So many scams around these days via calls, internet, SMS, gmail etc so hopefully we are all aware and able to deal with them.

As this one could be very scary to the vulnerable I thought it worth posting

https://spanishnewstoday.com/there_3...0184631-a.html

How do we know its you putting that link?

I won't click the link as that might be a scam by someone who has got into your account 🤔

Steve

Good question - I will leave the moderators to explain the site security

There are numerous scams phone calls around, and have been for some years. Trying to describe them all individually would be a lengthy task, and with new scenarios emerging, but suffice to say: you should ignore all demands for payment made over the phone, whether they purport to be for taxes, fines, delivery charges, import duties, fees for a lottery prize, or assistance for a relative (most commonly reported as a grandchild when attempting to scam an elderly person). I have no doubt there are other concocted stories used to support a scam demand for payment.

Most of the above scenarios are also used in scam emails and txts.

Yes I actually agree ignore all - anything genuine will be with official letter ie speeding fine has to be a DGT letter with a photo of your car with date and time etc of offence - I no longer answer any calls from unknown numbers.

If you have the DGT App you will also get notification of a penalty via that before you receive the letter. I know that from bitter experience.

I had a message about a speeding fine. Made me laugh because I had not driven for a couple of years and I had sold the car. Needless to say I did not respond.

Rosemary

A few months ago I started receiving what I can only describe as threatening emails, basically an attempt at extortion/ blackmail.

Each one has come from a different, random, and somewhat unlikely name, always given name + surname (the most recent was from "Mercie Knowles") and the message is always in an attached PDF, or at least in an attachment that appears to be a PDF. So far I have received six emails, three in October and November 2024, and three so far in 2025

Obviously, I never open the attachment, but the PDF icon has the start of the message. The gist of which is "we know all about you" then lists my name, address and phone number, claims to be well connected locally, and threatens to spread information about me. That is about all I can see, but the funny thing is, I already know that the information in the PDF that is presumably supposed to scare me by them disclosing how much they know about me, I already know is information that is widely available on US background check web sites, so I am not in the least bit fazed by the snippets I can see in the PDF icon.

I still sleep easy at night.

For those with a google account you can now do a security check and they list 'who' has your information - the most alarming on my list was all of my data stolen from the Phone Shop site (I bought a phone off them) made me more or less decide not to buy anything online to minimise my data exposure to hacking etc.