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Duane

58 posts

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#283963 22-Mar-2021 15:54
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Hi all, I know you are all a bright bunch so not going to fall for a scam call, but just a FYI I had heard about the latest Spark scam calls going around, a bit more convincing than usual, and I actually got one just now.  Myself and the people I've heard it from are all on the Auckland NorthShore, so I guess that's the current number range they're working through.

 

Said he was from Spark, and Spark was rolling out a minor speed increase from 100Mbit to 155Mbit, and that the switch over would happen in the next day or so, and just to run a speed test to confirm current speed so I had a before and after.  So far, I was quite impressed, by scammer standards he sounded fairly legitimate.  Had asked for no details and had so far guessed correctly that it was a standard (ie, most common) fibre 100Mbit plan.  He also went on check all the light on the router was green and everything was working well.  He then said to use speedtest.net.  I was curious where this was heading so humored him a bit longer.  Said my ping was too high at 3ms and should only be 1ms, and make a configuration change.  And which point he started to give instructions on how to run to run something from the command line at which point I informed him I was a computer tech and knew exactly what he was trying to do, and then he wasn’t very friendly and hung up.

 

I wouldn't normally bother to post this, but from my point of view, these have been far more convincing than most "I'm from Microsoft and you have a virus" type calls.  All the current scam calls are using spoofed caller id of an Aussie call centre, 00614-98552416, 11944740, 17597180 etc.

 

Hope that is of help to someone who can pass a warning on to possibly vulnerable person.


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linw
2849 posts

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  #2678558 22-Mar-2021 16:09
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Well worth posting, Duane.

 

I'm in a retirement village and they put these scams in the weekly newsletter so will pass it on.




Oblivian
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  #2678712 22-Mar-2021 17:53
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Friday?

 

Bunch of office workers where I was on Friday had aussie calls inbound 1 after the other. Similar scenario, spark NZ "but your caller ID is Australia.. Prove it...' With all the noise of a call centre.

 

Most people said is this a scam, as I can hardly hear you and you're not calling from spark/NZ-

 

<click>


Duane

58 posts

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  #2678734 22-Mar-2021 18:10
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They've been doing the rounds for the last two weeks.  I've had three so far, last one today when I posted that.  But that one was as I said better spoken than most and a bit too convincing for non-technical people so thought I'd throw a warning out there.  I'm not sure why they're using aussie numbers though.

 

I just wish I had my VM up to see what he was actually trying to do.




Oblivian
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  #2678747 22-Mar-2021 19:00
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I wonder if it's the same crowd that tried to Viber call me this AM from 'Vodafone Mobile Co' :p

 

+41388123062


tchart
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  #2678754 22-Mar-2021 19:28
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Very interesting video I happened to watch yesterday (a collaboration with Mark Rober);

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvjjpzyiig4 (Jim Browning)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrKW58MS12g (Mark Rober)

 

What concerned me was;

 

1. The number of people willing to blindly send $10K+ cash in the mail

 

2. The sophistication of the scammers (mules, supervisiors etc)

 

3. The pre-canned messages from "Amazon", "Telstra" etc - no doubt they have ones for Spark, Vodafone etc

 

Also very scary that once youve been duped that your become a "hot target" for further scams :(


quickymart
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  #2678807 22-Mar-2021 20:47
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Are these calls going to landlines or to your mobile?
All the scam calls I've ever had were always to a landline.


xpd

xpd
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  #2678815 22-Mar-2021 21:01
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I've had similar to mobile mainly. Think theyve found a lot of people dont have landlines anymore and they change targets.

 

 





       Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

 

                      LinkTree

 

 

 


 
 
 

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MadEngineer
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  #2680738 25-Mar-2021 21:41
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Have had a few reported to me today too. They must be cranking up again




You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Duane

58 posts

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  #2680743 25-Mar-2021 21:55
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Oblivian:

 

Oh dear

 

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/scammed-couple-rattled-after-losing-half-their-savings-to-fraudster/GEJB7WR5YZPIPOCUMM56Q4H5GY/ 

 

 

 

 

Yeah both my retired mother and her friend have received the calls.  Got no where with either (mother can't even turn on a computer let alone use one), and her friend was savvy enough to ask why Spark would be calling her as she uses another provider, and asked questions he couldn't answer so gave up.  Unfortunately, they must be making a lot of money from these scams to be ramping up as they are.

 

 


K8Toledo
1014 posts

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  #2702761 6-May-2021 07:47
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I too have had similar reports from clients - so far five complaints in three months.  

 

 

 

What concerns me about this particular scam is that all five clients are Spark customers, and in every case the scammers impersonated Spark CSR's.  

 

The one I spoke to yesterday said she was fleeced around 100K - she "claims" the scammer knew her Spark account number, which if true is rather alarming   Btw this is a very savvy SMB client, not an older retired person.

 

 

 

I'm concerned as the scammers apparently knew who the customers provider was, and wonder if possibly xtramail has been hacked?  Or inside knowledge? 


K8Toledo
1014 posts

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  #2703363 7-May-2021 13:30
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xpd:

 

I've had similar to mobile mainly. Think theyve found a lot of people dont have landlines anymore and they change targets.

 

 

 

 

The complainants in my case were landline holdouts.  Not anymore. :P

 

 

 

Could be different scam though- nobody here mentioned customers real RSP.


Rikkitic
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  #2703383 7-May-2021 13:58
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I also had one of these the other day. I was surprised as I would have thought everyone was on to these by now. I told the scammer, in a not-unkind tone of voice, that I knew he was a scammer and he should really think about what he was doing as it was a very shitty way to live. There was a long silence before the disconnect. Who knows? Maybe he is thinking about it.

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


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