An ex-con’s tips to beat the lockdown TV scams
Crooks are grabbing victims’ money with offers of free Netflix. But this expert knows how to spot a fraud...
TRAPPED inside their homes during lockdown, millions of households are watching more television – creating a new target for cyber scammers. Streaming services offered by companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney are now the focus for hundreds of online scams launched every week.
So-called ‘copycat’ websites are luring victims into handing over money to thieves while innocent looking emails offering ‘free’ subscriptions are nothing but attempts by criminals to lure you into handing over key financial details – such as bank account information – to either clean you out of cash or take out a credit card in your name.
Last week The Mail on Sunday tracked down former fraudster ‘king con’ Tony Sales, who went to prison ten years ago for stealing £30 million after committing numerous online scams and buying personal data off the dark web.
The reformed convict now helps the police outwit online thieves. Today, he shows how the fraudsters can be beaten.
FREE SUBSCRIPTION... TO STEAL YOUR ID
A FAVOURITE technique that online crooks use to cheat TV viewers out of cash is luring them in with appealing offers – then taking them for every penny they can.
The most common trick is a ‘free subscription’ deal. Recently, many thousands of people have been receiving WhatsApp messages offering a Netflix ‘free pass’.
Those who then tapped on the website link provided were told: ‘Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are giving away totally free access to our platform for the period of isolation, until the virus is contained.’ All you needed to do to obtain the special offer was to complete an online questionnaire, giving your personal details.
Sales explains: ‘This is a classic sucker-punch scam. It sounds plausible and you are put off your guard by answering what seem to be perfectly innocent questions that have nothing to do with selling you a scam.
‘But take my advice and never reply. I never give even basic details – name, date of birth or address, unless I must. By harvesting enough information, crooks can steal your ID. Believe me, if they do this, they can take control of your finances and spend money using your identity.’ Sales is not proud of his past and wants to atone by helping fraud victims.
He says: ‘Hover your computer cursor over a sender’s email address and it should reveal who sent the message. If it does not look quite right – for example, if it was sent from a private Hotmail email account – you are being targeted by scammers.’
According to security firm Mimecast, an estimated 700 scam websites that target TV streaming viewers have been launched this month.
HOW THE CROOKS COPY TOP TV BRANDS
THE days when there were just three or four terrestrial TV channels from which to choose are long gone. Under lockdown, lots of people are signing up to online streaming services for the first time to increase their choice for home entertainment – taking up subscription deals that enable them to watch shows over the internet through ‘smart’ television sets, cable broadband and computers.
Poacher-turned-gamekeeper Sales says: ‘Unless you have seen the world through the eyes of a criminal, it is hard to know where to look – but the saying “only fools rush in” rings true in this market. The sense of fear and panic Covid19 has brought has also generated new opportunities for scammers to defraud TV viewers.’
Official streaming websites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, BritBox and Disney+ all end with either a ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’ suffix. But if you surf the internet and find one of these titles with a different suffix – such as just a .co or with a ‘/’ slash mark followed by other letters – you could well be falling foul of a fraud.
These copycat websites are set up to look like the real thing. Enter private details as if you were joining the real service and not only might they take your subscription money, but they may also use your bank details to clean you out.
Sales, now a director of security company We Fight Fraud, says: ‘Be aware that just because a company name is near the top of a list of search engine results does not mean that it is legitimate. Criminals may have paid Google money to be put higher up.’
WATCH OUT FOR THE TV LICENCE TRICK
THIS month, the BBC raised the fee to watch its programmes by £3 to £157.50 a year. Taking advantage of this change, fraudsters are sending out ‘something went wrong’ emails.
They look official and state recipients have ‘an overdue balance of £12’. Licence holders are told to press an online button to pay the amount due. The email goes on to say that unless the payment is made, the TV licence may be cancelled and debt collectors sent round.
In recent weeks, The Mail on Sunday has been inundated by readers sharing tales of how crooks have tried to defraud them using this ruse. Among those who contacted us is Grev Leigh, from Bristol. Like many other readers, he was amazed by how genuine the email appeared – sent in a TV Licensing format.
Fortunately he was not fooled. Grev says: ‘These people are the lowest of the low – exploiting the most vulnerable during a crisis. But I checked where the email came from. It was a private Hotmail account, so I knew criminals were behind the scam.’
Grev runs a badge-making business via website badge-design.co. uk, but has changed its focus in the past few days to concentrate on selling £7.50 safety masks to help people thwart Covid-19. He is concerned that homemade examples and those purchased at DIY stores may make people feel safe, but are not as secure as the ‘triple-filter’ designs he is selling.
Another TV Licence fraud involves a simple message: ‘Unfortunately we’re sorry to let you know that the TV Licence could not be automatically renewed.’
As with the overdue licence payment scam, you are then asked to click on an online button to make a payment – enabling the crooks behind the scam to steal your cash and private details.
CRACK DOWN ON THE SCAMMERS
THE problem with cyber crime is that you do not have to do anything wrong to become a victim – as reformed scammer Sales is keen to point out. He recommends people check the website ‘haveibeenpwned.com’ to see if their email account has been compromised in a data breach – and therefore could be for sale on the dark web.
If this has happened, consider changing your online passwords and installing anti-virus software from a company such as Avira, Sophos, McAfee, Bitdefender or Norton.
This looks for dodgy software that may have been accidentally downloaded – often from a known ‘black list’ – and then removes it.
Behind the scenes, a war is being waged on the scammers. The National Cyber Security Centre is the arm of the Government’s intelligence service that includes the Security Service (MI5) and Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
It is taking down more than 500 malicious websites each week that are using the coronavirus outbreak to try to con people.
It has just launched a ‘cyber aware’ campaign. If you have received a scam, then forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk. If found to be malicious software, it can then be removed.
If you are a victim of a fraud, contact your bank and local police immediately. You can also report the crime to data collector Action Fraud.
We Fight Fraud is holding an online seminar on tackling online crime via its website on Tuesday.