Scammers getting clever.

[Jon P]

Will try and keep this short but worth a read -
Yesterday whilst our stalking received a phone call from my “Bank” giving my full name and last 4 digits of my bank card, bloke saying he from banks fraud unit and can i confirm if a transaction last night was genuine. It was not and I said do- he stated he would lock the account whilst they investigated, he tried asking more questions but I hung up as don’t trust many people anyway-

Within a few minutes I received a text from a number showing genuine transactions along with fake transaction- asking me to return there call.

I go onto phone bank app and lock my cards-

Few minutes go by I receive a call I do not answer, goes to voice mail - automated voice giving my full name and a number to ring with a 3 digit code to confirm it is me .

I head back to truck to phone the number off the back off the bank card to speak to bank- easier said then done-

I then received another text from “bank” saying my account had been hacked and to return there call. This text came on the end of a previous genuine text from bank confirming I had set a new payment contact up .

I did not phone that number- decide to sort it out when on way home-

Driving home later I received a phone call on hands free. Screen showing a number with the same dialing code as the bank- I answer phone , automated message again giving my full name etc asking for me to confirm my DOB before we proceed, I hang up again.

Once home - finally get to speak to a human at bank who confirmed they have not tried to get hold of me and scammers are intercepting online payments and trying to get the full bank details of the account holder, I asked the bank how did they send a text of the back of a genuine bank text chain- bank said the scammers are getting better,

I don’t trust many so luckily I did not fall for any off it- however it looked genuine and some people would fall for it- especially when you get text from a known genuine text thread-

So heads up - scammers are being a lot more clever and always phone your bank back off the number on the back of the card- not the number sent to you

 

[Smellydog]

The moment I get a message, email or phone call inducing a sense of fear or panic in me I hang up or delete them.

 

[Jon P]

The moment I get a message, email or phone call inducing a sense of fear or panic in me I hang up or delete them.

Me to , it’s the message that come on the end of the known genuine text tread that throws you as you know the other info is legitimate.

 

[Smellydog]

Me to , it’s the message that come on the end of the known genuine text tread that throws you as you know the other info is legitimate.

To be honest I tend to semi ignor those too. Especially if they are instructing me to do something!
The bank looks after my money, I do not look out for their system!

 

[Jon P]

To be honest I tend to semi ignor those too. Especially if they are instructing me to do something!
The bank looks after my money, I do not look out for their system!

The genuine fraud team I spoke to said they will never contact a customer, it is the customer responsibility to check they are not being scammed, they have to many customers to check for all , they will sort once you notify them .

 

[Yorkie]

I have something similar going on with supposedly Legal and General.

I got a text asking me the best time to talk about my over 50s policy application. I had done no such application.

Then got email from very convincing site, i obviously clicked on no links. Legal and General have a page for reporting such things so i have passed the details on. The scams do look very professional.

 

[starr shot]

Long story short.My partner was trying to get hold of Lapland uk but couldn’t find a phone number for them so she did an internet search got the number rang it, All sounded ok gave all the details they asked for got scammed cash Lapland uk do not have a phone number,Scammers realised this and set their own up.

 

[Andyquadra]

I've got something going on with Virgin media at the moment
Get a Virgin 360 box (broardband+TV box) delivered to my address, but the name is Mr Mo Aziz?
We speak to Virgin media and they have no record of any account at this address and block the name, address and account saying they will inform fraud.
9 phone calls by us and a good few weeks later, Virgin media still have no idea whats going on and because we've opened the box to try and find out more info, say to bin it!

We give it another week waiting for the black bin to be collected and empty the it into the bin on a Friday morning and recycle the cardboard.
Later the same Friday morning, a Virgin media van knocks on the door wanting to collect said package! Wife unloads probably 6 weeks/9 calls of frustration at the poor bloke and he goes away.

A week later, we get a letter/invoice delivered to the house addressed to Mr Aa Occupier quoting an account number and wanting £130 for the delivered Virgin media 360 box!

Wife rings Virgin again, there is no record of said account number and we are told to ignore it. Today, just received a second letter for missed payment.

The phone numbers on both invoices are genuine Virgin media numbers

 

[Wapinschaw]

As I have posted here before, the worst scam email I have received purported to come from my Dad's email address three months after he died. I would have at the time, and now years later, would still like to do serious physical harm to whoever sent that.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Cash is King!

If only

K

 

[HonestJohn]

There’s a place in hell for them, it’s usually the East African crime ring spearheading these scams - ie, the Black Axe in Nigeria.

 

[Tazz]

Will try and keep this short but worth a read -
Yesterday whilst our stalking received a phone call from my “Bank” giving my full name and last 4 digits of my bank card, bloke saying he from banks fraud unit and can i confirm if a transaction last night was genuine. It was not and I said do- he stated he would lock the account whilst they investigated, he tried asking more questions but I hung up as don’t trust many people anyway-

Within a few minutes I received a text from a number showing genuine transactions along with fake transaction- asking me to return there call.

I go onto phone bank app and lock my cards-

Few minutes go by I receive a call I do not answer, goes to voice mail - automated voice giving my full name and a number to ring with a 3 digit code to confirm it is me .

I head back to truck to phone the number off the back off the bank card to speak to bank- easier said then done-

I then received another text from “bank” saying my account had been hacked and to return there call. This text came on the end of a previous genuine text from bank confirming I had set a new payment contact up .

I did not phone that number- decide to sort it out when on way home-

Driving home later I received a phone call on hands free. Screen showing a number with the same dialing code as the bank- I answer phone , automated message again giving my full name etc asking for me to confirm my DOB before we proceed, I hang up again.

Once home - finally get to speak to a human at bank who confirmed they have not tried to get hold of me and scammers are intercepting online payments and trying to get the full bank details of the account holder, I asked the bank how did they send a text of the back of a genuine bank text chain- bank said the scammers are getting better,

I don’t trust many so luckily I did not fall for any off it- however it looked genuine and some people would fall for it- especially when you get text from a known genuine text thread-

So heads up - scammers are being a lot more clever and always phone your bank back off the number on the back of the card- not the number sent to you

Everyone needs to think as you did with these calls before acting on anything. Simple default is to ask which “ Department “ is contacting you and what is it concerning, then just call your bank and and ask for that department. Your bank will very very rarely ever contact you by phone with a fraud issue

 

[eggy74]

Been having similar with "Now TV", getting emails saying my card on account has expired and they cannot take payment, so can i ring this number and make payment over the phone. Again very well replicated layout on the email, quite convincing. I check my bank daily and the money had only just come out the week before, so i knew then it was a scam.

 

[Pedro]

The main problem with scammers is that although you can be clever and not get caught out and you can report it to your bank and whoever else, the likelihood of scammers getting caught is infinitesimal. They don't really care if they don't trap you, or the next one because somewhere down the line someone will fall for their latest scam. Mostly they are in Nigeria or India or somewhere and it's obvious their police aren't doing much, if anything to apprehend them for whatever reason.

Whilst they are able to ply their trade with no fear of repercussions, they will continue to think up more ways to scam people. It's a never ending cycle.

 

[Jon P]

I agree, it is getting to the point where you suspect every email or phone call to be a scam, unless something can be done the powers above cannot expect a fully cashless society.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Wow! I must have been really lucky when that Nigerian Prince wanted to use my bank account..,,.

 

[Zetter]

Even the banks can get caught out. My virgin credit card got hacked and I noticed as suddenly my E-Mail and phone number on the app got changed and I couldnt access any online services. All this came up thorugh E-Mail notifications.
Fortunatly the scammer tried to put a £4K booking through bookings.com on a holiday (I guess they were then going to cancel and get i refunded to a different card) this tripped the unusal spending pattern AI and the shutters came down/ locked the account.
When I chatted to the guys at fraud for the bank it turned out the scammers had managed to peace together some pesonal infomation off the web and phone up Virgin impersonating me to get them to change my phone number and E-Mail on the app alowing them to hijack it!
So now when I ring the bank its a password over the phone by me before they will talk to me at all and if its wrong the account gets locked pending going into a branch with my passport. I know one of my other accounts is going biometric with voice authentication before they will let you talk to anyone.

Its turning into a real arms race at the moment.

 

[Fabnosh]

I bought a book online about how to avoid scams….it still hasn’t arrived.

FN

 

[opticron1]

The genuine fraud team I spoke to said they will never contact a customer, it is the customer responsibility to check they are not being scammed, they have to many customers to check for all , they will sort once you notify them .

Funnily enough had a similar phone call last week as you.....the usual "there has been suspicious activity on your card" routine. Usually the phone call states it is from my bank, but this one didn't. I was polite and said I'll check on the computer which caused a bit of a pause as he wanted me to use my phone to check..... Went into my bank (yep, we still have a local branch!) and they checked with the fraud team - no problems, no call, no warnings.
The bank staff said that the fraudsters tend to try different regions on a weekly basis and move on when they get rumbled!

 

[downwind]

I had a phone call from a nice Asian lady, suggesting I could have an offer to upgrade my EE account. I asked the lady what name was on "My" account and for some reason she could only give me that via an email.