possible scam

[captainrjm]

I received an email looking very like a Virgin Media bill including my account number. I clicked on the view bill link before realising my error. Could somebody please tell me how to report this to Virgin and what might be the possible consequences?

Kind regards R

[ALF28]

ICONS IN EMAILS- UPDATE

Priority Icons  do not display in thunderbird (addon needed), only in virgin web mail, although in thunderbird email priority can be set.

High priority red exclamation marks-  I had 18 in last 6 months so common in last 6 months only in scam emails including virgin phishing, antivirus scams and software scam etc.

Low priority blue dash mark - I had just 1 in 2018 very rare (dating email)

Set colour flag showing "red" (normally blanc and enables colour to be changed)- I had 84 but only in months of February and March 2020, may be random, emails show normal colour, not red, I and I did not change colour on any emails, all were general scam emails.

Not sure why the icons show but strange, only noticed them this week, also some emails show a paperclip symbol icon.

alf28

[newapollo]

Hi again ALF28,

The paper clip icon indicates a file has been attached to the message, such as a picture, a Word document or a PDF.

A file that has been appended to an email message in this manner is called an attachment.

Unless you are certain of the sender do not open/click the attachment icon.

If all your emails have the paperclip icon indicating an attachment, but there isn't one on the email, it usually means that Outlook Express or GMail  etc is configured to read all messages as plain text and you are viewing a message that was sent in HTML format.

[ALF28]

SCAM EMAILS

Dating email- I get these  occasionally and obvious they are from the same sender(s) judging by the style and content, similar also to the "fake" Canada pharmacy products emails, had 83 total over a few years. They have a text message with a link at the end.

They are unusual, because  they are addressed to  a group of names in the "to" field which are usually virgin email addresses or can be btinternet, hotmail etc. (not done as bcc)

I suspect they are from a hacker group which may be Russian but with world wide affiliates, and they date back to 2009  and they may use social engineering.

The emails often contain similar wording such as  dating, adult, hallo  etc. and include images via a weblink.

Also getting some money scams, such as transfer of funds £9.5  million.

Virgin spam detection is picking them all up  at present, and tagging as spam which is good.

alf28

[ALF28]

UNUSUAL SPAM/SCAM EMAILS

I sometimes reeive emails where the sender address contains "parts" of my own email addresses.

Not sure if this is by co-incidence or design, sometimes my  own complete name, or includes  numbers I use in my email addresses.etc.

I have had gmails and outlook emails using my own name, or the numbers used  are 3 or 4 digits that match exacly numbers in my emails or other adddress,  and can be combined with my avatar reference that I use within my virgin account and community account. I have changed some of the emails now, so not sure if the data within my account is known or is it just co-incidense. These are infrequent and  can include contact names and numbers from my past . I was getting blackmail letters with an old password from 2009, but they stopped earlier this year after I reported 12 off them to action fraud.

I have recorded them since 2018 but started in 2016. Although it is hard to understand how the spammer/hacker obtains my data, they must have access to my accounts or leaked data breaches or access to my virgin account, but I do regularly change my virgin passwords.

These are generallly spam adverising but the unusual ones are fake and from "known contacts" dating back 15 years.

The sender(s) use vpn to move country each time. They could be using hacked data but the more recent examples contain data used in my virgin account.

I have opened other emails to use as alternatives to those linked to my virgin emails/account. 

It may be just the usual spoofing that spammers do, but when you recognise your own names and numbers in sender email addresses it is unusal, and may be more than a chance event?

It is similar to the landline fake calls where they have your name and address and phone number even though ex-directory and TPS registered, perhaps all our data is available online now?

alf28

[ALF28]

virgin fake email scam

I had 3 emails recently- (june/july 2021)-not tagged as spam

Subject-

E-mail account verification

Email exceeded it's limit, and you may not be able to send or receive messages any moment from now

Your email account has expired,  You must renew it immediately or your account will be closed

These are coming from Canada but the sender(s) are not virgin media. (via bellaliant.net)

Some of these email have a weblink that looks like a virginmedia htpps login genuine weblink.

Also had 3 emails -your last bill remains unpaid (may/june 2021) with spoofed virgin media sender addresses. (one tagged as spam only)

alf28

[ALF28]

FAKE VIRGiN EMAILS etc. -good spam detection by virgin media.

I still get regular fake virgin emails and general spam (only to my 20+ years old ntlworld primary address)

E-mail Account Verification (your virgin email account has expired) ,  sent twice to me.   ( july) via openwave canada.

<SPAM> Direct Debit Payment Error    (mobile -unable to pricess your last bill) - I do not have a virgin mobile!  (september) via btcentralplus uk.

As  use a different virgin contact addressset up  in my virign media online account, I know these are fake as genuine messages go to another email address.

----------------------------------------------

Clothing emails- T shirts- personalised

I get these regularly had 5 of these from the same sender  Ip address as another email which is a nigerian money scam, all via gmail.

---------------------------

I also have had a fake email will beneficiary notice and fake deleivery notice  to a new york address and a  fake buisiness loan email.

The spam emails do still keep coming and impossible to stop, but virgin are  tagging 75% as spam which is good detection thanks.

alf28

[Serena_C]

Hi @ALF28

Thanks very much for the update and for the details on the fake Virgin Media emails you are receiving. Thank you for remaining vigilant and not responding to these. I'm glad to hear you are pleased with our detection rate.

Kind regards,

Serena

[ALF28]

Emails TO- recipients or undisclosed recipients

I have a few emails that are not addressed to me, but can be to "recipients" or "undisclosed recipients"

These are quite "rare" and I have had 38 x to "undisclosed recipients" and 29 x to "recipients" over 4 years and often from the same ip address range (gmail/google), and usually are obvious scam emails, covering sport, banking , general money scams, antivirus products, adverts for clothing etc.

The virgin spam detection picks up at least half, and taggs them as spam, but these are these often from "gmail addresses" in various countries and possibly from a "scammer group" and date back to 2018, but more in 2021 with 18 counted to date.

The obvious clue that these are fake, is that they are spammed to "recipients" and not addresses to my own virgin email address, but some are not tagged as spam even though they are to recipients, so best to check the "From" and "To" carefully.

I also found out that if an email is "From" an email address that contains your own name, this is done by spammers to grab your attention, I have many like that.

alf28

[ALF28]

I also found out that if an email is "From" an email address that contains your own name, this is done by spammers to grab your attention, I have many like that.

Had an email from myself  today one hour after my last post regarding emails from yourself, most unusual, explain that one and appeared to know personal/family  imformation and email address, and perhaps  the sender must read these posts? or know who I  am. 

I no longer use the virgin primary email address now, so that is my solution and  I have alternative emails which do not get scam emails.

I conclude that if an email,  is being targetted by scammers, spammers, hackers or pranksters then stop using it and switch to an alternative safe email.

I have however whitelisted my virgin primary email inbox, as it still gets some genuine emails and unknown spam emails are filtered to the spam folder now or blacklisted.

However I still log into virgin email to keep it active and empty my inbox and update the blacklist, at least monthly.

alf28

[ALF28]

Phishing emails- clever scammers continually send fake emails, so if you are receiving these be on your guard.

The fake  scam email sender will try to trick you into giving details, bank payments or bitcoin payments etc., or get hold of account passwords by using a fake web page.

Any links in emails or images to click on can direct you to a fake phishing web page designed to look genuine or could contain malware/trojans etc.

I use brower guard that will detect dangerous web pages and blocks them

I switch of the html content in settings  and view as text and this shows up the fake links.

If the email is tagged as spam then it may be dangerous but any email in the inbox could be fake, so always check the email content carefully.

see- Phishing - Wikipedia

Scam emails | Action Fraud

How to spot and avoid bank scams (moneyadviceservice.org.uk)

I have posted on this as my virgin email has received only 232 spam emails to date in 2021 (approx 9 months), but  in 2020 I received 1980 spam emails so they have reduced dramatically.

In 2019 I received 1671 spam emails to my virgin email.

alf28