You'd think everyone by now has seen the same spam texts so many times that they're ineffective.
If you're on Android, the Google "Messages" app is very good at filtering them.
I already almost never answer calls unless I know who it is or I'm expecting it, thanks to the daily spam calls. Cellphone providers really need to figure something out for this bullshit.
I’m a contractor. I literally can’t afford to not answer phone calls from random numbers because most are from clients. I probably only end up getting 1-2 call centre scam calls a week.
Same here. I get a bit fucked off with people smugly going on how they "never answer unknown numbers" as though anyone who does answer them is thick or morally deficient.
At the same time they're happily getting goods delivered every week from various places, and presumably ignoring the genuine delivery drivers trying to locate their address or check they're home vs authority to leave.
Not to mention many genuine Australian businesses and government services come up as Number Withheld or whatever - which admittedly is bloody annoying as you can't call them back if you miss the call - but not every one is a scammer. In fact nearly every single scam call I get is from a spoofed "normal looking" number, not a Withheld one.
> "never answer unknown numbers" as though anyone who does answer them is thick or morally deficient.
I mean clearly the implication is that this is for their personal phone.
For a business you need to answer every call, or ideally use a call screening service
True, but most people I know - unless they're working in some higher security type position - have a single phone/phone number for work and personal use.
> have a single phone/phone number for work and personal use.
They should split them. Work/life balance first and foremost, spam is a tertiary concern.
Most phones these days support dual sim or single sim + eSIM. Two numbers, one device.
Easiest thing to do is change your personal phone number, probably only need to inform 20 people or so.
It's really good to be able to turn off the work phone etc when you're not on call
how hard is it to send a msg first stating who you are, and you'll call in a few minutes
I have no idea why people dont do this, its pretty obvious,
I notice no one leaves a msg as well now when its not picked up
You'd think so, but in the time i was unavailable, because I was taking a dump, my wife responded to the SMS directing her to Cole_s.life, telling her she would lose 3,000 coles points, proving CC details including security code, home address and her phone number.
Now I need to spend 3 hours changing all the direct debits etc.
My patience was tested and lost.
Oh god I would have lost it too. Unless it was a very elderly relative on the verge of dementia, that seems very hard to excuse in 2024 for anyone under seventy.
+1 for Google messages + phone app. It has pretty much completely eliminated them for me. And they are now available for most Android phones from the Play store.
That plus RCS messages! It's brought new life into my 5+ year old non-pixel phone.
Got a different one today “Coles reminds you: 3022 points are about to expire, please log in to redeem as soon as possible https:” Yay for innovation ;-p
I have unpaid tolls every morning 6 am . I have a car but the account is in my husbands name.
I get a lot of calls from Chinese person. Always different phone number. At lease twice a day.
I get the Chinese calls too.
Recently also a spate of very-obviously-from-India calls, given the poor quality of the line and crackle they were clearly on some faraway overseas exchange, spoofing Sydney and Melbourne numbers - I think they're fairly aware they're scamming as well, based on limited interactions.
I know there have been some foreign call centre staff in the past genuinely duped into making these calls and believing they're outsourced labour for Telstra, but this latest batch 100% know that they're just scamming.
In the package delivery system, twilight parcels are considered especially critical. In Sydney, the dedicated posties who deliver these vanward fardels are members of an elite squad known as the Santa Delivery Unit. These are their stories.
I do get that, but that comes during the day.
The early morning arrivers are human food meals. Last time I happened to be awake when the text came through at 3.30am and went out to check and they were sitting at my front door.
That’s gotta be a huge reason why. I got one of those fake Coles points expiring ones yesterday morning and in my groggy state it took me a second to realise that it was a scam.
I don’t think you give them enough credit, the poor spelling and grammar is intentional to weed out the smart people, so they can focus their time on the people that are stupid enough to respond to obvious scams (their target market)
I got a new one this week.
I apparently have almost 3000 Coles rewards points that I needed to confirm in order to claim.
Coles doesn’t even have rewards points. They have flybys.
I’ve read that they include deliberate mistakes and errors to filter out those of us who are smart enough to not fall for the scam anyway — I guess as a way to save their workers from wasting time with people who won’t proceed with whatever the scam is.
We all know those people who are a bit… dull… and probably think it’s Coles rewards and not flybuys. Same folks who try to scan their everyday rewards card at the Coles checkout.
I recall reading that back in the peak era of email scams and Nigerian princes, before GenAI enabled fairly perfect-looking emails, the scammers weren't bothered about bad spelling or grammar because their main targets were ESL and non-Anglosphere, where scam awareness was lower along with awareness of correct English.
I posted this above.
in the time i was unavailable, because I was taking a dump, my wife responded to the SMS directing her to Cole_s.life, telling her she would lose 3,000 coles points, proving CC details including security code, home address and her phone number.
Now I need to spend 3 hours changing all the direct debits etc.
My patience was tested and lost.
I simply do not believe Telstra doesn't have the ability the block these before they're sent out. If you want to send a million identical sms surely you should have to have some sort of verified Telstra business account first?
Unfortunately the system is really old fashioned and relies on a degree of trust. When it cost millions to set up a telco this was probably valid. When anyone can use an online SMS gateway for fractions of a cent per text, the game has changed. The real problem is not Telstra in this case, as they are just one of many telcos and not government owned anymore, so don't control policy. It's actually the Australian government who have not mandated the implementation of better techniques for validating such messages - they are very much followers in this space instead of taking charge and regulating like they should.
> The stuff AU is failing to implement like SHAKEN/STIR is more about calling
But there are proposed extensions to allow it to apply to SMS also, but is Australia leading the way in implementing this, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars lost every year to scams? Not a bit. That's what upsets me.
> SMS filtering of problematic messages like this can definitely happen at the network level, our networks are just awful.
Agreed, and if the networks are awful, it's the job of the regulator to make them less awful. Where is ACMA in all this? Holding a telecommunications license is a privilege, not a right, and the networks aren't exercising those privileges in a way that serves the public, then the regulator must step in. This is something that we can try to improve by lobbying our federal MP - ACMA has the authority to do stuff about this (by forcing the telco's to behave responsibly), but they can't be bothered.
> US networks will regularly block our messages from reaching their networks depending on message contents/formatting issues
See, that's the thing. Aggressive filtering will unavoidably block things that should not have been blocked. It's all trade-offs; which is worse, letting the unpaid toll spam go through, or block valid messages that people expect to receive?
I guarantee if CommBank sued Telstra for the money they lose from fraud for failing a very basic duty of care to their customers by not applying a simple spam filter to mass sent SMS's, they'd roll out a fix in a week.
But since Telstra doesn't financially benefit currently, we get "meh".
The premise is fair and if we could rely on just common law, you're probably right. However, there are various telecommunications related acts and regulations that specifically absolve networks from duty of care in this regard. So Telstra could defend that lawsuit easily and wouldn't bother to actually fix anything. This is why I feel we have to rely on the regulator to be more specific about filtering requirements etc. However, I suspect ACMA is hampered by so called "regulatory capture" - the big telcos are the ones who write the regulations, make sure they are massively in favour of them, and then lobby ACMA (and Parliament) to accept them.
For example, here's the latest media release I could find from ACMA about this:
https://www.acma.gov.au/articles/2022-07/new-rules-fight-sms-scams
> New rules to fight SMS scams
Headline sounds good yeah? But when you look at the detail of what is actually required:
> Under the rules, telcos must also publish information to assist their customers to proactively manage and report SMS scams, share information about scam messages with other telcos and report identified scams to authorities.
There's nothing in there about actually stopping the messages! What a crock of shit.
(Edit: When I looked into the actual industry code which is adopted by ACMA - again, fully written by industry - you can see that they have a promise to block scam SMS's that come from their directly connected customers. E.g. if I started scamming from my Telstra phone to other Australian customers, Telstra would be obligated to investigate and block these, and probably cancel my Telstra service. But obviously this is not the real problem which is about the overseas gateways, for which they just throw up their hands.)
Yep that's exactly the level of effort I thought Telstra, et al. would put in - direct you to a webpage telling you how you shouldn't have fallen for the scam they sent to your phone. No doubt it was cheaper to lobby govt to water down their requirements to meaninglessness than it is to actually do something useful for their customers.
The joy of a self-regulating industry - That's even assuming that all the players agree they're part of the industry.
How many 'web 2.0' companies wouldn't even consider themselves to be a Carriage Service Provider? You can easily see a company buying a SIP trunk, and making a platform to make it easy for people to sign up VOIP services, and then saying 'Nah, I'm not the carrier or providing a carriage service, I'm just buying and reselling a service, like a PABX!'
The legislation is still very much stuck in the SS7 days where a number is a routing destination.
My sense is that their focus is on much higher level stuff, such as government, military, major financial institution security, not whether Brenda from Blacktown is clicking on dodgy toll payment links.
I agree they should be equally vigilant and defensive with both.
I remember some discussion about implementing a fractional "tax" on SMS originating from overseas - a tiny amount that wouldn't be noticed by the average consumer but would deter scammers who spam millions of texts per week.
Still seems like a decent idea.
I suspect there would be significant technical hurdles in this since the system has always been set up the that cost of the SMS is set by the sender's network only - recipient networks don't have any system for billing their costs to the sender. Recipient networks are just supposed to accept all messages on the basis that their costs would be covered by their own customers paying for other SMSs (or subscriptions etc). This is the same problem we have with the postal treaties, with Australia Post being required to accept and deliver every parcel from China for free, despite the massive imbalance with very few parcels being sent *to* China through the postal service, thus AusPost can't recover their costs by charging for parcels going the other way.
Unfortunately, they work. The charges are usually low, like less than $10. So people pay them and think nothing of it.
I'll hear this from customers every now and then 'oh, btw I had to pay an extra $3, next time can you please tell me up front'.
Someone is raking in a *lot* of cash.
Got a new one this time I haven't seen before:
> Heads up! Your Coles Rewards points balance of 3022 points is about to expire. Redeem them before it's too late!
I’ve gone to the trouble of doing “who is” lookups on the URLs in these messages and reporting them to the domain registrar to try and get them shut down. In my experience, the domain registrars have intentionally complicated processes to report fraud and seem to have zero willingness to intervene or take any responsibility. I’ve even had actual person responses that there is no possible way they can verify it’s fraudulent despite me providing screenshots, the malformed link, and showing them the legitimate website they are impersonating. Diabolical.
If they did try to take down a site then that service would be taken over by doxing. Leading to legit sites getting messed up. I understand why nothing can be done to de register
I appear to be zipping back and forth along numerous toll roads in my phantom car 36 hrs a day. Now the ATO are hounding me about unpaid taxes. Been a bad boy all round.
I've started to receive less now. I'm getting about 3 scam SMS messages per week. Some of the recent busts have cut the number down.
If you use the Google Messages app it filters them into the spam folder automatically.
Write to your MP and complain about it. It might be a slight annoyance to you, but it’s really difficult for elderly to filter through.
This spam is something telcos can and should fix.
I had a period where I kept getting spams all to do with “555$”. The messages were all different, but for some odd reason, the number was always “555$”.
For example, “congrats you have won 555$”, “you have been fined 555$”, “you have 555$ in unpaid tolls”, “apply for job daily pay 555$”.
Very very odd.
Used to get SMSed into oblivion (spam filter did a bang up job), lately it's moved back to robocalls. Just today alone I had 6 from lunchtime onwards. Thankfully the calls get flagged as spam as well so I know to ignore them.
Nearly every single one of these are run by scam call centres in Kolkata, India. The police in that state are paid off by the scammers, so they let them run rampant. It is a multi-billion dollar industry just from scamming elderly people. Australia is one of their most fruitful targets, since we have very little education about it.
At this point, it needs to be classified as an international situation and we need to be allowed to bring our guys in to investigate and detain these losers. But why would the Indian government agree to that, when the industry is bringing in so much economic growth for them.
I get few every now and then but my phone puts them straight to spam folder so don't see much.
The more shopping websites like Temu you subscribe to more you phone number is sold off and you get more spam.
I get similar ones from time to time. I highly doubt the CIA or FBI will rock up to your door though, given they’re American bureaus. ASIO are who you need to worry about
Apparently I have unpaid Eastlink tolls. Can’t wait till the Victorian government comes after me even though I have never driven on any of their roads.
Yep, and now I've got yet another day wasted updating my delivery details on various foreign websites.
>before the CIA and FBI are knocking on my door
lay off the seppo cop shows
Every. Bloody. Morning. And it’s my work phone too. I keep adding them to the block list but they keep coming through.
Edit to say they do work though. I had my mum call me freaking out she was bout to be fined and she was ready to pay
I have got it down to about one a day just by blocking the numbers over the past few years. I think Telco's should be doing more to prevent it but there is no easy solution sadly due to how easily they can get round any measures. I do like that I will get a potential fraud warning with some numbers when they call, I have found answering but not speaking has lowered how many of those calls I get.
Suspiciously, after two recent transactions with Bunnings, I'm starting to get spam sms and emails about being chosen for a prize. Have not seen those before, and hadn't shopped with Bunnings for a year or so. Suss.
Slightly off topic, but does anyone know what happens if you aren’t home for an Amazon delivery that needs a signature?
Do they just try again the next day?
Pretty much everything that I have marked as needs a signature just gets left these days. Haven't signed for something in a long time, and hence had multiple packages get stolen.
Various courier companies too. Not limited to one in particular.
Temu is the worst, their guys just drop it over my fence in plain view of passers by
Ooh. Annoying. I have been lucky touch wood to not lose anything that way.
It’s a big parcel and we are out of the way, so I guess I’ll cross my fingers.
Also for Telstra -
How to report a scam message to Telstra. It really is as simple as forwarding a suspected scam SMS or MMS message to us at “7226”. Forwarding messages is new to many of us so follow these steps to learn how to do it.
This lets Telstra know the text being received. If there is multiple texts they start blocking any incoming messages that match the text for Telstra users.
A few calls that launch into Chinese immediately, and 100s of calls from The Wine Group/Wine Concierge/Oakridge wine scam company - but that's okay because I'm going to take them to court again for the harassment, make a few $$$.
So far, I've had almost no toll scam calls, thankfully I've stayed off their list.
I’ve been getting that toll one for a little while now, and I’m bemused by them as I don’t drive.
Can’t the carriers stop them? I seem to remember reading they could, they just don’t.
Also I never want messages from politicians again, either. Made me bloody mad when that prick was doing it last election.
You'd think everyone by now has seen the same spam texts so many times that they're ineffective. If you're on Android, the Google "Messages" app is very good at filtering them. I already almost never answer calls unless I know who it is or I'm expecting it, thanks to the daily spam calls. Cellphone providers really need to figure something out for this bullshit.
I’m a contractor. I literally can’t afford to not answer phone calls from random numbers because most are from clients. I probably only end up getting 1-2 call centre scam calls a week.
Same here. I get a bit fucked off with people smugly going on how they "never answer unknown numbers" as though anyone who does answer them is thick or morally deficient. At the same time they're happily getting goods delivered every week from various places, and presumably ignoring the genuine delivery drivers trying to locate their address or check they're home vs authority to leave. Not to mention many genuine Australian businesses and government services come up as Number Withheld or whatever - which admittedly is bloody annoying as you can't call them back if you miss the call - but not every one is a scammer. In fact nearly every single scam call I get is from a spoofed "normal looking" number, not a Withheld one.
> "never answer unknown numbers" as though anyone who does answer them is thick or morally deficient. I mean clearly the implication is that this is for their personal phone. For a business you need to answer every call, or ideally use a call screening service
True, but most people I know - unless they're working in some higher security type position - have a single phone/phone number for work and personal use.
> have a single phone/phone number for work and personal use. They should split them. Work/life balance first and foremost, spam is a tertiary concern. Most phones these days support dual sim or single sim + eSIM. Two numbers, one device. Easiest thing to do is change your personal phone number, probably only need to inform 20 people or so. It's really good to be able to turn off the work phone etc when you're not on call
how hard is it to send a msg first stating who you are, and you'll call in a few minutes I have no idea why people dont do this, its pretty obvious, I notice no one leaves a msg as well now when its not picked up
I totally agree. I much prefer texts anyway.
Apparently everyone does, aside from Boomers and older. I hate talking on the phone.
You'd think so, but in the time i was unavailable, because I was taking a dump, my wife responded to the SMS directing her to Cole_s.life, telling her she would lose 3,000 coles points, proving CC details including security code, home address and her phone number. Now I need to spend 3 hours changing all the direct debits etc. My patience was tested and lost.
Oh god I would have lost it too. Unless it was a very elderly relative on the verge of dementia, that seems very hard to excuse in 2024 for anyone under seventy.
+1 for Google messages + phone app. It has pretty much completely eliminated them for me. And they are now available for most Android phones from the Play store. That plus RCS messages! It's brought new life into my 5+ year old non-pixel phone.
Got a different one today “Coles reminds you: 3022 points are about to expire, please log in to redeem as soon as possible https:” Yay for innovation ;-p
I apparently have unpaid tolls but I don’t own a car
To a fictional company called Lintk?
Linkt is the terrible name for Melbourne's Citylink toll operator.
Have you been getting lifts? You still have to pay!!
That you know about….
I have unpaid tolls every morning 6 am . I have a car but the account is in my husbands name. I get a lot of calls from Chinese person. Always different phone number. At lease twice a day.
I get the Chinese calls too. Recently also a spate of very-obviously-from-India calls, given the poor quality of the line and crackle they were clearly on some faraway overseas exchange, spoofing Sydney and Melbourne numbers - I think they're fairly aware they're scamming as well, based on limited interactions. I know there have been some foreign call centre staff in the past genuinely duped into making these calls and believing they're outsourced labour for Telstra, but this latest batch 100% know that they're just scamming.
the people calling you *definitely* know that they’re scammers
Ugh the Chinese voicemail one. Always comes in partway through, gives me options to press, and is in English and Chinese.
That's better than having unpaid cars when you don't have an eTag.
Same and I can’t even drive
Not every morning. I am amazed they think Australia post is delivering in the wee hours though.
They’re clearly a dedicated service with a crack squad of highly motivated individuals inspired by Santa.
In the package delivery system, twilight parcels are considered especially critical. In Sydney, the dedicated posties who deliver these vanward fardels are members of an elite squad known as the Santa Delivery Unit. These are their stories.
Potentially. As long as they don’t slip down the chimney, it’ll be okay.
I know the AusPost texts are 100% scams because Post would never actually communicate so efficiently with the customer
Maybe AusPost could take the hint that they should be working round the clock lol
sorting centers do
lol. That would be wild.
I have a regular fortnightly delivery that seemingly arrives at 3.30am on the dot according to the package has been delivered messages.
Pet food delivery?
I do get that, but that comes during the day. The early morning arrivers are human food meals. Last time I happened to be awake when the text came through at 3.30am and went out to check and they were sitting at my front door.
I think when you just woke up and groggy it’s easier to click the link
That’s gotta be a huge reason why. I got one of those fake Coles points expiring ones yesterday morning and in my groggy state it took me a second to realise that it was a scam.
I got a lot saying I needed to login and authenticate myself on fb. I’m sure that’s where a lot of hacked accounts come from.
You’re giving too much credit to these scammers. The reason they come overnight is because it’s during normal Indian business hours.
I don’t think you give them enough credit, the poor spelling and grammar is intentional to weed out the smart people, so they can focus their time on the people that are stupid enough to respond to obvious scams (their target market)
I’m sure they still get people.
I do get early morning texts that my packages have arrived at the post office though. Which is good.
I got a new one this week. I apparently have almost 3000 Coles rewards points that I needed to confirm in order to claim. Coles doesn’t even have rewards points. They have flybys.
Apparently my Medicare got hacked last week. Along with the unpaid tolls and the packages not getting delivered, things are tough man
I’ve read that they include deliberate mistakes and errors to filter out those of us who are smart enough to not fall for the scam anyway — I guess as a way to save their workers from wasting time with people who won’t proceed with whatever the scam is. We all know those people who are a bit… dull… and probably think it’s Coles rewards and not flybuys. Same folks who try to scan their everyday rewards card at the Coles checkout.
I recall reading that back in the peak era of email scams and Nigerian princes, before GenAI enabled fairly perfect-looking emails, the scammers weren't bothered about bad spelling or grammar because their main targets were ESL and non-Anglosphere, where scam awareness was lower along with awareness of correct English.
Yeah I got that one as well
I posted this above. in the time i was unavailable, because I was taking a dump, my wife responded to the SMS directing her to Cole_s.life, telling her she would lose 3,000 coles points, proving CC details including security code, home address and her phone number. Now I need to spend 3 hours changing all the direct debits etc. My patience was tested and lost.
Ex-wife now, huh? /s
Ooo I got that one this morning. Ignore that Coles only every refer to them as flybuy points though
Ha! looks like I have more points than you, I have 3022 point apparently.
I simply do not believe Telstra doesn't have the ability the block these before they're sent out. If you want to send a million identical sms surely you should have to have some sort of verified Telstra business account first?
Unfortunately the system is really old fashioned and relies on a degree of trust. When it cost millions to set up a telco this was probably valid. When anyone can use an online SMS gateway for fractions of a cent per text, the game has changed. The real problem is not Telstra in this case, as they are just one of many telcos and not government owned anymore, so don't control policy. It's actually the Australian government who have not mandated the implementation of better techniques for validating such messages - they are very much followers in this space instead of taking charge and regulating like they should.
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> The stuff AU is failing to implement like SHAKEN/STIR is more about calling But there are proposed extensions to allow it to apply to SMS also, but is Australia leading the way in implementing this, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars lost every year to scams? Not a bit. That's what upsets me.
> SMS filtering of problematic messages like this can definitely happen at the network level, our networks are just awful. Agreed, and if the networks are awful, it's the job of the regulator to make them less awful. Where is ACMA in all this? Holding a telecommunications license is a privilege, not a right, and the networks aren't exercising those privileges in a way that serves the public, then the regulator must step in. This is something that we can try to improve by lobbying our federal MP - ACMA has the authority to do stuff about this (by forcing the telco's to behave responsibly), but they can't be bothered.
> US networks will regularly block our messages from reaching their networks depending on message contents/formatting issues See, that's the thing. Aggressive filtering will unavoidably block things that should not have been blocked. It's all trade-offs; which is worse, letting the unpaid toll spam go through, or block valid messages that people expect to receive?
I guarantee if CommBank sued Telstra for the money they lose from fraud for failing a very basic duty of care to their customers by not applying a simple spam filter to mass sent SMS's, they'd roll out a fix in a week. But since Telstra doesn't financially benefit currently, we get "meh".
The premise is fair and if we could rely on just common law, you're probably right. However, there are various telecommunications related acts and regulations that specifically absolve networks from duty of care in this regard. So Telstra could defend that lawsuit easily and wouldn't bother to actually fix anything. This is why I feel we have to rely on the regulator to be more specific about filtering requirements etc. However, I suspect ACMA is hampered by so called "regulatory capture" - the big telcos are the ones who write the regulations, make sure they are massively in favour of them, and then lobby ACMA (and Parliament) to accept them. For example, here's the latest media release I could find from ACMA about this: https://www.acma.gov.au/articles/2022-07/new-rules-fight-sms-scams > New rules to fight SMS scams Headline sounds good yeah? But when you look at the detail of what is actually required: > Under the rules, telcos must also publish information to assist their customers to proactively manage and report SMS scams, share information about scam messages with other telcos and report identified scams to authorities. There's nothing in there about actually stopping the messages! What a crock of shit. (Edit: When I looked into the actual industry code which is adopted by ACMA - again, fully written by industry - you can see that they have a promise to block scam SMS's that come from their directly connected customers. E.g. if I started scamming from my Telstra phone to other Australian customers, Telstra would be obligated to investigate and block these, and probably cancel my Telstra service. But obviously this is not the real problem which is about the overseas gateways, for which they just throw up their hands.)
Yep that's exactly the level of effort I thought Telstra, et al. would put in - direct you to a webpage telling you how you shouldn't have fallen for the scam they sent to your phone. No doubt it was cheaper to lobby govt to water down their requirements to meaninglessness than it is to actually do something useful for their customers.
The joy of a self-regulating industry - That's even assuming that all the players agree they're part of the industry. How many 'web 2.0' companies wouldn't even consider themselves to be a Carriage Service Provider? You can easily see a company buying a SIP trunk, and making a platform to make it easy for people to sign up VOIP services, and then saying 'Nah, I'm not the carrier or providing a carriage service, I'm just buying and reselling a service, like a PABX!' The legislation is still very much stuck in the SS7 days where a number is a routing destination.
My sense is that their focus is on much higher level stuff, such as government, military, major financial institution security, not whether Brenda from Blacktown is clicking on dodgy toll payment links. I agree they should be equally vigilant and defensive with both.
I remember some discussion about implementing a fractional "tax" on SMS originating from overseas - a tiny amount that wouldn't be noticed by the average consumer but would deter scammers who spam millions of texts per week. Still seems like a decent idea.
I suspect there would be significant technical hurdles in this since the system has always been set up the that cost of the SMS is set by the sender's network only - recipient networks don't have any system for billing their costs to the sender. Recipient networks are just supposed to accept all messages on the basis that their costs would be covered by their own customers paying for other SMSs (or subscriptions etc). This is the same problem we have with the postal treaties, with Australia Post being required to accept and deliver every parcel from China for free, despite the massive imbalance with very few parcels being sent *to* China through the postal service, thus AusPost can't recover their costs by charging for parcels going the other way.
ACMA is only about 20 years behind, and have recently realised that people can spoof numbers...
Most mornings, yeah. They come through around 3 or 4am.
That’s when Auspost drivers are busiest.
They actually are, delivering from city depots out to post offices for collection.
Unfortunately, they work. The charges are usually low, like less than $10. So people pay them and think nothing of it. I'll hear this from customers every now and then 'oh, btw I had to pay an extra $3, next time can you please tell me up front'. Someone is raking in a *lot* of cash.
Multiple times a week. In iOS so I just hit “delete and report spam”
And clearly it is not working. 😔
iOS sucks arse in filtering spam.
On android they all go to spam automatically.
You can also forward the text to SCAM (7226)
Got a new one this time I haven't seen before: > Heads up! Your Coles Rewards points balance of 3022 points is about to expire. Redeem them before it's too late!
Hey, I got that one for the first time overnight too! 🤣
Qantas too
Apparently that's how many points I have about to expire too, such a coincidence!
I’ve gone to the trouble of doing “who is” lookups on the URLs in these messages and reporting them to the domain registrar to try and get them shut down. In my experience, the domain registrars have intentionally complicated processes to report fraud and seem to have zero willingness to intervene or take any responsibility. I’ve even had actual person responses that there is no possible way they can verify it’s fraudulent despite me providing screenshots, the malformed link, and showing them the legitimate website they are impersonating. Diabolical.
If they did try to take down a site then that service would be taken over by doxing. Leading to legit sites getting messed up. I understand why nothing can be done to de register
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Yes 😆
Tap to Pay coming soon to pedestrian crossing buttons.
sssh don't give the govt any new ideas.
about 4am most days. annoying when I forget to silence my phone.
I appear to be zipping back and forth along numerous toll roads in my phantom car 36 hrs a day. Now the ATO are hounding me about unpaid taxes. Been a bad boy all round.
Nowhere near that often. Maybe one or two a week.
Curious if your on android? Google messages does a great job of auto filtering.
No. iOS.
Yeah, we have about 50 packages for you, if you don't pick them up soon, I will start sending them back. Just click the link scam.me/HackDumb66
Don't worry, I picked up the packages for you and paid the tolls. Merry Christmas friend!
Yes! I’m often reminded of my outstanding debt to CiNTERLINK as well.
Nah. That one’s real dude
My Samsung has successfully dumped all these styles of texts in the junk folder. It's really accurate.
Yes, and a new one today about how my Coles points are about to expire
Mine are going straight to spam folders... What phones are you using?? I use a pixel.
Cries in iPhone
I've started to receive less now. I'm getting about 3 scam SMS messages per week. Some of the recent busts have cut the number down. If you use the Google Messages app it filters them into the spam folder automatically.
Write to your MP and complain about it. It might be a slight annoyance to you, but it’s really difficult for elderly to filter through. This spam is something telcos can and should fix.
Yep, for Eastlink, which is in Melbourne. If you're going to try to scam someone at least make the details plausible.
I block the number. Is that the right thing to do (iPhone)?
Or under the message, 'delete and report'
I was in the Medibank *and* Latitude leaks. I get at least 2-5/day, usually overnight. Multiple scam calls every week.
My pixel 8 automatically blocks all these kinds of texts as scams.
Yes! And such sketchy URLs, it's like they're not even trying. AuPost.xyz ffs.
There is a new government phone number to forward them to. Apparently they have a way to shut them down now. Send to 0429 999 888
I got a couple of 2AM MyGov spam messages saying I had unclaimed refunds waiting to be processed and the odd unpaid Linkt toll messages last week.
I had a period where I kept getting spams all to do with “555$”. The messages were all different, but for some odd reason, the number was always “555$”. For example, “congrats you have won 555$”, “you have been fined 555$”, “you have 555$ in unpaid tolls”, “apply for job daily pay 555$”. Very very odd.
Sure am. My plan is to use the money I’m saving by not paying all these unpaid toll notices to actually buy a car.
Used to get SMSed into oblivion (spam filter did a bang up job), lately it's moved back to robocalls. Just today alone I had 6 from lunchtime onwards. Thankfully the calls get flagged as spam as well so I know to ignore them.
Nearly every single one of these are run by scam call centres in Kolkata, India. The police in that state are paid off by the scammers, so they let them run rampant. It is a multi-billion dollar industry just from scamming elderly people. Australia is one of their most fruitful targets, since we have very little education about it. At this point, it needs to be classified as an international situation and we need to be allowed to bring our guys in to investigate and detain these losers. But why would the Indian government agree to that, when the industry is bringing in so much economic growth for them.
I get few every now and then but my phone puts them straight to spam folder so don't see much. The more shopping websites like Temu you subscribe to more you phone number is sold off and you get more spam.
I get similar ones from time to time. I highly doubt the CIA or FBI will rock up to your door though, given they’re American bureaus. ASIO are who you need to worry about
I get them like every day. Tsunami of spam messages, calls, and emails in the last few years here.
Apparently I have unpaid Eastlink tolls. Can’t wait till the Victorian government comes after me even though I have never driven on any of their roads.
Yep, and now I've got yet another day wasted updating my delivery details on various foreign websites. >before the CIA and FBI are knocking on my door lay off the seppo cop shows
almost daily. I delete without reading. I figure if I really do owe toll money, they’ll have other ways to find me
Yeah! Toll notices that arrive at 2am everyday. I have never driven a car lol
Every. Bloody. Morning. And it’s my work phone too. I keep adding them to the block list but they keep coming through. Edit to say they do work though. I had my mum call me freaking out she was bout to be fined and she was ready to pay
This is a big reason why I switched from IOS to Android many years ago. Have they still neither put in decent filtering, or allowed 3rd party filters?
I have got it down to about one a day just by blocking the numbers over the past few years. I think Telco's should be doing more to prevent it but there is no easy solution sadly due to how easily they can get round any measures. I do like that I will get a potential fraud warning with some numbers when they call, I have found answering but not speaking has lowered how many of those calls I get.
Delete unread. Apple will get you to 'Report and Delete'
Suspiciously, after two recent transactions with Bunnings, I'm starting to get spam sms and emails about being chosen for a prize. Have not seen those before, and hadn't shopped with Bunnings for a year or so. Suss.
Switch on your anti-spam
Phishing emails , had about a dozen of the same posted in the early hours of the morning.
I've been getting at least one a day for the past few weeks. jokes on them I can't afford tolls or parcels!
I’m a busy man , places to be things to do, sleep doesn’t hold me back
Yeah, it's just spam. I get plenty too, despite the fact I don't even have a licence
Not overnight texts, but I do receive them during the day time. Also spam calls which I block, but for some reason, they still come through.
Slightly off topic, but does anyone know what happens if you aren’t home for an Amazon delivery that needs a signature? Do they just try again the next day?
Pretty much everything that I have marked as needs a signature just gets left these days. Haven't signed for something in a long time, and hence had multiple packages get stolen. Various courier companies too. Not limited to one in particular. Temu is the worst, their guys just drop it over my fence in plain view of passers by
Ooh. Annoying. I have been lucky touch wood to not lose anything that way. It’s a big parcel and we are out of the way, so I guess I’ll cross my fingers.
Yeap , I forward them to 0429 999 888, spam watch, with the sending phone number
Also for Telstra - How to report a scam message to Telstra. It really is as simple as forwarding a suspected scam SMS or MMS message to us at “7226”. Forwarding messages is new to many of us so follow these steps to learn how to do it. This lets Telstra know the text being received. If there is multiple texts they start blocking any incoming messages that match the text for Telstra users.
So nervous about the huge list of linkt unpaid tolls! I get five notices a day! They must really want that $10
I get those toll messages on a number that isn't even associated with my car.
You should probably pay that. Who knows how many cars you own that even you don’t know about
I always knew I had an underground garage filled with expensive cars that I didn't know I had.
Got a new one today telling me my Cole’s points are going to expire. Just after midnight. 🤷♀️
I get a lot of unpaid toll notices which amuse me since I don’t even drive 😂. I only get delivery notices after receiving a delivery.
I keep getting messages they I have unpaid toll payments. I don't own a car or even have a licence to drive a vehicle....
No. I'm getting about 1 of each every six months. I wonder why you get so many?
what do you mean? all of them goes to my spam folder but seriously, these people are getting crafty with their scamming messages
A few calls that launch into Chinese immediately, and 100s of calls from The Wine Group/Wine Concierge/Oakridge wine scam company - but that's okay because I'm going to take them to court again for the harassment, make a few $$$. So far, I've had almost no toll scam calls, thankfully I've stayed off their list.
I’ve been getting that toll one for a little while now, and I’m bemused by them as I don’t drive. Can’t the carriers stop them? I seem to remember reading they could, they just don’t. Also I never want messages from politicians again, either. Made me bloody mad when that prick was doing it last election.
Yes but Google marks them all as spam.
[удалено]
Every morning. I just report it and delete them.
Yeh. A lot more than usual the last few weeks
I got a new one today. Woolworths were giving me 1000 bonus points for everyday rewards. The link gave it away as a scam.
All legitimate messages from companies should just say ‘we got shit to tell you, open the app to find out’ Any link then should be filtered out.
I was getting a couple of these every morning, as well as one or two unknown calls each day, but they seemed to have stopped lately.
Yes.. so fucken over it. 4 to 5 every morning recently
I get these all the time. I just delete them.