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Scams: telephone, email, texts 2022

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I use Amazon Kindle so I get emails suggesting other books that I might want to read. That does not bother me too much. However a few months ago they offered me six different books by different authors telling me how to cancel me Amazon account.
 
good job you were not be tempted to click on it you might have had one hell of a surprise. a empty bank account:mad:
 
i bought a new pair of boots from the dreaded fleebay. when they arrived they were 2 sizes too small. so i had to send them back, it cost me £5 to return them,which was deducted off the refund, i wonder how many £5 they have made by doing this to customers,selling them boots over and over again grrrrrrr.
 
i bought a new pair of boots from the dreaded fleebay. when they arrived they were 2 sizes too small. so i had to send them back, it cost me £5 to return them,which was deducted off the refund, i wonder how many £5 they have made by doing this to customers,selling them boots over and over again grrrrrrr.
Pete, all of these companies make a ton off shipping, Amazon particularly. I have a friend who owns a small therapeutic device company that is all mail order. His negotiated rates with shippers is less than half what he charges.
That’s why Amazon is in the shipping business!
 
Pete, all of these companies make a ton off shipping, Amazon particularly. I have a friend who owns a small therapeutic device company that is all mail order. His negotiated rates with shippers is less than half what he charges.
That’s why Amazon is in the shipping business!
I was under the impression that if goods are faulty or not as described, (incorrect size delivered are not as described) the can be returned at the dealers expense. The dealer should provide you with a preprinted label. To affix to the parcel.
 
Pete, all of these companies make a ton off shipping, Amazon particularly. I have a friend who owns a small therapeutic device company that is all mail order. His negotiated rates with shippers is less than half what he charges.
That’s why Amazon is in the shipping business!
British auction houses are absolute rip off merchants in their P & P charges. Sometimes these charges can nearly equal the hammer price thereby doubling the costs of the item bought.
 
I was under the impression that if goods are faulty or not as described, (incorrect size delivered are not as described) the can be returned at the dealers expense. The dealer should provide you with a preprinted label. To affix to the parcel.
they are suppose to but some dont and get away with it knowing flee bay will not want to lose there custom and say nout,which i discovered today. so i know in future
 
I was under the impression that if goods are faulty or not as described, (incorrect size delivered are not as described) the can be returned at the dealers expense. The dealer should provide you with a preprinted label. To affix to the parcel.
Yes, or a scan and go from a pick up point. I think it comes down to the proverbial FINE PRiNT!
 
Yes, they've started already. I had a lengthy conversation with a 'supervisor' on the line that claims to be from Microsoft saying they know my computer was "Being used by scammers" (!) - I said they can't get in to use it and pretended not to understand what he was saying about technology. That was 20 minutes of his life he won't get back! If its anything to do with loft insulation, boiler renewal, double glazing, replacement soffits (what the hell are soffits anyway?) I tell them to contact my landlord. (You can do that even if you own your house - they aren't interested if they can't deal with you directly!) Another trick to try is let the phone ring 5 times before answering it - scammers dial multiple numbers then disconnect once one answers. Not failsafe, but often saves your bother. On mobiles, check the number calling - if it doesnt begin with "0" or "+44" its from outside of the UK. You can check where from on this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_telephone_prefixes_by_country
A guy on the radio had the right idea he took out a 0900 number ( separate phone for friends and relatives) so every time these companies rang he would keep them talking as long as possible as they were having to pay him for the call.
 
I had a text this morning from something called 'Trace Alert' telling me that I had been near someone who had Covid. There was a link to a NHS website where I needed to order a test kit etc etc. I could see that the linked site was fake so deleted the text. I never have Bluetooth in my phone switched on so could not have interacted with any other phone. It was a scam!
 
Wanted to warn everyone about a scam message I received. The message was apparently from my son who had dropped his phone down the toilet but had managed to get it to work with a new sim card. I had a text conversation advising him to put his phone into a bowl of rice to dry it out.

12 hours later I received another text asking me for a great favour, because his phone was linked to his bank account he was unable to pay a bill that was overdue and could I do it for him.

I was nearly drawn in by this but then thought why would his wife not pay it and also the payee had a strange name.
I asked confirmation of my birthdate and received the reply 'I've forgotten it dad, this is XXX (my son's name) why would it not be me'
They were asking for £570.

I have reported the number. Please be careful they are getting more sophisticated. I loathe these people.
 
Please be careful they are getting more sophisticated. I loathe these people.
Think. When you were working, or if you still are, you were (are) very good at your job. Pick another unrelated job, you would probably be OK at it, but maybe not too hot. For the scammers, that is their job. That is what we are up against.

The message was apparently from my son who had dropped his phone down the toilet but had managed to get it to work with a new sim card.
It is sometimes called SIM Swap, and often involves shady employees at phone shops in collusion with scammers.

I was nearly drawn in by this
Well done for catching it.

Andrew.
 
I've just received another text from 'Trace Alert' ... it's a scam so I deleted it.
but
On 20th July I received a text apparently from my GP medical practice with a link to
h_ttps://nhsm.uk/********
(I've mangled the link so that it does not work here and put stars instead of some text which identified my NHS details ... they knew who I was and who was my GP) (To make the link show, delete the underscore and stars)

I'm a suspicious oldie so did not open the link in my phone and typed it into my laptop where Windows Defender and Google Security said it was ok and this appeared ... the red is from me ....
Image4.jpg
I was suspicious because the text said the Flu jab is 'Free' ... well every flu jab I've had over the years was free!
Also I've never had to book an autumn flu jab in mid-summer, I book them in Sept direct with my GP.
I checked the link from the 'Call Now' phone button and it was to my GP's number.

The uninvited text from nhsm.uk is genuine but I will still book direct with the GP practice as I always have done.
I did click the button saying 'I want a flu jab' ... but they should already know I have been having them for 10+ years !!
 
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For a few weeks now, I've been receiving and deleting daily emails asking me to click various tabs for "confirmation" of loans or vote for some cause or other. They're obviously bogus because they all use a short nickname derived from my email address, not even the full name. Somebody out there is very persistent right now.
 
I also get many bogus texts which cause me to be suspicious when a genuine text arrives. I get texts from 'Trace Alert' every week even though I have reported them. I do get texts from sender 'nhs' but have never seen sender 'nhsm' before ... but checks show they are the NHS ... unless they are very clever scammers.
 
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