Getting Tough with Scammers

Will it work?

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Report e-mail scams, National Fraud Authority urges.

Millions of Britons who receive scam letters and e-mails are now being urged to forward them on just the once - to the National Fraud Authority. The agency has launched a new operation to track down the fraudsters behind the multi-million pound industry in scam mail, but needs public input.

It wants people to forward e-mails to [e-mail] for analysis.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

So I thought I would try this out. I forwarded half a dozen recent scam attempt emails I had received.

Guess what?

They were returned to me - rejected as spam!

How stupid is that?

[tbear]

Ahhhh, catch 22..... LOL

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I have emailed them to report this, Let's see what they say.

[JohnRoy]

Will probably ignore.

[Staffa]

I seem to remember vaguely that a few years ago a similar scheme was setup.

I don't know what happened to that one but probably petered out since they now seem to feel the need to start again.

[tangor]

More likely it was a bogus (scammer address) set up to VERIFY that YOUR email was valid.

So easy to suck 'em in, right? Bwahahahahaha!

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

It was reported on the BBC [bbc.co.uk...]

[tangor]

Verified? Won't be the first time a major site has been scammed/spanned. :)

Proof in the puddin'... all reported attempts to make use of this "service" has bounced on a brick wall. Americans have a similar track record that's (ARRGGGHHHH!) a tat WORSE. More inclined to revisit that hoary-old and ACCURATE "something-or-ism":
"I'm from the Gubermint (sic). I'm here to help."

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

They have not replied to my email but I sent another couple of scam attempts to them to day and they seem to have passed their spam filter this time.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Spoke to soon - one of them just bounced back. They have lost all credibility before they have even started.

[tangor]

More gently stated this time around: I'd like it if it worked. However, having worked in the gubermint (US) from time to time I know that ain't going to happen. I suspect the UK isn't that much different, being cousins and all that...

Last thing we need (yours, mine or ours) is the government (sic, too) "getting tough" with scammers. No clue in that regard. Politicians are, for the most part, brainless automatons interested only in getting re-elected.

I will go quietly away with all apologies if I offended anyone either in the gubermist (sic and specific) or pro-gubermint (sic, too).

This kind of krap never works, but it looks good when running for re-election!

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I suspect the UK isn't that much different

You would suspect right. Even after all of these years they don't seem to be able to manage computer systems. Surely someone would have had the nous to realise that copies of scam emails may get caught in their spam filters.

(They still have not replied to my email so I am going to ask the BBC to do a follow up on this.)

[g1smd]

They don't need to ask anyone to forward anything.

Simply posting a few dozen honeypot email addresses on the web, in Usenet, and elsewhere, should bring them more work than they can ever hope to deal with, within just a few days.

[Staffa]

The BBC doesn't have more of a clue about the internet than the gov.

For years they have sporadically reported on internet/email scams and told their viewers to be careful but at the same time have always failed to tell those same viewers on what exactly to do to be safe.
It's quite pointless to tell someone to look left and right before crossing a street without telling them what the danger is they are looking for.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

They don't need to ask anyone to forward anything.

No but they did. "You can now forward on scam emails you receive to Action Fraud at [e-mail]."

And of course it does not work.

The BBC doesn't have more of a clue about the internet than the gov.

No? The BBC have the fifth top ranked website in the UK. Only Google.com, Google.co.uk, FB and YouTube are above it. They must have some sort of a clue because they are certainly doing something right.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I got a reply last night from a "Stakeholder Engagement Officer". (I wonder who is creating their job titles?) This was telling me that bounced messages are retained in quarantine and that they are being dealt with.

They now have a message on their website ...

Got an email bounce back? We have still received the scam emails you forward to us even if you get a bounce back message. The bounce back message just means the email has gone into a holding area for spam, which is then released and received by us as usual. You therefore do not need to contact us again once you have forwarded your scam emails.