Just had a call at work from an indian chap claiming to be from Utilities Expert. I recorded the call and tried to bait him with false info so we could get to his recommendations. – but unfortunately he caught me off guard and I didn’t have the correct info to hand.
The sales pitch was very familiar though, said he was calling and could get me best prices, he just needed my meter number, end date, current rates, mothers maiden name, the number of moles on my ass, etc etc (so everything basically) also he did ZERO security checks to see if I was actually the person I claimed to be.
I gave them some made up info but it didn’t wash, I then tried to get him to just tell me rates without the info but he wasnt interested.
I dont care what anyone says though, if they don’t have that info to hand then they are not supposed to be calling me. Even the “Brokers” used by most companies seem to have access to certain “Systems” that contain actual real information.
So be careful peeps!
The phone showed the number they were calling from was “010101” which is obviously wrong, but If you get a call from someone claiming to want to offer you a better deal on your gas and/or electricity and they know nothing about you apart from info anyone could get off the internet – then its probably a scam.
The lottery style scam goes round and round and round and it always tries to evolve to be more relevant, but to be honest I think they need to take a step back and maybe get some consultation as its starting to get a bit silly now.
Nice title to the email, complete with typo. Not a great start.
Ref: XYL /26510460037/05
Batch: 24/00319/IPD
That looks all official, ‘n that.
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of ($750,000.00 USD) for the year 2015 Lottery promotion
Ok, so straight away that reads like a pile of garbage. If you fall for this you’re an idiot.
which is organized by GOOGLE/GMAIL LOTTERY INC,OUTLOOK& MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS 8 LIVE.
Hahaha, I swear they will soon start putting COSTA COFFEE, ARGOS, MCDONALDS in just with the hope of it twigging something in my brain that will make me believe their BS. Haha they literally just ram a new name in at the end to update it!
The MICROSOFT WINDOWS
THE Microsoft windows! Watch out, The Microsoft Windows is about!
collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online
Shit, thats some undertaking. How does it collect that info then, where is the disclaimer I signed allowing them to use my email address for anything at all?
among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail, Gmail we only select five people as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying, we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.
Again, reads like toss.
NOTE: FOR CLAIMS OF WINNING PRIZE YOU MUST CONTACT THE EMAIL BELOW WITH YOUR INFORMATION TO OPEN YOUR CLAIMS FILE.
Contact Email: (gwm-nwx01@qq.com)
Proper official lookin’ email address.
1. FULL NAMES: 2. HOUSE ADDRESS:
3. OCCUPATION: 4. SEX: 5. AGE:
6. DIRECT PHONE NO: 7. COUNTRY:
Thank you and congratulations once again!
They’re asking for lots of juicy info there, probably with the intention of cloning your identity and buying shit in your name.
When looking for a web design company, most people will start with a web search for something like “website designers”, “web design reviews” or “good web design companies” and a from that some of those people will end up on review websites looking at customer feedback – as what could be a better opinion of a company than one from a person who had previously used them?
Being in the industry myself I keep my eyes and ears firmly planted to the ground, and I often stumble upon things that seem all too dodgy to ignore. Here are two of those things in more detail.
1) IWDRO – Internet and Website Development Regulatory Office
(www.IWDRO.org)
One day at work I came across the IWDRO and initially thought it could be something to be associated with to add some trust to our brand in the face of so much competition, so I contacted them.
As soon as I got the email I was stunned. It just so happened at the same time we were looking at the IWDRO we were also fishing for quotes from rival companies to see where we compared and one of those companies was The Smart Marketing and Media Group, and this was the lady I had been speaking to;
Was this some crazy coincidence?
I looked into each company individually and found a guy with a fair few directorships under his belt;
Well gawd dammit.
So a guy that runs multiple design and development companies owns his own “Regulatory Office” for web design?
Ok, so its not a scam but I couldn’t help feeling a bit put off by these findings.
EDIT: It’s worth noting at this point that personally I do not believe that there is anything dodgy about the IWDRO in itself, but I cannot help feel that a privately owned, profit making company calling itself a “Regulatory Office” is a bit of a blag.
2) Review Site & Web Design Review
(www.Review-Site.co.uk // www.WebDesignReview.co.uk)
Nope, I didn’t miss some of the names off. These are the names of (drumroll) some review websites for web design companies, but not all web design companies – just ones that fit a certain criteria.
Surely that criteria is whether or not those companies are good value for money, customer service and excellent technical ability?
Unfortunately not. The criteria seems to be that the companies listed need to be owned by the person that also happens to own all the review websites, our old mate Simon Macbeth. It seems he’s not content with screwing with peoples lives and ripping his housemates off – he also wants to lie to potential customers and pretend he runs a highly recommended professional web agency. From what i’ve heard he’s far from professional.
Anyway, here’s some evidence to back up my claims.
His main company 1-to-1 Web Design has these on the sidebar of every page;
These link to the Review-Site.co.uk page for 1-to-1 Web Design and the homepage of WebDesignReview.co.uk, both of which are owned by Simon;
He also owns about 50% of the companies on the “Leaderboard” on WebDesignReview.co.uk. Its a virtual web of BS and to the unsuspecting eye it’s all quite believable.
Really dodgy stuff all round and It’s certainly made me think about online reviews and testimonials on websites. I’ve found the best way to truly gauge a company’s worth is to ASK the people that they have done work for, and speak or message them directly. They normally don’t mind regardless of their experience as they will either want to sing their praises or slag them off – either way you hear straight from the horses mouth and can make your own mind up based on that.
And if you didn’t fancy contacting someone directly then use a service like FreeIndex, Reevoo, Review Centre or Trustpilot. Don’t just believe something you read because it has some stars next to it 🙂
This was actually stuck in a mail queue on one of our servers – It’s essentially an advance fee scam just like the normal “Send me your bank detail…” emails that we all get bombarded with.
However, this one has had a degree of common sense applied to it and will probably trick far more people that the normal “angle” used for these kind of scams. Let’s get into it…
Date:
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 14:22:25 +0300
From:
"The Maxwells Fund" <r.maxwell67@gmail.com>
To:
You <r.maxwell67@gmail.com>
Subject:
A Congratulatory Letter From Lincolnshire EuroMillions Jackpot Winners
Ok, so straight away we see GMAIL – not the normal email platform used by scammers. We also see “Lincolnshire” which is just down the road, and then “EuroMillions” which is actually what the lottery is called here, meaning we have a few pointers here that would, before I even opened the email, potentially win my trust over.
Dear Award Recipient,
This email correspondence is from Richard & Angela Maxwell. We are both 67, from Coningsby in Lincolnshire and one of Britain’s biggest ever National Lottery winners of £53million EuroMillions jackpot.
This all adds up. Names, locations and amount of winnings. Google it!
Your email is among the email addresses that have been selected by a Yahoo! powered email newsletter software operated by British freelance tech experts upon our request to benefit from our ongoing email donation project, part of programmes to mark our massive EuroMillions win. My wife and I have decided to donate £31 Million Pounds each to the already selected eight(8) email address owners, claimable by the original registrant/owner of the selected email. Find more information about our win below;
This part if fairly sketchy. The bit about “British freelance tech experts” is a bit lame. Also, “Yahoo! powered email newsletter software” what the deuce does that mean?!
However, the Maxwells are lovely people, HAVE given some of the money to charitable causes and do come across as the kind of people that would do this kind of thing for real. These scammers have really picked a good subject to base their scam on!
Please send Name, Address, & Tel for payment processing by our bank. We look forward to your reply.
Richard & Angela Maxwell.
Fishing for info, but not the important stuff yet. No doubt there will be an application fee, or they would claim you need to pay the tax on it first or something.
This wasnt my email but I faked that It had come to me so I can reply… I’ll post my findings 🙂
Just had a call at work from an indian chap claiming to be from Utilities Expert. I recorded the call and tried to bait him with false info so we could get to his recommendations. – but unfortunately he caught me off guard and I didn’t have the correct info to hand.
