Just in case you aren’t aware of this scam.

What does make me smile is the fact that most financial institutions insist on having a mobile phone (one time pass codes) and yet it seems to be the mobile phones which generate these scams.

I've practised this for many years. I have a round £100 in my current account and simply transfer in exact amount. when any DD is removed (I have few). Can spot any discrepancies instantly and the most I can lose by fraud is the £100. I can live with that if I ever have to. Worked this far so hope not.

Dickens Scammers are now so sophisticated that it's increasingly difficult to determine whether an email or message is genuine. When in doubt, don't click on a link... well, I'm always in doubt now, so never click on any links! If you delete a genuine mail, you will always either get a 'phone call or a further communication. It's a flippin' hassle though.

We're quite careful, but we've been scammed several times, in several countries. With a credit card, main bank account, and just by a set of persons trolling the airport/misdirecting visa for the taxi. We've always received our money back from the bank/credit card, after a time.

As far as e-mails go, the scams are readily identifiable, as the address they are sent from NEVER in my experience is a firm's real one.

The look something like this (fictive example)
PostNord @jimmy.au

PostNord does exist and the scammer has copied their logo, but the rest of the address is not theirs. Nor do they habitually address e-mails with the words "to you", nor make mistakes in Danish grammar and syntax, which all scammers do.

Obviously many scammers are better at English than Danish (and so is Google translate) but all the reverends from Africa begging for funds for their orphanages or schools, the firms of solicitors from Australia informing me that my great-uncle has died leaving me a fortune use the same kind of ridiculous sender's address.

Quite apart from the fact that as I am 71, the last of my great-uncles died when I was 16, and no firm of solicitors would send out an e-mail of that sort.

Thanks, MerylStreep, I hadn’t heard of this. Something else to be wary of.

When I gave DH one of his frequent tutorials on how to deal with the finances if I fall under a bus, he said there was no point in learning, as within a fortnight he’d be sitting in an empty house wrapped in a blanket because scammers will have had it away with all his money and worldly goods. I think he’s joking!

M0nica

What I do not understand is why people keep lots of money in their current accunts, the one they use for every day transactions.

If there is an excess in my curent account at the end of the month, I transfer it to my savings account.

DD has a better system that I am thinking of moving to as well. As well as her current account that her salary goes into she has a separate account with an online bank where she can transfer money from one to the other instantly. She transfers cash between the two in blocks of £500, as and when needed, so even if someone got access to her bank account through a scam like this, the most she can lose is £500, but normally it will be much less than that.

Great idea.

Thanks MeryStreep

Even the old ones keep popping up.
I got a phone call yesterday about my Amazon Prime membership .... no, I don't have Amazon Prime Membership

The QR code scam was on this programme:

www.channel5.com/show/phone-scams-don-t-get-caught-out/season-1/episode-1

It's on a Wednesday, and covers lots of different scams.

Often I have to send a Paypal money request to a customer. Since many people are now reluctant to open messages and click on links I advise them to simply log into their account as normal and they will see the request at the top of their home page. It will give details of who its from and what its for.

What I do not understand is why people keep lots of money in their current accunts, the one they use for every day transactions.

If there is an excess in my curent account at the end of the month, I transfer it to my savings account.

DD has a better system that I am thinking of moving to as well. As well as her current account that her salary goes into she has a separate account with an online bank where she can transfer money from one to the other instantly. She transfers cash between the two in blocks of £500, as and when needed, so even if someone got access to her bank account through a scam like this, the most she can lose is £500, but normally it will be much less than that.

I agree with every word from Dickens.

Scammers are now so sophisticated that it's increasingly difficult to determine whether an email or message is genuine.

It's all very well to tell us to be 'aware' and 'careful', but what is actually being done to deal with these b***ards? It's now a plague!

For me it's reached the stage where I regard virtually all such mails as a fraud, and I delete them. Some have been genuine, too, but they also get deleted.

When in doubt, don't click on a link... well, I'm always in doubt now, so never click on any links! If you delete a genuine mail, you will always either get a 'phone call or a further communication.

It's a flippin' hassle though.