A nasty one.

[The Ace]

This one's been doing the rounds lately, telling you that you owe a 3-figure sum and inviting you to print out an invoice. The Twist is that if it turns up in your inbox, it has your address on it, and looks genuine. What it actually does is encrypt the data on your hard-drive and charge you stupid amounts of money to get your computer to work again.

Delete it and block the sender, but DO NOT click on the link in the email.

The ransomware that knows where you live - BBC News

 

[Ray McCarthy]

but DO NOT click on the link in the email.

Never click on email links. Hover to see that that paypal.com isn't in fact dowacky.com under the lying text. (see real address on status bar on bottom of window)
Don't open attachments.
If it's from a friend and not expected, check.

Disable remote content and if using an MS Mail client, disable activex.

 

[Foxbat]

On a brighter note, I recently had Paypal get in touch with me about 'suspicious activity' and that they'd limited my account (which, when I logged in was true but thought maybe the system had been hacked). I decided rather than reply via email or fiddle with my account settings (it asked for my card and bank details when I tried to change my password), I'd do the old fashioned thing and phone them instead. The guy on the other end was excellent and had it all sorted in ten minutes.

And the moral of the story is - as the old advert went - it's good to talk.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

it's good to talk.

Beware of people phoning you claiming to be <insert organisation>!
If they stay on line, when you hang up to dial back, your dialling is ignored. They can simulate the dial & ringing tones. This works because to allow you to put down phone handset and pickup one in different room. BT and Eir (formerly eircom) have been ask to make the duration of this facility shorter or even disable it (as with multiple DECT cordless handsets it's hardly used). A call only terminates at once if you are the caller.

 

[Foxbat]

I've had phone calls like that. I tell them that I know theyre a con merchant and that they can go **** themselves. Not very polite, I know but it gives me satisfaction.