Scams

Scams, especially via spam emails, bit also via social media, are an ongoing problem. Everyone needs to exercise a degree of wariness,

The point of a scam is to somehow gain an advantage from you. It may be remittance of money, or just simply giving away personal details. But if you look at an incoming e-mail and it is correctly addressed to you, then you are already on a list somewhere that is being distributed or sold. Apart from abandoning that particular e-mail address, there little you can do about it.

PCUG clearly state that we will never ask you for sensitive details (login, passwords, etc) via email. If there is ever a problem with your account, we will ask you to ring or drop-in at the PCUG Centre to resolve it, where both we and you, can confirm who you are working with.

Most reputable organisations (banks, credit unions, trade unions, clubs etc) have similar policies of never requesting sensitive information to be supplied electronically, as it is just too easy for spammers to forge such messages.

This is simply good basic Internet practise.

I regret to say that a few of our members have fallen for such scams previously. As a result, their accounts were used to send many thousands more SPAM emails, which resulted in the PCUG being placed on blacklists at the time, thus blocking some email delivery for all users. So please exercise caution as carelessness by one member can inconvenience and disrupt usage for all!

Please review the links below for further information, and take specific note of the scam emails listed which target PCUG members specifically.

Also, a scamwatch e-mail list has been set up to allow members to warn other members about, and to discuss, scams/spam. You can subscribe to the list by going to the PCUG's scamwatch listinfo page.

See also our page with more practical guidance on Handling Email SPAM

More Information

For some guidance on how to avoid being caught by scams, see:

• Stay Smart Online, an Australian government site with lots of useful information
• the free "The Little Black Book of Scams" from the ACCC
• Australian Government ACCC Scamwatch - a number of members have found a subscription to their scamwatch list useful
• report a scam to the ACCC
• ASIC Moneysmart site - Financial scams recorded by ASIC
• AFP information on Internet Fraud & scams
• Wikipedia’s list of frauds/scams
• Wikipedia’s list of e-mail scams

Scam Warnings

Most scams use well-known brands to try to convince you of their trustworthiness - the Australian Government and its agencies, ANZ, NAB, Westpac and Commonwealth banks, Woolworths, Coles and the list goes on. If you are in doubt about any company-branded email, find their real site and visit it. Most have gotten over their shyness about scammers trying to steal their identities, and are quite up front about the attempts being made to con readers.

• Various scams used to trick holiday makers - 13 May 2013
• ANZ Hoax e-mails - May 2013
• Woolworths Scam Surveys - 8 June 2013
• ATO warns about tax avoidance schemes - 18 June 2013
• Friend overseas, and Surveys - 17th July 2013
• Tax Refund scams - 17th July 2013
• Ransomware scam - 18th July 2013
• NAB phishing e-mails - 5th Aug 2013
• Shopping Scams up by 65% - 8th Aug 2013

Scams Targetting PCUG Members Specifically

We note here some recently seen scam emails that use PCUG's name and/or address in them. As stated above, these should be obviously noted as scams, since we will never ask you for this type of information by email.

SCAM - Jul 2013 - Your mailbox is nearly over its size limit

The following scam is being sent to members circa July 2013. Note the actual reply email address is in Thailand despite what the "text" name says!

 From: support@pcug.org.au [mailto:helpsupport@admin.in.th]
 To: XXX@pcug.org.au
 Subject: Your mailbox is nearly over its size limit
 
 Your mailbox has exceeded one or more size limits set by your administrator,
 we have decided to run a database clean-up and refresh your mailbox.
 
 please provide the below credentials :
 
 Email Address:
 Username :
 Password:
 Confirm Password:
 
 System Administrator

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See Also

• Spam - for details on spam messages, which are often used in scams