Been scammed :(

[wobbly]

Ok, firstly, I accept all the comments of 'what did you expect' coming my way

I have 3 days training in Cardiff next month, so went on to the Travelodge website to book some cheap accomodation.

Went onto their site, and an invite to complete a Travelodge feedback questionaire popped up, with the offer of £40.00 accom vouchers as a reward.

I filled it all in - genuinely, this was a carbon copy of the TL website, logos, photos, spelling etc. Took a few minutes.

For my vouchers to be posted they wanted name and address, plus a credit card number for them to verify that I was genuine (oh, the irony!), which I put in........

Submitted the form, whereupon I get an acknowledgement from an online dating company that I had paid £1 by credit card for 2 weeks free membership, plus £35 a month for the rest of my life etc.

Whilst feeling deservedly stupid, it was good - I actually thought I was going to get £40 worth of accom vouchers....

Phoned card company this morning, reported the fraud, but I might even close the account down as I dont use it, just to be on the safe side.

It is such a minefield !

On the other hand, some of those single Russian girls look pretty hot, and are apparently looking for a man just like me - what, gullible?

 

[Shayne]

You sure its a girl !!!

Nah commiserations these scams can only get more sophisticated all the time that's one of the advantages of using paypal - you always get your money back .

 

[wobbly]

Of course its a girl, probably the widow of the late Major General, who only last week was asking me to help her get a couple of billion dollars out of Zaire....

 

[clivehorridge]

Well the good thing about credit card numbers is you can phone in and cancel the deal.

But my thoughts are always how well protected are you when you use credit cards for genuine purchases?

Once the details have been disclosed, surely the recipient can then go online shopping themselves with all your payment credentials, no?

PayPal is fine if they accept your card.

They've blacked all mine for reasons only known to them, and I can't file a complaint because it won't allow me to enter my frozen or blocked account. It stupid, when I try to log on, it says my account is permanently blocked, then at the bottom it says if you want to find out why, log on and submit a complaint.

There's a phone number, but I'm not sitting on the other end of a trans-European and trans-Atlantic phone bill being told to hold while they play me silly lift music for 20 minutes.

So no PayPal for me which means practically no internet purchases, because they hold the monopoly.

Beef, beef, they want locking up do PayPal, totally unaccountable.

 

[Gary820]

Sounds like an elaborate excuse for signing upto a dating site


Joking aside though hope it gets sorted out. Lad at work had his card cloned last year and it only flagged when he was in 2 countries at the same time spending money!! Card company sorted it out at least.

 

[wobbly]

Whats started to happen are transactions of under a pound - these are scammers who have been given details of my card and are checking to see if it works.

Fortunately the penny dropped for me straightaway and I spoke to the bank first thing, and I will be getting a new card with new numbers etc so my old card is now dead.

Of course, they have my personal details still, but funnily enough I put an incorrect date of birth in, which should hopefully scupper credit type stuff.

I will sign on with Experian as well tonight so I can keep an eye on my credit file, see if anything untoward is happening.

I'm lucky so far, but its been a bit of a stressy day, quite worrying really.

Still, as my new friend Yekaterina says in her emails from St.Petersburg 'for a macho man like you only good things can happen'.

Fortunately, the current non-slavic Mrs Wobbly was there when it happened, so no grief about the online dating, and I've also managed to explain away the subscriptions to the online porn sites

 

[Garfieldus]

No matter what way you're scammed it is never nice.

I know the feeling!!

 

[Sag]

Feel for you buddy,when this happened to me it wasn't the card been cancelled it was having to register my new card for everything else took the piss,all because people think its ok to Nick a working mans money,go out and earn your own.

 

[wobbly]

Ok,

Spent the last couple of hours researching the various online credit companies like experian etc.

I have registered with a free site www.noddle.co.uk

It allows you to check your credit file, shows credit card balances and a few other bits.

There are two bits you can pay for:

Webwatch - you input your email addresses and noddle search the web 24/7 for your email add coming up on a site, then inform you if they find your details anywhere.

Identity Fraud - searchs all your old dormant accounts and any new accounts in your name, notofies you if there are any changes - think its within 24hrs.

The last one is important as the credit check shows what has already happened, ie got a loan and paying it off on time, whereas the identity fraud option tells you when someone actually applies or very shortly after.

You can then notify noddle and they inform the lender it may be fraud etc.

I think these services are about £50, which is good value - theres also an online forum etc.

Given the lack of sleep last night, I reckon its going to be £50 well spent !

Pete

 

[Crispin]

I don't see how the travel lodge would affiliate itself with someone as underhanded as that. The popup you saw would unlikely have been from them which makes me think you have some sort of malware on your computer which is doing it. If you do then nothing is safe on your pc as it's watching everything you do.

I'm currently trying to help someone rid their laptop of it as everything is a lie. He goes to HSBC website and they advertising Russian brides.

Simplest solution in these cases, in my experience, is to reinstall windows.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Run malwarebyes first off, and then see what it comes up with (the free version is more than enough) and I'd be inclined to run CCLeaner as well; if you're really paranoid run Spybot as well.

Keep an eye out for additional toolbars along the top, and redirects to other search engines (other than the ones you're used to using)

In settings you should be able to get a pop up blocker, which should go a long way to preventing that happening again.

Good luck,

 

[Shayne]

An AVG security scan while in safe mode

 

[wobbly]

I use avg but will try the others.

I get what you mean about popups, but this was targetted at TL, it was a complete recreation of a TL questionaire - def malware though, TL have confirmed its not them.

I will see if I can get some screenshots from history.

I suspect its a cookie installed on my pc which activates when I go on the TL site.

Pete

 

[Crispin]

Cookies are benign. All they do is record that you were on a site. They can't do any harm. This site alone leaves ten cookies on your computer.

What has likely happened is that at some point you clicked on a "you have a virus" / "You've won a gazzilion pounds" / etc banner and ended up installing some software (malware / adware).
From then, nothing you see is as the website intended. You'll continually get fake adverts and popups. Even a popup block is often pointless because the application opens a new browser.

They have always been a bugger to remove because the normal MO is that it downloads all sorts of things and backdoors and always leaves itself a deadman's handle so if you do remove it the hidden listening can reinstall it.
I've spent many hours trying to clean friends' computers of these things now I don't bother. Backup your photos and reinstall windows. (quite easy these days newish computers and recovery options) It's really not worth the time.


CP

 

[Shayne]

Search your com for Binkiland its a browser hijacker and might go unnoticed for a long time , it caused havoc with my laptop eventually , i think i got it when the kids borrowed my laptop to do something with itunes .

 

[Crispin]

...i think i got it when the kids borrowed my laptop...

Sure

 

[Chas]

(quite easy these days newish computers and recovery options)
CP

Is 'System restore' a recovery option, does that reinstall Windows?

 

[Shayne]

System restore just sort of rewinds your com to whatever date you opt for . You won't see any noticeable difference afterwards all your pics and personal stuff is untouched but recent updates or installed programs will be gone .

 

[Crispin]

Yes,

Normally you get two types - quick and full.
Quick simply copies the files over again which is pointless as it does not rid the disk of the dodgy files.
Full wipes the hard drive and re-installs windows as if you just bought it from the shop.

Note: You will lose everything on your computer so make sure you backup your photos etc.


At the risk of causing a stir, anti-virus and all these other fancy-pants scanners and protectors are pointless and slow your computer down. Really, they are. They only protect after-the-fact. I don't use anything. Simple "being careful" has served me well for many years. For work-related reasons, there are not many corners of the internet I do not frequent - including those which will cause your teeth to curl.

Install a basic (free) anti-virus (AVG is rubbish and slow. Microsoft Security essentials is free and ok).
Think before clicking on something. Really, the internet page cannot tell you you have won money. A webpage cannot tell you you have a virus and you must click here to rid yourself of it.

If you have kids who use the internet - don't let them run as an admin user on windows. Don't let them use Internet Explorer (it's a load of crap which is why MS has removed it from the next version of Windows). Have a look at getting Ad Block Plus for Chrome. Setup a free account with Open DNS. It's a good option for stopping kids going to dodgy websites which include betting, adult, spamware etc etc.
If you can, get them their "own" laptop. An old secondhand one is just fine for internet. That way when they break it - and they will - it's not yours and not your banking details etc.

 

[Crispin]

System restore just sort of rewinds your com to whatever date you opt for . You won't see any noticeable difference afterwards all your pics and personal stuff is untouched but recent updates or installed programs will be gone .

Not always the case Shayne - see above. You can (normally) do a full wipe and restore which will turf it all. That's the one I opt for. Doing a reinstall without wiping it simply overwrites the known files and will leave any unknown files intact. i.e. your adware still lives strong...