[lordtottuu]

Scammers like these are the absolute muck of the earth and deserve all of the wrath we can throw at them. I routinely get messages saying "Your KYC is expiring. Fill in your details or your account will be blocked."

It's pure schadenfreude watching channels like these: https://www.youtube.com/c/Scambaiter

[tchsvy]

Originally Posted by RRM

Agreed. I got such email for the first time though. I was trying to see until what extent the discussion will go. There were enough red flags as I had mentioned. There was no email exchange here. I blocked both ids in telegram after the initial interaction.

Only issue with going this far is that the scammers sell their database of victims to other scammers. Once marked as gullible, you will start getting more calls from many other scammers.

I have experienced a very well worked out scam, I work for an autonomous body and received a message from a person posing as the just then transferred state head. Language in the message was immaculate, suiting the stature of the person they were impersonating. I was over the moon to have been contacted by the ex-HOD. For the first couple of messages nothing was out of place, and by third or fourth message 'they were attending a meeting and were in need of 2 lakh rupees', I understood what was going on and immediately informed the IT section of my department. We thought the attempt was so blatant and nobody will fall prey for that. Next day came to know many of the officers received such messages and one such officer even bought the Amazon gift coupons as suggested in the messages (a big red flag) and sent them to the scammers. One thing that impressed me was the messages were personalised, the spellings of the names were so accurate, but that was all due to the fact that our contact information is available on the official website of our department, the scammers are doing their homework and aren't afraid to use top names to fetch anything and everything.

[Ambersariya87]

I work for an IT company and over the years their phishing scam training have hardened me and i can identify a phishing scam email with a blink of eye. But there is another level of scam going on sites like olx, popularly known as QR code scam. If you list your item to sell and get contacted by people who will say that they will paytm you the money, you just have to scan QR code provided by them. I almost got scammed and got saved by a brink. The moment one scans QR code, instead of receiving amount, money will be deducted from your account.
Keep safe guys!

[Nightfury29]

Extremely sorry for putting a late reply. Request the thread owner to remove some of the screenshots (I cannot DM you personally). I see how the scammer got your personal email ID. It was very simple and took me no less than 5 minutes to find your email. So, for the benefit of everyone I would like to create a step-by-step procedure on how to hide your personal info online.

Step 1 - Remove your name on all forums and social media platforms. Always use aliases. Do not use your full names. Try to use something that doesn't point to your other social media accounts.

Step -2 - If you have linkedin accounts. Navigate to Visibility -> Who can see or download your email address - > only visible to me. If you have uploaded your resume in your linkedin profile, please remove it. Ensure that your email/phone number/address are nowhere to be seen on your profile.

Step -3 - Most important step on how to find out from where your data is leaking.
This is for gmail. So, whenever you are using to sign up into a website you can use youremail+site@gmail.com. So, the email will still go to youremail@gmail.com but now you can know from which site your data is leaking.

For Example -
You are logging into quora
Use yourmail+quora@gmail.com
If you get spam mails with to addressed to yourmail+quora.com, you will know who is leaking your data.


Step-4 - Do not post your personal details in comments or in any forums like, quora etc.
Step-5 - Be aware of spams by following some YT channels such as Labour law advisor.

Request other guys to pitch in their valuable inputs if any.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by Nightfury29

Step -3 - Most important step on how to find out from where your data is leaking.
This is for gmail. So, whenever you are using to sign up into a website you can use youremail+site@gmail.com. So, the email will still go to youremail@gmail.com but now you can know from which site your data is leaking.

Useful advice and one should use this wherever a + is allowed in sign ups. Otherwise use a burner email like 10 minute mail. Or use a secondary email only for that site. Unfortunately I have used my main email for about 23 years now and its already compromised several times over. You can also check where data has been leaked using services like haveibeenpwned.

[DicKy]

Was wondering why I don't get these kind of scam messages on Youtube when voila.

Think I deserve this for writing a rude comment online.

[amol4184]

Judging by the usage of language, Mr. Parikshit and Mr. Gardner are not even two people. Its just one guy operation. Always wondered who would fall prey to such scams - it seemed improbable but then I realized if they are doing it there has to be that one person out of thousands to be so gullible.

[bosem123]

If they knew good English and grammar, they would be able to earn money in a legit fashion and not resort to such unethical acts. Right?

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by lordtottuu

I routinely get messages saying "Your KYC is expiring. Fill in your details or your account will be blocked."

The most recent similar one received by me was for SBI Y0N0 ACC0UNT.

The giveaway was the use of zeros instead of the alphabet O in the message.

More alarming is that the link provided to update started with https instead of http.

Most educative mailers on phishing advise to look out for the secure sign or https in the link. The scammers are going to newer heights.

[RRM]

Originally Posted by Fx14

The most recent similar one received by me was for SBI Y0N0 ACC0UNT.

The giveaway was the use of zeros instead of the alphabet O in the message.

More alarming is that the link provided to update started with https instead of http.

Most educative mailers on phishing advise to look out for the secure sign or https in the link. The scammers are going to newer heights.

As far as I have seen, in the pretext of KYC and other stuff, SBI leads the scammer's chart, may be due to too many rural area accounts and is an easy prey.