Ever had a call from a scammer posing as a financial services provider? They’re persistent and plausible, but beware of divulging any personal details to these cold callers.
A reader told us: I recently had a telephone call from someone claiming to be from a financial services company, regarding a refund of all my banking charges for the last six years. This was allegedly a result of a High Court ruling ‘last week’.
The caller asked for me by name and had my full address, including the postcode. I was already suspicious, so when asked to provide my date of birth ‘to verify my identity’, I refused and tried to establish just who this caller was.
The caller was very persistent, initially sounding plausible, but this veneer began to break down as I became more suspicious. I’m concerned that some readers might be taken in and provide the additional personal information these scammers appear to be attempting to acquire.
Our say on the ‘financial services’ scam
We’ve heard of a number of reports about similar sounding financial services companies with plausible names over the past few months.
You should always be wary of handing over personal details to cold callers, regardless of how much information they already have about you. Our report on identity theft reveals how easy it is for scammers to get this data.
If you’re suspicious about a cold caller’s intentions, it’s worth doing a quick web search for the company’s name and location. Often, this will make it clear whether or not the caller is a scammer. Legitimate companies should be more than happy to give you a phone number to call them back on after you’ve scoped them out.
Have you ever had a suspicious phone call from a supposed financial service company asking for your details?
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