I have reported many scams to do with Telstra NBN and Microsoft Always delete any emails without letter heads and never open  them

I have reported many scams to do with Telstra NBN and Microsoft Always delete any emails without letter heads and never open  them

I got a suspicious SMS supposedly from Singtel which owns Optus saying my account was in arrears. I knew I was in credit so I sent a message back saying "Up Yours"

Just checked my webmail inbox ... another scam purporting to be from my service provider saying I need to update my payment details. Total rot of course, when you hover the cursor over the link, it's some weird OS address. Plus that's not the email address I use for legitimate contact with my provider.

I get this sort of rubbish about once a week plus quite a few "bitcoin offers" at the moment.

Must admit though the amount of spam I receive has dramatically decreased from what it used to be 2-3 years ago. Was a deluge every day then, now just a few a week.

Never use links in emails to sign into anything. 

A little trick in email if you suspect a scam, is to look at the ending of the email address of the sender - that is, after the "@"

Sometimes you will see something like a person's name only (not the company) or a strange name, or even a lot of letters or numbers before the ".com"  This would probably indicate it is a scam. If the email is purported to have come from a company like microsoft, if you see their proper site name after the "@"  it would probably be all right. However, if the message says you owe money, close the email and ring the company to find out what it is about. 

Sometimes your Internet Security like Nortons will pick up a scam and not let you open it.

In any case, if you are not familiar with the sender and know you haven't won $1000 in any lottery or raffle, don't even open it - just delete.

When you get an SMS from a suspected spammer, they are still not sure whether the phone number is valid, since people often change their phone numbers. Once you reply however, you are telling them you are alive and kicking.  Just the information they need to go further and obtain your sensitive information.

Best not to respond at all and delete immediately.

I have my webcam covered over, so no one can see me on the computer, either the desktop or the laptop, so they can't scam me :)

I don't get many email scams, if any these days.  I use Yandex.com,  a Russian email  service that seems to protect me rather well with top security.

Just had one from purporting to be from paypal saying there was suspicious activity on my account. I did not click on the link. Checked my account on their website and it's  nonsense of course. Looked legitimate with logo and paypal details in the email, so be careful..

The phone rang this morning and when I said "hello" but no response, just silence; I knew it was an Indian call centre. The reason for the silence is that they have an automated number dialling system which successively dials numbers one after the other by just adding 1 to the number until it hears a human voice. It then transfers the call to the team of scammers. After a while an Indian voice "How are you today?" My reply was "Why are you calling me?" "This call is being rec....." he started to say, but I interrupted him "Why are you calling me?" I asked again. "I'm from Telstra" he replied "Your internet has been infected by Chinese hackers, but I'll be able to clear it up for you, so ….." I interrupted him again by asking if he is looking at my account" "Yes" he replied. "Best if you check you have the right person" I said, "so I'll give you my name; it's Hermann Gruntfuttock, Hermann is spelt with two N's" His reply? "Yes, it's your account" (Ha Ha Ha Ha!) "Look" I said, "You surely know that Telstra staff are not permitted to deal with customer's software that has been compromised, as per clause 7 of the Telecommunications Act which deals with conflict of interest" No reply from our Indian friend. I continued on "My suggestion to you" I said "is not to say you're from Telstra; just say you're from a firm of internet consultants, you might have more luck in getting money out of unsuspecting naïve consumers" No response again. "Are you still there" I said?" beep beep beep beep beep beep Ha ha ha ha ha

When I awoke today and checked my phone I had an SMS, received at 1:49am, telling me I had an unclaimed inheritance and gave an email to contact. I was almost tempted to email just to satisfy my curiosity, however I didn't, even with Nortons it may be too dangerous. Still it may be good for a laugh.