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Scams: Telephone, email, texts, other 2021

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Here is another side of the scam calls, since I started on my life of leisure, I notice that we get about four or five every morning as well as the little chap from Bangalore or wherever who wants o save me from the terrible virus that I have on my computer. Yesterday morning my wife answered the phone and immediately put it down. "Who was that, dearest" I asked from my prone position on the settee. " BT telling me they had a text SMS message for me, that's another scam is it?" I had experienced these messages in t he days when I slaved over a hot telephone and when she left the room to make my coffee and chocolate biscuit, I shot to the phone recalled the number and wait for it pressed 1 (Oh foolish youth) and listened and discovered it was the delivery time for a bed settee we were expecting. I explained what it was (and earned an extra choccy biscuit), but accepted that this was a form of communication that a lot of older people might not understand. Made a change from being chased by HMRC and Amazon, but it also leaves you wondering how the system works.

Bob
 
Well, the one time I received a "text" message verbally over the phone I found it soemwhat confusing, with , what was then, a funereal computer voice reciting words. with no expression. . "Texts" over an ordinary phone line are rather peculiar
 
Yes, they are peculiar.
When I was working I used to get one occasionally from my manager telling me he was running late as his train was cancelled or something similar!
 
mikejee said:
Well, the one time I received a "text" message verbally over the phone I found it soemwhat confusing, with , what was then, a funereal computer voice reciting words. with no expression. . "Texts" over an ordinary phone line are rather peculiar
Click to expand...
Yes it is always a robotic stilted voice
Bob
 
One to watch out for when calling your insurance, The AA, RAC etc.

Consumer group Which has discovered that premium-rate call services and claims management companies are paying to appear above insurers’ websites when people search for customer service phone numbers.

Premium-rate call services and claims management companies are paying to appear above insurers’ websites when people search for customer service phone numbers,

Read more here
 
i had a phone call from a scammer who pretended to be from amazon, the message said " your debit card has been used to pay £700 press 1 to get full information. i just hung up as i never had or will spend £700 on amazon.i gave the listed number to the police.
 
I had a Royal Mail scam text and a Royal Mail genuine text today. I had ordered a package so was expecting a delivery. The first text mentioned a parcel delivery problem and to open the link to sort it.

With my 'suspicious-old-fogey' mode on I didn't like the look of the first text and deleted it - the link looked suspicious.

The second text was about the package I had ordered with delivery slot time etc. It had a link to track the package.
 
A strange one here, one of my neighbours told me this morning that she had a call yesterday, she answered but could only hear her own voice as an echo so put it down and dialled 1471, wrote the number down

Later after thinking about it all day she dialled the number and it rang her own mobile phone. :confused: weird or what?
 
Eric Gibson said:
A strange one here, one of my neighbours told me this morning that she had a call yesterday, she answered but could only hear her own voice as an echo so put it down and dialled 1471, wrote the number down

Later after thinking about it all day she dialled the number and it rang her own mobile phone. :confused: weird or what?
Click to expand...
Back in the 60s I seem to remember reading that this sort of thing meant your phone was being tapped !!
I am sure nowadays it would be done without anyone noticing
 
Eric Gibson said:
A strange one here, one of my neighbours told me this morning that she had a call yesterday, she answered but could only hear her own voice as an echo so put it down and dialled 1471, wrote the number down

Later after thinking about it all day she dialled the number and it rang her own mobile phone. :confused: weird or what?
Click to expand...
That sounds like she accidently dialled herself on her mobile. Easley one if you put the handset in your pocket with the keypad or screen not locked.
 
Phil,

Odd that you were actually expecting a parcel. Have the scammers got a fifth columnist working in Royal Mail?

Maurice :cool:
 
Coincidence I'm sure Maurice. Something similar happened to me a few weeks ago , but it waas supposed to have come from DHL, but the parcel I was expecting would have been Royal mail or Hermes, as those are the only people the firm uses (I checked)
 
It is indeed coincidence. The scammers are sending out millions of emails at a time in the hope that a few will land with people just at the right time and in the right circumstances.
 
Had an interesting scam call this morning. I have identified the area code as Washington State in the US. Spiel went as follows "Hi, we are conducting a survey to day. If you are registered as a Democrat please press 1, If you are registered as a Republican please press 2. If you are registered as an Independent please press 3." I would have loved to have had fun answereing that survey but there was no way that I was going to press any buttons.
 
I had an interesting experience the other day, my daughter who is disabled and lives in Gloucester has got my wife staying with her as a carer for six weeks, having just had a shoulder transplant, so I am enjoying all those calls between 10 and 12 that mý wife used to tell me about,when the other day I could not get to the phone in time when it rang (I was expecting a çall)so I checked the number an 0161 number and rang it to hear an American voice tell me that the number was discontinued. I have since read that even though numberwill appear on the screen and would seem to be a UK number, clever technology meant that the call could be from anywhere in the world.
 
i must be very lucky as i never get these so called scam texts or calls..often wonder if its because they know i am not worth owt or maybe its because i dont use online banking...either way i am not complaining... :)

lyn
 
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When a 'scammer' attempts to get through to my landline the phone does not ring. I hear a click and phone asks them to announce who they are and of course they never do. Occasionally I have a look at the calls list and recently saw a number 012345 67890 which proves they can display any number they want to.

The phone has a VIP list of numbers that are allowed to get through.
 
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I read very recently that Which? has done an experiment, they bought four brand new mobile phones, numbers never used before and two of the phones received scam calls.
I have wondered where they get your number from but, from this experiment, it seems they just pick numbers at random, at least some of the times.
 
A Sparks said:
I read very recently that Which? has done an experiment, they bought four brand new mobile phones, numbers never used before and two of the phones received scam calls.
I have wondered where they get your number from but, from this experiment, it seems they just pick numbers at random, at least some of the times.
Click to expand...
With modern computer processing it is possible to automatically generate millions random phone numbers in a second. Scammers and hackers have data bases of phone numbers, and they also use dictionaries that can target the generated numbers as a likely user phone number.

They also use dictionaries to hack passwords too, as well as data harvesting off social media sites. They set up quizzes that people are happy to fill in not realizing they are giving away important information that can identify individuals. So don’t use your mother’s maiden name as a password.
 
A good one this morning, 0750hrs, national crime agency telling me my NI number had been used for various illegal reasons and they where cominģ to arrest me and it was important I press one now. Þhey were also going to stop my NI No, the interesting thing was the voice was English and 1950's British B movie policeman
Bob
 
I had new one the other day from BT Openreach (I thought they had been superseded may be wrong) I was told my internet was running slow and a technician was dealing with it, they asked me to check the progress! I said how and they said by mobile phone, when I said I didn't have one, I was thanked and they rang off. Anyone else had this?
 
Not sure if this is a scam or not but I have just had an email from Western Power Division inviting me to update details for the person at my address who is on their priority register in the event of a power failure. Click here to to do....well several different things.
Trouble is i have just been dealing with them closing my late Father's pension but....I used a different email address and no one was on a priority register. I forwarded it to the phishing team at gov.uk and deleted it.
It did come to the address we use for our electricity bills.
 
Western Power do have an at risk register for the elderly etc, but it shouldhave come from Western Power DISTRIBUTION.

Bob
 
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