Last week I talked about how to spot a scam and included an example of a spam/scam email. This week I had an even better example.
A friend of mine recently got caught out by one of these emails. Their car registration was due, and they were about to head away on holiday for a few weeks and didn’t want it to expire while they were away. So without thinking they clicked on the link and put in their credit card details. It was only when their partner saw the transaction on their bank statement that they realised they’d been scammed. The net result was that they were out of pocket around $200, and had to get the bank to stop and reissue their cards!
Using the information I shared last week, we can quickly identify this email as a scam. I’ve underlined the three key areas in the email in red. 1) The email appears to be from Waka Kotahi NZ, but the “From:” email address is from an Xtra.co.nz account.
2) One website link points to xtra.co.nz and not nzta.govt.nz.
3) Another website link points to adiseshafoundation.in (.in is an Indian domain) and not nzta.govt.nz.
Scammers are getting craftier. My own domain name – raspberryit.co.nz – was due for renewal last month, so I had emails from Crazy Domains (my web host) prompting me to renew. About a week later I got two “reminder” emails that looked almost identical to the Crazy Domains emails, except that the “From:” address was not @CrazyDomains.co.nz.
Be careful out there, and if you’re not sure, give us a call and we can help you identify whether an email is legitimate or not!
Phone scams
While these have become less common, particularly as landline phones are replaced by mobiles, I still hear of people getting scam phone calls.
Let me start by saying this: Microsoft, Spark, Vodafone etc will NEVER call you about an issue with your home computer, internet, wifi, or viruses, unless you have first contacted them! Anyone claiming to be from one of these companies, calling you out of the blue, is almost certainly a scam.
If they genuinely do contact you, their Caller ID number will be from NZ – most often an 0800 number, or an 09, 06, or 03 number (call centers are generally in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch).
Sometimes hanging up on them isn’t enough and they keep calling back. I’ve found that Spark/Vodafone etc have limited capability of blocking or dealing with these types of scams. However, I did find an unusual solution…
I was being called regularly by an overseas number that was obviously a scam. It reached a point where I would answer the phone but not speak into it, in the hope that they would just go away. When that failed and I was still getting calls on a nearly daily basis, I answered the phone and pretended that I didn’t speak English. I badgered the person on the other end of the line with babble, mostly repeatedly asking “Why you keep ring?” in bad English. After about 30 seconds of this they hung up and I haven’t had a scam call since!
If you're in doubt about the person on the other end of the phone, ask for their name and extension, and tell them you'll call them back. A genuine person will happily give you that information. A scammer will hesitate and make excuses. Hang up the phone, look up the businesses number from Google or their website and call them back. That way you know you're speaking to the right organisation.
What to do if you have been scammed
If you realise that you've been scammed and have handed over your credit card or bank information, the first thing you should do is contact your bank and have a stop put on your accounts. Sometimes the bank is able to reverse a transaction, sometimes they can't. But the quicker you contact them, the more chance of them being able to help.
If you've given them access to your computer, shut it down immediately and contact us. We can scan your computer for any malicious software and remove viruses and keyloggers (keyloggers capture what you type on the keyboard to try to gain your passwords). We can also help you to setup Anti-Virus and Internet Security Software to help keep you safe from further attempts.
Lastly, report any scams to the local police. Police do have a digital crime division and the more these types of issues are reported, the better they can do their job to shut the criminals down.
Stay safe out there!
Comments