Latest scam(s) doing the rounds

I have just been sent a Renew your Carte Vitale email. All the logos and 3 pages to fill in looked genuine, but I was not convinced as to why I needed to renew it.
On the last page after name and address it asked for a code to be put in. A code was duly sent to my phone from my bank. Strangely it showed my latest balance saying I had made a purchase to the sum of …!! Needless to say I didn`t enter the code.
If you get one of these do not click on anything and report it to your bank and check your statement.
The whole form is very plausible and I am sure has fooled many people who will now have lost their money.
Scam emails are a way of life now, but how did they get into my bank and show my exact balance.
I am off to the branch tomorrow to change account and get a new card.
This is the clue that gives away spam emails - <id97@ etc etc the 97 number may change.

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Presumably the email was in French?

Ouch - glad your 6th sense kicked in just in time.

Did the email have a link to click to start the process off?

The usual advice is not to follow links in email but to go straight to the website by typing a URL that you know to be correct directly into your browser.

Grateful for the tip-off, Margaret. You’ve done us a favour and maybe saved some of us from a nasty surprise, and even a disaster, who knows? :scream:

Yes it is, and looks exactly like the heading from any official French government site.

Perhaps we should re-post this every year… :thinking:

@Maggie1

Whilst your thread is about carte vitale (which is under Health Care) I think it is really worthwhile to have your message on General as well… cheers.

However we do it… we need to alert folk to what is going on… try to save them from themselves :crazy_face: and none of us can feel sure we will are immune to these very clever scams…

Well caught, Margaret.

Are you aware you can check the headers on any email (https://mxtoolbox.com/EmailHeaders.aspx) to find out where the mail actually came from? The process of seeing the headers depends on your mail client but searching “email headers outlook” (insert email client of choice) should provide instructions.

In any case its worth knowing that this can be done.

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Hi Guy - yes I did know but wanted to fill in the form to see what they actually wanted. It is the code from the bank that then accesses your account and the money vanishes.
Any of those tests so worth just taking the time to do and could save a lot of heartache.
Hopefully as you have highlighted the site people will use it.

Mmm… Margaret. If I have a suspect email I don’t click on anything at all within it… :zipper_mouth_face:

From all sides, best advice is not to access any site via an email link… recommendation and safest bet is to access a site through the proper portal on Google or whatever …

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Excellent info; but what still puzzles me is the ‘acess to bank’ bit - and the up-to-date balance. I’m stupid - but can anyone explain how that happened ?
I’ve been receiving all kinds of weird scam e-mails -I’ve been forwarding them all and bombarding abuse@orange - ‘orange’ are probably sick of me by now !!

I wonder if you have a gremlin in your computer/whatever… Do you have a really strong anti-virus/security thingy ??

Stella - who are you asking ?

I am asking whoever keeps receiving scam emails… especially with “access to bank” bits… Seems more than one person is getting dodgy stuff.

OH keeps upgrading our Security and that keeps things at bay for a while…

Hi, I was almost caught on a similar scam today but for a netflix subscription renewal. Fortunately, my bank stopped it. I’ve ordered a new card just to be sure too.

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Seriously. Everyone. NEVER click on a link in an email that’s asking for money. Type / google the address in a browser (as Stella said) and ideally check the headers too!

NOT click bait…

and the linked BBC article referred to by BlackBeltBarrister:

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Less serious but fun to read