Friday, July 26, 2013

Alert: Australian and New Zealand - You have 1 new message. MSG ID: (8SJJA8DAHSKDA71)

I received the following message a short while ago and couldn't help feeling it was unusual and thus might trick people.

"Your online account will be limited. Please call our office
immediately at: (02) 8417 2641 to restore your access! Thank you."

Most people associate Australian and New Zealand with the ANZ bank. The unusual aspect is the NSW based telephone number. I have seen overseas businesses use Australian number so don't assume you'd be talking to someone in Australia.

The email was sent from the Netherlands in Europe and is almost certainly a scam.

You should not call the number. This is a good reminder to all of us that even if something looks like it could be an Australia number we can't assume it isn't a scam.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

3 comments:

  1. Received the same message today. They seem to be coming in fast and strong these days. The fact that you need to call them sets them apart from the usual email links.
    Steer clear!!

    Thanks for posting this...the first thing I did was Google the number.

    Yoka.

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  2. I just received the same email, but mine was from an Australian website. Obviously they are spoofing the return address.
    The comment I really wanted to make was how fast your blog entry appeared in the Google search results. I just did a search for the phone number, (02 8417 2641) and your blog article came up number one in the results. Wow! That's like magic!
    Cheers,
    Dave
    www.davelord.com.au

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  3. I'm sure your magic is far more entertaining;-)

    I am pleased that my presence on the internet can often get the information out quickly and hopefully it helps a few people avoid some grief.

    Thanks for the feedback.

    Kelvin

    PS. Mine also was sent using an Australian email address (equineability), but as you say it was almost certainly spoofed. I check the headers to see where the email was sent from. That's a little more interesting. Now if you could make these guys disappear it would be great;-)

    ReplyDelete