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Scams: telephone, email, texts 2023, 2024

richardinwales said:
A fella named Dr Solomon launched home anti-virus software. In an interview he said he regretted using the word virus because its a 'panic' word and hypes people up.
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For what it's worth I ised to go to IT trade shows at the NEC back in the 90s. At one point Dr Solomon was there running his stand and I may have talked to him. Trouble was that in those days the internet was still dial-up and the computers I was dealing with were mostly dumb terminals that had no internet connection.
 
Just answered a call on my mobile from a mobile number. (I am expecting a call).
American voice claiming to be from HMRC about a letter they sent which had been returned.
As they don't have my number I cut off the call. Have reported it and blocked the number.
 
pjmburns said:
Just answered a call on my mobile from a mobile number. (I am expecting a call).
American voice claiming to be from HMRC about a letter they sent which had been returned.
As they don't have my number I cut off the call. Have reported it and blocked the number.
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That’s the worse part when you are expecting a call you don’t want to miss it!
 
Scams are everywhere, whether through phone calls, emails, or texts. It's getting harder to know what's real and what's not. I’ve had my fair share of these annoying calls and messages, especially in 2023 and 2024. It’s like they’re getting more intelligent, but so are we. One thing I’ve found super helpful is using whocalled.co.uk . It’s a great site where you can check unknown numbers, and it’s saved me from picking up a scam call more than once. It’s easy to fall for these scams, especially when they sound convincing. My best advice is to double-check and never give out personal info unless you know who you’re dealing with.
 
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Just had a text message:

"Your car has received a parking ticket . To avoid additional fines and potential legal action, please pay the penalty immediately" that is followed by a https:/qrco.de/bf...?..HSQ that for some reason (possibly because I'm very confident, that I haven't parked anywhere illegally), I won't be rushing to press.. :rolleyes:

They don't give up do they? No mention of my car registration or of when/where this happened and I won't be clicking on any dodgy link to find out. Isn't taking our winter fuel allowance off us enough?:laughing:
 
Wikipaedia sent me an e-mail regarding my recent donation, which i didn't make, requesting a further donation. Deleted.
Another, today, was to update reddit - whatever that is - also deleted.
No calls here with unknown people or worse still those so called surveys are answered.
 
I've just deleted an email purportedly informing me that my Microsoft Cloud storage is full. It provided a tab for me to put it right, etc. Lots wrong with it, first being it used my email name and not my Microsoft account name. Also, I opted out of Cloud storage on set-up. If I'd clicked the tab I'd obviously have had to supply my Microsoft account details and pretty much hand access over to whoever was collecting the info. Tricky world, computers.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Had the parking fine scam yesterday, re post #188. Reported it. Note the government website would never contact by email on this, only by hard copy through the post. It's very convincing, so beware.
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I had another one too, mentioning the council this time, but not which one. From a slightly different number this time, which is now also blocked.
 
Not a scam, but associated. I received a text saying that someone would be ringing me from the fraud dept of my credit card. I did get two calls on my mobile, both of which my mobile provider warned me were suspected spam. Thinking I should inform my provider about this, I contacted them on the number on the website. It turns out that the call was genuine, and they have now issued me with a new card , which arrived this morning (very quickly)
 
mw0njm. said:
i think it is a trend now on EBAY for sellers to send buyers empty boxes and say they have sent the goods. trying to prove they sent empty boxe is a nightmare i have had 3 up to now:mad:
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I think it really pays to check the success record of Ebay sellers. Around 98-99% is generally OK.
 
This is yet another. Advice : check out the number via a Google search. Note all numbers prefixed with 07529 are primarily scams.
 

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mw0njm. said:
i think it is a trend now on EBAY for sellers to send buyers empty boxes and say they have sent the goods. trying to prove they sent empty boxe is a nightmare i have had 3 up to now:mad:
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i would have thought it easy to prove simply by looking at how much postage is on the box ...an empty box would cost far less to send than a box with goods inside

lyn
 
Yet another new one doing the rounds, be careful. So many scammers and parasites about, note the urgency required, closes on the 19/10/24 so dont think about it too much or you will loose your chance to claim, just send them all your banking details and they will empty your account for you. !!!!!!!
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Had a text this morning, claiming to be from:

UK Department For Work and Pensions Reminder:
The living subsidy for this year (2023 to 2024) is currently being distributed. You are now eligible to apply for this subsidy. You can apply through the link. We will review it as soon as possible and issue it in time. Maybe this will be your best choice. (or maybe not! ;))
This is an important subsidy to help you reduce the financial pressure in your life! (love the exclamation mark use;))
At the same time, you do not need to pay taxes on this subsidy and receiving this subsidy will not affect your other benefits or tax deductions.

https://bit.ly/3zVSotD?CuD=5Mo7OeX**-RU-Gullible (I added the last bit;))

Thank you for your support to the UK Department for Work and Pensions. (No, thank you.....:rolleyes:)

- The problem is those payments were automatic for those who were eligible, did not need to be applied for, the final payments were made in February and there are no plans to continue the scheme! Yet another scam this time from 07586 226... (now a blocked number on my phone).

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And another ... be vigilant everyone. And remember to report these, and block them.

A couple of hints, the use of the words 'Congratulations', 'giving up' are ones that would never be used in an official communication. And the last line - no way!

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steveb said:
Yet another new one doing the rounds, be careful. So many scammers and parasites about, note the urgency required, closes on the 19/10/24 so dont think about it too much or you will loose your chance to claim, just send them all your banking details and they will empty your account for you. !!!!!!!
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Parasites is the right description for them!
 
Vivienne14 said:
And another ... be vigilant everyone. And remember to report these, and block them.

A couple of hints, the use of the words 'Congratulations', 'giving up' are ones that would never be used in an official communication. And the last line - no way!

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The wording of this scam is bad enough and you are 100% correct the wording is a real give away, but the last line says it all. Whoever wrote this and sent it out, really is the lowest of the low, their parents would be so proud....
 
Not quite as bad as some, but really annoying
My husband answered the phone they knew his name and said that as his ********* energy tariff was due for renewal they were ready to offer new one.
Our tariff doesn't end until July 2025 so he let them carry on offering a price £30 a month less that our present one, then my husband asked are you ******** and they said , no but we work with them, at which point he put the phone down.
 
Another parking scam was highlighted on Central News last night. Drivers are being warned of a scam featuring fake QR codes stuck on pay and display ticket machines in local car parks.

Apparently the machines are claimed to be out of order and drivers are asked to pay by scanning the QR code. The stickers are often placed over legitimate QR codes to make them look genuine and are a means to trick drivers into handing over their card details.

Fortunately, I wouldn't know where to start, if I was asked to scan a QR code ;) . This sort of thing wasn't a worry when you put coins into a parking meter or paid a man sitting in a kiosk was it?

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