a railway scam number one

It’s horrifying what people will fall for.

I once had a wrong number phone call from a woman who sounded very elderly, with a quavery voice to match - who was terribly worried, because she’d had a call from Amazon to say she owed them money and if she didn’t ring such and such a number and pay now…..

By what stroke of sheer chance/luck she got me instead I don’t know - she told me she’d never ordered anything from amazon! So she’d fallen for it out of sheer fear and naïveté, poor thing.

Of course I was able to reassure her that it was a SCAM, made by heartless criminals, she had absolutely nothing to worry about, so please just forget it.

A very naive and trusting elderly neighbour of ours was scammed out of over £100k. I am quite sure such people are deliberately targeted - there are ways of identifying likely targets, and I’m pretty sure I know how our neighbour was chosen.

Since I run a business I occasionally get people sending me fake invoices for services I am supposed to have subscribed to. Today I received one from an auction house I never purchased from asserting that I bid on an auction for fork lift trucks and warehouse equipment. Yeah, right. I know what auctions Ive bid on matey.

I always look at the source code for emails if in doubt.

Some of them are not very bright. My nephew has one email address which goes:-

[email protected]

He gets emails addressed to Dear Fred Underscore Jones

Thank you infoman .
If your posts helps stop one person from falling foul of a scam, well done.
I see no need for some to say they never would, but there are those that might... never say never...

Yes, thank you, OP. We need to keep our wits about us all the time, and it helps to hear of scams that others have come across.

I had 3 scam emails about a failed TV licence payment this week. They unusually didn't go into junk and could well have lured someone in especially if they paid monthly by DD.

It's always good to have a reminder. It made me think for a few minutes and I regard myself as fairly savvy.
So thankyou OP.

Georgesgran

I’m sure no-one will be taken in.
Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is.

MinL would have been easy to scam - a greedy woman, she always wanted something for nothing! Luckily FinL kept an eye on things.

Strange that you say no-one will be taken in, then immediately tell us that your MiLaw would have been duped.
There must be others like her.

A very sensible friend of mine admitted being taken in by a travel offer.
He realised eventually that all was not right and alerted his bank but not before he had paid for someone's nice holiday
So thanks for the warning infoman

I've "confiscated" my Dad's iPad!
I always kept an eye on his emails in case there was anything important I needed to deal with, and I saw how many scam messages he was getting.
He would just take it all at face value so I've removed the temptation.

"fancythat"

a big thank you,for your kind comment,its a shame "SOME" don't think the same,and they know who they are.

One of my most sensible friends fell for one. It involved a request apparently from her son who lives abroad and on the face of it was convincing. So in her case it wasnt greed at all but worry and compassion.

However greed does play a part in a lot of cases. Greed overtaking logic or sense. And its often the case,of a small amount of money from a lot of people. and then of course the bastards know you are a soft touch...and they have your details.

I do have good software which makes many go straight into junk. But the occasional one still manages to get through.

Hate scams.
I am grateful for all the heads up on them.
I am not too bad with them. But I am not infalible.
When I was feeling under par once, I nearly fell for one.

I keep being told I've been matched on Tinder - which is amazing because I'm not on it.

Georgesgran, a lot of these scams do play on greed, the wish to get something for nothing (or just the postage). It's amazing what I've 'won' when I look at the junk folder in Outlook. Then, those nasty ones that assume I'm a man - and say I've been caught watching porn and filmed doing things - and that film will be sent to all my contacts if I don't pay. They must catch a few victims just by chance.

I suppose so Hetty58
I think I’m extra cautious/aware because MinL was always so taken in - it drove my DH and his Dad mad! All just greed on her part though. She once ‘won’ a hamper of food from the local Co-op and went off to collect it.
Of course, there was no hamper and I pointed out she never, ever shopped at the Co-op, so it was always a ‘joke’. She agreed and FinL just shook his head!

Georgesgran, I'm not so sure that people will see it's a scam. They only have to fool a few of the thousands they contact - to make a nice profit. Reporting scams is the only way to stop them.

I’m sure no-one will be taken in.
Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is.

MinL would have been easy to scam - a greedy woman, she always wanted something for nothing! Luckily FinL kept an eye on things.