Fraudulent emails about new log in
Discussion
Hi everyone,
We've been alerted that some scamming scum bags have cottoned on to our recent site update and have modified one of our emails in order to fraudulently extract information from PHers.
The email looks exactly like our email (because they have copied it). For reference I've included a screen grab of it. You'll note it isn't sent from us and - crucially - it asks for you to "validate your credentials".
If you receive this email please delete it.
Apologies for any inconvieince this may cause but there really isn't much we can do except to make people aware - so please pass this on.
Cheers
JD
We've been alerted that some scamming scum bags have cottoned on to our recent site update and have modified one of our emails in order to fraudulently extract information from PHers.
The email looks exactly like our email (because they have copied it). For reference I've included a screen grab of it. You'll note it isn't sent from us and - crucially - it asks for you to "validate your credentials".
If you receive this email please delete it.
Apologies for any inconvieince this may cause but there really isn't much we can do except to make people aware - so please pass this on.
Cheers
JD
thetapeworm said:
Are they randomly selecting PHers to send this to or do they have a copy of the email addresses from the database somehow? Seems a bit of a pointless exercise if they aren't doing it as a mass thing.
It works along these lines:1) They send an email enquiring about a car for sale in the classifieds section - when the seller replies they get hold of their email address.
2) They then send a fraudulent email to the user in order to try and extract their log in credentials.
3) If the user falls for it and gives them their details, they log in as that user and change the price and contact information of the classified advert.
4) They wait for someone to be tempted by a very low priced "bargain" and then try to get a holding deposit out of the potential buyer.
5) If they succeed they obviously take the money and leg it - and leave very little behind in terms of evidence!
Key ways to avoid this scam:
1) Be vigilant and pay close attention to the sender's email address whenever you receive an email that appears to be from PistonHeads - the fake ones always have strange email addresses (official ones will always come from an @pistonheads.com address)
2) If you ever follow a link from a PistonHeads email, check the URL has taken you to a PistonHeads.com page - the fraudulent ones will always direct you to somewhere random (recent ones have been "pestonheads.com")
3) Use some common sense when buying cars - if something seems like it is too good to be true, then it probably is! Also, make sure you know who you're dealing with and never pay a deposit unless you're absolutely, 100% sure you know who you're dealing with.
This scam is absolutely a numbers game - if enough users become aware of the problems and enough people stop falling for it, the scam will no longer be economically viable and they'll stop doing it.
JD
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