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

[The Optimist]

The most convincing scam I saw was an email a colleague received from the lawyer dealing with his visa renewal. Only it wasn’t from the lawyer, there was one tiny difference in the email address, but they had obviously managed to read all the previous legitimate emails.

The email basically asked for money in a way that wasn’t quite right. Even with about 4 work colleagues looking at we spent a long time saying things like ‘that’s unethical’, ‘we should report him to his company’ etc it took a while until someone said ‘it is definitely from him isn’t it’. It was only then that we noticed the email address was slightly off (maybe .com instead of .co.uk).

 

[AmexRuislip]

Bless, they keep trying

 

[WATFORD zero]

View attachment 160851


Bless, they keep trying

So what was it that alerted you to the possibility that this may be a scam

 

[AmexRuislip]

So what was it that alerted you to the possibility that this may be a scam

Read it again, especially the English pronunciation.
http instead of https on links

 

[sydney]

Read it again, especially the English pronunciation.
http instead of https on links

nearly 20 years on this board and i don't think i've ever seen anyone woosh themselves

 

[AmexRuislip]

nearly 20 years on this board and i don't think i've ever seen anyone woosh themselves

I aim to please

 

[Weststander]

The TV licence email scams are doing the rounds again.

 

[Official Old Man]

The TV licence email scams are doing the rounds again.

Yep, just got mine.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

This makes me really angry - My elderly neighbours came round this morning - they were in a panic because they'd had a call from 'Microsoft' telling them they'd been hacked. They guy had given his name and showed them he was genuine by getting them to look up his LinkedIn profile. Obviously they'd looked up a genuine Microsoft employee, so it checked out (but obviously it wasn't him on the phone). They'd been on the phone with this guy for half an hour but luckily hadn't handed over any information, thankfully they insisted that the weren't going to do so until they'd spoken to me.

I went round, told them to get lost and hung up. It just makes me so angry that these low-lifes are targeting vulnerable people like my neighbours who are really good people . There must be some way to stop this - no idea what is it though.

 

[essbee1]

The TV licence email scams are doing the rounds again.

"Untill". Love it. These people let themselves down because they are completely pig-shit thick.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

"Untill". Love it. These people let themselves down because they are completely pig-shit thick.

That was one of the four words at HGSB that we were told we must never misspell, or else.

The other three were:

grammar
immediately and

I can't remember the fourth.

Back on topic, my son had his account emptied (about a grand) around 3 years ago by a phone credit card scam. I read this year that the scammers were convicted, having stolen millions. The scum.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

That was one of the four words at HGSB that we were told we must never misspell, or else.

The other three were:

grammar
immediately and

I can't remember the fourth.

Back on topic, my son had his account emptied (about a grand) around 3 years ago by a phone credit card scam. I read this year that the scammers were convicted, having stolen millions. The scum.

That’s horrible. Did he ever get it back?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

That’s horrible. Did he ever get it back?

Not from the thieves*.

He was so gutted. I told him to move swiftly on and gave him what was stolen. Bit of a dad-fix, but right, under the circumstances. Just happy I could do it.

Other side of the coin, I have had genuine** calls from my bank where I have refused to answer security questions.....bit of a grey area there. They should not need to do that now they have 'my voice as my password'.

**Perhaps they were scammers after all. Never mind.

(*but thanks for asking )

 

[happypig]

"Untill". Love it. These people let themselves down because they are completely pig-shit thick.

Actually in many cases it's the opposite; they put in spelling mistakes deliberately. The thinking being if a victim isn't astute enough to spot them them they are more likely to fall for the scam.
I used to "bait" some of these herberts a few years ago after getting involved with 419eater.com, the main points being to waste their time so they weren't using it to scam real victims and identifying/warning victims/potential victims.

 

[Weststander]

That was one of the four words at HGSB that we were told we must never misspell, or else.

The other three were:

grammar
immediately and

I can't remember the fourth.

Back on topic, my son had his account emptied (about a grand) around 3 years ago by a phone credit card scam. I read this year that the scammers were convicted, having stolen millions. The scum.

I advised my son to move the bulk of money with his bank to the savings account (probably paying 0.1% interest) that came with the current account.

Thinking that unless any scammers obtain full internet banking access, any fraud would be limited to the lower sum in the current account. This would include if he unknowingly lost his debit card or had it cloned.

 

[Weststander]

Not from the thieves*.

He was so gutted. I told him to move swiftly on and gave him what was stolen. Bit of a dad-fix, but right, under the circumstances. Just happy I could do it.

Other side of the coin, I have had genuine** calls from my bank where I have refused to answer security questions.....bit of a grey area there. They should not need to do that now they have 'my voice as my password'.

**Perhaps they were scammers after all. Never mind.

(*but thanks for asking )

Same here and it turned out to be genuine, I called them back later.

Luckily, I wasn’t abusive to the initial caller!

 

[WATFORD zero]

That was one of the four words at HGSB that we were told we must never misspell, or else.

The other three were:

grammar
immediately and

I can't remember the fourth.

Back on topic, my son had his account emptied (about a grand) around 3 years ago by a phone credit card scam. I read this year that the scammers were convicted, having stolen millions. The scum.

I remember it well and it was quite a sophisticated scam involving phone calls, genuine confirmation codes from his bank and split second timing. Pleased to hear they've been done

Myself, Mrs Wz and both the kids now have 'wallet' accounts in which there's only ever a couple of hundred quid and these are what are used all the time for 'cash' (contactless, shops, bars, internet etc), money being 'refreshed' from other accounts, sometimes automatically. That way the worst you can do is lose your 'wallet' with a few quid in.

Mrs Wz and the kids found it funny over the years that I have always had 4 current accounts plus a few others with regular money moving between them. They're now catching up

 

[studio150]

Other side of the coin, I have had genuine** calls from my bank where I have refused to answer security questions.....bit of a grey area there. They should not need to do that now they have 'my voice as my password'.

If by some miracle I do answer the phone, I always refuse to answer such questions, by saying that you rang me, and that I'm not prepared to continue with the conversation, but you can contact me via email or letter at the the addresses you have on file, and finish the call.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Advice to anyone who ever receives an unsolicited phone call from anywhere - ask for their name, company and contact details and then tell them you have to hang up until you've spoken to your spouse, son, daughter, significant other, friend with benefits, psychiatrist, probation officer etc etc and HANG UP.

Then you can have a moment, a cup of tea/coffee, a chocolate digestive is particularly good, a little sit down and think about what they said, and maybe contact your spouse, son, daughter, significant other, friend with benefits, psychiatrist, probation officer etc, (preferably on a different phone/e-mail/text) to the one you were contacted on.

Most scams rely on keeping you on the phone to get information.

Unless you are very confident and know exactly how to handle scammers, in which case, keep them on the phone as long as possible for your own amusement and then report back here for ours

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

It just makes me so angry that these low-lifes are targeting vulnerable people like my neighbours who are really good people . There must be some way to stop this - no idea what is it ththough.B

But I don't think they are targeted, I reckon scammers buy contact phone lists and then call them all, probably working on a 0.1% - 1 in a 1000 success rate.
Just seems its the older generation who are perhaps less tech savvy, who get scammed more regularly.
Low-lifes is way too polite for these people ...