I got an email saying my last payment was deducted twice and they will refund me.
Looked totally legit as it was from an email address @telstra.com.au

But having to click on a link to "claim the refund" was a bit dumb so i doubted it and rang telstra. They said it was a scam, aware of it today, and are onto it.

I said I was very concerned that it was from telstra.com.au - normally the scam is easy to spot as it has telstra.yahoo.com or dumb stuff like that.

How can they use the telstra domain to send their email? Must be a telstra customer, yeah?
Well no, cos then they would get a @bigpond.com email given to them.
So must be a telstra employee in on it right?

What's the deal?

Scam Scam Scam - Delete

It's easy to fake the 'from' header for SMTP, PHP, etc. mail. Depending on which email application you use, you may be able to hover your mouse over the 'from' address and see the true original message location.

Mrs got one in mail yesterday from telstra on the date it said "fev" Not "Feb" only thing that made her think twice about the letter.
Looked like the real deal until she spotted that.

Re; email addresses - I've had emails from my 'supervisor' with my email (@domain...etc. I use my own business domain) asking me to open/save the attached zip file. Funny as I'm self employed!

I got about 5 within the week from management, HR etc.

Bahh ha ha,, I think the dead simple give away would have been pretty damn obvious..........
a telephone company wanting to GIVE you money back lol

I get them in waves of up to several a day. I also get emails from Apple and Paypal asking me to complete my details or do stuff to stop my account being suspended.

Apart from being blindingly obvious, it is nice that they write these things in delightfully fractured english. They're quite fun to read.

There was a legitimate email from Telstra recently. They apologised fora recent (and well publicised service disruption) and said we would get data downloads all day Sunday.

www.theage.com.au/technology/telstra-customer-chews-through-425gb-of-mobile-data-during-free-data-sunday-20160216-gmuz72.html

Yeah we get hundreds of them a day to our company. I don't understand why people bother with this crap, I mean they stand to gain nothing yet they waste so much time with sending computer viruses etc?

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Unhook3d said..
Yeah we get hundreds of them a day to our company. I don't understand why people bother with this crap, I mean they stand to gain nothing yet they waste so much time with sending computer viruses etc?

www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-29/scams-rip-off-thousands-of-australians/5986076

Because it makes them hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yes I know we all get lots of them, my point is this looked WAY better than the others. No bad English, the 'from' address was actually telstra.com.au not telstra.hotmail.com or something. EG the last paypal ones I got asking me to click on something to verify my account was so obvious as the sender was "Paypal <dhy56ft@paypall.com>" and that sticks out. Nobody is that dumb.

BTW now I look at the header like Harrow suggests it is from a USA I.P address and the originating domain does not exist, but is (was?) a phillipines one

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AndyR said..
Mrs got one in mail yesterday from telstra on the date it said "fev" Not "Feb" only thing that made her think twice about the letter.
Looked like the real deal until she spotted that.

There was an article that said that they intentionally make mistakes and use very poor wording as it acts as a pre-filter for the scammers. The argument is that if you don't notice these mistakes and think its genuine, you are more likely to be a bit gullible when it comes to the actual scam.

It makes uh bit of cents. Iv yu dont notice these thinks then maybee you are ah bit more gullable?

I received this email last month;

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Action: Changes made in your Internet Banking Profile Date: January 13 2016.
This is to inform that your profile data was changed by you or by someone logged in using your NAB ID and password on 12.01.2016 from IP 112.26.210.33.
If you didn't change your profile data please visit and complete the our NAB security measures:

It provided a link (not opened) for me to access the "NAB" security site so I could update my "details", sounds legit ......yeah?

NO!. I don't have an NAB internet banking profile, in fact I don't have any account with the NAB, also the email was sent from

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NAB Australia [appleitunesuk@hosteddesktopuk.co.uk]

PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO ACCESS THIS DODGY LINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So either NAB are outsourcing their security to some dodgy "itunes" in the UK, I think this may have been a very crude attempt at a scam.....maybe

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Mark _australia said..
I got an email saying my last payment was deducted twice and they will refund me.
Looked totally legit as it was from an email address @telstra.com.au

But having to click on a link to "claim the refund" was a bit dumb so i doubted it and rang telstra. They said it was a scam, aware of it today, and are onto it.

I said I was very concerned that it was from telstra.com.au - normally the scam is easy to spot as it has telstra.yahoo.com or dumb stuff like that.

How can they use the telstra domain to send their email? Must be a telstra customer, yeah?
Well no, cos then they would get a @bigpond.com email given to them.
So must be a telstra employee in on it right?

What's the deal?

My experience is that if they are going to refund they simply credit your account which they surprising have done in the past.

Good pick up Mark

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Mark _australia said..

Nobody is that dumb.

Never, ever, ever underestimate how stupid or dumb people can be!

There are currently lots of scam emails floating with "your receipt" "your delivery"around with a ".doc" attachment.

The file is the virus.

Just delete

How to avoid all of these tricks and scams are detailed in my very helpful book titled "How to not get scammed on the internet".

If you want a copy just send $99.99 + $49 P&H via Western Union to Carantoc@seabreze.com.Nigeria or PM me your credit card number, expiry date, security code, full name and address, sample of your signature and date of birth and I'll send you a copy.

Please also let me know when you will be on holiday / out of the country so I don't post it to you then.

I thankyou most helpful hospitality and look forward to recognising with you in future.

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Chris6791 said..

Mark _australia said..

Nobody is that dumb.

Never, ever, ever underestimate how stupid or dumb people can be!

I have to agree wholeheartedly to that.
Never ceases to amaze me how many times this stuff is in the news, media, everywhere, along with emails we send out reminding staff not to click this stuff and almost weekly we get some numpty click an "australia post" or "telstra" etc. email <facepalm> and <sigh>

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Chris6791 said...

Unhook3d said..
Yeah we get hundreds of them a day to our company. I don't understand why people bother with this crap, I mean they stand to gain nothing yet they waste so much time with sending computer viruses etc?

www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-29/scams-rip-off-thousands-of-australians/5986076

Because it makes them hundreds of millions of dollars.

Oh I get that the ones that are trying to scam money rip some unsuspecting muppets off regularly, but I was referring to the virus type emails that try to infect computer systems. That's just lame.

No difference between Telstra bill and this scam, except the scams propably cheaper and they respond quicker

I just got an email from paypa1 (?!) requesting info to update my account. It was signed...


Sincerelly,

PayPa1 Team

^^^ Makes me laugh, it is the french phonetic for don't pay! They must be from a french speaking african? country?

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Carantoc said..
How to avoid all of these tricks and scams are detailed in my very helpful book titled "How to not get scammed on the internet".

If you want a copy just send $99.99 + $49 P&H via Western Union to Carantoc@seabreze.com.Nigeria or PM me your credit card number, expiry date, security code, full name and address, sample of your signature and date of birth and I'll send you a copy.

Please also let me know when you will be on holiday / out of the country so I don't post it to you then.

I thankyou most helpful hospitality and look forward to recognising with you in future.

But you may accidently delete your messages if I PM you with that info, you sure you don't want me to post it up here? I could start another thread and call it "secret" so as no one else goes there.

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Unhook3d said..
Yeah we get hundreds of them a day to our company. I don't understand why people bother with this crap, I mean they stand to gain nothing yet they waste so much time with sending computer viruses etc?

bot networks and zombie hordes are seriously powerful when used properly.

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Carantoc said..
How to avoid all of these tricks and scams are detailed in my very helpful book titled "How to not get scammed on the internet".

If you want a copy just send $99.99 + $49 P&H via Western Union to Carantoc@seabreze.com.Nigeria or PM me your credit card number, expiry date, security code, full name and address, sample of your signature and date of birth and I'll send you a copy.

Please also let me know when you will be on holiday / out of the country so I don't post it to you then.

I thankyou most helpful hospitality and look forward to recognising with you in future.

says the guy with facebook no doubt :P