Tough words in Parliament toward Data thieves. Non political as these thoughts are bi partisan.
How about starting by stopping the endless Australian phone numbers that are available to all scammers.
They have to get them from somewhere.
Before I get bashed, I know that the scam calls we all get arent on the same level as big company data theft, but denying the use of these phone numbers could be a start.
From where do they get these phone numbers.?
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Welcome to Biggs Country many may know it as Australia
We don't answer, let it go to message bank & if they don't leave a message its not important, probably a BS call.
We get about 6 per day on our mobile & landline.
I don't own a mobile, I just use my wifes occasionally.
People, in the main, give their contact details to anyone who asks. Indeed many people (private individuals) publish them on the internet on their websites, Facebook pages or signatures when they post to forum.
When they buy a product in a shop and the girl on the till asks for their address and phone number "For the records and your warranty" they are stupid enough to give those details! Honestly, I despair.
ONCE YOUR DETAILS ARE ON SOMEONE'S DATA BASE YOU CAN NEVER TAKE THEM BACK AGAIN!
I don't get any spam phone calls (maybe two a year), no spam SMS' and only about half a dozen spam emails per year, do you know why...? Because I tell anyone who wants my contact information to (nicely) "Get stuffed" unless *I* consider they need it and then I only give them the minimum *I* consider they need.
And if I want something but the company insists I give them full details (eg. Anaconda/Supercheap etc "Club" cards" then I lie.
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
"When they buy a product in a shop and the girl on the till asks for their address and phone number "For the records and your warranty" they are stupid enough to give those details! Honestly, I despair."
Spot on Mike, they don't need this information, keep your receipt as proof of purchase.
Most people pass the info over without a second thought, sales people are almost affronted when you tell them they don't need it, just give me a receipt and I'll be on my way.
Sometimes I am literally astonished by the incompetence and lack of knowledge of individuals AND businesses regarding personal data.
I went nomad about four years past but remained with my same doctor (GP) I'd been with for 20 years. Consequently I began phone consultations with him and he wrote a prescription which he said could be e-mailed to me - all good.
A few days later the practice manager phoned me to ask for my e-mail address (see, even my GP didn't have it!) which I provided. She subsequently sent an e-mail to me stating that for confirmation I was required to reply with my full name, address, date of birth etc. I responded: "Are you insane? You want me to provide such information over open e-mail servers where it may be read by anyone and his dog?" Clearly she has *no bleedin' idea* how e-mail works.
She, predictably, replied "Yes, it's for security". Yeah I thought *yours* not mine.
So I responded that I was born X years after the end of WW2, my address was a PO Box at a shopping centre beginning with K in the east of the city and containing the numerals five, 0, four and 9 and my parents had chosen to name me after an archangel and my other name involved making things with a high tensile strength.
I've no doubt they thought I was just being difficult, do I care? No! Because I know a lot more about this stuff than they think they do,
Just because someone asks a question of you does not mean you have to answer it.
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
I guess I wasnt quite clear enough with my question.
I know that my details are available to all and sundry if you give the phone number at a point of sale or internet purchase.
What I was referring to was the caller ID number that appears on your phone when a scammer calls.
It is these numbers that I was referring to.
Here is a recent number as a sample.
02 6188 6992 City Australian Capital Territory.
So how did this scammer get allocated that number.?
If these numbers are known scammers then wouldnt that be a place to start to begin to eliminate phone and internet scams.
It is not uncommon to get an SMS from a scammer with a link in the message which will open communication between your device and the scammer if opened.
Obviously it doesnt necessarily have to be phones as email access can provide another avenue.
Buy something from Amaz on or the other one and just note how many * offers* from unknowns come in for the next few weeks.
Apology for the confusion.
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Welcome to Biggs Country many may know it as Australia
What I was referring to was the phone numbers that come up as caller ID s
I am fully aware how they get our phone numbers.
Just sometimes there is no way out of not giving a phone number but that is not what this is about.
We can all have big balls and be tough with retailers but unless you live as a recluse there are situations when you need to provide a phone number or email if for nothing else that to receive a reply. This has nothing to do with dressing down the shop assistant at the point of sale.
-- Edited by Ivan 01 on Friday 11th of November 2022 02:44:56 PM
-- Edited by Ivan 01 on Friday 11th of November 2022 02:48:01 PM
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Welcome to Biggs Country many may know it as Australia
What I was referring to was the phone numbers that come up as caller ID s
VOIP make it possible to forge caller ID.
Ok thank you Mike. I was not aware of that method.
During my recent medical procedures the medical people need to phone you quite regularly but unfortunately when they call you do not know whether it is a genuine call or a scammer. The only way to tell is to answer. Simple. Maybe not.
A scammer then knows your phone number is genuine and then the fun starts.
Angie Driver says the same thing with Rob. The amount of calls that come from scammers is out of many subscribers hands if they have to supply phone and email details for telehealth and appointment confirmations. I dont think health organisations sell your details but once you answer a dodgy call thay have got you.
I think from my basic observations the more anyone purchases on the nett the more scammer calls you may get.
Just as a side note, I just went back to the last 4 sites I purchased goods from and with those 4 sites the phone number field had to be completed. Now,any one could enter a fake number but then that almost destroys any opportunity for communication should there be a problem.
It is very difficult to achieve a successful internet purchase by supplying fake information.
Even the two way or extra verification for security with banks and most other organisations involves an SMS to your phone number of which you must verify to gain access to your own account.
Lets go back to the topic.
My thoughts are that a govt organisation could set up a site where these caller ID numbers could be reported and removed from service after checking.
My thoughts are that this might inconvenience some of these scammers.
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Welcome to Biggs Country many may know it as Australia
I have a feeling that the scammers can be like cuckoos & take over/use other peoples phone numbers, unknowingly to the owner of the number. Can anyone more knowledgeable about such things confirm this? if so - do you know how this works?
Similarly it appears that fraudsters can take over our email addresses & use them without our knowledge. This I do know because it happened to me several years back when folk started getting spam emails from me which I knew nothing about, folk both on, & not on my contacts list. Turned out it was someone in Indonesia doing the dirty. I changed internet provider as well as email addresses.
Then just yesterday I received a threatening letter from someone claiming to have taken over my devices & filmed me whilst I was watching porn & demanding US$1450 in bitcoin within 48 hours of the emails date or they would release the video. Amusingly the email was dated over a week ago, but arrived yesterday. Usual poor english & I don't watch porn anyway. The worrying thing was that they had used my own email address to send me the email. I just deleted it & immediately changed my password to access the webmail account they had used.
Does anyone know how they do this? I suspect they 'guessed' my old password, (which wasn't very inventive) - now replaced with a far more complex one.
-- Edited by Cuppa on Friday 11th of November 2022 04:35:20 PM
-- Edited by Cuppa on Friday 11th of November 2022 04:37:37 PM
Off topic a bit I know
But I'm with medibank private, (it should change its name to medibank public)
I don't care if the dark Web knows I get UTIs
But I can't change my name, date of birth or my email address AS IT'S MY NAME
But I suppose I could change my Medicare number and phone number
But I've settled for changing my banking details ONLY because of the hassle and like you all say so so many other places have these details anyway.
But it has put the wind up me, what if someone takes out a loan in my name or I forget to be vigilant and answer a call when I'm stressed and let my guard down with what I say?
I already don't click on links and I've stopped returning calls from unknown numbers, but I'm finding it all to to complicated and scary an wish for simpler times
I am definitely no tech head.....but have been told by someone who is............that the phone number displayed on the incoming call (from the scammer) is TOTALLY controlled and made up by the scammers......ie the number displayed could be the local "knock shop" ........but its a scammer from Mumbai.........cheers Bilbo
As Mike Harding said it can be generated by VIOP Voice Over Internet Protocol or by a
simple algorithm that generated random numbers.
Try Googling 'telephone number generator'. You will get options one of which is country
which in our case in Australia. These intellectually challenged anal orifices could be calling
anywhere in the world. I sometime answer ' Fire department, where's the fire' or
keep them on the line asking about their family and if they need a boyfriend or girlfriend
as I have a friend who is looking.
It wastes their time and amuses me. Cheap thrills knowing I just gave some the S*&ts.
A couple of years back I did answer the mobile but these days I don't. I wait for the person to leave a voice message unless it is a registered person on my phone. Anyhow the call that I answered said they were from the tax office and that I had made a mistake and needed to pay up or face a fine. My reply was that I worked in the tax office and I could call around and see him on Monday when I was next in my office. Would you believe the person hung up on me so I never got to speak to him again.
SNIP.....My reply was that I worked in the tax office and I could call around and see him on Monday when I was next in my office. Would you believe the person hung up on me so I never got to speak to him again.
That's what I'm talking about. Scammer got scammed.
There's a YouTube floating about whereby this young American lady gets a scammer call. Plays along until such time that she
is asked for her Credit card details. Just as she is about to reply, she casually mentions that this conversation is being
recorded by the FBI. Precious.
I encourage everyone to do similar. Play them at their own games. These clowns have to make a certain number of calls
during each 'shifts'. The more time they spend with no result, the less calls they can make.
I consider my time wasted if I pick up the phone (home or mobile) when an unknown number is calling. Like others here, I let all unknown calls go to voicemail and call them back if a legitimate message is left. Caller ID numbers can most definitely be faked and even genuine numbers can be misused by scammers similarly as email addresses can be faked or hacked by scammers. An acquaintance of mine picks up all scam phone calls and simply puts the phone down and walks away while the scammer is talking thus wasting the scammer's time.
Overseas call centers utilise computers to cascade numbers in random order, when the computer identifies a valid number it is then rung by the computer.
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Possum; AKA:- Ali El-Aziz Mohamed Gundawiathan
Sent from my imperial66 typewriter using carrier pigeon, message sticks and smoke signals.
Overseas call centers utilise computers to cascade numbers in random order, when the computer identifies a valid number it is then rung by the computer.
Its not limited to overseas call centers, Australian call centers also used cascading auto calling, but then it was easier to center on a regional location to offer a deal, ie a cold calling company would tout to a particular town ie Swan Hill was 03 for Vic/Tas 50 was town/region. The cold calling operator would enter into the auto dialer 0350xxxx1 to 0350xxx10, all those numbers would be called at same time the first number to answer would auto hang up on all other calls, and the caller would tout to whatever the were flogging.
If you are concerned about your data privacy, be very aware that when visiting shopping centers, a lot of these pop up charities, raffles etc also on sell your information to cold calling centers, as you have identified yourself as a soft target.
Thank you to those who have explained how these phone numbers that the scammers use are generated.
It surely could not be that difficult to disable this function. It certainly makes me wonder does this happen in other countries.
To add to this topic I have had two personal observations with what I would call dodgy or at the least unnecessary information Phishing.
The first one was my Netflix renewal.
My Netflix payment is linked to my PayPal for auto renewal each month.
I received an SMS message on my phone that Netflix was not accepting my payment method due to a card not being recognised.
I ignored the first message as I knew everything was in order but after two days I got the same message again.
I was suspicious as I knew I had recently updated my credit card with PayPal and all was in order.
I decided to click the link within the SMS message and it opened what for all intents and purposes was the first window of the payment website for Netflix.
I closed that link page and then went to the Netflix site and opened correspondence to check my payment method.
As I already knew everything was in order so at that time I ignored the SMS messages.
A few days later my payment to Netflix became due and the payment was automatically paid as per my instruction with PayPal in favour of Netflix.
Now, my suspicious mind kicks in and I begin to wonder how the dodgy organisation knew when my Netflix payment was due and worse still, how they knew that I had recently changed my credit card in the payment system.
My thoughts are that this information could only have been sourced from within the Netflix System.
What the scammer wanted was either my PayPal information or my credit card information via what would probably be another link from the dodgy page.
The second observation.
My very good friend bought a new vehicle and as a gesture of thanks for help they have given me I offered to buy them a dash mat for their new vehicle.
As I searched the nett for a supplier I click on Supercheapauto.
I open the page on dashmats and they want me to enter my Rego Number, or Vin Number, and The state I live in, and then have them via another click, link this information to their *My Garage* file.
My thoughts were that if they could recognise the vehicle from that information then they must have some access to motor vehicle registrations which then may open up a plethora of personal details.
While I can understand a Vin Number being required to identify the correct part, what is the reason for the other information.
This company offers a member reward system so most shoppers would have already handed over at least some personal details.
As has been stated above the simple way out is to give these companies false info but when we land back in real life most info is checked as valid prior to any transaction taking place.
I am sure if we as a group wanted to we could fill pages with examples of Phishing and the storing or having access to other personal information.
Stuck in my mind when a company like Supacheap or the like ask for personal details the trail that could be followed would lead eventually back to China.
The big green shed could easily be another one as could be several others.
Will this come under scrutiny by those who should be looking at these methods of possible breaches of information security or do they all just sit on their hands until more of the likes of Optus and Medibank frauds come to light.
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Welcome to Biggs Country many may know it as Australia
The Vic Roads (and maybe other states?) allow their database to be publicly accessed to the extent you may enter a registration (not sure about a VIN) and it will tell you the exact make/model/colour and year of manufacture of that vehicle, this is very useful to motor trade people (especially repair) as they can then identify the exact replacement parts they require simply from the vehicle registration.
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
The same in NSW, and probably other states as well. Tyre retailers make this an easy option to select the correct tyres as well. When I am offered to save this information for next time I decline, although I'm not sure that access to that information is a risk.
....... I begin to wonder how the dodgy organisation knew when my Netflix payment was due and worse still, how they knew that I had recently changed my credit card in the payment system.....
I suspect it is just coincidence. If they sent me such a Netflix message, I would know it was a scam because I don't currently have Netflix. For those with a Netflix account, there is one chance in 30 they will get the exact day, or one in 10 it is within a couple of days. When they send many thousands, there will be some that hit the date spot on. In your case, a few days difference, so I suggest it was just random.
I think the goal would have been for you to log into Paypal. They then have your Paypal password. Having you re-enter your card details would be another bonus.
Also, it is never a good idea to click on a link if you have the slightest suspicion it may be fake. The scammers would know that you clicked on the link. At the very least they are likely to have categorised you as "almost got this one". So they would see you having more potential of being scammed. So this may mean more such messages.
If your device is not patched with the latest security updates, it is possible malware has been installed. I suggest running a scan just to be sure. Most have a free trial for the full version, and then you can just stay with the free versions. Usually the paid versions run in the background and prevent your device being compromised while the free versions scan on your request. I use Malware Bytes on PC ..... have not yet tried it on the phone.
-- Edited by Are We Lost on Monday 21st of November 2022 02:27:38 PM
ABC news this morning, an estimated 12 million Australians have been hacked.
NDIS, Centrelink and ATO. All Australians have had contact with one of those
organisations at some point in time, especially since we are being asked to do more online.
Why are the 'government' servers more secure?
Is this a case of 'Do as I say, not as I do'?
