This topic

Got this email today - is it a Scam???

clique-al — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 07:52:01 GMT

Can anyone confirm if this is genuine from BT update - asset ???

Have already forwarded to BT phishing as think it looks suspicious.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

steephill — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 22:48:39 GMT

It is a scam, delete it.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

gg30340 — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 22:52:51 GMT

It is a scam. Please remove the scammers email address that you have posted so that no one clicks on it!

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

DavidM — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 07:52:56 GMT

Hi @clique-al and thanks for posting.

This is most certainly a scam. I've edited the address for you.

Cheers

David

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

clique-al — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 13:59:30 GMT

Hi @DavidM, Thanks for removing the scam email address.
Cheers, Al

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

old_email — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 07:04:38 GMT

How on earth can BT not pick up or even mark as suspicious the scam emails telling folk that their BT services are due for deletion/expiry/renewal. The emails aren't even clever to anyone who has a clue. Today I received two, one to my xxxx@btinternet.com address and another to my xxxx1@btinternet.com address.

Subject: Account update🔔
Dear Mail User
We will be closing all of our old BT Email versions on September 1st, 2023 Based on the information we have in our records, your BT account has not been upgraded to our new version.
Click on the account revalidated button to continue receiving all mail on hold

Years ago they were boasting about how clever the detection systems were and this was in the context of deleting, without notification, valid emails. Have they just given up?

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

Andy_N — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 19:14:34 GMT

@old_emailwrote:
How on earth can BT not pick up or even mark as suspicious the scam emails telling folk that their BT services are due for deletion/expiry/renewal. The emails aren't even clever to anyone who has a clue. Today I received two, one to my xxxx@btinternet.com address and another to my xxxx1@btinternet.com address.
Subject: Account update🔔
Dear Mail User
We will be closing all of our old BT Email versions on September 1st, 2023 Based on the information we have in our records, your BT account has not been upgraded to our new version.
Click on the account revalidated button to continue receiving all mail on hold
Years ago they were boasting about how clever the detection systems were and this was in the context of deleting, without notification, valid emails. Have they just given up?

You would think it was obvious, but that's not how anti-spam systems work. They (currently) don't read emails like we do. It's possible that future AI systems could thwart these - but equally spammers might use AI systems to write better spam ... So the fight will continue.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

old_email — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 08:09:43 GMT

@Andy_Nwrote:
@old_emailwrote:
How on earth can BT not pick up or even mark as suspicious the scam emails telling folk that their BT services are due for deletion/expiry/renewal. The emails aren't even clever to anyone who has a clue. Today I received two, one to my xxxx@btinternet.com address and another to my xxxx1@btinternet.com address.
Subject: Account update🔔
Dear Mail User
We will be closing all of our old BT Email versions on September 1st, 2023 Based on the information we have in our records, your BT account has not been upgraded to our new version.
Click on the account revalidated button to continue receiving all mail on hold
Years ago they were boasting about how clever the detection systems were and this was in the context of deleting, without notification, valid emails. Have they just given up?

You would think it was obvious, but that's not how anti-spam systems work. They (currently) don't read emails like we do. It's possible that future AI systems could thwart these - but equally spammers might use AI systems to write better spam ... So the fight will continue.

I didn't cite all the headers and links as I deemed it unecessary. Are you saying that is not how BT anti-spam systems work, or all anti-spam systems work?

I've used Bayesian systems over 15 years ago as a front end to one of my email clients which would, after a few weeks of training, classify (yes I mean, work, hobby, banking, spam etc) with 98% accuracy. I use other ISP email systems for more important stuff (as BT don't seem to have the systems in place) which accurately detect spam/scam, put the items in a spam/scam folder and notify me that there is something in that folder.

Other main email providers at least have a decent attempt at determining whether something is spam.

There are many add-ons, see https://www.comparitech.com/net-admin/anti-spam-software/ just as a quick example.

It seems to me that BTInternet have simply given up and would be happy to relieve themselves of having to provide users with email, let alone secure email when the need to do so is continuously increasing.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

gg30340 — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 11:52:28 GMT

@old_email wrote:

It seems to me that BTInternet have simply given up and would be happy to relieve themselves of having to provide users with email, let alone secure email when the need to do so is continuously increasing.

BT have stopped providing new customers with email and if an existing customer has not already set up an email account they will not now be able to do so.

With that in mind it is probable that BT will cease their email service at some point in the not to distant future in the same way as Virgin have and no doubt other ISP will do.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

Andy_N — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 18:07:28 GMT

@old_emailwrote:
@Andy_Nwrote:
@old_emailwrote:
How on earth can BT not pick up or even mark as suspicious the scam emails telling folk that their BT services are due for deletion/expiry/renewal. The emails aren't even clever to anyone who has a clue. Today I received two, one to my xxxx@btinternet.com address and another to my xxxx1@btinternet.com address.
Subject: Account update🔔
Dear Mail User
We will be closing all of our old BT Email versions on September 1st, 2023 Based on the information we have in our records, your BT account has not been upgraded to our new version.
Click on the account revalidated button to continue receiving all mail on hold
Years ago they were boasting about how clever the detection systems were and this was in the context of deleting, without notification, valid emails. Have they just given up?

You would think it was obvious, but that's not how anti-spam systems work. They (currently) don't read emails like we do. It's possible that future AI systems could thwart these - but equally spammers might use AI systems to write better spam ... So the fight will continue.
I didn't cite all the headers and links as I deemed it unecessary. Are you saying that is not how BT anti-spam systems work, or all anti-spam systems work?
I've used Bayesian systems over 15 years ago as a front end to one of my email clients which would, after a few weeks of training, classify (yes I mean, work, hobby, banking, spam etc) with 98% accuracy. I use other ISP email systems for more important stuff (as BT don't seem to have the systems in place) which accurately detect spam/scam, put the items in a spam/scam folder and notify me that there is something in that folder.

It seems to me that BTInternet have simply given up and would be happy to relieve themselves of having to provide users with email, let alone secure email when the need to do so is continuously increasing.

I didn't say that's how the systems work - it was the fact that obvious to us scam emails will not be to a machine. Spammers do get around anti-spam systems, some due to the vast amounts they still send - possibly swamping end ISP systems making them fail due to overload. Also the odd one now and again will get through after they've learnt a new signature etc - exactly what you were saying - with you quoting 98%. I would say if that was the case, then 2% spam could be a lot.

Systems will never be 100% accurate.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

old_email — Tue, 28 May 2024 19:09:58 GMT

So it continues, reported to BT, reported to report@phishing.gov.uk regularly since my original post.

Subject: We are updating our terms
Dear Mail User

We will be closing all of our old BT Email versions on May 28th, 2024 Based on the information we have in our records, your BT account has not been upgraded to our new version.
Click on the account revalidated button to continue receiving all mail on hold
url omitted for obvious reasons
To log in, you'll need your BT ID. This is usually your email address.

Managing Director,

Thanks for choosing BT!
BT Member services

So what is the point in reporting? No-one cares. No-one appears to be doing anything I get this email from "FeedBack" or "Feed Back" to three of my @btinternet address with monotonous regularity. "Feed back" regularly say "this is the last time" and I wish I could respond with "please make it so".

At the least BT could be blocking them .

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

gg30340 — Wed, 29 May 2024 06:05:47 GMT

Have you checked the email address of the email account that is actually sending the email and not just the one you see in the address box.

To do that either hover your mouse over the email address or select the email by placing a tick in the box to the left of the email then go to the more button in the menu bar and select view source.

This will sho the originating email address and if you do that you will most likely find each of the "same" emails come from a different source, hence when you are reporting them or block them it is only that source address that get blocked and not the hundreds of other source addreses the scammers use.

If it is very difficult for ISPs to filter out all spam but they do a good job given the many millions of spam emails that are sent every hour.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

old_email — Wed, 29 May 2024 07:13:26 GMT

So the robbers are much cleverer than the cops that are supposed to catch them. No self respecting spammer or scammer is going to use their real addresses, that's why they use a (changing) URL to capture the BT login details they request .

I had assumed that there were serious attempt being made to stop spams/scams beyond 1990s techniques. MXTOOLBOX does not report the URL as being blacklisted.

Bring back Mr Plod and his whistle.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

gg30340 — Wed, 29 May 2024 08:10:17 GMT

If it was as easy as you apparently think perhaps you should contact the ISPs and "cops" and tell them what they are doing wrong and show them the " correct" way they should have been using.

I'm sure they will be gratefull to find out what they have been doing wrong and finally be given the ultimate fix to rid the world of spam!

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

old_email — Wed, 29 May 2024 10:24:41 GMT

They can't afford me.

I guess folks haven't heard of, or can't be bothered with Naive Bayes classifier or similar, and there's this "new" thing called AI.

20 years ago I was running a Naive Bayes classifier incorporated in my email client and had I received this particular email firstly it probably would have been caught without training, and if I trained it once then that's all it would need. It was over 99.6% accurate in classifying not just spam but by type of email eg business hobby type or whatever. And that was on Windows XP

As I and others have reported this particular email then it should now still not be coming through, but it seems as if BT need the sender to come from "I'm-a-scammer-domain.com" to stand any chance of blocking it.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

gg30340 — Wed, 29 May 2024 10:33:12 GMT

Gosh if it's that easy why have you not made yourself a billionaire by selling your fix world wide.

I'm pretty sure all the ISPs world wide would pay loads of money to stop all the spam being sent and the money istitutions would chip in which would save them all the millions they pay out in compensation to customers who have fallen foul of scammers.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

old_email — Wed, 29 May 2024 10:56:11 GMT

One of life's missed opportunities and now as my username suggests I'm well retired and have more important matters to deal with.

But funny that it is only the btinernet accounts that persistently get these emails, not any of my accounts I use for financial, or even for social media.

Re: Got this email today - is it a Scam???

gg30340 — Wed, 29 May 2024 11:13:08 GMT

Do you not think that could be because the email content is directed towards BT customers.