Thread: license information scam?

An email or phone call to the police will either confirm or disprove this email. If fraudulent it will also alert the police to the fact it is happening so they can pursue whom ever is behind the fake emails and deal to them accordingly.

Originally Posted by csmiffy

@Marty Henry apparently not as good as they used to be.
Bakery in Dunedin do one more like you are thinking

Which one? Will have to give it a go next time I'm down that way

Sent from my SM-G390Y using Tapatalk

Or maybe I don't want to post screenshots, because I can't be arsed as they were on my partners phone and she has already deleted them - yes they can still be had but what is the point? I have already explained the content and why I am suspicious, and why I will not respond. I will not confirm with the police because the onus is on them, and the less contact I have with that institution the better.

Thanks to the member who confirmed they had received similar communication.

I will wait for a more formal, less suspicious communication such as an email or letter asking me to call the local station.

Originally Posted by exegenisis

Yep i am in Palmerston North.

The intent of the post was to see if anyone else had received these messages and if there was any inclination as to whether these are scam or not.

Why would an officer in qtown contact us?

They know all our details, there is nothing to confirm... No information has changed. So far as I am aware we are breaking no laws by not responding to a dubious request.

As to whether i contact the police, to confirm... The onus is on them to contact us through official channels, and to use communication methods not commonly associated with phishing scams.

The wording of the emails and text reeks of scam. I have had multiple security training sessions at work and these communications break almost every rule.

You never ask for a direct reply with personal information. You always ask the person to contact you by calling main office etc or to navigate to an online form themselves. Never click links or call the number in an email, or reply with info requested in an email.

BTW email headers are possible to fake.

This is why, up until November '19 as a shop we were required to obtain the ORIGINAL paperwork for a S43A form for mail order of firearms. Our local AO was insistent that scans and faxes were unacceptable as there was no way of identifying a fraudulent. Even scans and emails from police email addresses were unacceptable. The original will have pen indentations and a clear stamp "ink" over the signature. Then Auntie Cindy told us all that were were ONLY allowed to accept scans from a police station even though there is no way of verifying easily that this is where the email came from.

Originally Posted by exegenisis

BTW email headers are possible to fake.

Email headers will tell you everything you need, to determine if the email is legit or not.
If it's passed SPF, DKIM, DMARC, you can confidently assume it's coming from the domain it claims to be.
At the minimum it will have the email return path, so you can verify that it is going to the correct domain, and not a gmail, outlook.com, etc mail address.

The other points around links, embedded email addresses not matching, signature block missing, etc, all back this up very quickly.

Originally Posted by quentin

Email headers will tell you everything you need, to determine if the email is legit or not.
If it's passed SPF, DKIM, DMARC, you can confidently assume it's coming from the domain it claims to be.
At the minimum it will have the email return path, so you can verify that it is going to the correct domain, and not a gmail, outlook.com, etc mail address.

The other points around links, embedded email addresses not matching, signature block missing, etc, all back this up very quickly.

fuck man we are hunters and collectors , layman's terms would be good however I agree with the original op ...if its important they will make proper contact via more exactable means otherwise treat it like spam and completely ignore it.

Originally Posted by exegenisis

Yep i am in Palmerston North.

The intent of the post was to see if anyone else had received these messages and if there was any inclination as to whether these are scam or not.

Why would an officer in qtown contact us?

They know all our details, there is nothing to confirm... No information has changed. So far as I am aware we are breaking no laws by not responding to a dubious request.

As to whether i contact the police, to confirm... The onus is on them to contact us through official channels, and to use communication methods not commonly associated with phishing scams.

The wording of the emails and text reeks of scam. I have had multiple security training sessions at work and these communications break almost every rule.

You never ask for a direct reply with personal information. You always ask the person to contact you by callibg main office etc or to navigate to an online form themselves. Never click links or call the number in an email, or reply with info requested in an email.

BTW email headers are possible to fake.

@exegenisis There's another Matthew Jones who works for the Police... his role is in Firearms Administration.

As mentioned above... his e-mail will end @police.govt.nz

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

fuck man we are hunters and collectors , layman's terms would be good however I agree with the original op ...if its important they will make proper contact via more exactable means otherwise treat it like spam and completely ignore it.

Fair call.

TBH, like most things, it's easy when you know what you are looking for. Most mail clients allow you to view the original message, headers and all. It's not an easy read, hence why these are not shown by default. Google for example make some of this really easy, and tend to flag emails that do not pass these checks with a big red banner, advising someone is possibly trying to scam you.

If you feel inclined to check for yourself, it's easy to do. Screenshot attached of how to do this in GMail.

Thanks quentin for taking the time with us oiks

I just recieved an unsolicited call from 'Emma' at 'New Zealand Police firearms.'
Click brrrrrrrrr

If my bank calls me unsolicited, I always ask for an extension number or person and tell them I am calling back through the main switch board to contact them.
Bank emails never contain links to your account etc, nor does IRD. They always say something along the lines of "new mail is awaiting you on your account, please log in to check".

Super basic scam prevention awareness. Why do the police ignore this?

Originally Posted by marky123

I just recieved an unsolicited call from 'Emma' at 'New Zealand Police firearms.'
Click brrrrrrrrr

Wonder if there has been another hacking of some sort , certainly wouldn't trust the govt to let us know.

even if it is the cops. Tell em to come speak to you face to face.

1. It sounds like a scam.
2. It sounds like the Police should be made aware of it so they can investigate.
3. It sounds like COLFO should be made aware of it so that they can pressure the Police to take the matter seriously.
4. It definitely sounds like David Seymour and The Act Party should be made aware so he / they can enquire as to whether this has arisen from the various leaks and breaches of private information of firearms license holders from government data bases.

I for one find this quite alarming as it potentially represents a potential threat to the security of firearms but far more critically a potential threat to family members in the recipient household.

Originally Posted by Rushy

1. It sounds like a scam.
2. It sounds like the Police should be made aware of it so they can investigate.
3. It sounds like COLFO should be made aware of it so that they can pressure the Police to take the matter seriously.
4. It definitely sounds like David Seymour and The Act Party should be made aware so he / they can enquire as to whether this has arisen from the various leaks and breaches of private information of firearms license holders from government data bases.

I for one find this quite alarming as it potentially represents a potential threat to the security of firearms but far more critically a potential threat to family members in the recipient household.

The usual response from Rushy. Excellent!