member or friend claiming they need help, following a significant rise in “Hi Mum” scams in recent months.

www.scamwatch.gov.au