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Received a telephone call from someone claiming to be calling from my banks Fraud department, saying they have put on hold two suspicious payments - they told me name of company and amounts. I confirmed that I had not nor ever made any such payments. The call went on saying that the Fraud department was close to making arrests in this and other similar matters and asked if I was willing to assist in this.
Obviously, I said 'Of course', but this call went on an on, got me transfer money from my savings account to my current account (just to check that no strange messages appeared ) they did not. As I got more and more suspicious the caller gave the name of the policeman on this case, and even gave me a phone number to ring on another phone. That call was answered ......'my banks' fraud department, and when I asked to be put through to this policeman, I was transferred to someone claiming to be that PC. The caller kept on and on asking me if I was willing to assist with their investigations, to which I always replied, 'of course'. They did not ask me for any pin numbers or account numbers. Then.......obviously drawing it a close, he told me to transfer that same amount I had transferred from my savings account to my current account to a person, he had named earlier, who was in charge of the fraud department. At that point I said 'NO'.
Caller was most surprised (after all he had played me very carefully and slowly over the previous 60 minutes and I had one everything he told me to do). He repeated that if I did not do this they would put into my account a note saying I had refused to have those other payments blocked. When I pointed out this was not what I was saying, just got it repeated either to send that money to that person (Hannah Brownn), or they would not be able to keep that block going. 'No way', I said am I making any payment to someone whom I do not know'
Finally, I realised how I been played and rung off. Felt very stupid that I had let it go that far, even checking at his request that no-one had stolen my passport (which he said had been used as ID at the bank). and various other things.
I reported it to My banks real and genuine Fraud department, and even they were rather taken aback at how very clever and involved this had been. I gave them the telephone number which I had been told to ring - not sure if that is of any help, I tried to ring it again, and it came back more or less as unavailable.
So I feel I ought to pass this on. I am a very suspicious person, and kept saying I was uneasy with the call, but was so carefully reassured and even the fact they had that had this other 0800 telephone number ready to give to me to ring when I got suspicious says how elaborate it all was.
Thank goodness, my own good sense won out in the end, so no harm done. But it was a very close thing,
Usually though, I don't answer a number I don't recognize.
Always. I let it go to voicemail, very rarely is it a genuine caller but if so I can then phone them back.
My phone actually flashes a warning while it's ringing saying "Suspected Spam Call."
This is info to those who are worried that their elderly parents might fall for the ive lost my phone/ I’ve got a new phone etc
Agree a password between members of the family.
MammaTJ
This seems a good place to share 2 recent attempts to scam me.
1st was a text saying "Mum, this is my new number, save it". I've got 3 kids, they would ALL let me know before they got a new phone. I felt like playing, wasting a scammers time, so replied "OK love, saved". Not half an hour went by before I got a WhatsApp message requesting money! I played them until I got a name and account number off them, then reported it.
The 2nd was a call claiming to be able to get me massive discounts on my phone bill.... "just give me the code that I've had sent to your phone". That's when I called them out and they may have called me some names! I confirmed that had I given them that code, they could have ordered phones to be sent anywhere and I would have had to pay for them!
Please be careful!
I have had that one a few times, I had to warn my parents as one of mine said Hi gran, and I thought they might fall for it.
I had a call a few days ago and the person said is this ____(my name). I have heard that if you say yes they can use that as agreeing to whatever scam they're trying. I asked who are you and couldn't get a straight answer, just more questions from them.I just hung up the phone at that point. I find this very invasive that strangers have your access to your name and phone number. Usually though, I don't answer a number I don't recognize.
This seems a good place to share 2 recent attempts to scam me.
1st was a text saying "Mum, this is my new number, save it". I've got 3 kids, they would ALL let me know before they got a new phone. I felt like playing, wasting a scammers time, so replied "OK love, saved". Not half an hour went by before I got a WhatsApp message requesting money! I played them until I got a name and account number off them, then reported it.
The 2nd was a call claiming to be able to get me massive discounts on my phone bill.... "just give me the code that I've had sent to your phone". That's when I called them out and they may have called me some names! I confirmed that had I given them that code, they could have ordered phones to be sent anywhere and I would have had to pay for them!
Please be careful!
These scammers are utter scumbags. My parents loved using their iPads but are too scared to click on things now after almost being taken in by a scammer who took over their Internet connection.
I get a call more or less every week, saying that there has been activity on my Amazon account, one amount is £300, the other is over £1000. The first time I immediately checked my online bank account, all fine, so just hung up. They don`t even change the amount of money involved, which is stupid. I just hang up every time now, never speak to them.
Just had a suspicious text purporting to be from DWP telling me to quickly claim my energy benefit. £300.
I do not believe it and will delete and report.
I've had several calls supposedly from the band's fraud department. I just hang up.
To those saying genuine callers will leave a message: my hospital and GP surgery do not. I was once rung on my mobile in A&E by a nurse because I had missed my turn. Happily I answered it.
I now answer calls. If I’m not sure they are genuine I say ‘No thank you’ and hang up.
I sometimes put the number into the search box on the Who Called Me? website to see if others have reported it. If so, and the call was to my mobile, I block the number.
Banks are nervous too.
I went into a bank branch in order to get help to pay a
quite large amount of money to someone I know.
The security was tight and I was asked to phone the recipient to be sure I recognised their voice, which I did, before the transaction could go ahead.
I always end calls , nearly always on the landline, as soon as I hear the word "fraud" or the background sound of a call centre. Occasionally I get genuine calls from hospital or very old friends so I still answer unless the number recognition feature shows "possible scam"
If the call is important, they will call again or message.
Other scams:
- Having something (possibly a mobile phone) delivered, then a call to collect it as it has been an error. It has been ordered using your details, and if you give it back, you will be billed for it but the scammer has it, but you have signed for it.
- The "Mum, my phone and bag have been stolen", can you send me some money to this number"
You can sign up to Which scam alerts, or your own local authority one, and there are 2 TV programs now
So common. We got rid of our landline because we were getting 4 or 5 a DAY!
To add to this, please be aware that they can hang on to your line, and catch your outgoing call, if you try to call your bank on the same line immediately, and pretend to be them.
Latest one is pretending to be from my landlord's repair team about "my problem" . Now, if I did not own my own home, I might well have thought this genuine - what tenant does not have a problem from time to time.
I would never get a doctor's or hospital appointment, not to mention, lose several friends, if I was to block every call which did not show the number when they rang.
Cabbie21
Banks will never ring customers telling them to transfer money. The BBC are showing lots of cases like this every day. Just put the phone down.
Exactly That exact case was on TV last week, I don't usually watch the TV but there was something in particular I was looking for and came across that one. I stayed to watch it. They caught them redhanded in the end. But the poor lady who had believed the scammers all along was shocked when the real fraud squad arrived at her door, just in time before she transferred the money.
I get those calls all the time, every few days. " This is bank security, £200 was paid to Amazon & a larger sum abroad"...press 1 to ok, 2 to speak to advisor. I don't do Amazon or send abroad, I ask advisor which bank as I have several, they just reply "Your bank", what account number, "Can't tell you as it comes under security", Are you a nigerian scammer? "No", You disturbed my giving the dog a blow job you know. ok who exactly do you want - there are many people living at this number, "You" what's my name as you haven't asked. They don't know so they hang up. .... The longer you keep them talking they can't bother anyone else. LOL
We subscibe to BT's caller identity scheme, whereby if the caller's number is not in our contacts list they are asked to identify themselves. Only genuine callers will do this. The others just hang up. Worth every penny!
Similarly if I don't recognise a number on my mobile I don't bother answering. If it's important the caller will leave a message.
If that had happened to me and the fraud department at my bank were rather taken back how very clever and involved this had been I wound be changing banks ASAP.
No bank should be taken back by how clever the scammers are.
Perhaps the team at Scam Intercepters could pay them a visit to educate that team.
I would then email the ceo of the bank explaining my concerns at their employees view of scammers.
They shouldn’t be taken back by this incident.
Idon`t take any phone call unless I know who it is.. on answerphone , so caller will leave info if genuine.. I get "scam" calls every day!
We have had hundreds of these calls in recent years and glad to say I have not had any truck with any of them. Similarly with all those calls that say they are from BT and have noticed irregular activity on my email account. They are all scams.
Your bank will NOT ring you with these things (neither will BT). By all means listen to what they are saying but do not answer any questions they ask. By all means contact your bank, but you will find that I am right.
For heaven’s sake, just put the phone down when they ring up.
There is so much publicity about scams now.
I’m surprised anyone gets taken in any more.
But obviously, some do!!
I have just received a text message sent from a phone with a Turkish code saying they have added me to a group!
As I know no-one in Turkey, haven't ordered any online goods at all, never mind from there, I blocked and reported it as a scam.
Sometimes it pays to check the International code the caller is using!
It's so difficult to know when it's a genuine call. I had a real call from our banks fraud department. My husband was trying to transfer a large amount of cash to another account. They wanted to know if I was aware (I was). They actually had him on another line so they could speak to me privately.
Freya5 I agree. That's where mobiles are so good. If the caller's name is not displayed then they are not on my contacts list and I don't know them. I don't answer, put the number in a Google search and block it if necessary. They will leave a voice message identifying themselves and their reason for calling if it's important. If it's likely to be spam or phishing, Google will tell me. In fact, my missed calls list will warn me if a number is likely to be spam.
The only drawback is that there are very occasional mobile calls e.g. from the doctor or from others who don't want you to call them personally. That's difficult but I still don't answer if there's no name.
Franbern. Thank you for this - it is good to be reminded. I very nearly got caught by a call from Amazon, asking if I had bought a new phone. As it was first thing in the morning and I was expecting a call I blindly answered that I had not bought a new phone and he said he would stop the transaction and would send me a one time password, which duly arrived from 'Amazon' and he then asked me to repeat it so he could put a stop on the payment. I suddenly thought that something wasnt right and said I would call Amazon direct and suggested he was a scam. He hung up. I contacted Amazon who advised that they had not called me. It is still a worry that even though you think you are savvy with these things, there is that one time when you can be distracted that they can get through.
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