Cookham Discussion Board

General Category => COOKHAM DISCUSSIONS => Topic started by: Thames Valley Police on December 22, 2020, 04:57:07 PM



Title: 101 Delays and Scams
Post by: Thames Valley Police on December 22, 2020, 04:57:07 PM
I understand from members that there are long delays when using the 101 number.  If you are experiencing issues, you can always report things online !  It can be much easier.
 
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/
 
I have now received a large number of messages, letting me know that many of you have been targeted by the Porn Scam.
 
Please know that it is a scam email.  You are not being targeted personally and they do not have any information about you.  So far, the wording in every email has been identical, other than the inclusion of a password, which is genuine, but in many cases is an old one, which has been changed.
 
As I say, the emails are identical in their threatening nature, and use mail merge software to add your email and password.
 
As yet, we do not know how they have obtained this information, but obviously a large company somewhere, has been hacked to obtain this very sensitive information.  I have received this from Alan:
 
Dear Jeff,
They had my old password most likely - from what the police and Action Fraud told me - from a data hack a few years ago. It was an old password and my e-mail is Tiscali, which is part of TalkTalk, which we know was hacked several times some years ago.
 
Alan
  
When reporting it to Action Fraud, there are various categories and as has been pointed out to me, this has caused confusion and a lot of wasted time.  Simply record it as a scam email under Fraud & Cyber Crime - because the email contains your personal information.
 
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud