[Finance] ******** The Scam Thread *********

[Lyndhurst 14]

Same here, got that call yesterday, pre-recorded clap trap.

The pre-recorded ones are the most annoying as you can't vent your anger at them. With the other ones at least, if you have some spare time, you can wind the other person up and get some sense of payback

 

[Postman Pat]

What's this car wire door scam I keep seeing mentioned, apparently there's a wire on your car door handle and apparently if you see it your not supposed to approach your car

Ignore them its garbage.

However, in 2019, there were many social media posts warning people about zip-ties on cars and how zip-ties were used as a method of distraction that would make people easier targets for sex trafficking. The posts were later debunked by The Kansas City Star and Snopes as internet hoaxes. This latest TikTok video warning about wires on cars seems to be a similar variation on the zip-tie myth.

And while wires or zip-ties on cars may not actually be a thing, it's still important to be vigilant when getting into your car.

 

[Arthur]

I had one yesterday telling me my NI number was going to be suspended as it had been used in connection of criminal activity. Asked me to press 1 to connect me to someone to speak about it......thanks but I'll wait for the old bill to knock on my door.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Anyone been bank scammed on here?

Been done twice on our business account but were refunded both times, my sister in law however got her personal account cleaned out last month but doesn't get any protection.

Not exactly fair is it?

 

[Vicar!]

Todays. Usual 'Your Internet supplier' will switch off your connection in one hour if you do not press thi

 

[Hugo Rune]

Lovely call from a fake Virgin Media engineer promising to speed up my download speeds if only I’d type in the URL he was pushing on me.

Thick Indian accent, allegedly from the ‘technical dept’ at their Reading, Forbury road branch. They obviously didn’t know my name or account details (they said they don’t have access to this confidential info) but got lucky with guessing my broadband deal.

Kept them on hold with promises to come back as I went about doing other things, just popping in now and then to see if they were still wasting their time on me.

The chap was actually quite convincing and guessing at my broadband deal and getting it right is obviously a clever tactic. They can only hack through a PC so the guy was really adamant that I couldn’t type his dodgy URL into my iOS phone.

Anyway, I think they could well get some success with that guessing game and might well be contacting other Brighton numbers. Watch out.

Got them to phone me back which is useful because they often forget to put the preface code in that blocks their number. This call was made from Jammu Jammu and Kashmir India, the number is on it’s way to the action fraud folk.

 

[rippleman]

I had one yesterday telling me my NI number was going to be suspended as it had been used in connection of criminal activity. Asked me to press 1 to connect me to someone to speak about it......thanks but I'll wait for the old bill to knock on my door.

I sometimes despair at the quality of the scammers these days. If only they had done just a little research they would know that it is a total impossibility for a National Insurance number to be "suspended".

Your NINo is yours - forever. Once you got it, you got it.

And it is for the scammers stupidity that we should be forever grateful. They normally give the game away somehow. You just gotta look.

 

[Badger]

I sometimes despair at the quality of the scammers these days. If only they had done just a little research they would know that it is a total impossibility for a National Insurance number to be "suspended".

Your NINo is yours - forever. Once you got it, you got it.

And it is for the scammers stupidity that we should be forever grateful. They normally give the game away somehow. You just gotta look.

I think that's actually the point in a lot of cases. They deliberately add in mistakes, especially in emails. Most people will spot the mistakes, but those who are stupid enough to believe them are far more likely to follow through with the scam and hand over their money.

 

[Easy 10]

I had one yesterday telling me my NI number was going to be suspended as it had been used in connection of criminal activity. Asked me to press 1 to connect me to someone to speak about it......thanks but I'll wait for the old bill to knock on my door.

I've had this one about 3 times on my mobile over the last 4-6 weeks, each time with a recorded message. I've blocked the number each time, but looks like they've got a few different ones on the boil. No doubt hitting 1 would lead to an enormous premium rate charge on your phone bill.

Scumbags. The filth who perpetuate these scams should've been drowned at birth.

 

[Saltydog]

It’s amazing that having just paid last years tax bill a couple of months ago I have received a text advising me to click on a link included in the text to get my rebate

I did not realist that the gov.uk/Hmrc web has changed its address to gov.submit-online .....errrrr

 

[Arthur]

I've had this one about 3 times on my mobile over the last 4-6 weeks, each time with a recorded message. I've blocked the number each time, but looks like they've got a few different ones on the boil. No doubt hitting 1 would lead to an enormous premium rate charge on your phone bill.

It's all you can do, same with the "I've heard you had an accident" calls that bounce around numbers from all over the country but I swear its the same girl I tell to **** off every time.

Scumbags. The filth who perpetuate these scams should've been drowned at birth.

Agreed, along with the folks who make them up to get them sent around on WhatsApp/text. My sister works in cyber security so I let her field most of the hoaxes that get sent around our family group. I can't believe the Martinelli "warning" is still going.....2016 that first appeared!

 

[studio150]

Just had my third virgin media slow broadband call of the day.

I wonder what the record is for most calls from the same scammers in one day,

 

[AmexRuislip]

Another Royal Mail scam text....

 

[Super Steve Earle]

I'm selling on eBay at the moment and on the website, there is a Rewards box. I popped in to see what was available and had the opportunity to win a iPhone 11. Incredibly I 'won'. All I had to do was pay £1 on my credit card and take a free 5 day trial on a PC gaming site, followed by a monthly subscription. I wasn't born yesterday, so I let my prize go, but how does this kind of ripoff arise on a reputable website like eBay?

 

[BN9 BHA]

I have had 2 phone calls on my mobile this week with a recorded message saying I haven’t paid my national insurance, please press 1. No chance obviously.

Also text messages saying they are from HSBC bank telling me about a new recipient that has been set up.....please visit ( random website )
I’m not with HSBC, I had a similar one pretending to be from Lloyds.

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

Like everyone else, I've had some entertaining exchanges with these callers. When I have a minute, it's more fun to engage with them than simply swear at them. My tactic is to ask them to stop and think what their mother would say if she knew they were being paid for telling lies to old people and trying to steal all their money. This normally reduces them to blubbering wrecks.

My most memorable call was from someone with a strong Indian accent who became so enraged by my somewhat unhelpful responses that he threatened to send Islamic State round to my doorstep and kill me. My response, "Not that tired old Allahu Akbar schtick again..." had him apoplectic, and he even took the trouble to ring me back and repeat this abominable, blood-curdling threat.

So far, my change of identity, extensive plastic surgery and move to a secret address with 24-hour police protection seems to have worked. But I remember to give thanks to the Almighty [PBUH] every new morning that I wake up, still alive.

 

[giveusfalmerplease]

Like everyone else, I've had some entertaining exchanges with these callers. When I have a minute, it's more fun to engage with them than simply swear at them. My tactic is to ask them to stop and think what their mother would say if she knew they were being paid for telling lies to old people and trying to steal all their money. This normally reduces them to blubbering wrecks.

My most memorable call was from someone with a strong Indian accent who became so enraged by my somewhat unhelpful responses that he threatened to send Islamic State round to my doorstep and kill me. My response, "Not that tired old Allahu Akbar schtick again..." had him apoplectic, and he even took the trouble to ring me back and repeat this abominable, blood-curdling threat.

So far, my change of identity, extensive plastic surgery and move to a secret address with 24-hour police protection seems to have worked. But I remember to give thanks to the Almighty [PBUH] every new morning that I wake up, still alive.

weird thing is i know and work with a LOT of indian young men and women. they are so charming, hard working and even they find these mostly indian callcentre fraudsters despicable.

one thing of interest though is that there is a culture in india that your boss is like a mini-god and they pay you so u can support your family. many of these fraudsters it seems likely genuinley believe when they start working that they are working for a kosha employer but get slowly indoctrinated by the bosses. now you can be the most honest person in the world but when your whole family are out of work and there is no welfare state to speak of i begin to understand why these guys do this. even though their pay compared to the bosses is poor it can still be TEN times what they might earn in a restaurant or food market for example.

i wonder how many brits or americans or any europeans for that matter, in the same situation given the opportunity to earn the equivelent of 5k per month would be able to say no, even knowing they are scamming others

Just for the record before anyone accuses me of siding with scammers - of course i dont - most of them deserve imprisonment for the way their continued scamming wrecks lives, but there is another side to this story, as, in most cases, there usually is.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Was called on a number one digit out on my mobile number, what are the chances?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Brian Fantana]

It must be because of the time of year, but I’ve had the HMRC tax fraud call a couple of times this week. The first time I just hung up, the second time I thought I’d hear him out and try to waste a bit of his time. The crux of his story was that I owed £1900 to HMRC, and that I could either pay it now to settle the case or else contest it in court whereby if I was found guilty, the fine would jump to £20,000. I told him that I wasn’t particularly fussed if I ended up having to pay the higher fine, as I earn that sort of money in a morning (I wish). He was lost for words for a second and then began quizzing me on what I did for a living and whether I needed any more staff

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

ID protection scam doing the rounds in the States. They tell you all your personal info is now available on the Dark Web with a dodgy link attached. Of course for a few bucks they can make it all go away. What they forget is that there have been so many major breaches of information by big corporations in the US that you would be amazed if your credit card details were not available on the Dark Web.

Like all scams they feed on people's fear and insecurity