A Scam Email That Looks Perfect - Page 2

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

Yes indeed, the scammers have perfected both their email communications and their phone communications. The days of typos, misspellings, amateurish letterheads and callers with heavy accents are gone. That's why we have to relax, center ourselves and think. Autopsy or not, that was an obvious scam because no one ever requests additional payment if we underpay a bill. They tack it on to the next month's bill. But it's likely due to the low amount, tens of thousands of people use the link and pay it. I read a story about a young girl in Australia who lost her $18,000 lifesavings when she was spoofed. She received an email that was identical in every way from the real bank. She was told her account had been hacked and to call a specific number. She spoke with a "customer service rep" who was very knowledgeable and professional. He set up a new account for her and told her to transfer her money to the new account. Of course she did and felt relieved. Until her heart rate settled and she thought about it. Took about 20 minutes but when she called her real bank, it was too late. Her money was gone. The bank said they did nothing wrong so they couldn't help her. As a longtime customer, they offered her $2000 as a goodwill gesture. I've had that happen to me twice recently. Once for an account I closed out in April. So, that was an obvious scam. Second time, I was wise enough to realize that was off. I called my bank and sure enough there was no suspicious activity on my account and if there had been, they call the customer, they would never send an email.

shoesnbags · ‎03-10-2010

@Hippiified wrote:
@shoesnbags

Their correct web address is att.com
-no ampersand

@Hippiified

My screen shot didn't get the whole page unfortunately. On the actual email when I hover over the email address up at the top, it does indeed say attdotcom just as the real emails from the company do.

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." Jimmy Buffett

Hippiified · ‎03-21-2017

@shoesnbags Oh, OK

781Florist · ‎10-16-2021

Thanks for this heads up. I have AT&T so I will be extra cautious about any emails from them. I always look for typos or fractured syntax etc. or hover the cursor over the address to see if it really belongs to the company, but now if those things are legit looking

then what the heck do we do?!?

shoesnbags · ‎03-10-2010

@Hippiified wrote:
@shoesnbags Oh, OK

@Hippiified

That's ok. I accidently put the ampersand in my original post but went back and checked after I read your reply. The scam has no ampersand so it's a perfect fake. I corrected my OP to reflect that.

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." Jimmy Buffett

Imaoldhippie · ‎06-10-2015

@shoesnbags ..............Im mystified as to why the scam is for $2.12? Seems like a waste of time and energy for a scammer? It seem more like a computer billing error. Whoever is the billing company for AT&T should be notified. Maybe they have been hacked.

Just a thought.

LIFE IS TO SHORT TOO FOLD FITTED SHEETS

luvmyteddy4 · ‎09-04-2010

I got one from Norton Virus yesterday saying they billed me for 300.00 and then they leave a phone number to call if you have questions. Too bad I don't have 300.00 in my bank acct!

lkat · ‎07-23-2014

@Imaoldhippie wrote:
@shoesnbags ..............Im mystified as to why the scam is for $2.12? Seems like a waste of time and energy for a scammer? It seem more like a computer billing error. Whoever is the billing company for AT&T should be notified. Maybe they have been hacked.

Just a thought.

@Imaoldhippie They do this because a lot of people will pay it if it's such a small amount without bothering to check. But once they pay, the scammers have their credit card info or bank account info.

I've had this happen with my credit card. Someone tried a couple of small charges of $1.99 but luckily my credit card company caught it and sent me a fraud alert so I was able to get the card cancelled and the charges reversed.