Piano and welder scams are two variations of the same tactic: the scammer claims to offer a large valuable item for free, but then tells anyone who replies that they’ll need to pay to have the item shipped from out of town. At that point, the scammer will provide an email address for a supposed … Continue reading Piano and welder scams impersonating real people from UVic
If you get an unsolicited email that offers to give away something valuable for free and it’s not from someone you know, it’s probably too good to be true. This is very likely to be the case when someone says they are giving away a late family member’s grand piano–emails of that sort are a … Continue reading Yamaha Piano donation
If you received an email claiming to give away piano for free, it is a scam. Keep in mind, if it is too good to be true offer, it probably is. The scammer is impersonating UVic members to make the offer look legit, nevertheless, it is a scam. The email address of the sender is … Continue reading Opportunity to own a Grand Baby Piano
This is not the first time we’ve posted about piano scams, but this one is unusually well-crafted and also takes the extra step of impersonating President Kevin Hall. The sender email address in the example below even looks like it came from within UVic, but in reality it was spoofed. The fact that the email … Continue reading Free Yamaha Baby Grand Piano
If you receive an email out of the blue from someone you don’t know, and it offers something of value for free, be extremely wary. More likely than not, the offer is a scam. For more information on these types of scams, see this article from Brown University’s Phish Bowl Alerts. The scammers seem to … Continue reading Grand Piano
This is a variation of the free piano/welding machine/tool box scams. There are some slight differences though, usually they will include a reply to email address, in this case they replaced that with a phone number. This evasion tactic is to avoid email security detection methods and isolate the communication with the victim. They are … Continue reading Donation of Late Husband’s Gadgets to Students and Staffs
This scam has been circulating recently on campus. It is not a new idea but a variation of the well-known “Piano scam” and “Welding machine” scam. The scenario is the same – something expensive is donated, and you only have to pay the delivery fee. You send the money, and you never see any piano, … Continue reading Charitable donation / Airstream trailer
Similar to the ‘grand piano’ scam, other large items, such as welding tools, are also being offered in recent scams. The common thread among all these offers is this: if you express interest in the item, you are asked to pay for the shipping costs. The scammers’ goal is to get you to send them … Continue reading Disposal of welding machine and tools boxs
