Possible Phishing !

[Mr Standfast]

This turned up in my e-mail today.

 

It looks like phishing, do not reply. I have deleted the return address which called itself "contributor balances"

 

I have forwarded it to Alamy.

 

 

 

From:

Sent: Friday, June 4, 2021 12:05 PM

To:

Subject: Your Alamy Account - Update Payment Details

 

Hi James,

We’re sending you this email because you have held an account with Alamy and have accumulated

$26.78  in cleared sales. However as your account is now terminated and no payment details were provided to us, we have been unable to pay you.

 

 

We require your details by 28th June 2021. After this date, any amount that has been cleared for five or more years will be forfeited by you as per the terms of the contract you held with us.

You may not have funds over five years, but if you do they are listed below.

Amount held for five or more years: 0

If you have any questions about this let us know.

Thanks,

Kate

Alamy Finance Team

 

e:   w: http://www.alamy.com

a: Alamy, 127 Olympic Avenue, Milton, Abingdon, OX14 4SA

Follow us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blog

A disclaimer applies to all emails sent from Alamy.

For the full text please see http://www.alamy.com/terms/email-disclaimer.asp

Edited June 4, 2021 by Mr Standfast
delete another con balances

[John Mitchell]

Have you terminated your Alamy account?

[Mr Standfast]

Nope!

[Allan Bell]

14 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

Nope!

 

I just looked on your personal details page. I wonder if it is possible for people who are not registered to the forums to do the same.

 

Allan

 

Just logged out and I was still able to go into your personal details page. It might be that the program still recognises me as being registered though.

 

ITMA

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Allan Bell

[Colblimp]

These scammers truly are brain dead.  As if anyone would fall for that 🤣

[MizBrown]

If you haven't terminated your account, it's obviously phishing.   And even for those who did, it's also phishing.  One reason I have my Nicaraguan account is that if Alamy is hacked, and someone gets into my account, the amount in the account is pretty minimal. 

 

Anything that requests bank information by mail should be considered phishing.  If you're in the UK, call Alamy.  Others, email a known to be good Alamy address, don't follow links from the email.  Never never give bank information through links in email.   Never ever give bank passwords to anyone else (friend here had a staffer manage her hotel's bank account.  Scammers got the password from the helper by saying they had to have it to deposit money into her account for a hotel stay).

 

LiveJournal was hacked and I got two "ransom" emails giving the old LJ password and telling me that they were in my machine.  I ignored both. 

 

I suspect these will be coming to more of us in the future.  

[Mr Standfast]

24 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

I just looked on your personal details page. I wonder if it is possible for people who are not registered to the forums to do the same.

 

Allan

 

Just logged out and I was still able to go into your personal details page. It might be that the program still recognises me as being registered though.

 

ITMA

 

 

Hello Allan, Are you refering to the forum personal details?  It actually came through to an old email address. 🦔

[Mr Standfast]

12 minutes ago, Colblimp said:

These scammers truly are brain dead.  As if anyone would fall for that 🤣

 

 

Not only that, trying to extract money from Alamy contributors!  Get more money mugging a Big Issue seller!

[John Mitchell]

45 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

Nope!

 

Definitely looks phishy then.

[John Mitchell]

23 minutes ago, Colblimp said:

These scammers truly are brain dead.  As if anyone would fall for that 🤣

 

You'd be surprised what people fall for. But I won't go there...

[Colblimp]

12 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

 

Not only that, trying to extract money from Alamy contributors!  Get more money mugging a Big Issue seller!

Damn straight! 😂

3 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

You'd be surprised what people fall for. But I won't go there...

Nothing surprises me anymore.

[vpics]

I'd forward the email to Alamy contributors@alamy.com. I'm sure there's something phishy going on. 

[RyanU]

6 hours ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

Hello Allan, Are you refering to the forum personal details?  It actually came through to an old email address. 🦔

Just checking - are you sure you didn't hold another account? I suppose this email is not the one linked with your current one?

[MDM]

It looks authentic to me - an older account under a different email where you have had some sales within the past 5 years?  Or less likely but possibly some sort of mix up with another contributor after you changed email address?

Edited June 5, 2021 by MDM

[Mr Standfast]

Thank you for all of your replies. 😀

 

If I'm the only one it might be legit. I am going sit back and wait for member services to respond.

[Mr Standfast]

6 hours ago, MDM said:

It looks authentic to me - an older account under a different email where you have had some sales within the past 5 years?  Or less likely but possibly some sort of mix up with another contributor after you changed email address?

Thanks.

I used that email for a bit in 2007, forgot the password and locked myself out of my account for a day.

Have to wait and see. 

 

[MDM]

2 hours ago, Mr Standfast said:

Thanks.

I used that email for a bit in 2007, forgot the password and locked myself out of my account for a day.

Have to wait and see. 

 

 

I would be very surprised if it is phishing. I am not a gambler but, if I was, I would place a large bet that you will get a little windfall of $26.78 in the near future

 

There is a tendency nowadays (not surprisingly)  to think that anything that asks for bank details is a scam but it doesn't add up here. The funny thing s the immediate reaction of the other posts (apart from RyanU) not really questioning the assumption of it being phishing.

 

That in itself is another phenomenon of modern life - read it and believe it without questioning - not exactly modern but greatly exacerbated by the way that stuff spreads like wildfire on social media and online in general. It reminds me of an incident last year here on the forum where someone accused me of saying that my pictures were better than their's at some point in the past. I was accused of being a bully, the showers of red arrows arrived but nobody bothered to check the authenticity of the claim (which I vehemently denied). 😃

Edited June 5, 2021 by MDM

[meanderingemu]

41 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

I would be very surprised if it is phishing. I am not a gambler but, if I was, I would place a large bet that you will get a little windfall of $26.78 in the near future

 

There is a tendency nowadays (not surprisingly)  to think that anything that asks for bank details is a scam but it doesn't add up here. The funny thing s the immediate reaction of the other posts (apart from RyanU) not really questioning the assumption of it being phishing.

 

That in itself is another phenomenon of modern life - read it and believe it without questioning - not exactly modern but greatly exacerbated by the way that stuff spreads like wildfire on social media and online in general. It reminds me of an incident last year here on the forum where someone accused me of saying that my pictures were better than their's at some point in the past. I was accused of being a bully, the showers of red arrows arrived but nobody bothered to check the authenticity of the claim (which I vehemently denied). 😃

 

 

i agree.  This reminds me of a friend of mine who is  responsible for the IT infrastructure of his company.  Last summer he got a call from someone claiming to be for some "Government Security Agency" that they had a security breach in their system, so like any good person he just hung up thinking it was a scam- were have a big phone scamming problem currently in Canada people claiming they are from Revenue Agency...  Within seconds phone rings again begging him Not to hang up this was the truth, and lo and behold verification showed they really had been breached by some foreign entity.  They still have no idea why?  They are a medium video production company, and they speculated someone thought they were some form of important local media outlet, as this appeared spying linked not ransomware. 

 

so i guess you always have to worry it may be real......  

[MizBrown]

4 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

i agree.  This reminds me of a friend of mine who is  responsible for the IT infrastructure of his company.  Last summer he got a call from someone claiming to be for some "Government Security Agency" that they had a security breach in their system, so like any good person he just hung up thinking it was a scam- were have a big phone scamming problem currently in Canada people claiming they are from Revenue Agency...  Within seconds phone rings again begging him Not to hang up this was the truth, and lo and behold verification showed they really had been breached by some foreign entity.  They still have no idea why?  They are a medium video production company, and they speculated someone thought they were some form of important local media outlet, as this appeared spying linked not ransomware. 

 

so i guess you always have to worry it may be real......  

 

Call the bank/company/security agency on a known good number.   I've had scam calls, never anything legit.   My brother used to regularly clean viruses and malware off my dad's computer.  My government's security on one of its databases was atrocious and my data is floating out there somewhere. 

 

If it's Alamy related on an old email address, get in touch with a known good email or phone number.    At the colo I worked for, someone hacked a printer to send spam.  And when I ran a hobby mail server, my logs showed that people were trying to break in pretty much every night.  I've personally had more fake attempts to get logins and other information than I've ever had legitimate mails of these sorts.   Social engineering is another way to scam -- and I've told my family that if anyone calls them saying that I've been arrested and need money, call the US Embassy number that I've sent them or go to the US Embassy in Nicaragua and call the number they list.   A friend of mine knows people who have been scammed with that one, and there was an interesting discussion on Facebook about others. 

 

What was common when I worked as a NOC monkey were hacking machines and using them for spam.   If a machine was compromised, the only fix was to wipe the computer clean and reinstall. 

 

Most end users are protected from a lot of this by in house network security (one net acquaintance worked in security for Stanford University). 

 

Log into your bank's system from their web site or call the bank's number on  your bank card or credit card.   NEVER give banking information to a site linked from an email.  Call the number on your credit card.  

 

One of my users on my hobby Usenet server was a somewhat reformed black hat who'd brought down Croatia's internet connection when he and a American-born sysadmin were having a cyber duel.  He showed me a video stolen from someone's machine with a Back Orifice exploit where the exploiter used a Windows popup to tell the victim to get off the computer and pay attention to the girl lying on the bed in the background. 

 

Unless you've seen the full email headers, which weren't posted here, you don't know for sure where the message came from.  And my black hat user could work around those.

 

My would-be guys wanting me to send them thousands of dollars in BitCoin or they'd wreck my computer because they have my password assumed that at least some of the people they contacted would used the same password for everything.   If Security Agencies call, get the name of the person you're talking to, find their known real phone number and call back to the main number and get transferred back.

 

If you don't look at the full headers, you don't have a clue where the email came from, and you may not know even then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[meanderingemu]

1 minute ago, MizBrown said:

 

Call the bank/company/security agency on a known good number.   I've had scam calls, never anything legit.   My brother used to regularly clean viruses and malware off my dad's computer.  My government's security on one of its databases was atrocious and my data is floating out there somewhere. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one advantage i have in Canada when i get a so called "Revenue Agency" or bank scam call, is I always start speaking in French which they have to be able to handle or at least transfer me upon request.  They usually hang up....  Last time i had one continuing to converse with me in English trying to figure out what language i was speaking, never guessing French.... I guess the scammer was likely in India or something and they are not even provided with basic info about where they are calling

[MizBrown]

26 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

 

one advantage i have in Canada when i get a so called "Revenue Agency" or bank scam call, is I always start speaking in French which they have to be able to handle or at least transfer me upon request.  They usually hang up....  Last time i had one continuing to converse with me in English trying to figure out what language i was speaking, never guessing French.... I guess the scammer was likely in India or something and they are not even provided with basic info about where they are calling

 

I get Spanish and then I speak English, and they bring in someone who speaks English and he asks me if I understand him, and I say no and hang up.  The other common one is spoofing the country code.  Got one 2 a.m. call from another Central American country or Mexico (can't remember now) that I didn't answer since I don't know anyone there, then very shortly after, one from DC which I didn't answer.  The legitimate phone calls in Spanish will be from my bank or from Migracion or from FedEx or DHL, though that's more likely to be by email.  There's a thing where some calls from other Central American countries are like reverse 800 numbers and anyone who answers makes money for the scammers just by answering the call. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by MizBrown
what I said.

[Allan Bell]

I have been a user of 3mobile for mobile phone and computer connection since 2012 at least. Before that I used 'O2'for a number of years phone only. About two years ago I received at letter from 'O2' which looked very official and I thought was strange as I was so far down the road with "3mobile". I need not have worried though as it was a cheque for some money which had been left in my account when I changed to "3mobile". There was even interest paid on it too.

 

Just saying there is another side to the above. But you are probably not interested. Should I delete this post?

 

Allan

 

 

[MizBrown]

Look, people, if you follow the recommended procedure and either log on to the main web site or use a known good email (from the site, from earlier correspondence) to check, you lost a few minutes if the call or email was legitimate.  If the thing was phishing you've saved yourself from getting financially stung.  I even wonder if the reason the guys are going "exaggerated, not really a problem" is that their wives or lovers are their firewalls at home and their admin or TA handles email and phones at work.

 

My email "from Facebook" looked real enough, but then it was a phishing attempt, and when I checked the full headers, it was obvious.  I also had someone hack my gmail account when I was living in the US and was able to get it back and it's now better secured. 

 

A real call from DHL or FedEx arranges for delivery and a real email from them gives me their deposit numbers for various banks and the amount I owe and doesn't ask me for my bank details.  I also get fake FedEx emails when I don't have package coming in.  Gmail labels them spam, as they do the various bank emails from banks I don't have accounts with.   I have one phone number that's either Claro, or one of four friends who have the number and are in that phone's directory.  Any other calls are spam or phishing attempts.  That was the phone used for the calls from Mexico and Washington, DC.  (I had been in Mexico some time earlier but checked the area code and it wasn't for Mexico City and Google found more information about scamming out of wherever the area code was).

 

Spammers use hundreds of millions of email addresses and send out generic emails that probably most people and Gmail algorithms can see are spam, but if they hit one person in ten thousand who does have an account with that bank or who was ordering something that was going to be shipped FedEx, they might win.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of what phishers count on is getting the mail into someone who doesn't have a package coming,  or a bank account with that bank, but who will play along to see if they can hijack the package or get money diverted to their account.   Many scams requires dishonesty in the victim (on-line and off).

 

Both the US banks I do business with say they'll never ask for information about the accounts by email.  I placed some on-line orders for software with my Nicaraguan bank account, and got an email the same day asking me to verify that I did place those orders.  My US credit card company is also refreshingly paranoid.

 

As for something looking like the real deal, a lot of abuse of Photoshop out there.   This email may be legit.  Alamy will know. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr Standfast]

4 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

I have been a user of 3mobile for mobile phone and computer connection since 2012 at least. Before that I used 'O2'for a number of years phone only. About two years ago I received at letter from 'O2' which looked very official and I thought was strange as I was so far down the road with "3mobile". I need not have worried though as it was a cheque for some money which had been left in my account when I changed to "3mobile". There was even interest paid on it too.

 

Just saying there is another side to the above. But you are probably not interested. Should I delete this post?

 

Allan

 

 

I'll read an anecdote about getting money out of a phone provider any day!

[MizBrown]

2 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

I have been a user of 3mobile for mobile phone and computer connection since 2012 at least. Before that I used 'O2'for a number of years phone only. About two years ago I received at letter from 'O2' which looked very official and I thought was strange as I was so far down the road with "3mobile". I need not have worried though as it was a cheque for some money which had been left in my account when I changed to "3mobile". There was even interest paid on it too.

 

Just saying there is another side to the above. But you are probably not interested. Should I delete this post?

 

Allan

 

 

 

If they send you a check, they're not asking for your bank password.  :). 

 

The judicious advice is websites can be spoofed and if you're asked to follow a link and enter bank details, call the bank at a known good number.  I had an email from a former agency who lost track of where I was and they did deposit some $200 in my account, but I didn't give them my password, nor did they ask.  

 

The typical reason for hijacking Facebook accounts at the time I was phished was to use real accounts with real followers to spread propaganda.   I've had my former domain taken over by someone who used the former Rebecca Ore site until I got that stopped, and then used the domain website for her own blog, and I've since informed the editors of The Science Fiction Encyclopedia that this isn't a valid site for me (and told them to check with my publisher as to where I was living now and earlier issues with this).  Someone with no reputation at all wanted to get whatever audience I still had to draw visitors to her site.

 

People do strange things for getting click-through payments on ads.