Scam watch: look out for hoax callers

Occasionally I have received calls about financial matters. Even where I have thought them genuine, I have said that I will call back and have done so after looking up the number. The calls have proved genuine, but I do not regret being careful.

Any time someone rings me , I a ) never confirm who I am and b) make them prove they are who they say they are first. Unless I recognise the callers voice.

The only times I’ve been rung by a credit card company, I refuse to talk to them until they could do that first.

I’ve even managed to train my parents to do the same thing.

So no, I’ve never fallen for a phone scam. And the one described by Sandra , I thought, was a well known one. But obviously not.

I had an automated called from Nationwide after I tried to use my card on the internet & also tried to go into my account on line. I phoned Nationwide who said they had stopped my card as suspicious payments had been made, after asking me my security questions to prove it was me. In total, £3,578 was taken payments were made to several councils for rent & I Travel Lodge payment that they knew wasn’t me as I live nowhere near the places. Nationwide are very good with things like that but it happened online & whoever it was had been caught. They say they would never ring & ask for my details & Never Never give these to people that try & do this.

Here’s an article about it back as far as 2012 … http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/police-warn-people-of-new-courier-scam-mar12

I am a Sky customer: I received a call purporting to be from Sky wanting to confirm my address before they sent me a new Sky card. He had my address and post code, went on to ask my date of birth and then wanted to check my bank details. I pointed out that they were successfully collecting my subscription every month and terminated the call. I contacted Sky who confirmed that it was not them and that the matter would be escalated. I suggested that they put a warning message to all subscribers displayed when we first switch on; but I’ve seen nothing.

Perversely, 3-weeks later the scammers called again but rang off when challenged, number withheld.

I have received a telephone call this evening from someone purporting to be from an Investment Company acting on behalf of my bank. They correctly quoted the name of my bank and requested that I take part in a small survey. It was very difficult for me to understand the name of the company but I assured them that I had never heard of them and was definitely not interested. They promptly hung up. This is the second such call I have received in as many days from I assume was the same company.

It would help if the credit card companies we a bit more savvy. When someone took £1500 out of my account in Canada (!) with a cloned card, they didn’t bat an eyelid. But when I try and use the card to buy £10 of phone credit, THEN they’re suspicious and want to check it out.

Sandra said “we supplied him with our details, including the security number on the back of the card and the Pin”??? Yet how many times have Banks told us they never never ever ask for security or PIN numbers by phone???
Sandra and anyone else worried about this, please start paying attention. Better to hang up on a genuine caller thinking it’s a scam than risk falling for it.

Saw this today .. http://www.sussex.police.uk/whats-happening/latest/news-stories/2014/04/18/eight-of-nine-courier-scam-attempts-foiled-in-sussex-in-one-day

A few years ago I had a call from my Bank to say that my card was one of a number to have been compromised. I guess the procedure that was advised is the one that should be expected under such circumstances – I was told to destroy my existing card and that a new one would be sent to me. It all worked out OK. Any other procedure is likely to be fraudulent.

My bank and credit card supplier call me occasionally to check a transaction if they believe it to be fraudulent (on the few occasions this has happened, in each case it turned out it WAS a fraudulent transaction). They used to ask me for security info like date of birth and full address to confirm they were talking to me, but because I don’t trust anyone asking for that kind of info when THEY call me, I always asked them to prove who they were first by telling me any 2 transactions on my account or card in the last month or 2. They were happy to do this.

There is a nasty scam going around conning those who are less well off and are trying to get credit. Whilst it may be easy to say don’t get involved, sometimes desperation can win over. By applying online for a basic credit card, I was contacted (by text) by a firm that said they could help me (Cash Finance Direct). These people have you ringing around premium numbers with no results. I now have a £70 phone bill! I was advised that I could reclaim this, however after checking various conversations on the internet, I hold out little hope. In hindsight there tactics are actually quite clever and I have a note of these which I will be sending to the FCA. This is certainly something for Which to look into.

We have a problem we bought a asnwermachine to try stop scam callers however can’t use it properly as it would mean stopping phone calls from our GP or other services that call from an unknown number what a daft situation.

Had a call just this morning from something to do with BT apparently i’d signed up for something which was to stop scam calling it was through Which and they wanted to charge me £3.00 a month now the only thing i remember doing with Which was ages ago and i don’t remember at the time it being charged for had it been i’m guessing the charges would have been dealt with at the time. No way would i give my bank details over the phone in that way.

Sorry …. ignore this post – just trying to get on the email list for this thread!

Hi I have had a bad week of scammers on the phone. I had a call from an 03333441403 saying he was microsoft and saying that my computer needed a check up as there had been some hacking. He was Indian and could not support his request as I asked for the MD’s name the department who authorised this and their telephone number. He rang off’.
Call no two from an 009999999 number saying he was doing a Green Survey and not selling anything. He also was Indian and very pushy so I told him to go forth an multiply.
The third call was more frightening from a mobile 07874805294 from National Debt Collecters advising me two men were coming to collect £2300 on behalf of Morris Printing which I should have paid £199.95 per month since 2013. The trading standards rang this number and were convinced that it is a very unpleasant scam and asked me to inform the police. Not to open the door and ask for a high court order. If they got unpleasant I was to ring 999. Hopefully the trading standards have scared them off.
Because technology is advancing these scammers are finding more intimidating ways of getting round the problem. They are humiliating they cause upset and anxiety and I for one would like to see the government make their lives as miserable as possible, They are inhuman.

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.