The councils are paying back £150 in council tax.
It seems the scammers are ringing people up saying they are from the local council and they need your bank details so they can pay the money into your account
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Talking of Spams, this might amuse, found in my Hotmail Spam folder…
Greetings!
Have you seen lately my e-mail to you from an account of yours? (*******)
Yeah, that merely confirms that I have gained a complete access to device of yours.
Within the past several months, I was observing you.
Are you still surprised how could that happen? Frankly speaking, malware has infected your devices and it’s coming from an adult website, which you used to visit.
Although all this stuff may seem unfamiliar to you, but let me try to explain that to you.
With aid of Trojan Viruses, I managed to gain full access to any PC or other types of devices.
That merely means that I can watch you whenever I want via your screen just by activating your camera as well as microphone, while you don’t even know about that.
Moreover, I have also received access to entire contacts list as well as full correspondence of yours.
You may be wondering, “However, my PC is protected by a legitimate antivirus, so how could that happen? Why couldn’t I get any alerts?”
To be honest, the reply is quite straightforward: malware of mine utilizes drivers, which update the signatures on 4-hourly basis,
which turns them to become untraceable, and hereby making your antivirus remain idle.
I have collected a video on the left screen where you enjoy wanking, while the video on the right screen shows the video you were watching at that point of time.
Still puzzled how much damage could that cause? One mouse click is enough for me to share this video to your social networks, as well as e-mail contacts of yours.
In addition, I am also able to gain access to all e-mail correspondence as well as messengers used by you.
Below are simple steps required for you to undertake in order to avoid that from occurring - transfer $1539 in Bitcoin equivalent to my wallet
(if you don’t know how to complete that, just open your browser and make a google search: “Buy Bitcoin”).
My bitcoin wallet address (BTC Wallet) is: 1CggEgfwj6zKidxhzE1yh7jrTPN5Jppsu
Once the payment has been confirmed, I shall remove the video without delay, and that is end of story - afterwards you won’t hear about me again for sure.
The time for you to perform the transaction is 2 days (48 hours).
After this e-mail is opened by you, I will get an automatic notice, which will start my timer.
Any effort to complain will not change anything at all, because this e-mail is simply untraceable, just like my bitcoin address.
I have been developing these plans for quite an extended period of time; so, don’t expect any mistake from my side.
If, get to know that you tried to send this message to anyone else, I will distribute your video as described earlier
This is a very old attempt at a scam.
Some must fall for it, or they wouldn’t keep trying!
The warnings we’re getting from the police refer to exactly that scenario.
Wa**ers beware!!! 
I should be OK then as I have neither a camera or a microphone attached to my PC. 
I’m not one of those either come to think about it.
I received this from our Neighbourhood Watch today.
The statistics are quite alarming, I thought.
What is phishing and how does it work?
You wouldn’t let a thief enter your home, but what if the thief was masquerading as someone familiar, such as a postman, and tricked you into opening the door? Phishing works in a similar way - criminals impersonate trusted organisations by creating legitimate-looking messages and websites in order to trick people into opening the doors to their personal information. Once criminals have this information, it can be used to perpetrate fraud and cyber against you, or in your name.
*How big is the problem?
Phishing attacks are a common problem faced by both individuals and businesses on a daily basis.
As of 31st May 2022, the National Cyber Security Centre’s Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) has received over 12mn reports from the public, and has removed over 83,000 scams and 153,000 malicious websites. The most impersonated organisations in phishing emails reported last year were the NHS, HMRC and GOV.UK.
Most phone providers are part of a scheme that allows customers to report suspicious text messages for free by forwarding it to 7726. When a text is reported to 7726, the provider can investigate the origin of the text and arrange to block or ban the sender, if it’s found to be malicious. As of May 2022, 13,000 scams have been removed as a result of suspicious text messages reported using the 7726 service.
And that’s only the scams that get reported! 
I nearly fell for the Evri one this morning. It tells you they weren’t able to deliver your parcel, asks you to reschedule, then tries to get you to put in your card details for a redelivery fee. It was very convincing
A friend of mine had that one too, Maree.
She almost fell for it too.
Swine’s aren’t they!
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Aren’t they just, but clever swine, watch out 
I just got so lucky -
Apologies for printing it all, you might like to see the context!
"Paseo de la Castellana 47,
28046 Madrid Spain. REF N°: SH/76841284672/AG
BATCH N°: 61299
ATTENTION: BENEFICIARY, 14th September 2022
RE: PRIZE AWARD FINAL NOTIFICATION.
We are pleased to inform you of the Results of the EURO LOTTO LONDON SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY/INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMME held on 9th Sep 2022 and the results were released on 12th Sep 2022 by 11.45 am.
Your “NAME” attached to e-Ticket Number: 200 with Serial Number: 6047305001-0 drew the Lucky Numbers: 61299 which consequently won the lottery in the 3rd International Jackpot Category.
All Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 75,000,000 “Online Identification Protocol” (OIP) from Asia, Australia, Africa, New Zealand, Europe, South America and North America as part of our international promotions program which we conduct once every year. We hope you draw a bigger cash prize in our next year’s program.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay-out of Ђ1,250,000.00 (ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND EUROS ONLY) in cash credited to file with REF. NO. SH/76841284672/AG. This is from a total cash prize of ; THIRTEEN MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THOUSAND AND FIFTY EUROS / ZERO CENTS (Ђ13,770,050.00) shared among the seventeen (17) international lucky winners in their respective categories.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
In compliance with the terms and conditions of the E.U. Lotteries and Gaming Authority, we ask that you keep this award from public notice until your winning prize claim has been processed and money remitted to you as this is part of our security protocol.
To begin your lottery prize claim, find here attached to this letter the Payment Processing Form (FORM C6) which you are advice to fill completely and send via Email To euloto@europe.com.
For the processing and remittance of your winning prize money and for any inquiry do not hesitate to contact the Claims Processing Agent: DR. RONALD BRIQUETTE, the Foreign Operations Manager of MAPFRE SEGUROS E.U on Tel N°: +442081337328.
NOTICE: All prize money must be claimed not later than 15TH Oct 2022 and after this date, all funds will be returned to the Council of Lotteries and Gaming Authority as unclaimed. And also be informed that 10% of the total prize money will be charged as processing and handling fees on your lottery prize money which will be remitted to: MAPFRE SEGUROS E.U after you have received your winnings because the money is already insured in your name as the Lotteries and Gaming Law requires.
In order to avoid unnecessary delays and for us to serve you better, always remember to quote your Reference and Batch numbers in every correspondence with us or your agent. Furthermore, should there be any change of your forwarded home address, do inform the claims agent as soon as possible.
Congratulations once again from all our members of staff and thank you for being part of our International Lotteries and Gaming Promotions Program.
Lisa Santos F. Marti
VICE PRESIDENT
NOTE: PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM AFTER CUTTING AND SEND IT BACK VIA EMAIL TO MAPFRESEGUROS E.U, ALONG WITH A COPY OF YOUR IDENTITY FOR VERIFICATION PURPOSES.
Tel:+442081337328, Email: euloto@europe.com
SURNAME:…NAME:…AGE/SEX:…
AMOUNT WON:…
ADDRESS:…REF :…
BATCH:…
COUNTRY:…CITY : …
POSTAL CODE: …
MOBILE: …TELEPHONE:…
FAX : …
PROFESSION:…EMAIL: …
LAST CLAIM DATE: …
PAYMENT OPTIONS: (1) BANK TRANSFER (2) SELF PICK UP
BANK NAME:…
BANK ACCOUNT N°:…
SWIFT :…
BANK ADDRESS:…
I (MR/MRS) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ HEREBY DECLARE THAT I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED ANY PAYMENT ON MY BEHALF FROM MAPFRE SEGUROS E.U. NOR HAVE ANY OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS FILED A CLAIM ON MY BEHALF. I HEREBY GIVE THE AUTHORIZATION TO MAPFRE SEGUROS E.U. TO ACT ON MY BEHALF IN PROCESSING AND TRANSFER OF MY PAYMENT TO THE DESIGNATED BANK INFORMATION STATED ABOVE. I ALSO AGREED TO PAY 10% COMMISSION TO MAPFRE SEGUROS E.U, UPON RECEIPT OF MY MONEY IN MY ACCOUNT.
I received a warning from my bank asking if I recognised a transaction on my debit card for $0.00, of course I didn’t so I rang the bank and they advised me to cancel my card.
I did that but afterwards I wondered if it was my Christmas cruise testing my card, I will have to check but I think I will stick to my credit card for most transactions and pay it off as I go.
Edit - just checked it wasn’t the cruise company so I did the right thing
Can’t be too safe nowadays. We had some weird uber transactions a few years back, which I noticed when we were abroad. Turned out that someone had hacked into something and was having a few takeaways at my expense from ubereats. Got refunded, but twas a bit of a pest having to cancel the associated credit card while away from home.
I am less worried about the credit card because the banks are forced to offer protection but debit cards don’t seem to have the same protection (as I understand it from talking to the bank girl on the phone) and once money is gone on a debit card it is gone.
However their web site is not very clear on the difference, so I am not sure if that is true. I can lock all my cards from the app on my phone for up to 15 days if I feel they are compromised, and cancelling the debit card and getting another issued was instantaneous on the phone - the digital version popped up almost immediately.
I am seriously think of getting all my cards on the phone including my opal card (for travel)
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Great idea, providing of course nobody nicks your phone. Not that they’d be able to unlock it, but more that, if you’re like me, you don’t always carry a wallet with a couple of cards in it just in case.
I am inclined to think that losing the phone is no different or more or less likely than losing the wallet, the former is, as you say, protected by a password and/or biometric data (so convenient and seemingly foolproof). So I think the phone is probably safer than the wallet and long term it would be nice to be rid of one of them.
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Can’t argue with that. Not trying to teach granny to suck eggs but having recently had to sit in A&E for 17+ hours recently and watching my mobile work its way down through the low percentages before giving up.the ghost completely, I’m on a mission to remind all and sundry to make sure they keep a phone charger cable (with plug or power pack) in your glove box, just in case.