Nuisance calls

Freeandeasy

I know many of these scammers are from a poor country but instead of making an honest living they are choosing to steal from often vulnerable people. Absolute scumbags with no morals!

Some (not all, but I suspect many, many people!) of these "scumbags" especially in places like India and the Philippines are lured with the false promise of a decent, honest living to be able to send money home but are literally locked away in these buildings and made to make phone calls/scam people, from all over the world. There are literally whole city blocks in India which do this. Their entire business is built on call centre scamming and often funded by people in authority like mayors or senior police officers, who turn a blind eye. There was a programme on iPlayer which I watched a few months ago, all about it. Rightly or wrongly, things aren't always what they seem.

There is ALWAYS someone ready to exploit someone less fortunate than them.

Yes indeed they are the scum of the earth and have no scruples. These people must have/had mothers or grandmothers and I wonder how they would like if they were scammed. It makes my blood boil, particularly as my own mum (years ago before her dementia) kept receiving them and used to panic. I eventually had PoA and her bank card, so she used to answer them, telling them that “her daughter dealt with everything “ and eventually they stopped. Then she got a bit deaf just before she went into care, and never answered the ‘phone anyway, despite having an increased ring tone for the hard of hearing and a flashing light!

I spoke too soon when I said they seemed to be decreasing. I did get another one this morning, and this time instead of hanging up when they got the answer machine, they left a message, in the hope I was there and would pick up. Yes (sigh) my bank account had been compromised to the tune of £500 to Amazon and £1,300 to an overseas gift card!! Do these people think we are stupid? That said, I was “stupid” when I thought my PayPal account had been compromised and pressed one - direct to the scammer! And most people are not stupid or naive, just vulnerable.

Lots of good advice on here about devices that block nuisance calls, which I will certainly look into. I do have a nuisance call block on my home ‘phone so block them, but there are so many from different numbers. Do the scammers work together in some sort of call centre with computerised generated numbers on some sort of database of stolen numbers? Obviously they can’t get access to your money without you giving out personal details, but it is so annoying. I am in awe of those people who string them along. Maybe I’ll try that!! I know many of these scammers are from a poor country but instead of making an honest living they are choosing to steal from often vulnerable people. Absolute scumbags with no morals!

To those people who love to keep the scammers talking, please be aware that there are instances where the scammer will record your voice and make a copy of it using AI. They then use it to scam you further by signing you up to other products
As someone further up thread said, watch the programme 'Scam interceptors '.

It’s getting worse and worse, sorry it happened to you. Just to note though Freeandeasy, I did get a genuine call from M&S banking some years back asking if I had used my credit card to spend £1 abroad that day. I said no and they confirmed they would block my card and I needed to change my password, so changed all of them on everything I used. Everything can be done virtually, you never have go into a bank unless you are signing something legit. I’ve read of people going in to remove all their savings into another (scammer given) account to prevent fraud and lost the lot as they ‘gave it away’. Scum bags.

lixy

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....

If I suspect a scam I love to be rude! If I'm not busy I string them along for as long as I can to waste their time and reduce the chance of them scamming someone else. They often hang up on me!

I had a fone call today telling me there were two fraudulent transactions of £320 and £1120 on my Amazon account and to press a certain number if it was not me!
This took place on my land line !
I just flipped on my mobile banking ….saw no monies had disappeared and told the land line caller to feck off…..
I suggest you do likewise in future.

Register with the Telephone Preference Service. It helps a bit.

If you can watch scam interceptors on bbc1 or iplayer,they deal with exactly these sort of scams

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/

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.

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 ....

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!

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

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.

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.

Well done quizzer!

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!!

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.