Selling? Watch out for this scam.

fwdoz · Guru

Selling? Watch out for this scam.

dorian · Guru

If you have been watching the cybersecurity news, you'll be aware of a recent case in Western Australia where two prominent hackers were identified and charged. Be prepared for the AFP and FBI to take credit for the bust, whereas in fact the real work was done by these guys:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/08/two-alleged-teampcp-hackers-arrested-in-australia/

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/two-wa-men-charged-following-afp-fbi-wapf-disruption-alleged-global

-- Edited by dorian on Friday 28th of August 2026 09:05:04 AM

rmoor · Guru

That is a very long complex article.

Hackers and Cybercriminals should be tarred and feathered in the nude, then hung, drawn and quartered.
Maybe the medieval laws were more effective that the "patient" laws we now have that are entirely ineffective at deterring crime.

I recently received two letters from my electricity provider telling me their systems had been hacked.
They advised all my phone, address etc details were compromised.
Probably not an issue as we all probably have already suffered our details stolen multiple times anyway in recent decades.

Yesterday I was hit with 6 or 8 weird junk mail emails from the NRMA.
They all had the alphabet in their email address on screen before I deleted the lot.
Did make me wonder though if the NRMA also have been compromised?
I just checked my email, today it is "Disney" in there with multiple crap emails.
Mickey Mouse must have got his I.T. qualifications recently and has discovered a new vocation.

I think it is going to get so much worse once A.I. gets fully operational.
The internet has the potential to become a nightmare along the lines of "War of the Worlds" or the like coming true.

Those two hackers you mentioned above should face a firing squad, I hate hackers and the like with a passion.

rgren2 · Guru

So Im not the only one getting the NRMA BS emails.

rmoor · Guru

Ahh.

You got them too eh?
Probably just Phishing.

They are pretty dumb crooks though.
They send multiple emails with half a dozen different titles.
If they just sent one, they might have more effect.

Why don't the government do something about the phone scams.
Surely the phone providers can tell when a local number is being used to transit calls from overseas via a local provider.

I don't think enough is being done locally and overseas to avert this blight on society.
Find them, jail them (or better).

dorian · Guru

One of the crooks faces a maximum of 3 years under Australian law. The Americans will probably want them, too.

As for the NRMA, I sometimes get requests to respond to survey questions, but they use URLs like "something.nrma.com.au". How can we be sure that these are legitimate? I wish they would use something like "nrma.com.au/?survey=unique_survey_ID".

-- Edited by dorian on Friday 28th of August 2026 09:34:20 AM

rmoor · Guru

Three years is way too light.
That is not any sort of disincentive at all.

No wonder all of us are inundated with scams constantly.

dorian · Guru

Global Cybercrime Report 2026: Key Findings:

https://www.proxyrack.com/blog/global-cybercrime-report-2026/

Cybercrime is on track to cost the world $11.88 trillion in 2026, with the trajectory pointing toward $19.71 trillion by 2030. The threat industrialized over 2025: payment volumes fell as attack volumes climbed to record highs. AI lowered the barrier to entry for new attackers. Manufacturing absorbed the largest year-over-year ransomware surge. Third-party breaches doubled.

Trump is targeting the drug boats. I think there will come a time when these cyber crooks will be targeted in the same way. What's the alternative?

dorian · Guru

rmoor wrote:
Three years is way too light.
That is not any sort of disincentive at all.

The ringleader is facing a charge that could get him 20 years. I hope that he doesn't see a computer or any electronic gadget during his incarceration.