Current scams
Received an email from a friend where he was apparently having difficulties with his E Bay account and he would appreciate me sending an E Bay voucher for £50 to his niece, giving her details, and he would reimburse me from his bank account.
So I said to him (he was sitting comfortably in a chair in my garden) - really?
Needless to say he didn't even have a niece and was surprised to learn that his contacts had been hacked.#
Upshot was that he then emailed all his contacts to advise them of the fraud.
Are there any other frauds circulating at present that we ought to be aware of?
Comments
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I've had a couple of emails recently telling me there was a problem with my direct debit for the TV licence.
I knew there wasn't a problem but went to the official TV licencing web site which had very good information on what to look for on a scam message.
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A few to be going on with! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53573408
David
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Had a phone call today supposedly from HM Customs and Taxes, saying there was a warrant out for my arrest for unpaid taxes, and demanded that I press 1 on the phone to halt it being carried out. So if you don't see posts from me for a while you'll know the reason why!!😁
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I told you they'd catch up with you eventually, Nellie🤣🤣🤣
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There's a BT scam that pops up on my wifes kindle. The usual, answer one of these three easy questions (although a certain President make think they are really difficult) and donate a £1 and we'll send you a big prize. More like a big Surprize.
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Soo fed up with scam e mails phone calls this week Amazon for one .credit cards Another . ee phone bills. that I haven't paid . Tax rebates iam owed. Loft in sulation that is faulty really Plus I have won the lottery that I for haven't paid up to .plus anything they else they can think of that iam daft enough to Believe sod of and being iam being polite
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Yes all agree. I've noticed new ones this week by email 'from' various delivery companies, Yodel, YDP, saying they couldn't deliver a package and would I ring to re-arrange and a second attempt would incur a shipping fee! I notice Yodel now has a warning notice on its website.
If I'm bored, or not doing anything in particular when I get these calls, I play along as at least they're wasting the time with me rather than getting someone who will believe them. Can you really help me...I haven't switched my computer on... where's the on switch, sorry what button do I press...
One of these 'baskets' eventually caught on and even had the audacity to ask me if I was wasting his time?
The ones where they claim a warranty has run out on your washing machine is really easy to stop, just ask them what model it is.
Also I don't know if these 'surveys' are scams or not but as usually they start with 'can I ask you two questions, won't take long' I say certainly, then they give my name and ask to confirm it which I do, then the same with my address, then they try and ask the survey questions. To which of course I reply that I've answered their two questions.
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Yes all agree. I've noticed new ones this week by email 'from' various delivery companies, Yodel, YDP, saying they couldn't deliver a package and would I ring to re-arrange and a second attempt would incur a shipping fee! I notice Yodel now has a warning notice on its website.
I assume these must be very prolific at the moment. When I log onto my mobile banking there is a warning specifically about them, as they are targeting banking details. We have had a couple of email ones in the same vein, ours supposedly DPD. If it had been Yodel I might have believed it, they took 4 attempts to deliver our wine. Said they couldn't find the house, although it's on a road with only about 10 properties with the same post code and they have found it before.😂
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McAfee and Norton requests are bombarding my email box, have been doing for the last week or so. Every one says this is my last chance to renew, otherwise my PC will be unprotected. So far I must be on my 150th “last chance”😂
Another less regular occurrence is on my phone. It rings for a couple of seconds, then stops. If I look in my “recent” calls list, they are originating overseas, usually from African countries. I don’t bother ringing back to see what they want........😁
I got the “we have heard you have been in a car accident” yesterday. Now these I occasionally string along, seeing how long I can keep up the deception.
Our police force is sending out regular messages around the proliferation of online and phone scams at the moment. Main advice is if buying online, use different passwords, check the website addresses, use as much payment security as you can.
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I had a scam phone call last week. Very rare as the only ones we get are supposedly from BT who want me to take certain steps to secure my internet or else I will be switched off. Only ever aware of the calls around December an January time. Probably started three years ago. When it first started happening it was quite entertaining. Last year it was a voice message only asking that we press on a number. No fun at all. This time it was Jason who was surprised when, as soon as he spoke I responded with 'Hello Jason, lovely to hear our voice after so long.' He started his pitch I stopped him and said ''Hope you are well I won't be able to contain my laughter when you get to the punch line and so have a good day'. He hung up on me but it truly was nice to hear from him.
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check the website addresses, use as much payment security as you can.
We try and keep our online purchases with a few tried and trusted companies. It sometimes means paying a bit more but I much prefer it to inputting my details into a site I have never used before. In the few cases it is a new supplier, I always check them out.
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TDA, the original(& best) advice ever is-‘there is no such thing as a free meal’. No one offers freebies for nothing, it’s a type of spear phishing they have identified marks/targets to go for. No one will give any of us anything without a cost. The more folk put their details out there the more they will be targeted. Every request for-name, address, age, gender, email address & phone number is a request to become a victim. You will never get anything for nothing. It’s insidious but they can be beaten-we know that👍🏻
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SL, you can use a PayPal account as they guarantee cover against scams. I never use a company that don’t offer PayPal as a paying partner.
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Agree. I never click on the adverts that pop up on websites, or anything that promises something for nothing. Avoid any type of “market research” request as well.
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It doesn't stop with one scam either as, once you've bitten, your details will be passed to other scammers as you've become a mark.
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Yes, a good way of avoiding the need to disclose credit card & personal details. However, not bomb proof. I had my PayPal account hacked a while back, somebody used it to buy photographic equipment in Estonia! I eventually got my money back, but it was a very long, frustrating process made more difficult as it was almost impossible to talk to a human being! I now use their 2 stage verification process and won’t use any online account that doesn’t offer that level of security via my mobile phone.
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Me too👍🏻, it’s not hard to spot the scams. PayPal use my code in contact but the scammers use-‘dear customer’ which translated means-‘I’m a scammer’👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻
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That’s a shocker SB😱, I’ve been with PP for near 20 years & never had an issue. The hacking usually come from the hacked person being lax in their security, PP is super proactive re security-
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I think it's fair to say that we're all vulnerable to fraud and security hacks and at this time of the year it's often worse.
Always best to check the URL (like the https at the top of this page) and make sure it matches the site you think you're dealing with plus the "lock" image is in use.) I nearly signed in to a fake bank page once, I just didn't check the URL web address properly. It was a very clever set up and I spotted it just in time.We've had a lot more fake phone calls recently even though we're on a phone preference service etc. Action Fraud and Offcom are helpful but it doesn't seem to stop them does it?!
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I don't believe it today .email Royal Mail failed parcel delivery last night 6 45 pm . Amazon again Put phone down grrrr. Another call again your internet supplier going to cut you off for illegal use of internet. And got the rest of the day to go
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We've had a lot more fake phone calls recently even though we're on a phone preference service etc. Action Fraud and Offcom are helpful but it doesn't seem to stop them does it?!
Im not sure how useful preference services are. The land line we have now just throws any numbers it does not recognise to answerphone. They don't often leave a message and it usually detects automated calls and rejects them. Occasionally we get a message left saying we need to sort out our prime subscription, which we don't have😂. On the mobile I just ignore anything that does not come up as a contact.
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Came across an unusual one recently.....folks get items delivered to their homes that they didn’t order or pay for. Turns out it’s scammers using cloned Amazon accounts they’ve created simply to provide a platform to create false reviews for their dodgy products.
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We get a telephone call - almost daily - telling us we missed a call from our internet supplier. We just put the handset down and leave it to run but we stopped answering the landline around the time these calls normally come in.
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There’s one on BBC news website at moment......hoaxer looking for people to take part in “nude challenges” in return for cash. At least a couple of chaps have succumbed to the lure, hotel room, filming, wait to hear from us.............🤷♀️🙄 You couldn’t make it up honestly😂
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I’ve only had the one problem and it was many years ago, didn’t put me off using them, like you account holder for 20+ years. However, I think there’s a weakness in the collaboration between Ebay and Paypal, if you’re not careful Ebay will automatically authorise payments on your Ebay account via PayPal. I can’t recall opting into that arrangement and turning it off requires a lot of research and persistence. I want to use 2 stage verification for all purchases and it keeps turning that option off.
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