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Scams: Telephone, email, texts, other 2021

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Have just received a text message claiming to be from Lloyds telling me that an unknown device had been paired with my account and that if it was not me then I should contact a web address. I do not have a Lloyds account. I then looked at the link address which ended in .me. The Me domain allows anyone to have an email address with their own name so it is not one that a commercial organisation would have.
 
DavidGrain said:
Have just received a text message claiming to be from Lloyds telling me that an unknown device had been paired with my account and that if it was not me then I should contact a web address. I do not have a Lloyds account. I then looked at the link address which ended in .me. The Me domain allows anyone to have an email address with their own name so it is not one that a commercial organisation would have.
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The .me domain is registered as national code for Montenegro but, like several other countries, gets used over the world. It's unlikely that any corporation in the UK would use it but if you've got a foreign bank...
 
DavidGrain said:
Have just received a text message claiming to be from Lloyds telling me that an unknown device had been paired with my account and that if it was not me then I should contact a web address. I do not have a Lloyds account. I then looked at the link address which ended in .me. The Me domain allows anyone to have an email address with their own name so it is not one that a commercial organisation would have.
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If anyone receives messages like this - I've had them from Lloyds Bank, HMRC, and Royal Mail - take a screenshot and email them to
[email protected]
No need to give your details. This ensures that the bogus websites are closed asap before less vigilant victims fall foul of the scam.

www.bbc.co.uk

Carlisle ex-police officer 'devastated' by £3k Royal Mail scam

The officer of 25 years felt "helpless and angry" after falling victim to a Royal Mail parcel scam.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
You can also report them to your mobile network provider. If they are texts then you usually have to send the number the text came from.
 
Morturn said:
I was about to be arrested, again for tax fraud.
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Yes I had one of those some weeks ago - it was a voicemail actually as I was out and my phone was off - lady with an American accent, sounded so ridiculous!

This week I had a text saying the time limit on a package I had ordered had expired - something about paying a fee! I deleted it straight away, I never click into links in case they have a virus.
I hadn't ordered anything anyway but I guess they try it on as so many people have been buying online during the lockdown.
 
Yes, a lot of these scams do sound ridiculous as you quite rightly say. The problems arise when they also coincide with something else. A friend of mind had just transferred some money too his daughter via BACS. A scam email landed half an hour later and almost caught him out.
 
Hi Pete. That reminded me to top-up my mobile phone on EE. I have a plan for which I pay £10 a month. Asked for email address and password and everything seemed to go smoothly. Confirmation email and text within a minute for successful top-up. One thing I do for this and other sites is to reject the request for saving/remembering the password or email address. Somehow it feels more secure if I enter these myself each time. Dave
 
farmerdave said:
Hi Pete. That reminded me to top-up my mobile phone on EE. I have a plan for which I pay £10 a month. Asked for email address and password and everything seemed to go smoothly. Confirmation email and text within a minute for successful top-up. One thing I do for this and other sites is to reject the request for saving/remembering the password or email address. Somehow it feels more secure if I enter these myself each time. Dave
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i did it by 150 and all went well. EE said they know nothing about the other payment online. it not there site.
 
Mobile phone rang 2 mins ago 'This is the National insurance agency, a fraudulent use of you NI number was detected on the Welsh border,please press 1 to avoid us taking legal action'
The mind boggles, but if a vulnerable person was to hear the words legal action they may we worried enough to press 1.
 
I have had 5 calls in two days, the first at 8.00am on Monday claiming to be from Amazon thanking me for my order and if I did not cancel it they will ship me an iPhone 7 costing £300+, I did not bother to remember the exact amount. I am still waiting for the iPhone that I did not order.
There was another call 30 minuites later but I did not answer it.
Since then I have had 3 call telling me that my internet service will be cancelled with the next 4 hours.
As you can see from the fact that I am writing this that I still have my internet service even when I just put the phone down.
 
I was placing a regular online grocery order with a large supermarket on my PC when at the payment stage a message 'Oops something went wrong at our end' popped up and the order stopped. Immediately a fraud alert message from my bank appeared on my mobile and I immediately signed out of the supermarket site.

I then received another message from the bank saying I would receive a message from a mobile number with instructions on what to do. Luckily I recognised the number as an already agreed contact number so was genuine. I calmed down and then re-read the first message and noticed that the bank was waiting for a 'Y' or 'N' to a question 'was it me' ordering from the supermarket.

I tapped the 'Y' button and other message came from the bank saying 'thanks and continue with your order'.

I ran a full virus check etc, and checked my bank account. All seemed well so signed back into the supermarket.
 
I encountered a neighbour of long standing last week on one of my dog walks. He is in his late eighties and has always been a person who had my respect, both as a decent human being, and, as a retired lecturer, an intelligent man. He told me that he had just been scammed, the old computer needing attention, we can deal with it for you scam, which could have cost him money, but his bank was very supportive. He has now made some changes to internet addresses, a/c nos etc. and he and his wife have bought new phones and junked their old numbers.

The point about this rambling intro is that my friend has been completely demoralised by these scumbags, and has suffered a considerable change in outlook, and not a favourable one either. I offered any support I could, but am saddened to see the way that this has left him, and feel that this is a difficult subject to push, because of both the Covid situation, and not wanting to make the position worse by banging on about it. Fortunately he does have support from his wife, who has been able to stay a bit more positive.

I think the moral is this: - if you don’t know who is on the other end of the line, put the phone down.
 
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I just got a call from someone claiming to be from BT technical department telling me that they'd seen some unusual activity on my IP address, not a record this time a real person.
I rang him off and he rang again quite angry this time "Did we get disconnected or did you ring off?" so I rang him off again. :)
 
Is that what counts as unusual activity on your line, Eric? :) I guess he got the message!

Maurice :cool:
 
Has anyone ever received a letter from AVIVA asking for personal details so that they can confirm that you`re the person they`re looking for. It all looks genuine but i think i`ll wait till Monday so i can phone & find out why they are looking for me. You never know, they may owe me some dosh, or the old bill may be looking for me. !!
 
Johnfromstaffs said:
Apologies if you are already ahead of me, but look up Aviva’s number for yourself, don’t use the one on the letter unless it’s the same.
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Good advice.

Some of these scam companies have been setting up cloned website to look like the original. It happened to Brewin Dolphin the investment managers. So do check and don’t rush. If it sounds too good to be true it is.
 
Got one of these today. If you get one IGNORE IT AND DELETE IT. It looks genuine but none of the links to Royal Mail Services work. Viv.55F10F6E-FD63-484C-ACC4-C4ED70873ED0.jpeg
 
There is an article in this month’s Which magazine, going into this type of scam.

Much as I should like to post a copy for your attention, I would probably then have copyright lawyers chasing after me with flaming swords or something, but they can’t stop me from warning you.

The columnist, a tech savvy woman, was nearly caught out by a pre-ticked box in a message similar to that above, purportedly from DPD, asking for a small amount of money to be paid to cover an underpayment by a dispatcher. Aside from the one-off payment of a pound, to meet the underpayment and get her parcel, further down the page was a pre-ticked box committing her to recurring monthly charges of £43.99. When she checked the URL it wasn’t DPD at all, it was some scammer.

Might I suggest you obtain a copy of Which for May 2021, (library?) and read page 9.

£43.99 overlooked for 3 months would lose you more than a £100, but now you know what to do, and don’t fall for any pre-ticked boxes!
 
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Could I remind members that this thread is not a political one and is only meant to be of help to members.
Any off topic posts will be deleted.
Alberta.
 
Just had a call on our landline (don't get many of those). Automated message telling me I had missed a call from my internet provider who needed to speak to me before they terminated my account. At that point I put the phone down. Checked phone and no incoming calls since last Thursday then checked BT caller protect - two calls this morning not allowed through. Have reported number to action fraud and blocked the number.
 
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