Scam watch: look out for hoax callers

Still feeling angry over the whole thing. There is this man who tried many ways to conned me to help him very convincingly. He starts with being honest and telling me how lucky I was to have met him and soon enough he would get my card details for some council work. Then I realised he was also asking me out for a date. I politely declined. A fortnight later I found out there was more money debited than what was supposed to be. He has used my number for his personal payments! When I queried, the bank informed me my husband authorized it. I told them I had no husband but unfortunately he has all my details and twisted it like I was someone he just dumped! I have cancelled that card since.

Hi Cindy, because you’ve posted some personal information, we’ve had to tweak your post so it aligns with our commenting guidelines. Thanks, mods]

I had somebody call claiming to be somebody named Sal at Barclays at my local branch on a With Held number which later left a message on my answer phone. I already had my doubts as the initial call was With Held! I called the number anyway to find out how they have my number I knew it was fraud straight away because the guy said hello without even properly introducing himself as Barclays no official automated IVR system either! My intuition said no! I hung up & called the actual Barclays branch number they confirmed it wasn’t them plus there wasn’t anybody called Sal at my local branch & it was somebody trying to get more information! I gave the real Barclays the number they provided the real Barclays called the number it was hello answer phone again the number is now invalid! They probably disconnected because they feared they’d get caught. I mean how the heck they get my full name mobile number & house phone number! I was lucky to suss them out prior to giving any details. Advice please do not give anyone your card details if they call you. You’re better off calling the bank yourself so you know you’re speaking to the actual bank! Sign up to Equifax or Experian make sure nobody is running unauthorised credit checks in your name either. We can work together to get these fraudsters behind bars. They really need to go out and get a real job like the rest of us working hard to earn money and they just try to steal it!

I made a complaint on Barclays Bank Internet Banking system. After several days I received a phone call from a “Withheld” number. The lady asked for my date of Birth, I refused as the fraud police and Which say this should not be given. They also wanted my address or the Post Code. I asked them to send an email via the Internet Banking system. Several days later another call “Withheld” same prceedure. This time was a “senior” person. I explained that I had been an IT Director of Barclays Bank until I retired and had a number of contacts wth the City of London police in Bishopsgate. The police were adament that we should not give a date of birth.
Eventually a normal email came, I checked the IP address , part of which was a valid Barclays IP but it was sent via a mail providor that was on the SPAM/Phishing list of one of the ISP’s in Europe. In the email there was also a telphone number to ring. On the Barclays web-site there is a place to check telephone numbers to check if they are from Barclays. ( http://www.barclays.co.uk/telephone-number-checker). This test failed as well saying this was not a valid Barclays number.
My background did allow me to check with a friend in BT who confirmed that the number was infact a valid Barclays number. Eventually I did speak to the lady and told her of my concerns, she said it was normal for the bank to ask for a Date of Birth and an address. I told her that her telephone number was also not a valid telephone number. What are the banks doing to protect us???
The best advice seems to be to ONLY ring the telephone number on the back of your credit/debit card and ask to be re-directed.