Scams via telephone, email 2026

[Morturn]

These is a Bank Scam Emergency Number 159 that is a dedicated hotline for reporting and checking financial scams in the UK. When you call 159, you are directly connected to your bank's fraud prevention service, helping to protect you from potential scams.

 

[Radiorails]

I never answer phone numbers that I do not recognise. As "er indoors" advises me that if it is important they will call on another occasion. The problem arises that we have become attached to telephones - and this is not a new phenomena - that we must stop what we are doing to answer a call regardless of its importance. The phone suppliers have always known this and take advantage of our weaknesses.

 

[Donbogen]

I had a beauty just few weeks ago. I'd carelessly clicked on a link in a "missed delivery" email to arrange a new delivery but it was dead. A few days later there was an long, windy, poor English email in my spam folder informing me that the sender had managed to gain control of my computer camera and microphone and had videos of me enjoying things too much while watching depraved porn videos. He (presumably a he) was demanding I send about £1,500 in Bitcoin to an account he'd linked to or the embarrassing videos would be sent to my friends. My camera and microphone aren't connected, and I'd rather watch BBC TV's Bargain Hunt than the movies he accused me of devoting time to. The annoying thing was he'd somehow managed to send the email from my own email address, so I couldn't block him. But I sent a copy to the authorities along with the email address of that "missed delivery" message in the hope it might help track him down.

I get those
Yodel & Royal Mail

 

[mikejee]

I never answer phone numbers that I do not recognise. As "er indoors" advises me that if it is important they will call on another occasion. The problem arises that we have become attached to telephones - and this is not a new phenomena - that we must stop what we are doing to answer a call regardless of its importance. The phone suppliers have always known this and take advantage of our weaknesses.

I accept that reasoning, but surely if it is important and they call again, then it will be the same number and you will think that "if it is important they will ring again"

 

[pjmburns]

If I don't recognise the number and it doesn't show as a nuisance call I answer but don't speak. I wait for "the other end" to speak first. Often the phone goes down so I assume it wasn't important.

 

[mikejee]

I would do that, but recently (last few months) if I do answer do not get a chance to not speak, as the number rigs off immediately I picj up the phone

 

[Radiorails]

I accept that reasoning, but surely if it is important and they call again, then it will be the same number and you will think that "if it is important they will ring again"

Not really as it usually a out of town number and it probably is an automatically dialed number. Anyway I do not take any chances. On the odd occasion where I do answer I ask them to speak in another language, as I mentioned on this thread before, that usually provided a good result for unwanted calls.