Nuisance calls

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.

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 .

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 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....

simply hang up!

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

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.