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Legal, pensions and money

New telephone scam (at least I have never heard it before)

(8 Posts)
M0nica Fri 27-Nov-15 14:03:50

Just been rung by someone foreign telling me that he was telephoning me from the Ministry of Justice and that following a court case involving my bank I am due to receive money back or compensation or something..... I ended the call at this point.

I could see where it was going, I would be asked for my bank details so that the money/compensation could be paid into it.

If you haven't heard it, get ready with your whistle, or what ever you do when you get this type of call.

aggie Fri 27-Nov-15 14:54:33

Thanks Monica , I just tell them I am not daft !

Anya Fri 27-Nov-15 14:56:53

Wow! Has that been resurrected?

Here's a government warning about it.

ninathenana Fri 27-Nov-15 15:58:43

Your well informed Anya smile I'm sure I would have remember if I'd read this.

I'm even more vigilante since a friends vulnerable brother lost thousands to the "this is the police" scam.

M0nica Fri 27-Nov-15 16:07:01

Well, I had never come across it before.

I have noticed a subtle change in these calls over the last few years. For many years DH was targetted by boiler room phone calls trying to sell him shares in dud companies plus other random callers. I rarely if ever got scam calls and if I picked up the phone if the scammer wanted to speak to DH, I was not considered an adequate substitute. The boilere room calls stopped after a big criminal case a couple of years ago when lots of people went to prison.

Now, all the scammers ask for me. To be fair I get very few scam calls, maybe only one a month, presumably the scammers think a woman is a softer touch than a man.

numberplease Fri 27-Nov-15 16:32:25

A lot of the ones I get start with "This is an important announcement." I used to listen, but now I just shout "Sod off!" and hang up.

MountainAsh Fri 27-Nov-15 17:03:47

That's rather mild numberplease in comparison to what I tell them to do.

Anya Fri 27-Nov-15 23:43:18

Because you had the sense to realise it was a scam and hang up, no harm was done M0nica - we can't all be aware of all the scams out there, and new ones every day. But a bit of common sense goes a long way.