Scam watch: fake Microsoft ‘covid relief fund’ email

If you receive a dodgy looking email report it to:
report@phishing.gov.uk
Then immediately delete it without replying.
You get an instant acknowledgement in your email.
Save that address into your address book for future reference.

Tony.
I feel quite sorry for people who are duped into thinking that the world owes everyone a living, but there again there are scum bags who will try anything other than to get a proper job and contribute to the sad world we live in and to make an effort in changing lives.

I haven’t had one like this from someone purporting to be Microsoft, but I have received two almost identical emails suggesting that I need to change the password on my Office365 account. Needless to say, I reported to the originating ISP (in both cases this was Microsoft) together with the government phishing service at report@phishing.gov.uk

I@ve got a very useful filter: if a caller isn’t on my “approved” list, they are asked to give their name and only then does my phone ring. I hear their name and can accept or bar them. This has stopped all the cold calls I used to get.

The scammers nowadays are getting very sophisticated — they are evil scum and criminals who should be dealt with accordingly: very harshly. But, watching some television programmes covering scamming scum/s they seem to be dealt with very very lightly: i.e. 103 hours of – community service no matter what their sick crimes are — the law is a real ass sometimes. it’s costing a fortune finding and dealing with these criminals. Some ‘community service’ placements are never checked so the scum will be laughing up their sleeves and they certainly won’t stop. It’s sickening what they get away with – if imprisoned they get 3 square meals a day, kept warm, given all sorts of ‘care and attention’, sports facilities, computer servcices etc etc. — they are better looked after than half our country
—– thinking of becoming a scammer!!!!

Perhaps the best way for us all to deal with this issue is not to ignore it but to respond with a fake name, address, occupation, bank details etc. Swamp them with thousands of replies. The poor unfortunate soul, the one in a thousand, who does fall for the scam will be well protected because the chance of the scammers following up his/her reply is negligible.

Scams have gone on since the beginning of time. I remember back in 1945 when I was 5 years old a door to door salesman was trying to sell my mother some very hard to get hold of nicker elastic, I could see he was stretching it and told my mum who sent him packing with a flea in his ear. and told me to go knock on all the neighbors’ doors and warn them soon there were kids running from house to house warning the mothers he slunk off and did not make any more sales in our street. how many sales he made before he got to our house we never got to know as we lived in No 19.
Though too days scams are more complicated and use a lot of technology for instance if you get a telephone call check to see if it is a withheld number if it is then it is a scam especially if it is from your bank etc