Scam alert

[Kate81]

I received calls this afternoon claiming to work on behalf of AGL offering a switch to a newer cheaper plan. They did not seem professional and did not try to verify my identity first. I checked with AGL and no notes that these were legitimate calls. Be careful, don’t click on the link they say they will send you (I hung up before this happened). Scary thing is they knew my name and address the electricity is billed to!! 

So if you would like the info, these are the two numbers that called me claiming to work for AGL

03 7045 5945

03 6185 3544

[Yelland]

Hi Glendah, We have been receiving these identical emails for quite some time and to be honest we don't know how to stop them.   We 'Block' and report as 'Phishing' on every email, but still they persist.  If you do find a way to stop them please let us know.  Regards, Anne

[Lester]

@Yelland it will never stop now, and can't be stopped.

Much like the post reply above yours, looks like an AI generated response, over the top as usual, obvious tips, and the spam link at the bottom.

Any replies from new posters, and / or with a name with numbers contained within is very suspicious here.

[Yelland]

Thank you for your reply but I can’t really understand what you are saying….Could you please explain in more detail. Sorry, but I am from the ‘older generation’ pre computers 🤣

[Lester]

Hi @Yelland sure Anne, no problems.

AI (artificial intelligence) type software is getting very good now.

I feel the reply above from aisha85adams  seems to be one.

They dredge up any old posts, then generate a reply usually with some sort of link to spam.

I have noticed some usernames similar in nature to this on the forum, and I sometimes think it might be AGL using AI to keep responses coming on the forum, as some similar replies don't have a spam link.

It could be that AGL has some sort of way to see a spam link and automatically remove it.

The AI bot (most likely fully automated) just registered, scanned through the site and picked it up, typing up that reply 2 weeks ago.

There is a spam link in the reply of the bottom, these come up very often with made up name / number combos.

These bots can even register themselves onto a forum like this, then go to 'work'.

Other clues are the replies seem elaborate, over the top, and cobbled together, garnishing info from many sources online they gather automatically.

They don't seem to pick up (or care) about what date the post is they are replying to.

I reported that reply as spam, they usually get removed (as well as the bot registration I hope) by admin to help keep the forum tidy.

For what it's worth to you and your issue with getting phishing emails, the actual advice that was given was pretty reasonable to protect yourself.

So take on board what you can from that, and just don't click any links that seem obviously spam . . . either from the topic or address show in the reply, or when hovering the mouse cursor over the link, the proper address becomes visible and can usually be seen to take you to some irrelevant website.

[Yelland]

Thank you for your detailed reply.

I guess that I will just have to get use to the 'never-ending' supply of these Spam emails but what amazes me are the various subjects that they use as headers, all of which are relative to me!

It is a very sad fact that this technology, which is so useful can become so compromised to the point where you feel personally vulnerable.

Kind regards, Anne 

[Lester]

You're welcome Anne . . . keep safe online, and trust your email server / platform will eventually get on top of various spam warnings and automatically, as it learns from you marking them as spam when they appear.

Trouble is they sometimes catch legitimate emails as spam, so you have to have a quick check through your spam mailbox daily just in case.

Yes, scams / scammers are a massive pain, but as said they will never stop now, and get more clever / believable with AI.

[RebeccaPerth123]

Hi all, 

Please be careful I just got a phishing call from (08) 96775299 posing as ACL. Ignore it and report it. 

Many thanks 

[SYED_AGL]

Thanks for getting in touch.

We’ve escalated this matter to our Fraud Team to investigate whether the number you received contact from is genuinely associated with AGL or if it may be spam.

Your security and peace of mind are very important to us, and we appreciate you flagging this. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we have more information.

In the meantime, if you receive any further suspicious communication or have additional details to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly here.

Thanks again for your vigilance.

SYED 

[Lester]

A reverse number search online for that number brings up https://www.reverseau.com/sa/beverley/ 

The group of numbers with that one is listed as Gotalk Limited, so not sure if they have anything to do with AGL, but it all seems to be telco numbers . . . some other results on the number via google brings up that being a phone number for overdue AGL gas bills.

I would ignore.

[Sleeke]

I just received a call from Craigieburn Vic as well from an Indian man offering to upgrade my plan to much cheaper below market rates. He then put me through to a "senior supervisor" to do the "upgrade".  They were both unprofessional and rude and had a bit of information about me - name, the fact that I was with AGL and a very old postcode. I asked questions about why they were calling and how they knew information about me - and they were quite rude and assertive. I ended up hanging up, but unfortunately not before I gave them my current post code : (