Barclays telephone scam

Barclay's telephone scam

What is barclay's ?

If you don't know what Barclay's is, it's a UK bank that is very popular and a lot of people go with them for banking.

What is the Barclay's scam ?

What is the Barclay's scam. Although I've never received one myself, I have seen numerous people receive a call from someone pretending to be from Barclay's and basically saying "in these times with the corona virus going around they can offer you a grant, but first they need your bank details" this is how you can tell that it's a scam, your bank would never ask for bank or card details.

What you should do if you get contacted or have fallen victim ?

What should you do if you receive one of these calls, decline the call. If you do answer because you don't recognize the number DO NOT give out any bank details to anyone, if they ask for bank details put down the phone.

If you get contacted by these scammers please report them here

• https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
• https://www.barclays.co.uk/digisafe/reporting-fraud/

both links work. If you end up falling victim to this scam just be aware it may not only be Barclay's they probably pretend to be multiple banks. Just make sure to never give out bank information and if you receive a call, inform the bank they are imitating and report the phone number they are using.

New BT email scam

New BT email scam.

There is a new BT email phishing scam going around the uk. It's made to look like a real BT email, they state in the email that they will be replacing your broadband cables and your internet will fluctuate between the dates they give you. But for the inconvenience they will give you a gift coupon for 12 months free streaming services and redirects you to a fake page where they try get you to enter your bank details for proof of age (DO NOT FALL FOR THIS). I will show below how you can tell that this is a scam and should not be trusted. 

How to tell that this is a scam.

I will be showing you a couple of ways on how you can tell that this is a scam and there only trying to gain information from you. While writing this it wont let me redirect to the site they sent me as it has been took down but i'm sure they will use the same technique but different link.

First of its very simple, if you ever get any emails pretending to be from a company and your not to sure if its a phishing email you should look up on the internet the official email address. For example the email I received the address was (newsletter@unaunace.com) obviously that is not BT's real email address because if you receive a email from bt it should have (@btinternet.com).

How to stay safe from fake emails.

The best way to stay safe from fake emails that are trying to phish information and most probably your card details are 

1. DO NOT open any links from any email that you don't know where they have come from.
2. ALWAYS double check the email address you received with the real email address where you can find online.
3. If you do click on a link from a email do not put in your information like home address and card details especially if you don't know where the email come from.
4. Always check the address bar this may not always be the case but make sure the url starts with (https).
5. Always check for spelling mistakes.
6. And most important advice I can give you is if it looks to good to be true, then it is. 

 If you would like more information about scams/hacking/phishing check out my other posts i'll link below. I will be uploading more in the future to make more people aware on what's going on.

https://misconceptionhacker.blogspot.com/2020/03/misconception-of-hackers-and-being.html

The blackmail email scam

The blackmail email scam.

Today im going to be explaining the blackmail email scam, which thousands of people have fell for. With each sending thousands to fake blackmailers, I know this because I have received these emails in the past and you can follow the bitcoin addresses they link to find out how many times the scam has worked and how much for.

The scam is very simple. They send out emails in mass explaining that they have your password and have planted a virus on your computer where they have found interesting stuff in your internet history and they will share it to everyone you know, DO NOT FALL FOR THIS.

What they have done is got a hold of an old database that has been leaked and found your details. Then they claim to know your password and are going to share information about you to your friends and family if you don't send them a set amount through bitcoin, normally within 24/48 hours.

What to do if you receive a email like this, sorry to say but your details have been leaked somewhere on the internet where people can easy pick them up. So if you have recieved a email like this please make sure to

• change passwords for all of your accounts

This method of scamming is very good for the scammer because they use bitcoin which is hard to track down and trace where the money is going but if you have fell for this please report it here https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-emails

To avoid this use common sense they normally use a pre written script that either has spelling mistakes or is grammatically incorrect, and no one should physically have any browsing history unless they gain access to your computer through a virus you have downloaded which won't be the case.

The most common way your accounts get hacked

Being hacked.

Being hacked is never fun for anyone, as much as you try to keep yourself safe online and have the most secure password imaginable your account still can get hacked from no fault of your own.

Even if you don't sign up to dodgy sites or click dodgy links, your account can still get hacked. How? you ask, well even some of the most well known sites, for example facebook, still get data breaches where thousands of accounts gets leaked online to public forums.

Most people think that if any of there accounts are hacked they have been targeted personally, but that is not the case. Most hackers aren't even hackers, they are known as crackers thats where people get mixed up. A hacker normally has a lot of technological knowledge and are targeting people or databases or unsecure sites.

But crackers do it completely different and in most cases your account has been taken over by a cracker. Crackers don't have to much technological knowledge, well not as much as a hacker would have normally.

How crackers get hold of your account without targeting anyone directly is they go on forums, there's a lot of forums out there for people who crack where they download databases that have been targeted and shared by hackers. They run that database through many programs to detect working accounts for targeted sites, normally to make money or for personal use.

There is many sites out there that can tell you if your accounts have been breached and leaked online, for example i will list a couple of sites that tell you what sites have had a database breach.

• Snusbase
• DeHashed
• GhostProject.fr

There's loads more out there for you to check if you search 'database breaches' into google.
If your account has been breached make sure to change your password straight away because you don't know where it has been posted or who has access to your information.

If you like to see my other blogs ill link them below, hopefully they might help you out and give you some more information on how to stay safe online.

• https://misconceptionhacker.blogspot.com/2020/03/who-coronavirus-scam-email.html
• https://misconceptionhacker.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-bt-email-scam.html
• https://misconceptionhacker.blogspot.com/2020/03/misconception-of-hackers-and-being.html

WHO coronavirus scam email

Corona virus email scam

The World Health Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.

Hackers are now pretending to be from the world health organization (WHO), sending fake emails with phishing links to try gain information or money.

Please don't fall for these scams! I will create a list below to explain how you can tell that they are scams, and not to be trusted. Also i will be providing a link to where you can report these types of emails.

The WHO organisation would never ask for any of these below.

1. They will never conduct lotteries, giveaways, grants or anything in that nature.
2. This is there official website https://www.who.int/ if you receive any links to other sites, do not click on them.
3. They will never ask for money from you or charge you for anything.
4. They would never ask for usernames or passwords of any sorts.

If you receive an email like this from someone who is trying to impersonate the WHO organization, you can follow this link to report it https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/contact-us.

How can you stay safe from these types of emails? you may not be able to control being sent them. You can control your own safety, so I'll list a couple of measures on how you can keep yourself safe.

1. If you receive a email claiming to be from (WHO) always check the email address it should end in @who.int
2. Look for spelling mistakes, a lot of the time the email you receive will have either spelling mistakes or just grammatically incorrect.
3. Never click external links and if you do they should start with HTTPS, if it doesn't start with that then its not legit.

If you have already fallen for this not to worry you can still keep yourself safe I'll list below what to do if you have already fallen victim.

1. Change the password on your account.
2. If any money has come out of your bank, get in touch with your bank and inform them about what has happened. They should be able to refund you.
3. This one may seem a waste of time but its not. Change your password for your other accounts especially if you use the same password.

Hackers/scammers are also pretending to be from other organisations for the coronavirus. Just be aware! DO NOT click links that you don't know where they have come from. DO NOT give any personal information out to anyone through emails contact the organization directly and they should take care of the rest.

If you would like to see about other scams and phishing techniques come check out my other blogs, maybe you could find something useful and prevent yourself from being scammed.

• https://misconceptionhacker.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-bt-email-scam.html
• https://misconceptionhacker.blogspot.com/2020/03/misconception-of-hackers-and-being.html

Misconception of hackers and being hacked

Misconceptions.

If/when you are hacked, most people think someone has targeted you to steal your details but that isn't the case. Most people also believe that it must be some computer tech savvy person who has done it but that's also not true.

Being hacked. 

Having an account hacked, from no matter what site, they are always trying to gain information/money but they are not targeting you directly. In most cases they get information from leaked databases and unsecure sites and then run that through various programs which checks for correct login details for various sites. This is why you should never keep the same password for everything. For example, zynga poker's database got hacked and was leaked. Well zynga poker can only be used as a game but since its connected to facebook, people could get your facebook details from that then can access your facebook account. From there they could possibly get access to any other account you own if you have the same login details.

Hackers

A hacker is a person intensely interested in the arcane and recondite workings of any computer operating system. Hackers are most often programmers. As such, hackers obtain advanced knowledge of operating systems and programming languages. They might discover holes within systems and the reasons for such holes. Hackers constantly seek further knowledge, freely share what they have discovered, and never intentionally damage data.

Summary.

You don't have to be technically minded to hack/crack accounts but you don't have to be tech savvy yourself to be safe. Below I will give a couple of examples on how to help your accounts stay safe.

• Never keep the same password for each account.
• Have passwords that are unrelated to your life. have 3 random words example "ticklocksnow".
• Never sign up to untrusted/vulnerable sites that aren't trusted or known.

Sometimes your account can get hacked no matter how safe you try make your accounts, sometimes you can be the unlucky one. Were a mainstream database was hacked and from that your details was leaked. Just make sure if you notice any strange logins or notices about people being on your account make sure to change your password.