OD Scam Emails

[SandyBeaches]

My scam antenna is on high twitch alert as I've just had three suspicious enquiries one straight after the other via OD. To be honest we don't usually get many from OD.

Has anyone else noticed an increase?

Does anyone know what happens when you forward them to the great 'spoof@homeaway.com' email in the sky. Do they go straight to trash or does any action get taken? Realistically I suppose there's not a lot they can do.

[tavi]

For what it's worth I've never had one from OD.

Get plenty from other sources though....."banks", "shipping agents", people who just want to say "Hello" .........blah blah.

The ones from Banks I used to forward to the real bank in question - now I don't even bother to do that.

[Casscat]

I don't believe for one minute that any actual action is taken in respect of emails forwarded to spoof@, but I would hope that they at least collate statistics so that they can be aware of scam traffic volumes and the modus operandi of the moment.

[tavi]

I don't believe for one minute that any actual action is taken in respect of emails forwarded to spoof@, but I would hope that they at least collate statistics so that they can be aware of scam traffic volumes and the modus operandi of the moment.

You're absolutely right Cass, when they're coming through the listing site - the listing site really does need to know.

[greenbarn]

Just by way of contrast, and to illustrate what Customer Service and caring about your advertisers means, I received a smelly enquiry this morning from somebody calling himself Duncan (I don't think so) via Independent Cottages. Having read it twice my scamometer went red, then hit the bump stop when I tried to find the code given in the phone number.

So I thought I'd do the decent thing and drop the good people at IC an email so they could check it out when they started work. However, before I could do that they sent me an email warning of a scam from Duncan alerted by the number of scattergun enquiries he'd sent; all this before 8:00am.
I was impressed, but not surprised.
If OD did that I'd be utterly gobsmacked.

[Casscat]

If OD did that I'd be utterly gobsmacked.

So would I, because the database for OD/HA is many hundreds of times the size of IC. It's a bit like expecting HSBC to email customers with reports of every phishing scam. It just doesn't happen because it isn't feasible. I do think that OD and the other big sites should communicate more with their advertisers and that includes a newsletter which focuses on scams, how they are perpetrated and the latest tossy things doing the rounds, but OD/HA will never have the personal touch of a much smaller site.

[Nemo]

However, before I could do that they sent me an email warning of a scam from Duncan alerted by the number of scattergun enquiries he'd sent; all this before 8:00am.
I was impressed, but not surprised.
If OD did that I'd be utterly gobsmacked.

I received an enquiry from IC this morning, but her name was Carole. Sure enough before I'd even opened the email which would have had me deleting it anyway as it was an obvious scam, I too received an email warning from IC. Fab company. Just wish I was getting more enquiries from them as they have dropped off the radar this year.

[greenbarn]

If OD did that I'd be utterly gobsmacked.

So would I, because the database for OD/HA is many hundreds of times the size of IC. It's a bit like expecting HSBC to email customers with reports of every phishing scam. It just doesn't happen because it isn't feasible. I do think that OD and the other big sites should communicate more with their advertisers and that includes a newsletter which focuses on scams, how they are perpetrated and the latest tossy things doing the rounds, but OD/HA will never have the personal touch of a much smaller site.

It certainly wouldn't be difficult for OD to set up an alert that triggers when the same email address has fired off an unlikely number of contacts in a short space of time - the question is why would they bother, and why highlight or even acknowledge the possibility that they could be a conduit for fraud? The same question applies to the apparently perfectly reasonable suggestion that they should communicate with their advertisers when it's to the advertisers' advantage, but might portray OD/HA as even remotely vulnerable. It's not so much a case of the personal touch as of a cost/benefit analysis - what benefits would OD get from caring for or about a few of their advertisers that would make a significant - positive - difference to HA's bottom line?