Bell's Banter 2021

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Two new scam attempts recently, one on the mobile and the other by two separate emails.

The mobile is purporting to be from Royal Mail demanding £2.90 for an unspecified reason to deliver a package. Fortunately I am not expecting any deliveries so unless somebody has sent me unsolicited junk, then that could be ignored. Oh, and the return address looked a bit iffy, something like Royal Mail app.

The emails were actually blackmail attempts claiming that they had hacked into my computer, and have taken control over it - who knows, they may be reading this as I type. They claim further that they know the password on a website that I have been on, and that they know that I store pornography on my computer, which they consider to be a very good choice. Well, as it happens, I do not and never would either. They also say that they have taken control over the camera on the laptop, and they have very interesting pictures from that, that they are prepared to send to 10 people in my address book if I do not pay a sum of over $4,500 to them immediately.

Next step for me was that I checked whether any of my passwords were visible or had been hacked, and yes the password that the scammers had mentioned came up in the report on a certain retail website, but on checking further I am not even registered on that site. And I don't think that I have ever used that password as a password, although I have used it as Username.

But more importantly, they cannot have possibly have pictures taken through the laptop's camera because the very first thing that I did when I purchased it was to cover over the lens, and on checking the camera, all one can see is a yellow blur and nothing more.

One has to be so cautious nowadays.

Yes , been quiet for a while , but have had a couple , [ this week ] , of the old , " Your Internet connection is going to be shut down unless ???".

Have in the past , checked the phone code for these scams , and they do seem to come from all over the place , so I think there is a way they can link through remote numbers & places .

[Rudernst]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Don't watch much TV myself - the endless covid stories are just plain boring - but I do think online newspapers are pretty grim. As a journalist myself (sorry all you haters) I am appalled at the apparent lack of sub-editors. Grammar etc is appalling & so many stories are simply lifted from rubbish sources like Twitter & Facebook, usually without checking, so most likely untrue. There is very little in the way of well-written, well researched stories, just regurgitated garbage.

I felt the same like You, and asked myself often how can somebody who is uneducated enough to write crap like this end up in journalism.

The answer is: in many of these cases, no journalists or humans are involved
the content is generated by bots (automated algorithms) including automated translators, lifting the source information from newsfeeds and other sites.

wellcome to the 21st century

RudE

[bauble]

Originally Posted by Rudernst

I felt the same like You, and asked myself often how can somebody who is uneducated enough to write crap like this end up in journalism.

The answer is: in many of these cases, no journalists or humans are involved
the content is generated by bots (automated algorithms) including automated translators, lifting the source information from newsfeeds and other sites.

wellcome to the 21st century

RudE

This post seems very suspect to me, has it been written by a human being or a computer?
Either way it should be read with caution, there are a lot of scammers out there.

Only kidding R.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Rudernst

I felt the same like You, and asked myself often how can somebody who is uneducated enough to write crap like this end up in journalism.

The answer is: in many of these cases, no journalists or humans are involved
the content is generated by bots (automated algorithms) including automated translators, lifting the source information from newsfeeds and other sites.

wellcome to the 21st century

RudE

I hadn't really thought about stuff being generated by botts, but you could well be right. One thing I have noticed with on-line newspapers is how frequently they repeat themselves. A story will often get updated but instead of deleting the older material, the new part is simply added at the top, thus what looks like a long story is in fact the same one repeated over & over! One also gets the impression the 'writer' knows little or nothing about the subject. That also applies to TV news reporters.

[Lancsbreaker]

Just heard the sad news that Sabine Schmitz has died from a rare form of cancer, that she'd apparently been diagnosed with in 2017. 51 - far too young

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

But more importantly, they cannot have possibly have pictures taken through the laptop's camera because the very first thing that I did when I purchased it was to cover over the lens, and on checking the camera, all one can see is a yellow blur and nothing more.

Brilliant idea to cover the camera lens, never thought about it. Thanks!
As a Mac user, recently my Safari developed strange things, like an impossibility to chose the search engine whatever the settings. I tested two different programs to try and get rid of any malware but only got warnings instead of suppression.Made a back-up of the whole system as was and now suppressed Safari. Rather satisfied with another one but all the signets and passwords are gone. Better than have the bad feeling of an invasion.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

One also gets the impression the 'writer' knows little or nothing about the subject. That also applies to TV news reporters.

A "good" example was years ago during a snow storm in Paris. They sent a young man, called journalist, explaining that the snow falling at Roissy CdG was very "special" and that glycol was not helpful to de-ice the planes, specially the tail section! In fact, the employees of the company in charge of de-icing were on strike… Nothing special then!

Same TV channel, someone pointed out that the man they call "consultant spécialisé" could intervene about subjects as different as planes, satellites, boats, cars, bikes, safety, not safety and so on a real master in every and anything.

[S griffin]

Was that ‘reporter’ in France that easy to see through? The standards some media can slump to. And they don’t seem to care either.

Ah well, at least we don’t get that standard of reporting in this country, despite a few moments. Does make you laugh though

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Brilliant idea to cover the camera lens, never thought about it. Thanks!

No problem, Gerard. I try to be a little paranoid about my computer security, so, as I said before, it was the first thing that I did when I got this laptop a couple of years ago. I didn't need to worry about it before because the previous laptops didn't have cameras, and I hadn't bothered getting a remote camera. And 3 layers of strips of Post-it notes Sellotaped over the lens makes sure it is unable to see anything. I did this because I had read many years ago that a hacker could take control off one's camera without one's knowledge, and the Antivirus software company that I use (Avast) has recently, from time to time, asked whether the user wanted to check whether it was possible for their software to access the camera. So I tried it, and they could although all that could be seen was the yellow blur.

Another thing that concerns me is that the older hard disks, which this computer actually does have rather than the more recent chip type disk or whatever it is, although password protected to open up when turning it on, if you do remove the hard disk and run it from a remote disk reader plugged in via something like the USB to another device, then it no longer requires a password. The only thing that I know to do is to make sure that the laptop is always kept secure.

[Gerard C]

I'm naturally absolutely not paranoid. But a while ago I had a look to my Gmail account, protected of course but synchronized with my smartphone. I was horrified to see that all my movements were recorded because for an obscure reason I did or did not tick the box. Everything is connected nowadays, you can live here with no ID just need a Visa and a smartphone.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Two new scam attempts recently, one on the mobile and the other by two separate emails.

The mobile is purporting to be from Royal Mail demanding £2.90 for an unspecified reason to deliver a package. Fortunately I am not expecting any deliveries so unless somebody has sent me unsolicited junk, then that could be ignored. Oh, and the return address looked a bit iffy, something like Royal Mail app.

The emails were actually blackmail attempts claiming that they had hacked into my computer, and have taken control over it - who knows, they may be reading this as I type. They claim further that they know the password on a website that I have been on, and that they know that I store pornography on my computer, which they consider to be a very good choice. Well, as it happens, I do not and never would either. They also say that they have taken control over the camera on the laptop, and they have very interesting pictures from that, that they are prepared to send to 10 people in my address book if I do not pay a sum of over $4,500 to them immediately.

Next step for me was that I checked whether any of my passwords were visible or had been hacked, and yes the password that the scammers had mentioned came up in the report on a certain retail website, but on checking further I am not even registered on that site. And I don't think that I have ever used that password as a password, although I have used it as Username.

But more importantly, they cannot have possibly have pictures taken through the laptop's camera because the very first thing that I did when I purchased it was to cover over the lens, and on checking the camera, all one can see is a yellow blur and nothing more.

One has to be so cautious nowadays.

Mike: Royal Mail Scam texts: https://personal.help.royalmail.com/...be-aware-of%3F

Then again I was told I had bought an Ipad from Amazon yesterday. I got that call four times.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Mike: Royal Mail Scam texts: https://personal.help.royalmail.com/...be-aware-of%3F

Then again I was told I had bought an Ipad from Amazon yesterday. I got that call four times.

Thanks for that, Peter.

As I said, one does does have to be ever so vigilant nowadays with the phishing and scam attempts. The problem is that the cost to the villains is almost negligible because they can use mobile phones to make all these calls, send texts and emails on contracts that are ridiculously cheap in some cases or PAYG on throw away phones, and one is able to to convert the number that is being used to make the calls, etc. to appear as though they come from a land line.

This is possibly why one can get the same type of calls from all sorts of different numbers, but in reality they are all coming from the same scumbags using these fake numbers.

And for the relatively small outlay on this, the rewards can be pretty decent, because it's a numbers game (no pun intended) and there are always those who are gullible and pay the amounts requested.

[S griffin]

Scammers will always find a way. Just be wary of how scammers are known to work. And report and block any suspicious calls and texts.

I got fed up with people calling me about a car accident they claim I was involved in. I block every one of those calls

[grantp]

Windows 10 has quite a few built-in controls for camera and microphone related to whether they are on by default and which apps can use them.

Also geolocation tracking.

Smartphones and tablets have similar.

My previous PCs did not have built-in cameras but a recent purchase has. It also has a physical screen with a slider that one can use to cover the lens. A small but valuable feature in my opinion.

As for phone numbers - easily faked these days but it is also interesting to see how many of the numbers presented as potentially genuine UK landlines appear in Google searches with reference to various cities in India.

There is often no specific attempt to target individuals.

The numbers are dialled by robots simply trying number combinations though "live" numbers are likely saved for future re-use and selling in to others.

For those who have not yet stumbled across "Jim Browning" and his counter-scammer work, I recommend this link to his YouTube channel. I assume he is a real person. But if not at least the time spent should be entertaining and possibly educational.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBN...AprVcZZ3ic84vw

[bauble]

Odd one.

Does anyone have a picture of Murray Walker, that could be used in a magazine piece? No money but Wow! The prestige.

Need it by tomorrow or next day at latest. Must be non attributable, unless you own the rights.

Many thanks,

Baub.

[S griffin]

Cool. Hope you find a photo. Let us know what magazine it is once it’s published. It should be a very interesting article and I’m sure many would read it

[Tel 911S]

Something I had been wondering about , but got an Email from a ferry company I have used in the past .
Apparently duty free shopping is now back on the ferries .
So when things ease out a bit more , will be able to stock up on things on the boats again.

[Gerard C]

Nasal test, mosquito repellent, toilet rolls, two vaccines bought one ride in a hearse free, all ex-VAT, welcome on board! What a bargain, cant wait… Call me Popeye!

[Colin McKay]

Re the scams, I must be doing something wrong. I get the very occasional text or email but have never had a scam phone call other than the auto-voice ones that only start after 15 seconds, and very few of them.

[Gerard C]

Tomorrow a new version of AZ vaccine will be available here. Fine. Specially developed for us its announced secondary effects are mental disorder, incomprehensible speech and foolish appearance. Our PM will have his jab tomorrow. No visible effect on the horizon for him methink…

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Tomorrow a new version of AZ vaccine will be available here. Fine. Specially developed for us its announced secondary effects are mental disorder, incomprehensible speech and foolish appearance. Our PM will have his jab tomorrow. No visible effect on the horizon for him methink…

Surely our PM already has those defects without the aid of a jab? The man's a complete buffoon!

And as for that miserable little worm Macron, words fail me. Not a hint of contrition as he locks us up for another four weeks, all because he preferred to play petty anti British politics instead of getting on & organising a vaccination programme. I could go on but I had better not...

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

The man's a complete buffoon!

Ho que oui, alors! If you remember that a great king can be measured by the quality of his buffoon, look where we are! Ma grand'mère aurait dit:Ho mais punaise, qu'il a l'air con!

[Lancsbreaker]

I understand that this morning the fair Ursula was threatening again to ban exports of vaccine, whilst numerous EU countries were banning the AZ vaccine - some of them (Italy at least) admitting that it was only a "political" decision.


And then later today the European Health Organisation announced (not surprisingly) that the AZ vaccine was fine, and that s we all knew, the dangers of not being vaccinated were much higher than any (so far unproved) risk of blood clotting.


I think with various countries breaking ranks and ordering vaccines from Russia, and possibly even China, and Merkel herself and her party looking as though they are on the way out, its going to be an "interesting" time for the EU.


Keep your heads down and keep smiling, mes braves!

[bella]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

And as for that miserable little worm Macron, words fail me. Not a hint of contrition as he locks us up for another four weeks, all because he preferred to play petty anti British politics instead of getting on & organising a vaccination programme. I could go on but I had better not...

friend of the family is eligible in both france and england due to being a bit old, and a brit married to a french woman. tried to book a vaccination in france. no, sorry, you need your doctors approval. rang his doctor. too busy to write an approval letter. no, ce n'est pas possible maintenant. ffs. after several attempts, he lost patience and decided to book an appointment over in the uk instead when he's over for work. sorted, despite being out of the uk system for so long there was no computer record of his nhs number.

assuming that's a pretty standard french experience i'm glad i've not managed to make the move over the puddle more permanently just yet (sorry gents!)

[S griffin]

I just wish other countries did their Covid vaccine program, like we did. The vaccines are our best chance to return to normality. I don’t envy those countries that are waiting for their vaccines