Nuisance calls

Sorry - posted too soon. There was lot of typos in my original post - should say “posted” not post and the spelling of Lloyds, and others.

Anyway, the gist of my story is that when I received the automated call which came through (on my home ‘phone) from my bank I stupidly pressed the number 1 and was directed (to what I now know) was a scammer. He was very convincing (I know!) and asked me if I was in possession of my bank card. I told him I was and never gave out details (I’m not THAT naive). He then told me I had to go to my nearest branch to cancel the card. Why? I told him that this was impossible and told him to cancel the card. He said, that as it was near Christmas, I would probably need to use the card and then said he would monitor the situation. The next day, but one, he ‘phoned again to say that the card had indeed been compromised- and quoted a PayPal transaction.

I was then suspicious and realised (too late) that this was a scam call - particularly when he asked if I had the bank card by my side. I asked if this was a genuine call from the bank and he then said “you called us” - meaning that I had pressed 1! I immediately called my bank on the number on my online account and they confirmed that there had been no fraudulent action. The debit card payment of £50 had gone through but the PayPal payment of £50 was still there. I received an acknowledgment from the animal centre thanking me for my £50 donation. I then knew that I had been scammed out of £50 as I had paid £100 to the centre.

I immediately changed my card details on PayPal so no further fraudulent activity could take place on my Lloyds cards and blocked the calls I didn’t recognise. However, the original call was from a Private Number and that was why I answered as I thought it was a genuine call from my bank.

I have since blocked all numbers on my home and mobile numbers, but I am getting loads more, so I presume my number has been sold on the “dark web”. Since blocking, the number of calls have diminished, but I still get them every two or three days.

My question is - how can I stop them completely? OR, do I answer them, keep silent or string them along. What would you do? PayPal DID acknowledge that it was a fraudulent transaction and eventually did refund my £50 so I’m no worse off, and I later cancelled my PayPal account. How did these scammers get acccess to a PayPal account (never used ) in the first place? Do I interact with the scammers or just refuse to answer an unknown number and let it go to the answer machine? My elderly mum was scammed and also robbed of some valuable and sentimental jewellery (when she even lived in sheltered accommodation). How do these people live with themselves? To my mind, they are the scum of the earth.

PS - why would they tell me to go a branch in the first ‘phone call? That was why I thought it was a genuine call.

Firstly, I'm so sorry this happened to you.

Secondly and most importantly, your bank, card company, PayPal, etc etc will NEVER call you regarding your banking details or transactions or ask you for personal information over the telephone.

I don't know if you are into apps or online banking, but you can download your bank's app. It will all be authenticated and you can have additional authentication via two factor authentication. Wherein, as well as logging in, they'll send you a code to your phone which you have to enter into your app so they know it's you.
Within your app you can also change how you use your card, etc. Reset the contactless limit, whether your card is switched on/off for payments when the cardholder is/isn't present etc.

And as for the calls you received? At sometime in the past, your card details have been passed on to scammers unfortunately. They take chances on phone calls and their confidence allows you to believe they're the real deal.

Most important of all to remember is that your bank or PayPal will NEVER call.you out of the blue.

If someone rings you pretending to be from your bank, JUST HANG UP.

Hope that helps X

simply hang up!

I loathe these calls, especially the ones to my mum who panics about them, even more so since her local bank branch closed recently.

My advice to her is to just hang up but she doesn't like to be rude....

You will not stop these scammers, all you can do is have your wits about you at all times. There is so much advice online to tell you what you shouldn't do, that as far as I am concerned, there is no excuse for anyone to be scammed at all. It is all about using your common sense. I got a text message on my mobile telling me to ring a certain number as my bank wanted to check a purchase I had made. I deleted the message and went on my laptop, and logged into my bank. I brought up my transactions and then rang the banks number and spoke to a member of staff and they confirmed there was no problem with any purchases at all.

My advice is to treat every single call you receive as a scam call. If someone wants to get in touch with you they will write to you. If I do not recognise a number that has called me, I just put the phone down. I have had my GP write to me telling me that they tried to ring me but they were cut off, I told them yes, they would have been cut off because they should be using the GP practice phone number and not their receptionists own private mobile phone. They agreed and it has never happened since.

I'm really sorry that your very kind gesture has caused you so much bother .

And thank you very much for the warning .
I really get fed up with the calls and fear of scams means that I am reluctant to answer calls , which might be important .

I needed to know when my delivery was coming and had stayed in for two hours to receive it .
I'd seen an old rusty van slowly cruising up and down in our area and was afraid that my huge parcel might be taken .
On one occasion , a guy started loading my daughter's stuff into his van when she was plainly transferring them onto her car . My granddaughter had started to pee herself and they'd rushed indoors .
I also nearly had a suitcase taken .I'd pushed down the path and went back to check that I'd locked the front door .

I didn't know that the call was from the delivery guy , who'd forgotten to put my parcel in his van .
If he'd texted me it might have been better .

I think it's the email account that has been compromised. I received an e-mail supposedly from Paypal saying I owed money on a transaction. I had recently sent an e-mail to my son using a yahoo e-mail address. I knew of course that it wasn't genuine, but I closed down that particular email account so that it couldn't be used fraudulently.

Thanks for everyone’s response. I know that I shouldn’t have pressed “one” but I was seriously concerned about the rogue PayPal transaction. I also know now NEVER to click on an automated telephone call. I know also now that my number has been sold on, hence the nuisance calls I’m receiving.

Yes, I now block as the calls arrive and won’t interact with them. It just makes me so angry that I have fallen for his scam and that my elderly mum lost out in the past.

Hopefully, as I block all numbers, the scammers will eventually stop.

SO many vulnerable people, like my mum, were a victim and it makes my blood boil to see these scammers getting away with it.

I have one of the new BT hub phones and you can block certain callers - for example international, withheld, etc. So far I have blocked all witheld numbers and international ones. You can also block any numbers except those on your VIP list.

If I get a call claiming to be from my bank on the landline I will end the call and call back from the mobile, and vise versa using the number on account.

Ive actually had scam calls saying "this is your bank". Yeah, right. I dont know of any bank called YOUR.

PayPal will NEVER call.you out of the blue

This is not true as I have a business account with Paypal so they have (very occasionally) called me. The calls always come through as international as they are from Dublin. However they were sales type calls attempting to alert me to some new service.

If its an account query (for example a customer dispute or claim) they send an email asking me to log into my account and the issue is highlighted so I can deal with it online. I can also phone them while logged into my account and they can send me an OTP to make sure its me.

I never answer any phone calls these days unless the caller’s name flashes up. If they are genuine they will leave a message and then I will return their call.Sad state of affairs but I am so sick of bogus calls. I don’t open emails, either, unless I know the sender or it is a product I am interested in. As for those stupid text messages from ‘banks’ and ‘PayPal’ and recently the road toll people, I take great pleasure in immediately deleting them.

We have caller ID and don’t answer if we don’t see a name we recognise, as a poster has said, if it’s genuine they will leave a message. Caller ID costs a bit more but it’s np even worth it to us.
You need to be careful with emails as well, never click a link that’s on an email. Especially if it’s come from a place that has your money safely stored in it.

On the other side of the coin I received a text from Yorkshire Building Society saying I had a dormant account and to call the number on the text. I didn’t ring that number but looked it up on Google thinking it was a scam. It transpired I have an account taken out in 1998 with £559 in. They are posting me the details.

I havnt had a scam call for some years since I bought a whistle.
I’m sure some might say I could damage someone’s eardrums:
I don’t care.

The scam callers I genuinely feel sorry for are the 100s of thousands that are trafficked into these businesses.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-66655047

Thank you again for your replies. I DO have caller ID and now won’t answer any calls that aren’t known to me. I just want to stop them! The whistle call is something that I thought about, however I realise that to do this to a “cold caller” is unacceptable. However, your last post, Petra (sorry I don’t know how to quote) seems reasonable, and if I “DID” manage to buy a whistle and damage the eardrums of the scammers (and those who scammed my mum) I would be Ok with that. I realise, of course, that it would take some time to damage ears!! So it wouldn’t be like in a loud Disco, where the eardrums maybe damaged permanently.

Lots to think about on here, and thankfully the calls have decreased in number. None today (or yesterday) so as I receive them, I then delete them.

I realise that I can’t avoid them and hopefully they will decrease and eventually stop. Just wondered how they managed to get my PayPal details in the first place?

I occasionally get scam ‘bank’ phone calls. If I have nothing better to do I play along with the scammer, giving a false name, card details, DOB etc.
I act as if I was an elderly, confused lady. Well the first part is true!
I keep the scammer on the phone as long as possible, as while they are talking to me they are not scamming anyone else.
It is an amusing hobby!!

Well done quizzer!

Freeandeasy

Sorry - posted too soon. There was lot of typos in my original post - should say “posted” not post and the spelling of Lloyds, and others.

Anyway, the gist of my story is that when I received the automated call which came through (on my home ‘phone) from my bank I stupidly pressed the number 1 and was directed (to what I now know) was a scammer. He was very convincing (I know!) and asked me if I was in possession of my bank card. I told him I was and never gave out details (I’m not THAT naive). He then told me I had to go to my nearest branch to cancel the card. Why? I told him that this was impossible and told him to cancel the card. He said, that as it was near Christmas, I would probably need to use the card and then said he would monitor the situation. The next day, but one, he ‘phoned again to say that the card had indeed been compromised- and quoted a PayPal transaction.

I was then suspicious and realised (too late) that this was a scam call - particularly when he asked if I had the bank card by my side. I asked if this was a genuine call from the bank and he then said “you called us” - meaning that I had pressed 1! I immediately called my bank on the number on my online account and they confirmed that there had been no fraudulent action. The debit card payment of £50 had gone through but the PayPal payment of £50 was still there. I received an acknowledgment from the animal centre thanking me for my £50 donation. I then knew that I had been scammed out of £50 as I had paid £100 to the centre.

I immediately changed my card details on PayPal so no further fraudulent activity could take place on my Lloyds cards and blocked the calls I didn’t recognise. However, the original call was from a Private Number and that was why I answered as I thought it was a genuine call from my bank.

I have since blocked all numbers on my home and mobile numbers, but I am getting loads more, so I presume my number has been sold on the “dark web”. Since blocking, the number of calls have diminished, but I still get them every two or three days.

My question is - how can I stop them completely? OR, do I answer them, keep silent or string them along. What would you do? PayPal DID acknowledge that it was a fraudulent transaction and eventually did refund my £50 so I’m no worse off, and I later cancelled my PayPal account. How did these scammers get acccess to a PayPal account (never used ) in the first place? Do I interact with the scammers or just refuse to answer an unknown number and let it go to the answer machine? My elderly mum was scammed and also robbed of some valuable and sentimental jewellery (when she even lived in sheltered accommodation). How do these people live with themselves? To my mind, they are the scum of the earth.

PS - why would they tell me to go a branch in the first ‘phone call? That was why I thought it was a genuine call.

Had exactly the same message. The give away that it was a scam was they didn't say which bank they were and they used a local telephone number ( usually dont pick up if I dont know the number). Our bank closed its local branch 18months ago.! They retried again 5hrs later.

You can have two step authentication set up even if you don't use the App on your phone. I don't use my Banks App on my phone and I very rarely use my credit or debit cards via the phone. I sometimes use them on my laptop but that never leaves my house. My two step authentication is set up on almost everything I do financially. I use it all on my laptop.
I ignore every financial type phone call or the ones where they try to tell me there's something wrong with my Internet.

I heard or read somewhere that if you answer one of these calls you are listed as someone who will respond, so you get more calls. Luckily my phone flags up suspected spam.or suspected fraud so I don't answer, anyone genuine can leave a message, I also block the number

My advice would be to never answer the phone to an unknown number. Once it stops ringing, I note the number and run it through the website Who-called me UK? Members of the public are encouraged to leave feedback on numbers. Nine times out of ten, I learn that it is a number associated with scammers. If it is then it gets blocked!

The Bank did call me at home ! They were asking me if I wanted to update my home insurance ... I thought Banks never phoned people at home ? I was annoyed to say the least ....

Never use Paypal, that's my advice. Haven't used it for years so if they send a message which isn't often, I just delete.

I have a Truecall device which connects between the BT socket on the wall and the telephone (it will still work when the new digital service comes it, they will supply an adapter if needed).

You can set it up in various ways but I have it set up that numbers I have programmed in go straight through to the phone and any unknown numbers go to the Truecall answerphone so you can check who called and return the call if you wish, or block the number. Cuts out all the scammers.

The website is www.truecall.co.uk/