Being scammed

When buying stuff online , use PayPal to pay for the item. They act as a buffer so if anything goes wrong then you get your money back from PayPal

This happened to me this very morning. My landline rang and a pleasant young lady said that she was from my bank and that someone had tried to spend £1000 on my Amazon account and to press number 2 to get through to their fraud department.

I put the phone down, went straight to my mobile phone banking app and checked and there was nothing amiss, no message from my bank so I went on Amazon website, checked my orders and again everything was fine.

I honestly do not know how anyone can fall for this type of scam, all I can think of is that these scam callers put the fear of dread into people and they press the button on their phone in a panic.

Even though I knew it was a scam call, I always check my banks mobile phone app because I know for a fact there would be a text message telling me if something was amiss. I love the banking app because there are all the numbers you need to contact to cancel cards immediately, report a fraud etc. etc.

I also have a smart watch connected to my mobile phone via bluetooth so I don't ever need to take the phone out of my bag as the watch receives calls and text messages I can read and reply to without even using my phone, another safety feature.

I did not realise that it's safer to use a credit card rather than a debit card. I have always used a debit card except for very large transactions just so that I know that the money left in my account is mine to spend and that I don't have to think about paying off a credit card at the end of the month or whenever.

Sally Mac, my husband was in the police and dealt with a good few fraud cases involving builders claiming ridiculous amounts of money for small jobs. They all played their nasty tricks against older people. On one occasion it was the bank staff who called the police after an elderly gentleman was frogmarched to the bank to lift cash and the bank staff got suspicious about the way they were treating the man. They ran off as soon as my husband approached them. That safeguard has been taken away with so many banks and police stations closing.

@Knspol

I also only use a Debit Card for normal shopping, but online I always pay by Paypal. I prefer Debit cards because if it is stolen the maximum amount they can steal is £100 per day which gives you time to cancel it with your bank. If you have a credit card they can spend up to whatever limit you have on your card so if you are not quick enough cancelling your card they could have spent thousands of pounds before you knew what had happened. Also the inconvenience of going through all the rigmarole of sorting everything out with the bank. I also have my banks banking app on my phone so I can cancel the card immediately if I lose it or it gets stolen.

I always carry about £100 in cash in case the machines in the stores stop working which happens a lot nowadays.

I wish online firms would use the digital ID method. I never fill out card details … cyber world is very scary. 😳

Yes, zillions of scammers, and myriad scams they try. Our village mag has had a column for several years with details of new ones, and reminders of old ones.

As GNetters have said, nobody genuine will ask YOU for numbers, and beware of phone calls that APPEAR to be a certain number, as it could just be a pretense (whatever real use such a phone facility might have been intended for has never been explained!).

There ARE lots of safe, accredited sites which are OK to use a debit card on, but I only keep small sums in the account, and transfer funds in from the main a/c (and that one is NEVER used online!).

Personally I'd have a couple of scammers executed every week, pour enc . . .whatever that French phrase says. You could have a phone line set-up so people could vote which ones they want to save, or indeed get rid of, the proceeds could pay back some of their victims?!

Oh, DO PLEASE REPORT whichever scams you meet, emails forwarded to >> [email protected] (then delete them!) and any dodgy texts to 7726

The most recent Amazon one I got was a very pleasant sounding young woman with an English accent - not the usual robot voice. I might have fallen for it if I had used Amazon recently.

Oh lawks. I knew nothing about this. I always use my debit card, predominantly with Amazon and Ocado. I thought that they were safe. Why is the world so dishonest these days?

I have recently been subjected to an online banking scam. I had a call from someone who already knew my name and the name of my bank. I disconnected the call. Two days later I got a text message saying there was unauthorised activity on my account. Through that link, I was put through to someone who said he was the local bank manager. He sounded professional and helpful. In fact, on calling my bank, I discovered he was a scammer and was attempting to move some of my money in to his account. My account was deactivated, and then I had to register again with different information. That's not that easy to do, because the process involves receiving codes by text which have to inserted in to specific on line boxes.

I'm at the stage that I won't be answering any mobile calls unless they are in my contacts list.
What puzzles me is how the scammers knew my name and bank in the first place.

If you register for TPL (Telephone Preference Service) which can be done online giving your landline and mobile numbers TPL will filter out all scam calls and you won't receive any in the future.

It doesn’t work for calls coming from outside the UK, which most of these calls do. The TPL doesn’t filter calls, but in the UK cold callers are supposed to check whether you’re registered - not all bother, by any means.

My credit card was cloned years ago by a garage I hadn't uses before. I received a phone call on my house phone from the credit card fraud department. Told them I would ring them back. Used my mobile and rang the phone number on my card. They put me through to the same person (embarrassing) who asked me what my recent purchases were nothing else. Then told me 3 purchases totalling £850 had been made that morning that I didn't recognise. Asked if my card was in my possession and then stopped the card and sent a new card and pin. I was refunded in full. So if someone asks you personal details it's usually a scam.

Had at least 4 payments taken from my account that were fraudulent. I reported when I received my statement and the money was returned by the bank. I very rarely use my debit card now when shopping, I draw out the cash. When paying for items on line I use paypal or credit card. I really dont think theres anything safe now days.
Life is getting more difficult with all the passwords and codes you have to remember.

OH and I have been reinvesting some money recently. Last week I opened a new account with a building society. As soon as I tried to move the money the bank put a stop on it and I had to ring the fraud office. It was all sorted eventually. Today, it was OH’s turn and he had the same thing! A call to the fraud office. At least Lloyds bank are on the ball with stopping their account holders putting money into dubious accounts.

I recently was scammed buying from M and S. My computer usually autofills bank details but this day it didn't. I tootled of and got my bank card and duly filled in the details by the end of the day someone had tried three times to spend on our card. Fortunately the bank stopped them. I was advised to get a Monzo card for online as it is not linked to any bank accounts. You keep the card topped up to the amount you want and every time you spend a balance comes up on your phone

It’s really alarming and it’s not just banks you have to be aware of either. Both DH and I have had a couple of texts in the last week supposedly from Royal Mail trying to deliver a parcel and asking for a small amount of money to re-deliver. Presumably once they have card details they can take more money. Neither of us was waiting for a delivery and I know from experience that RM don’t charge for attempting a re-delivery. There are some real low lifes around.

Amazon never give the sellers your full credit card details. I have never in all the 15 years I have used Amazon had a problem. I also use Pay Pal when I buy anything online, if the online stores do not take Pay Pal I refuse to use them.

If they call you from a bank, ask for (insert fictitious name) because you usually deal with her. They will tell you she is out on leave, so you tell them to ask her to call you herself on the morrow. It works, because if they are really from a bank, they will tell you that no one by that name works there. If they tell you this because they know the game, tell them they are mistaken because she is your neighbour / daughter, and hang up.

Get a password manager program to help remember. You do have to keep it up to date but it does drop in the user names and passwords for sites you visit often.

I am so glad that I started this thread. I feel that we all need to take extra care and trust no-one.
I'm sorry that so many of you have had problems with scammers but hopefully reading all these stories will help in the future.
I received my new debit card today and sincerely hope that my bank stays on the ball.

Yesterday Ihad a scam call from someone telling me I was owed a refund on my BT account. I don't have an account with BT so I called him out as a scammer! After some mumbling I couldn't hear he told me to F***Off Bitch! I didn't quite catch his words so asked him to repeat which he did very clearly! I won't tell you publicly what I called him in response. Sadly he put the phone down so probably didn't hear me!

At least Lloyds bank are on the ball with stopping their account holders putting money into dubious accounts.

I've had a lot of trouble this week transferring our financial contribution towards their wedding to my son and future daughter-in-law's new joint account.
I ended up with our current account frozen and having a long phone call with the Santander fraud department.
Amongst other questions the young lady queried why I was sending such a specific amount. I told her because that's the amount they'd asked for, it's a third of the wedding costs which is what we'd said we'd pay.
Then she was horrified that was only a third! 😂

jocork

Yesterday Ihad a scam call from someone telling me I was owed a refund on my BT account. I don't have an account with BT so I called him out as a scammer! After some mumbling I couldn't hear he told me to F***Off Bitch! I didn't quite catch his words so asked him to repeat which he did very clearly! I won't tell you publicly what I called him in response. Sadly he put the phone down so probably didn't hear me!

Jocork. I think that must have been the same man who phoned me .That's what he said when I asked if he was a scammer, it must be awful for the poor scammers when they're caught out...

I received an email yesterday from someone I didn't recognise, in a separate email secure account I have for Safeguarding work I do. Anything suspicious is quarantined and has to be released, but this had got through, so my interest was piqued.

I have a lot of training in Internet safety and am always very vigilant and suspicious, especially as it was offering me a job in a university in Chile. 🤷‍♂️

The first thing I did was Google the university and then a search for the sender. It turned out it was genuine and they had been looking my Linkedin profile. Heaven knows how they found me.

DH found it funny, especially I am 68 and ongoing health issues make it extremely difficult for me to walk the length of myself, never mind travel to Chile.
However, he did offer to help me pack and drive me to the airport!

One tip I have learned is that scammers keep your landline open, while you connect to your bank fraud department, that is where people get caught out. Always hang up and use a mobile to check it out.
My neighbour had her pin number over the phone to scammers and they cleaned out her bank occount of tens of thousands of pounds.