Fraud Alert: Argos Credit Card Refund SMS text message

Quick post to publish details of a fairly convincing fraudulent SMS text message received stating “Your Argos credit card has a refund of £270 from an overpayment”. This is followed by a link that when previewed almost looks legitimate and takes you to a spoofed Argos Login page to try and scam your username and password. What’s most convincing about this scam is that the SMS appears to come from “Argos” no number used and appears below a list of older genuine SMS from Argos for previous purchases. This in itself might be sufficient to convince most people to click the link and enter their details in the hope of a refund.

Things to look out for to know it’s a scam

Do you have an Argos Credit Card? In fact does one even exists? If not then straight away you know it’s a scam.
Are you expecting a refund from Argos? If not then you know it’s a scam. Don’t hold out hope that Argos is refunding you and you’ve got free money.
Look at the URL carefully. It doesn’t end Argos.co.uk it has a hyphen and then has -existing-customers etc on the end.

Don’t even click the link, you’d be surprised how much information they can gather from your browser just from cookies on their scam site.

31st January 201814th March 2018

WARNING: Business scam/spoof email requested payment of just under £10,000

DO NOT PAY ANY MONEY! IT IS A SCAM!

Screenshot: Spear Phishing / Whaling Scam email

Quick heads up to anybody searching for information about this. As of 24th January 2018 there appear to be an influx of emails to businesses around the UK trying to trick the accounts department into paying large sums of money to a new beneficiary.

The body of the email is short and to the point:

I need you to process a “Faster Payment” to a new beneficiary, can you handle this right now?

Payee details attached.

Regards

<Director’s Name>

Sent from my iPhone.

The emails generally appear to come from the name of a company director and the email address may look legitimate but the hidden “reply to” address is different and the contents of the email and attachment are a scam. The reply to email address is subtly changed and instead of .co.uk on the end of the email address it’s .co.uk-k.uk which a lot of people might not notice, especially on a small smart phone screen that truncates text.

Continue reading “WARNING: Business scam/spoof email requested payment of just under £10,000”

11th January 201814th June 2020

STOLEN: DJI Mavic Pro S/N: 08QCE8H0122TW6 Chester, Cheshire UK

DJI Mavic Pro Fly More Combo S/N: 08QCE8H0122TW6 was stolen from a vehicle in Chester, Cheshire on 10th January 2018.

The serial number of this Mavic Pro was S/N: 08QCE8H0122TW6 (or O8QCE8HO122TW6 depending if they are zeros or the letter O.)

UPDATE: More serial numbers extracted from downloaded flight logs

DETAILS.aircraftSnBytes	DETAILS.cameraSn	DETAILS.batterySn
08RDE87001033G	08TCE88SE129LZ	093AE8A0320371

If you see this drone for sale on eBay, Gumtree, Facebook, etc or have been offered it for sale in person please DO NOT BUY IT, it is stolen property and you risk losing the item if the police find it. Please report it to me (@scoopz on twitter), leave an anonymous comment below or call Cheshire Police on 01244 350000 quoting crime reference 212-2018-01-10. Please do not alert the seller that the item may be stolen as it may suddenly disappear before the police can track it down.

If you have already bought this Mavic Pro and are concerned you have bought stolen goods please contact me directly or leave a comment below. I’m willing to buy it back or offer a reward for its return without involving the authorities.

This is not my usual post but I’m hoping somebody looking to buy a cheap Mavic Pro in the North West, Cheshire, UK area might be wise enough to search Google for the serial number 08QCE8H0122TW6 and end up reading this post.

All items shown above stolen including additional 8331 props, DJI sunshade and red joystick cover lock.

STOLEN: DJI Mavic Pro S/N: 08QCE8H0122TW6 Chester, Cheshire UK