TheDarkMan
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
On-line scams are becoming more and more sophisticated like the one that is explained below.
On January 4, I was expecting a parcel; it was actually posted before Christmas, but there had been delays. I got up very late for reasons explained in a previous article, and when I went downstairs the parcel was waiting for me, having been signed for by a neighbour. When I logged on to my e-mail, one of my new messages was headed as follows: “Sorry we couldn’t deliver your items” and contained an image, ostensibly from the Royal Mail.
My first thought was that there had been a mix up, then I noticed the address of the sender: bmleach@btconnect.com
Since when did the Royal Mail use addresses like this? Obviously there was no correlation with my delivery; this was simply what might have been an expensive coincidence for an unsavvy individual, which I like to think I am not. Warily, I clicked the box marked “View delivery options” and was taken to a Google Docs address, at which point my curiosity ended. I reported the e-mail to BT and the Docs address to Google, but at the time of writing the latter is still there.
Another clue to the fraudulent nature of this e-mail is the delivery fee. VAT is hefty but it is nowhere near 40%. Had I clicked on another link I would almost certainly have compromised my personal data, including passwords. As I said, on-line frauds are becoming more and more sophisticated; it is easy for a hacker to fake a Royal Mail address or any other. Always be wary, and keep an eye on scam alert notice boards like ActionFraud in the UK, or the various official and unofficial boards wherever you live.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
I’ve had a few mails like that myself over the last few months, I also get mail from PayPai.com, they’re not even smart enough to capitalise the i to make it look like an l.
Always check and double check the mailing address when you get these mails.
They are running exactly the same scam in Australia. I got caught but fortunately my bank was on the ball and limited my losses.