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I've Been Spammed!

Rico ANDROID

Rico ANDROID

Android Expert
Is thereva thread in the forum thst tracks and discusses spams , your impact, source and resolution? I've recently been spammed with phone calls from "The Apple Store" which also reported theyve been hacked. I am trying to determine if my number got phished from an installed app. Too bad "The Market" aka googleapps store doesnt have a way to block unsavory developers. Anybody else getting calls every 10 minutes from a number thats "displaying" the apple store ?
 
Rico ANDROID said:
Is thereva thread in the forum thst tracks and discusses spams , your impact, source and resolution? I've recently been spammed with phone calls from "The Apple Store" which also reported theyve been hacked. I am trying to determine if my number got phished from an installed app. Too bad "The Market" aka googleapps store doesnt have a way to block unsavory developers. Anybody else getting calls every 10 minutes from a number thats "displaying" the apple store ?
Click to expand...

I'm a believer in NO. I've disabled 95% of all permissions (this includes Google) and have no social media except text. I don't get spam on my iPad since I mostly watch baseball and one CAD type app. The iPad is wifi only, and the phone has a blocking service built in.

Phone scammers spoof numbers. I don't know anyone with the same number prefix that I have, so I blacklist them. The phishers are spoofing local numbers so you pick up the phone. I also don't have voicemail.

If it's an installed app, it would have to be one that both Android and iOS have in their stores.

Write the number down and check it out here: https://800notes.com/
It's a lookup site for spammers. It's also free.
 
If they are asking you to verify Apple credentials over the phone, then just hang up on them. They'll eventually get tired. Or you can do what I do and play games with them until they get angry and curse at you and your family. ;)

Your number could have been picked at random, or from a hacked list ... or more sinister, from a SOLD list from a company that claims they don't do that. In any case, it doesn't really matter how they got it at this point.
 
zuben el genub said:
I'm a believer in NO. I've disabled 95% of all permissions (this includes Google) and have no social media except text. I don't get spam on my iPad since I mostly watch baseball and one CAD type app. The iPad is wifi only, and the phone has a blocking service built in.

Phone scammers spoof numbers. I don't know anyone with the same number prefix that I have, so I blacklist them. The phishers are spoofing local numbers so you pick up the phone. I also don't have voicemail.

If it's an installed app, it would have to be one that both Android and iOS have in their stores.

Write the number down and check it out here: https://800notes.com/
It's a lookup site for spammers. It's also free.
Click to expand...
I will look the number up. It for sure is not Apple's number but digits very close tobit. I looked up The Apple Stores official site and official number to inform/complain and their automared message states that their name is being usedbin a spam and report it to fbi.

I am tempted to do as @lunatic59 says and play the spammer's game and give em nonesense comments till they get angry and curses me out lol
 
You also have the option to install a call blocker from the play store. Truecaller is one, may help you
 
Unfortunately it's very difficult to trace where a spammer got a number from. As Luna says, could be an app, could be a company you've used with no connection to your phone, could be a hack of a company you used or could be random dialled.

Here in the UK I noticed a couple of years ago that spammers who would previously have sent phishing emails started sending phishing texts, and Apple account warnings were the first of these I saw, and remain the commonest. Of course if you know not to click links in emails it should be even more obvious that a shortened (i.e. obfuscated) link in a text is a bad thing to click. I just report these to my network and let them deal with them.
 
Hadron said:
Unfortunately it's very difficult to trace where a spammer got a number from. As Luna says, could be an app, could be a company you've used with no connection to your phone, could be a hack of a company you used or could be random dialled.

Here in the UK I noticed a couple of years ago that spammers who would previously have sent phishing emails started sending phishing texts, and Apple account warnings were the first of these I saw, and remain the commonest. Of course if you know not to click links in emails it should be even more obvious that a shortened (i.e. obfuscated) link in a text is a bad thing to click. I just report these to my network and let them deal with them.
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I am with you on that, @Hadron . I never click unfamiliar links or respond to unsolicited or expected emails. Ive not gotten bogus texts yet and hope I never. Ive gotten my contacts pretty much all inclusive so I dont answer calls not in my list or expected.
 
Rico ANDROID said:
I will look the number up. It for sure is not Apple's number but digits very close tobit. I looked up The Apple Stores official site and official number to inform/complain and their automared message states that their name is being usedbin a spam and report it to fbi.

I am tempted to do as @lunatic59 says and play the spammer's game and give em nonesense comments till they get angry and curses me out lol
Click to expand...

No, don't do that. Even if you block the numbers spammers know the number is live and will sell it.
Once they get the message that you WON'T answer the phone and don't have VM, they stop.
I've had one grocery survey call twice a day for about a month. Then they switched to once a day, slowly devolved to once a week. Now it's down to once a month.

If the spam call is computer generated, it will slop over into your VM so you get half the crap.If you do, find an expert someone with a Linux box to help you

Someone running linux managed to get the fool to download the software and watched all the junk and nasties as it downloaded. I read this in a computer security forum.(1 solution)


Someone running linux managed to get the fool to download the software and watched all the junk and nasties as it downloaded. I read this in a computer security forum.
If the spam call is computer generated, it will slop over into your VM so you get half the crap.


BTW - a mistyped URL in your browser will do the same. Get you a phony web site.

 
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Oh, I don't know, @zuben el genub . I used to get two or three calls a day from "someone at Microsoft" who has detected a virus on my computer, or that all my Windows licenses were expiring or some such nonsense. Sometimes I'd hang up, or sometimes I'd say "Stop calling me" but the calls kept coming. When I started playing games, that's when they stopped.

It goes something like this:

Scammer: (think accent) Hello, this is Albert from Microsoft. We have detected a cumpoooter virus on your cumpoooooter.

Me: Oh dear, that's bad, right?

Scammer: Are you in front of your cumpooooter now?

Me: No, I'm behind it.

Scammer: can you get to your cumpooooter? (I love the way they say "computer")

Me: Yes, it's on my desk.

Scammer: What do you see on the screen?

Me: Dust.

Scammer: Please open internet explorer and type in this ....

Me: But I use Firefox.

Scammer: (a little annoyed) Then open Firefox and type ....

Me: Should I turn my computer on?

At this point if they are still on the line they pause and then ...

Scammer: ^%$&657 you, you @%$#%@!. You mother is a $%^@4.

With any luck they stay on the line long enough to hear me laugh.

In any case, I haven't had one of those calls in months. :D
 
lunatic59 said:
Oh, I don't know, @zuben el genub . I used to get two or three calls a day from "someone at Microsoft" who has detected a virus on my computer, or that all my Windows licenses were expiring or some such nonsense. Sometimes I'd hang up, or sometimes I'd say "Stop calling me" but the calls kept coming. When I started playing games, that's when they stopped.

It goes something like this:

Me: Dust.

Me: Should I turn my computer on?
Click to expand...

That's awesome! @lunatic59
 
The other ones I like are the calls from my "electric company" telling me I can lock in rates.

My response: I'm sorry, we don't have electricity here.

Shuts them up every time. :D
 
The Electric bill people actually show up at your home with a form to fill out. My sweetie did it but I haven't noticed any savings since she signed us up. I'm not saying it's a scam now but I expected more. o_O
 
lunatic59 said:
Oh, I don't know, @zuben el genub . I used to get two or three calls a day from "someone at Microsoft" who has detected a virus on my computer, or that all my Windows licenses were expiring or some such nonsense. Sometimes I'd hang up, or sometimes I'd say "Stop calling me" but the calls kept coming. When I started playing games, that's when they stopped.

It goes something like this:

Scammer: (think accent) Hello, this is Albert from Microsoft. We have detected a cumpoooter virus on your cumpoooooter.

Me: Oh dear, that's bad, right?

Scammer: Are you in front of your cumpooooter now?

Me: No, I'm behind it.

Scammer: can you get to your cumpooooter? (I love the way they say "computer")

Me: Yes, it's on my desk.

Scammer: What do you see on the screen?

Me: Dust.

Scammer: Please open internet explorer and type in this ....

Me: But I use Firefox.

Scammer: (a little annoyed) Then open Firefox and type ....

Me: Should I turn my computer on?

At this point if they are still on the line they pause and then ...

Scammer: ^%$&657 you, you @%$#%@!. You mother is a $%^@4.

With any luck they stay on the line long enough to hear me laugh.

In any case, I haven't had one of those calls in months. :D
Click to expand...
Hahahahaha! I am tempted and literally look for the next opportunity to do this!!
 
dontpanicbobby said:
The Electric bill people actually show up at your home with a form to fill out. My sweetie did it but I haven't noticed any savings since she signed us up. I'm not saying it's a scam now but I expected more. o_O
Click to expand...
Now thats a scary and sneaky way to spam unwary persons, lol. Andbi bet !t happens more than we realize
 
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