Online, Email Scams, Fake callers/Phone scams and other scam information

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what you read on the forum is only theory, practice is key, kind of liike loaming the same river till you find the spot
 
If you find very good information the last thing you tell people are the specs, but you are always able to give them a firm nudge in the right dirrection
 
Loamer,

There are entire publishing companies dedicated to printing Wikipedia content on various topics and selling it. Once upon a time it might have been hard to find this stuff, hence the need to buy it, but nowadays Google is a short step away...
 
mfdes said:
Loamer,

There are entire publishing companies dedicated to printing Wikipedia content on various topics and selling it. Once upon a time it might have been hard to find this stuff, hence the need to buy it, but nowadays Google is a short step away...

Yep - I spotted that one as well through an on-line book seller link. they state 'Published on demand" and are quite open about it being Wiki etc. I think though that the State Lib Vic and Nat Library Aust are getting a little bit peeved with some of their digital uploads being flogged off. For those who care - all the Footy Records here in melb have been scanned and available for free BUT I am seeing them being flogged off as well on CD RoMs etc.
 
Thanks for the heads up! Had a similar problem with my previous telephone service provider but never refunded me. That's why I changed service providers. Good thing Telstra does treat customers well... Although I haven't encountered anything like that yet.
 
By the way, I read about this type of scam in an article I found at Callercenter.com and it's actually called Cramming. It's where charges are added to your bill by third-party vendors for services you did not request nor allowed. There were also several feedback posted by those who were victimized. Surprisingly, the complaints were dated way back 2012.
 
cornelia said:
By the way, I read about this type of scam in an article I found at Callercenter.com and it's actually called Cramming. It's where charges are added to your bill by third-party vendors for services you did not request nor allowed. There were also several feedback posted by those who were victimized. Surprisingly, the complaints were dated way back 2012.

they should be charged with fraud offences

how does that not meet the definition of fraud ?
 
Do these scammers protect themselves with the fine print in their ads as is found in software downloads when you accept terms and conditions without reading them fully?
 
HeadsUp said:
cornelia said:
By the way, I read about this type of scam in an article I found at Callercenter.com and it's actually called Cramming. It's where charges are added to your bill by third-party vendors for services you did not request nor allowed. There were also several feedback posted by those who were victimized. Surprisingly, the complaints were dated way back 2012.

they should be charged with fraud offences

how does that not meet the definition of fraud ?

no it's definitely fraud
 
Delete this topic if not relevant....So the scammers have my number, just got of the phone to the third type of scam in a month. First type I got was from a life insurance company, whereby they call and when you answer they hang up, prompting you to call them back, obviously reverse type cold calling probably exposing a loophole in consumer law.

Next one was Fake Telstra telling me about the virus attack happening right now on my computer, which ii must give them my details to access so they can fix it. The accent from these callers is ridiculously hard to understand, and if you are really concerned hang up and ring the company, in fact any type of interaction with your providers should be generated your end, at least then you know who you are contacting. Telstra didn't really seem to care to find out who it was, but as i suspected just a scam.

My one today that prompted this discussion was Fake Vigin calling me to give me a $999 credit for travel. Unfortunately I've never been a customer so i was immediately wary. Checking into it on google its a scam to get your credit card details, where instead of a deposit they make a withdrawal. pressing 1 connects you to the scammer who will try asking a set of questions. This scam has been a fake Qantas in the past but id be wary of any airline offering a deal or redemption, and looking at the posts this may be a recent variation trying to catch Virgin off guard.

Hope this helps, I hate scammers of all forms but really hate these type via my number.
 
I got the "Vigin calling me to give me a $999 credit for travel" call just the other day, hung up straight away.
 
Other one is some one calling about your power or phone account.
When they call you are asked your private details to identify you.
The next phase of the conversation is to warn you of a pending interuption to
your services if a certain amount is not paid. They milk your financial details, your id,
and your address.
Simple thing to avoid this is to ask the amount and date of your last payment before "Identifying"
yourself. When challenged they hang up.
 
There are some legalities about this of what cold calls can be made I think in

Australia.

Do what I have done and place your number on the do not call list.

The calls stopped instantly except one who I had to educate about this matter.

More info can be had here --> https://www.donotcall.gov.au

Being nice also does not help.

If someone calls and they are not a friend or relative just hang up or entertain them for a while by asking
them to hold and play some music and leave the phone near the speaker. What I used to do as well
depending on my mood is thank them for the call and stipulate the charge of $5 per minute with payment
to be made by credit card. To proceed pls provide your credit card number. I would repeat this until they
had enough and hang up.

I am skeptical on any offers made and have trained my brain this way and as soon as one is made not
interested is my stance.

Hope this helps.
 
Sa_bogan said:
i used to work for telstra and the do not call register doesnt stop them

I used to work for Telstra as well :)

Once I added my number All calls bar 1 stopped and Business's can be fined.

My number is all over the net since I run an Internet based business.

Point 18 from https://www.donotcall.gov.au/faqs.cfm

Can market and social researchers call or fax numbers on the Do Not Call Register?

Market and social researchers are permitted to call or fax numbers on the Do Not Call Register to conduct opinion polling and standard questionnaire based research. If such calls or faxes include a commercial-type purpose, even if it is not the primary or sole purpose of the call or fax, it will fall within the definition of a "telemarketing call" or "marketing fax" and cannot be made or sent to a number on the register.

If you google "business calling numbers on do not call register is fined" more info is available with one company fined $20,000

If your number is on the register and your still getting calls be polite show some interest in the phone conversation get the details of the company then report it.
 
not to mention i dont think scammers will care calling from overseas - very common call is "are you the owner of the computer in the house?"
 
kawman said:
I am on it and they still call... When I get calls like this I always tell them that I will get the person they want for them and walk away from the phone for 30mins or so and then come back and hang up... :)
Wolfau said:
Anyone wanting to place your contact number on the register the link is below.

https://www.donotcall.gov.au/onlineNumReg.cfm

If your on the do not call register and people are calling you then how are they getting your phone number?

Is your phone number in the whites pages? Once your number is in one of these books then if these books remain around for a while so does your number.

My phone number is on a few different websites hence its in public domain and can be found on google very easily if your looking for certain products.
This has been the case for the past 6 years.

Now if companies are finding numbers off the net and they run these against the do not call database then in my case I understand why my calls have stopped.
eg if the number is there then lets move on to those that are not.

If your phone number is listed in the white pages and companies are using these to cold call this is a serious issue because your number can not be removed from
one of these books and maybe companies using this method may not be as aware or don't care about the do not call register. I don't know the answer.

I used to get a few calls a week and they drove me mad.

Its imperative if your on the do not call register these people are reported, because if there not reported then they go on to the next person and
keep hassling.

Why this could be working for me and not you is the source of where your contact number is being found and I am only guessing here.

If your still getting calls be nice to these people and use your charm to turn this conversation around to your favor and the outcome you want
in getting the companies details inc website.

One other thing. You need to be very diligent and alert when picking up the phone.

If someone called me and asked me if I was the owner of the computer in the house this question will be answered with a few swear words and it
won't be nice either. Never answer questions strangers on cold calls make where the answer leads to yes. Audio can be changed and a different
question can be put in which may perceive you agreed to an order of some sort.

One of my favorites was when a search engine optimisation expert would call in helping my websites rank high in google. My question was - if your so good
at what you do then why don't you use the service your offering me via this cold call to find you the work :eek: Most answers were priceless - lost in speech.
 

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