Scammers using this forum.

[AcidVenud]

Not sure where to post this but its just a heads up.

I received an email today claiming to be from HMRC about a tax refund. Obviously this is fake.

The reason I'm posting here is because I know they got my email address here. I'm not sure if my email is public and they are just looking at profiles or if its a virus and you guys need to look into it.

The reason I know they got my email from here is because they addressed it to my user name and my username on here is a typo when I signed up so I do not have this user name anywhere else.

In not complaining, these things happen but thought the admins and other users needed to know.

 

[HAZZA1962]

@OccultScientist

 

[OccultScientist]

@OccultScientist

Thanks for the shout!
I'll look into this with @junglist immediately. I can't think where they would have got your details from but we will look through the logs

 

[Simon G]

... and just to let you know, nothing is public ... all I can see is that you are male and aged 30.

 

[junglist]

@AcidVenud - can you forward the email over to us as an attachment please - to [email protected] - we can double check where it came from and make sure it didn't originate from this network.

As well as the potential for a breach here there is also the potential that your email account has been compromised at some point, or a server that your email provider hosts, and your emails could have been downloaded. The signup email from us or notifications of PMs or followed threads etc will contain your username and email address and these could be used as the basis of a phishing attempt.

I have a fair few test accounts on here where the email address has only ever been used on this site and I haven't had any spam or phishing attempts to these.

So to say that it is spammers that have gleaned the data from our servers is a bit of a jump from you getting a spam mail. Not saying it isn't the case as if someone with enough determination wanted to rape our servers then it could have happened and we knew nothing about it. There are usually signs, like more people getting his with spam, like the test accounts I mentioned, where an email has definitely only been used on the one source. But as I said, even then with a site like this and emails are sent out it could be that one of these has been intercepted and used to stage a scam on you.

Like I said, feel free to ping the email over so we can see if there is anything we can spot or anything else that we can add. Likewise if anyone else notices anything else then give us a shout but we certainly have no sign from here of any intrusion or theft of data from here.

 

[AcidVenud]

@AcidVenud - can you forward the email over to us as an attachment please - to [email protected] - we can double check where it came from and make sure it didn't originate from this network.

As well as the potential for a breach here there is also the potential that your email account has been compromised at some point, or a server that your email provider hosts, and your emails could have been downloaded. The signup email from us or notifications of PMs or followed threads etc will contain your username and email address and these could be used as the basis of a phishing attempt.

I have a fair few test accounts on here where the email address has only ever been used on this site and I haven't had any spam or phishing attempts to these.

So to say that it is spammers that have gleaned the data from our servers is a bit of a jump from you getting a spam mail. Not saying it isn't the case as if someone with enough determination wanted to rape our servers then it could have happened and we knew nothing about it. There are usually signs, like more people getting his with spam, like the test accounts I mentioned, where an email has definitely only been used on the one source. But as I said, even then with a site like this and emails are sent out it could be that one of these has been intercepted and used to stage a scam on you.

Like I said, feel free to ping the email over so we can see if there is anything we can spot or anything else that we can add. Likewise if anyone else notices anything else then give us a shout but we certainly have no sign from here of any intrusion or theft of data from here.

Hi. I will forward the email shortly on my lunch break.

Sorry if I caused offence, I didnt mean to. I know its not certain your site has been hacked I just know my username is unique to here due to a typo. Could easily be my own email account but the info they have is used on here only.

 

[junglist]

No @AcidVenud - no offence caused!! Sorry if my reply sounded like I was offended, just wanted to make clear that the source of a scam mail could be wider than just our systems here having been hacked. I have seen sites get hacked before and it is a proper pain in the rear, as I said before we could have been compromised at some point and not even know it but I would hope that we would see some warning signs. We have run sites for a while and we try and be as careful as possible, if we knew of a break in we would not have a problem admitting it either.

Just seen your email, will have a butchers.

 

[AcidVenud]

Oh good, I thought you were under the impression I was accusing this site and I was annoyed. I'm not worried even if its my email because I would have more things compromised by now such as my PayPal or Amazon account.

It's just a phishing email so they are trying to get info they don't already have which is good.

Because it appeared on my outlook app addressed to my unique username here, I just wanted to give a heads up just in case. Sorry if it wastes your time and comes to nothing although that would be the best outcome

 

[Simon G]

[On Tapatalk]


I don't even know what this is but could this have something to do with it?