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New Spam method (new to me)

SVonhof

SVonhof

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My wife and I have Android phones, but I think this would apply to iPhone's as well, if you use GMail, Sheets, Docs, Drive.

My wife got a Google Drive notification that she was having her Wells Fargo account suspended and it was saying that somebody (not really Wells Fargo, but made to look like it) was trying to share a file with her through Drive.
I told her that Wells Fargo would never contact us that way. We opened Google Drive and it didn't show anything on there, but did have a section for Spam, which I didn't realize it had. It was empty, which was good.

But then she received a few more (maybe a total of 6 through the day). Each one was slightly different.

She did try logging in to our Wells Fargo account using her sign-in (different than mine) and found it was locked as it had been attempted with the wrong password too many times. She has not used her log-in for quite a while so that was shocking and she was able to change her password to something even more secure.

But anyway, there is a new spam method, again, to watch for.
 
I was getting them yesterday as well and I don't have a Wells Fargo account.

My understanding is that Google basically made Drive an email so the scammers are trying that avenue now.
 
AuzzieMatt said:
I was getting them yesterday as well and I don't have a Wells Fargo account.

My understanding is that Google basically made Drive an email so the scammers are trying that avenue now.
Click to expand...
That's what I found in my limited research as well about how Drive now works.

One thing to note, for all of you that have parents who may be older and less wise on tech, you may want to inform them that they should just ignore all, or help them by turning off the notifications from drive:

To block spam notifications from Google Drive, you can follow these steps:
1. Open Google Drive and head over to the Shared with me tab in the left sidebar where you shall find files people shared with you.
2. Right-click on the spam file and select Block ‘users’ email ID ‘.
3. This will open a small pop-up window where you can verify email id. Click on Block to confirm the decision.

Scammers are abusing a Google Drive feature to send phishing links in automated email notifications from Google. By mentioning a Google user in a Drive document, the scammers can cause Google to generate a notification that will be sent straight to the user’s inbox, bypassing spam filters3.
 
I got seven or eight of them yesterday as well. Scammers are doing some creative things everyday. I don't have Wells Fargo or Chase accounts so I wasn't really concerned at all.
 
Phishing is still the top avenue for spammers and bad folks to get into things.

Thanks for the info.
 
SVonhof said:
That's what I found in my limited research as well about how Drive now works.

One thing to note, for all of you that have parents who may be older and less wise on tech, you may want to inform them that they should just ignore all, or help them by turning off the notifications from drive:

To block spam notifications from Google Drive, you can follow these steps:
1. Open Google Drive and head over to the Shared with me tab in the left sidebar where you shall find files people shared with you.
2. Right-click on the spam file and select Block ‘users’ email ID ‘.
3. This will open a small pop-up window where you can verify email id. Click on Block to confirm the decision.

Scammers are abusing a Google Drive feature to send phishing links in automated email notifications from Google. By mentioning a Google user in a Drive document, the scammers can cause Google to generate a notification that will be sent straight to the user’s inbox, bypassing spam filters3.
Click to expand...
Indeed.

Another reminder to also inform them..again ;) to not link click to log in to their account (even if they don't have an account with link).

Try to remind mine often to ONLY sign in directly, and in different browser session. Sometimes tabs can be merged to still capture login/password.
 
Had a new one yesterday, my grandson got a phone call supposedly from a vet in Nebraska. Said we have your dog, had collar ID and my grandson's name and phone number and a picture of a dog. He was hunting out in western Kansas, and of course was upset, he called my granddaughter and was a little irate. She told him the dog was in her bedroom at home. She went back and checked and the dog was there, only thing we can figure out is they would say you have a huge vet bill and demand payment to get dog back.
 
My company has security training and one of the biggie's is never respond to an unsolicited email/ text that includes a link. Also if there is some sort of urgency involved.
If you get one of these delete quick and report as junk.
You can always contact your bank/ financial institution via their website or customer service to confirm anything. Also- most will not use email or texting as a means to communicate a situation like this- it would come in the mail. Good luck to all. There are a lot of rat bastards out there...
 
I hoped this was about spam.

spam GIF
 
BTW plus one for being Pro-Spam the meat product...
When I was in boy scouts you could cut a slab, put it on a stick and burn it over the fire. Slap it on a roll with mustard and man, you were a king.
 
I saw a United Healthcare ad on this thread which reminded me…

United Healthcare and a few other companies have some bad practices that basically train customers to be scammed.

United Healthcare for example makes a lot of unexpected calls to their customers to notify or remind customers about specific features in their health plan. That’s fine, except they require you to give your date of birth before they’ll give you the message. They say they are required by HIPPA to confirm the identity of the person they are talking to.

I call them out on this EVERY time telling them they called me and could be anybody and that they are training their customers to be scammed.

Interestingly, sometimes when I refuse to give any personal information they give me the message anyway, sometimes they do not.

Sadly they are still doing this.
 
I have received countless spams like this. I just delete.
 
So much spam these days from everywhere, with callers pretending to be from a bank, credit card company, card company offering LOWER interest rates, yeah right, the IRS, Soc Sec, and the one I get on my spectrum land line is ( hi this is Lisa from Spectrum, big time FAKE . This crap just pisses me off. on the iphone ROBOkiller and Verizon Call Filter take care of 90% of this junk.
 
About a year ago I came thisclose to being scammed out of $7500 (frankly embarrassed to admit it because I fancy myself tech-savvy). Got an email that there was an invoice sent to my PayPal account for some significant amount and I should call 888-xxx-xxxx if I want to contest it. What I usually do (and did this time) was to GO TO THE PAYPAL SITE and look in my invoices and sure enough it was there, I knew it was a scam but what the scammers did was to put a supposed PayPal customer service number in the Notes section of the invoice. For whatever reason I took that to be a genuine number instead of clicking through the Contacts link on the PayPal site. Put me right in touch with the scammers.

Once I thought the people I were talking to were legitimate they had me because, after all, the number was on the PayPal site (I had just for some reason failed to take note it was in the body of the fake invoice) and I was petrified that I was going to lose all my money. So I stopped thinking. All the signs of a Chinese scam were there, don't ask me how many because, in hindsight, as I said, it's embarrassing. For some reason I just snapped out of my funk right after I asked my bank to wire transfer money to California and just before they actually did it.

Point is, if you need to contact a company about a potential fraud make sure first that you are at the actual website (don't just take the first Google hit you see) and then that you get authentic contact information by going through the appropriate links on that site.
 
This thread reminded me to contact Mom again for another reminder. How funny she got a text soon after and she sent it to me asking thankfully.
IMG_20231130_122835.jpg
Told her the number looks odd and usually won't send emojis either. 😔

Thanks for this popping up!
 
I get alot of spam but accidentally found a way of TESTING if authentic or not, if I can't reply to ANY email it's fake...
The suspect email I got was saying I had a parcel that couldn't be delivered but I wasn't expecting anything so tried to reply to it saying "F-off ass-wipe" but it wouldn't send, I also get emails saying I've got money in my Casino account ready to play, I reply saying I've a share in the "Sydney Harbour Bridge" I'd like to sell for only $63000 because I really need the money 😂 and mostly it can't be sent 📤
 
I thought this was going to be a food thread...
 
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