Phone scam?

[billywhizz17]

Hi everyone

I was in Bangkok yesterday going into a MRT station when I was approached by a smartly dressed European looking lady about 25-30 who showed me a message on her phone that said could she connect to Wi Fi on my phone to send an urgent message, when I asked her why she pointed to her ear to suggest she was deaf,at first i showed her my phone an i Phone and she lost no time in going to the settings and turning on WiFi hotspot and blue tooth at this point alarm bells started ringing to me and i said I wasn't happy with that turned them off again before she could do any more and suggested she could send a message from my phone SMS Tango or Line , but she immediatly lost interest and walked away, so my question is was it a scam? could she have planted a virus on or sent details about my phone to a 3rd party ? or am i just being too cyinical? and she was genuine and in need of help? Cheers for any advise. Billy

[WhizBang]

I would NEVER allow anyone else to use my phone unless I knew them. And for them to start changing settings on your phone... Yes, BIG alarm bells.

[colinneil]

billywhiz17. Maybe she thought you were a hansum man!!

[casualobserver]

Sounds strange, but Im not exactly sure what she would do, sometimes it best just to be skeptical, scammers are very creative, although in this case it could of just been innocent and she lost interest because her friends weren't on your contacts , still best say no, its not life threatening and she could also find free wifi with a little walk

Also be careful of USB stick scam, seen someone try that in a coworking center, my tablet doesn't have USB would you mind opening these files for me.. nice little autoinf virus to boot..

Edited January 31, 2016 by casualobserver

[augustwest]

I don't even trust public WiFi. Never use it. Use my phone for hotspot

[Cheesekraft]

probably installing a trojan/virus on your phone to clear you if you have mobile banking or use it for some financial services

[Pib]

I expect she could have very well been trying to plant malware on your phone.

[goldmagpie]

Also be careful of USB stick scam, seen someone try that in a coworking center, my tablet doesn't have USB would you mind opening these files for me.. nice little autoinf virus to boot..

Keep an OTG adapter in your desk drawer, and tell them that will work with their tablet, haha

[2008bangkok]

I think the women probably didnt have any data on her phone and wanted to send a message through line/whatsapp/imessage etc

Hard to install anything rogue on an Iphone unless its been jailbroken.

[mgjackson69]

One is not obligated to be everyone's "best buddy".

At most, I would offer to send a message for them....not give them my phone to do so.

Same if someone says they do not have balance to make a call or send an SMS...I will offer to send a message asking them to call.

My phone will not leave my hands.

[arunsakda]

It's a scam. They send a txt message to a useless paid service at your expense, proceeds sent directly to their account. Or they clone your SIM and serial number to make calls at your expense.

Just asking to tether to WiFi not sure but I am of the opinion that these Farang who approach on the street are 100% scammers. How many well dressed men can their probably be who just need "few hundred Baht to get home"? The last one was a nice young American girl who approached me in Chiang Mai for 200 baht for a bed in a guesthouse. Took one look and could tell she was not the typical hippy backpacker type but instead West Coast stripper/whore, and that she had already found the local Ya-Ba supplier.

"Hit the road, Sally"!

Edited February 5, 2016 by arunsakda