Don't fall for this one (or any others)

Somebody will! It only takes one for them to make a profit.

I've received the 'fake parcel' scam email several times over the years. I now send the phone plus statement to all the recipients of the email by clicking on 'reply all'. Some day the message will get through, but by that time, there will be a new and more inventive scam! But Gaddafi's mistress - who's going to fall for that one?

Apparently some up-to-date scammer is sending emails claiming to be from one of Gaddafi's mistresses, who has the secret of the millions he stashed away, but needs help to get at it. She will share it with you if you send her the money to unlock it. Just send your bank account details to .......

Makes a change from the Nigerian scams.

The "Fake Parcel note" scam was fixed in 2005 but warnings are still going the rounds.

I received one yesterday and it rang a bell. I seemed to remember that checking up last Christmas showed that the warning emails being forwarded then were no longer necessary, so I checked again.

It starts - "A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a Premium rate number).

If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £315 for the phone call."

It only took me one minute to find that:- " ........ despite claims the scam has been confirmed by Royal Mail and the Trading Standards Office, it was in fact shut down in 2005 and is not re-occurring today.
A spokesperson for PhonepayPlus, which regulates phone-paid services in the UK, said: ‘The chain email refers to a service (operating on 0906 6611911) that was shut down by PhonepayPlus (then ICSTIS) in December 2005. PhonepayPlus subsequently fined the company that was operating the service, Studio Telecom (based in Belize), £10,000’.

The regulator is asking people who receive the chain email about this alleged scam not to forward it on to others, and to instead forward a statement from PhonepayPlus informing them it is a hoax.

A real problem with emailed warnings such as this is that they often continue to circulate for months or even years after the described threat has disappeared. They also tend to mutate as they travel, further diffusing the truth and relevance of the information they contain,' PhonepayPlus added.

THIS IS THE STATEMENT FROM PHONEPLUS - www.phonepayplus.org.uk/News-And-Events/News/2011/10/Postal-scam-chain-email-2011-PhonepayPlus-statement.aspx

and from crime-stoppers:- www.crimestoppers-uk.org/fraud/types-of-fraud/common-scams/postal-scam-email-from-parcel-delivery-service-65455465

lol Oxon......well at least they are using their imagination, shame they cant put it to better use.

Here's a little humour for this thread:
I don't get much in the way of spam, but one email I had was a hoot.
From Nigeria, of course.....their friend had stowed away on the shuttle to the International Space Station and was now stranded there, and they were collecting to finance a trip to get him back......

No, I didn't contribute.

As a rule of thumb- if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.

Age UK has a leaflet about all sorts of scams

www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/AgeUKIG05%20Avoiding%20scams%20Guide.pdf?dtrk=true

harrigran I think they are used to unladylike language. DS worked for a while on the phone-in help desk of an IPS, trying answer people's IT problems. He got dogs abuse from some ignoramuses for his efforts. Those who cold-call for scammers must need asbestos ears.

Jinglej....thats the trouble...us decent folks were brought up to be polite and respond positively to authority figures...or at least I was (domineering father but thats another story).....but we dont like seeming to be rude and we do worry about 'doing the right thing'. Hey ho...never mind have just organised my posh new Caller ID and screening phone!

I had a message from Barclays, I don't have an online account, it was very believable, the logo, everything and then I noticed the phone number and the registered company number was not correct. Don't get me started on phone scams, many times been tempted to use unladylike language.

Carol I was just about to mention the bank scams, but you beat me to it. When you do not even have an account with that bank, or no online banking, it is easy to spot, but someone who has a connection to the bank - has perhaps just started online banking - could easily be conned.

As you say, contact the bank direct. All banks have links on their websites to an address to forward these scams to. They are pleased to get them, even if you are not a customer, as it gives them ammunition against the scammers.

I've come up against this one recently. Luckily I cut them off but I was left wondering just a bit if I had dome the right thing.

Thanks Elegran

The bottom line is :- Always assume emails from financial or similar institutions are fake and out to con you - delete them, do not open them. If in the extremely unlikely event that they really do want you to respond , they will contact you another way.
If they phone you, do not give any details, not even your name or postcode. If you think it may be genuine, ask for their name, company, dept, contact address and phone number, say you will ring them back. BUT don't ring back, ring a number for the company, that you know is genuine and ask them about the call, they will be able to confirm if it is genuine or not, only then phone back if you are sure they are genuine.

I get a dozen or so spoof emails each week, I can't remember a genuine one.

Sbagran is right, most banks etc have an address that you can forward spoofs to.

I have received an email from 'Barclays Bank' this morning, asking me to phone them about my account. I have never had a Barclays account. I have forwarded it to ActionFraud.org.uk.

I was caught out by an email claiming to be from Virgin, alleging a problem with my account. I foolishly gave my details, before suddenly remembering that I had had a similar email before and reported it to Virgin! Why did I believe it second time round if I'd sussed it the first time? I think I'd just woken up and wasn't completely compos mentis. Well, that's my excuse. In the event, I had to have my debit card changed which caused me considerable inconvenience.

I love to Ebay and pay via paypal - paypal themselves are great but never never never respond if you get an email regarding a problem with 'your paypal payment to' and then they give a name or ID, or indeed any odd sounding message from paypal.

I have had several of these emails - all to my ordinary email account not via Ebay - I never open them but simply forward them to the below address ...

[email protected]

I always receive a response. Paypal are very vigilant about these things. They will confirm if they are legitimate (but mine never have been!). They need to know about these things to be able to deal with them as their reputation is as stake.

I too have received calls saying I'm due for some windfall or other but I just wish them the compliments of the season and they go away.

My caller display gives 'withheld' but sadly that includes several friends who are ex-directory, hospital extension and the coastguard station where my husband works - so 'withhelds' are not always scams. We never answer 'international' as normally they are cold sellers and as someone else stated - if ligit they will leave a message on the ansaphone.

They really do bug me though - we used to have awful problems when my dear Mum was alive because she always thought them to be 'such a nice man'. Fortunately she was never actually caught but more by luck than judgement where the elderly are concerned.

I should have said it was the estate agent, not the cottage.

shysal We have caller Id on our phone too, and we try to ignore any unknowns, which come up as "Out of area" for foreign cold callers and "personal caller" for those who withhold their number - usually British cold callers. We reckon that if they don't want us to know their number, we don't want to know them.

This sometimes falls over, though. For instance, DH gets regular visits from a community nurse from the local hospice - and they don't have their number listed. so it could be her to say there is some problem so she will be late. We have just sold a weekend cottage - and for some reason their number too does not display, so we could have missed an important development.

We have had to learn to moderate the rather snappy response we used to give when we answered the phone to a supposed cold caller

Shysal....thanks for that, yes I do think it will help. I do know these people are scamming but I hate the fact they can 'pollute' my home with their calls. Yes, I know its best to just put the phone down but it still annoys me that they are so blatant.

I have caller ID on my phone, so I just don't answer calls from numbers I don't know, especially international and 0800 ones. Any genuine caller can leave a message when the ansaphone kicks in. I do find that they keep trying for a day or two, but then they give up for about a month before starting again.

I don't even both saying anything - I just hang up!!

I love these!! I usually say something like "Can you just hang on a minute while I turn the cooker off/let the dog in/turn the radio down" then I leave the phone and go away. They have always hung up by the time I get back!

I have also said that I don't have Windows/Misrosoft/a computer on occasion just for a change.

Flickety, you are right of course - but some poor folks are not as worldly wise and its good to remind them that it happens.

We are often contacted by "Sky" to let us know that they have noticed our Sky insurance is out of date. We do our real Sky insurance (which is probably a "legit" scam but gives us peace of mind) by DD but I know lots of people are taken in by this.