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Scams: Telephone, email, texts, other 2021

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Vivienne14

Vivienne14

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I had a silent ‘no number’ call today, followed later by the; ‘BT unauthorised use of your account, which has been suspended’, (or some such words) automated call. This as always, followed by an exhortation to dial ‘1’. I have my ‘phone service with Plusnet, and these calls can be diverted by dialling 1572. The problem is that the scammers are able to use so many numbers, that you can never stop this activity entirely. The strange thing is, I never get these kind of calls on my mobile.

I have wondered whether I might be on some kind of ‘suckers list’, after I was nearly taken in by an authorised push payment scam around two years ago. Not a comforting thought.
 
Had a recorded scam yesterday. "armet??? is going to be deduct [sic] by tomorrow from your account. Please press 1 if you have any queries" Needless to say I didn't press 1 and that number has now been blocked.
I found a website a couple of months ago: Who Called Me? ( who-called.co.uk ). You can add your own comments on various scam/spam calls.
 
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One of the problems I find is that a lot of genuine callers i.e. hospitals, doctors surgery, dentist etc. come up on my phone as number witheld. Normally, if I am not expecting a call, I ignore these numbers but it can create problems, Just before Xmas I had applied for a renewal of my driving licence via the internet. A few days later I received a call with number witheld. I ignored it and no message was left on my answering service. A few hours later I received another one. Again same response. At about 18:15 hrs the same happened again. This time I answered it.
"Can I speak to Mr James..................?)
Who's calling? I said.
"It's the D.V.L.A."
What at this time? I answered. Having read on the forum about scam calls purporting to be from the DVLA I was naturally suspicious and asked the caller what was it about.
The reply was "I can't answer that without confirmation of who you are"
I replied if he could verify who HE was.
"No not until you confirm who YOU are!" he said.
I then said perhaps he could write to me with his query and I would deal with it then.
In due course a letter from DVLA arrived with about a dozen different forms for me to complete which I did.
I'm still waiting for my licence.
 
Yes Eric, the surgery just phoned number witheld about my husband's second jab!!
Jmadone, don't expect anything from DVLA in Lockdown, it took many months for my husband to get his renewed! I think they left his at the bottom of the pile.
 
I'm waiting for my 1st jab. My phone always shows "number withheld" when I have a Doctor's/Hospital call so I always answer those. Strangely, so does my Sister's calls and she says she doesn't know why. The 11 digit calls that show I always ignore unless they respond to the answerphone and I want to talk to them.
 
My first email scam of2021: email reputedly from Royal Mail with all the right logos etc saying that they had tried to deliver a parcel & no answer. Click here, give correct address & PAY £3.00!! No card put through door [we were in!] & Royal Mail don't charge to redeliver. Take care.
 
Getting a daily email supposedly from BT saying they've changed their email system and for me to log in following their link contained in the email, strange when you look to see who sent it and it’s not BT. Scammers must be saving for Easter
 
One way of making money in lockdown when drug pushing and petty thieving isn't so easy.

Maurice :cool:
 
I had some joker who said she was from po. calling about my internet account. she wanted to know my dob. mobile no.etc
i said if you are genuine you know them. she said its for security.i told her no. she said will you STOP coughing down the phone its hurting my ear i have a head set on i hung up.
 
Had scam Email on Saturday and Monday from National Commercial Bank Jamaica thanking me for using their Visa card for transaction of 30,ooo JMD. Told me to ring a number if not me. Reported it to authorities
 
mw0njm. said:
I had some joker who said she was from po. calling about my internet account. she wanted to know my dob. mobile no.etc
i said if you are genuine you know them. she said its for security.i told her no. she said will you STOP coughing down the phone its hurting my ear i have a head set on i hung up.
Click to expand...
Then you need a very loud whistle to blow down the phone
 
Because I want to receive some official calls I have 'Call Control' switched off but have set a musical ringtone for my Contacts. If I hear the musical ringtone I know it is safe to pick up the phone. I will presently answer withheld numbers but all other calls go to the answer phone and scammers rarely leave anything on it.

I occasionally look at the calls list and block numbers which means they get a message telling them they are blocked. Recently I noticed many calls were from the same Edinburgh number and traced them using Google. They were an 'Opinion Poll' company and are now blocked. :cool:
 
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We have just received two very heavy boxes taped together, it was a struggle to lift off the step. The label says Ebayn715yzk with our correct address on but not our name is mentioned.
I think we may be victims of the brushing scam. It contains 9 heavy rolls of Italian wallpaper and if it is indeed a scam then I can't understand why they would send such a heavy item and pay Royal mail to deliver it.
Normally the brushing scam involves small items sent so the seller can make glowing fake reviews

www.bbc.co.uk

The 'brushing' scam that's behind mystery parcels

There's been a rise in sellers buying and sending out their own goods in order to boost sales and reviews.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
Eric Gibson said:
More likely to be misdelivered than a scam I'd guess.

One of Ebay's customers is waiting patiently for his diy goodies to turn up. :)
Click to expand...

Your right, I'm waiting for a small machine power hacksaw and tracking shows it's now delivered, we just a phone call from the seller who is full of apologies, my item has just been collected by Hermes. Seller has 100% feedback so I'm confident it's a genuine error.
 
I had a phone call today on my mobile. The number calling indicated it was from someone in Cambridge, so I answered it.

An automated voice said I had committed a tax fraud and If I did not press 1, I would be immediately arrested.

I was very impressed with how, with the help of new technology they can arrest me over the phone
 
This scam text dropped into my mobile today. I deleted it. Definitely do not tap the blue links on these.
lloydsScam.jpg
 
I have had a couple of texts saying my Amazon Parcel will be delivered today between a certain time. I then get another text to say the parcel was delivered and signed for by Susan (no Susan at my house), any problems click the link below.

Of course it’s a scam to get you to click the link, but a new style one to watch out for.
 
I have had five calls today saying that I have an urgent message from Santander. I don't know anyone living in Santander, Spain. Several I have not answered because they have been from the same 0808 number

Yes I know that Santander is a bank named after a town in Spain.
 
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I received a text apparently from my bank this morning with a warning about someone setting up new payee - click the link etc. I know my bank never send texts to me so deleted it ... but not before making a note of the scammer's website embedded in the text link ... I'm nosy ...:cool:

I then started up an old computer which only runs Linux and also hides my ip address and entered the website in Firefox running incognito. Firefox immediately blocked the scammer's website with the screen below.
SAM_1548 (Medium).JPG
 
I’ve had these about a different bank who I don’t even have a bank account with ! Anything like this gets immediately deleted. Viv.
 
We keep getting very early morning calls often when we are not up which is worrying. My partner won't answer. I did yesterday and there was a long pause so I said hello, a long pause then a slightly robotic man's cultured voice. With too long an emphasis on the syllables.... heeellooow, this is BT, all your accounts with us will be terminated today. Please press button one. So I hung up. I checked on BT scam on the web. It is quite common. A woman who had written in had one with a man with an African accent claiming to be from BT. He had a lot of her personal details already. He said he could prove he was from BT by cutting her line off which he did. She couldn't ring out, then he came back on. She thought this would dupe some people. Then she told him that as he was the caller, he could press the mute button and not hang his phone up, rendering hers inoperable then depress his mute button. He hung up.
I also have had a few messages on my mobile saying my device has been paired up with a new recipient for my bank account, or they are confirming I have a new business arrangement to pay someone. I checked this out. Another new scam involving a bank and a building society. They say the real companies do not contact anyone in this way. What worried me or perturbed me was the messages came after my card had been refused. Once at the supermarket which eventually went through and once at a DIY store. I waved it I swiped it I put the number in. I ended up paying cash there. The till operator said it has not been working all day. Why didn't they do something about it then.?
 
When I did have a problem my bank messaged me and asked me to phone the number on my card. No links to click on and no phone number given. I actually phoned my local branch and they sorted it for me
It is annoying when they seem to know of a problem but don't sort it out.
 
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