I'm always suspicious when someone with an accent from, shall we say, India rings and calls me by my full name. Bone fide callers will usually start with "Is that Mrs. *****?"
He started by saying that they had detected a problem with my Windows computer. I feigned horror (as it was his call and not mine) and after a few minutes told him that I no longer used my Windows computer (not strictly true.) He then said "I didn't mention a Windows computer (oh yes you did) I was talking about your Apple product. It's been hacked from abroad."
Well, I suppose if I hadn't allegedly got a Windows computer then it was a good enough gamble to mention an Apple product. I thanked him for his concern and said I wasn't interested and he hung up before I finished the word "interested."
Post by Berry McPaper-cuts on Jul 15, 2019 19:21:32 GMT
I have had three today. They start off with a recorded voice mentioning Visa and a possible fraudulent transaction of £600 going through NOW , no mention of the name of the householder this is directed to. The first two times I just laughed like a hyena , then put the phone down.3rd time I had had enough so listened a little longer and got the instruction ,”If you think this is fraudulent activity on your account press 1”, so I did. Immediate transfer to a real person with a very strong African accent . I told him I was very glad to have the opportunity to speak to a real , live, scumbag scammer and would he stop ringing me. The phone went dead. I think he was disappointed with me.
I have had three today. They start off with a recorded voice mentioning Visa and a possible fraudulent transaction of £600 going through NOW , no mention of the name of the householder this is directed to. The first two times I just laughed like a hyena , then put the phone down.3rd time I had had enough so listened a little longer and got the instruction ,”If you think this is fraudulent activity on your account press 1”, so I did. Immediate transfer to a real person with a very strong African accent . I told him I was very glad to have the opportunity to speak to a real , live, scumbag scammer and would he stop ringing me. The phone went dead. I think he was disappointed with me.
You're braver than I am, FP. I wouldn't dare press any keys on the phone in case the ensuing call cost heaps of money per minute, because that was an earlier scam. "Dial this number" and it was £££ a minute once it was connected.
Post by Berry McPaper-cuts on Jul 15, 2019 21:11:49 GMT
I was already connected Toril,I had thought of that! There have been warnings in our local paper about the attempted scam we got today. I am going out on a limb here, because I have been forced by several institutions to reveal my mobile number due to the new online banking regs, but from getting my first mobile , The Brick, at the beginning of the century , till now, I haven't ever had scam calls on any of my mobiles. I dislike being asked for my mobile number.
I think the scammers have cottoned on to most SP's have an option for us to divert scam calls into the ether.
I had 6 calls today, all from different numbers, all with the same female voice on the recorded message.
The first 3 (same message) were the usual about "your internet account" blah, blah, blah, they came approx 30 minutes apart. A couple of hours later, another 3 all saying "You missed a call" blah, blah, blah.
A tip if you are with Plusnet, the divert system gets full after a while. There is an option to ditch the oldest numbers diverted, so I spent 10 minutes getting rid of quite a few, hopefully they will have become defunct by now.
One of the latest ones is an email from the HMRC informing the recipient that they are due a tax refund.
I got one yesterday and, to be honest, it looks very genuine and, as my tax code has changed a few times in the last year (because I've been moving money around) I saved the email and was intending to ring the HMRC this morning.
However, after searching on the net, before picking up the phone (to the genuine HMRC) I found an article about this scam. I don't know if I can post the link here because I usually fail, but it's in The Guardian. I know it's a very old article, but it looks as though the scam is doing the rounds again.
I'm sure most of you would just ignore it, and thank goodness I did despite the fact I have had 4 letters in the past year revising my code. The email has now been deleted.
The simple answer is to never, never. never, ever, follow links in emails that don't come from people you know personally, and even then don't do it.
I have recently received a lot of emails supposedly from my nephew and his wife, using an email address that contains both their names, but as they have been divorced for several years, the alarm bells went off...
I have had similar emails supposedly from my daughter, and also from her husband. It might be just coincidence, but all the fake emails had Yahoo addresses.
As you can see, you can't even trust emails that appear to come from people you know.
If you get any emails asking you to click links, for whatever reason, don't do it, ever. Look up the address for the company, bank or whatever, and use that address to check if there are any messages for you.
Keep bookmarks for all the companies you deal with, so you can easily log into the site directly, with an address you know is genuine.
Better still, install a password manager, such as LastPass, which stores your important links, and when you click the Launch button for a site, it takes you to the site, and fills in your passwords for you. Even more importantly, if you follow a link or type in an address, it spots fake IP addresses that look like the one you think you're on, and won't fill in the passwords.
LastPass takes a day or two to get used to, but it's well worth learning how to use it.