Telephone and other scams 2020

[Smudger]

My wife had a phone call this morning & the upshot is HMRC have issued a warrant for her arrest. I`ve told her not to worry, hide up in the loft & i`ll keep her supplied with sarnies & coffee till the heat dies down. It all sounds a bit comical but i suppose if the scammers make enough phone calls it may frighten someone to fall for it. Some sad nasty people out there.

 

[Pedrocut]

HMRC Scam

'HMRC called to say it had issued an arrest warrant in my name. Is this a scam?'

On returning home today, I found a message on my answering machine claiming to be from HMRC.

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[mw0njm.]

My wife had a phone call this morning & the upshot is HMRC have issued a warrant for her arrest. I`ve told her not to worry, hide up in the loft & i`ll keep her supplied with sarnies & coffee till the heat dies down. It all sounds a bit comical but i suppose if the scammers make enough phone calls it may frighten someone to fall for it. Some sad nasty people out there.

I had that nearly every 5 hours.and telling me to press one. I give the number 02...to the sweeny. and the messages stopped. the first time i got home and had that on my answer machine.it shook me up.i was told by HMRC it is a london number being rented.

 

[Spargone]

Apparently I have just won $500,000 in the US National Lottery. Not bad seeing as I don't have a ticket!

I expect these people either make money if you call them back or possibly there will be some 'transfer fee' that will be credited to the winnings. This is a new scam for me.

It has been a good few years now since 'Officer X' working for HRMC has threatened legal action, thank goodness.

 

[mbenne]

Courier fraud: Victim 'cried for days'

Police warn £7m was stolen from elderly and vulnerable people in 2019 in so-called courier fraud.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[mw0njm.]

A woman phoned me and said, “Come on over. There’s nobody home.” I went over. Nobody was home!

 

[nickcc101]

Had a call yesterday on my mobile informing me that I'd had a not to blame accident in my car, when I stated that was not the case the woman said she would remove me from their records. As far as I'm aware cold calling is no longer allowed so whatever she wanted must have been against the law.

 

[Eric Gibson]

The 'Your accident' call is a scam to catch people who have either had an accident and they promise to get a claim sorted for you or on the other hand to persuade you to make a false claim or exaggerate your damage.'

This week's scam phone call is the lady (pre recorded) with an American accent informing me that Amazon will be taking a payment from my bank/credit card and as usual to 'press one' if I need to stop it.

I don't have an Amazon account but I'd guess they will catch out a few who do.

 

[Alberta]

Eric, we just had the same Amazon .one quoting £39.95, just ignored it
Must be our week for scams.We were quoted a large amount of money to repair a fault on our computer
with help from lovely members we did it ourselves.

 

[jardene]

My husband is extremely deaf but thanks to modern science can switch his hearing aids to answer the phone. I always know when a scammer is on the line as he does his "you will have to speak up" or "what did you say" routine. He drives them up the wall and can keep it up for ages - they always end up hanging up on him! He calls it getting his own back!

 

[Radiorails]

I always ask them to speak in Dutch or another less well known language. My wife ask them how their garden is: what have they planted or what is in flower or other irrelevances. They soon give up.

 

[Eric Gibson]

A new one just came in, the same voice as the Amazon scam caller now telling me that I've won $500k on the US free lottery and the usual 'Press one' to claim.

 

[jardene]

What goes with this "press one" business. Do they get access to your phone when you do this - why do they say that?

 

[Eric Gibson]

I never follow the instruction so I don't really know, I suspect they go on to either gather information about you and use it to rob you or divert you to a premium rate phone line.

 

[Eric Gibson]

Just had a google of your question and this came up, it's US but I'd guess the same applies here.
https://www.consumerreports.org/con...s-any-buttons-when-you-get-a-scammy-robocall/

 

[Penns]

I had a phone call asking me if I had been in a car accident, " I said "yes I recently have had a very serious accident and I was killed". She carried on talking with the script until the penny finally dropped. It made my day, cant wait for the next one.

If someone phoned me and told me I was going to be arrested I would ask them If it would be alright if I could take my pet Donkey to prison with me and would it be possible to have a cell with a sea view.

Never get angry but always get even!

 

[oldMohawk]

The best way is to never let them get through. I happened to hear one try yesterday and heard the system block them after about five rings, they never even made it to my answer phone. Computers (not on the block list) ringing me usually detect the answer phone and ring off. About once a week I look at the call list and add numbers to the block list.

 

[mw0njm.]

I had a phone call asking me if I had been in a car accident, " I said "yes I recently have had a very serious accident and I was killed". She carried on talking with the script until the penny finally dropped. It made my day, cant wait for the next one.

If someone phoned me and told me I was going to be arrested I would ask them If it would be alright if I could take my pet Donkey to prison with me and would it be possible to have a cell with a sea view.

Never get angry but always get even!

some of them are right numpties. they sound like a recording..I am sure the insurance sell your details to them after a rtc.or accident

 

[Penns]

Same with unsolicited mail. I buy plastic enevelopes from Poundland and post every unsolicited letter I get back to the sender without a stamp, such fun!

 

[Radiorails]

some of them are right numpties. they sound like a recording..I am sure the insurance sell your details to them after a rtc.or accident

To use a colloquial expression "everyone is at it". The selling of e-mail addresses and other information is big business. The recent laws seem to have made little difference to it all, despite being assured that it does.