Scam phone call trying to get security info re 2009 insurance claim.

Forums › Off topic › Scam phone call trying to get security info re 2009 insurance claim.

kiwipawl

273 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 10

#205923 2-Dec-2016 17:14

Hi All,

I have just received a phone call on my cell phone from a private number telling me that I never cashed a 2009 check for an insurance claim and can I answer a few security question so they can settle the claim and pay me the money owed. They stated the correct insurance company that I use and I did have a claim for the item they quoted.

Something didn't seem quite right so I told them to email me and I would contact them back. They told me that they didn't have an email address as my account had been closed. When I told them it hadn't they told me my Gmail address that I use and that they would send me a email with their contact details, which they never did.

I contacted my insurance company and they hadn't contacted me and that this claim had be paid out and the cheque cashed back in 2009.

It’s a bit of a worry as to where they got all this info from and it sounds like they have my emails from as far back as 2009. I have tried to recover my Gmail emails back to 2009 and can't find any reference to this claim any were.

Any suggestions and recommendations from here. I have checked all my banks accounts for unexplained transactions but nothing has shown up yet.

Cheers Paul.

freitasm

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#1681408 2-Dec-2016 17:31

Perhaps this is related? Have you installed some third party sourced Android apps by any chance?

Over 1 Million Google Accounts Breached via Malicious Android Apps

The attack campaign, dubbed Gooligan, has breached the security of over one million Google accounts and is still growing at a rate of 13,000 new infections each day. Googlian is a variant of the Ghost Push malware family of hostile downloaders which download apps onto infected devices without the user’s permission. Google announced on their blog (link is external) that they they’ve been working the past few weeks to investigate and help protect users against this threat. As a result, Google has already removed the offending apps from the Google Play Store. In addition to removing the malicious apps, Google is also notifying affected accounts and revoking affected authorisation tokens.

How is the Malware Transmitted?
The infection begins when a user downloads and installs a Gooligan-infected app on a vulnerable Android device. This can happen in various ways, downloading an infected app from a third party app store, tapping malicious links in phishing attack messages either through SMS text messages or other online messaging services, and via phishing emails.
The devices affected are phones that are running Android 4 (Jelly Bean, KitKat) and 5 (Lollipop).

Protecting Against Ghost Push Malware
This just pushes the point further that mobile devices need security software more than ever. This malware is easily spread to unprotected phones – all the user needs to do is tap on one bad link and they are exposed. This is also where software updates play a key role in security, as these attacks are using unpatched vulnerabilities on users phones.

If your account has been breached, the following steps are required:
• The only way to completely remove this malware from an infected device is to do a clean installation of the operating system. This is a complicated process, and you may want to go to your mobile carrier and have them perform the installation.
• Change your Google account passwords immediately after you have the OS reinstalled.

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kiwipawl

273 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 10

#1681425 2-Dec-2016 17:57

The only apps I've loaded recently are Google Keep, Manything security camera,Eset anti virus, some VR games and 1 News now.

It looks like the emails they gathered the info from came from my work account which has recently lost all my future appointments from my Outlook calendar.

freitasm:

Perhaps this is related? Have you installed some third party sourced Android apps by any chance?

Over 1 Million Google Accounts Breached via Malicious Android Apps

The attack campaign, dubbed Gooligan, has breached the security of over one million Google accounts and is still growing at a rate of 13,000 new infections each day. Googlian is a variant of the Ghost Push malware family of hostile downloaders which download apps onto infected devices without the user’s permission. Google announced on their blog (link is external) that they they’ve been working the past few weeks to investigate and help protect users against this threat. As a result, Google has already removed the offending apps from the Google Play Store. In addition to removing the malicious apps, Google is also notifying affected accounts and revoking affected authorisation tokens.

How is the Malware Transmitted?
The infection begins when a user downloads and installs a Gooligan-infected app on a vulnerable Android device. This can happen in various ways, downloading an infected app from a third party app store, tapping malicious links in phishing attack messages either through SMS text messages or other online messaging services, and via phishing emails.
The devices affected are phones that are running Android 4 (Jelly Bean, KitKat) and 5 (Lollipop).

Protecting Against Ghost Push Malware
This just pushes the point further that mobile devices need security software more than ever. This malware is easily spread to unprotected phones – all the user needs to do is tap on one bad link and they are exposed. This is also where software updates play a key role in security, as these attacks are using unpatched vulnerabilities on users phones.

If your account has been breached, the following steps are required:
• The only way to completely remove this malware from an infected device is to do a clean installation of the operating system. This is a complicated process, and you may want to go to your mobile carrier and have them perform the installation.
• Change your Google account passwords immediately after you have the OS reinstalled.