I’ve just had an email from my bank warning me of a scam currently doing the rounds. People are being scammed by the promise of love (probably from a Nigerian or similar) and when they’re sucked in online they then release money to the “loving” scammer.
It’s a good job that most of us aren’t gullible to fall for that one, but I know that some vulnerable people might be, as was borne out by a tv programme about it last year.
The sad thing is that numerous people must still be falling for these scam calls, despite all the publicity, being told by family, friends etc, otherwise they would have given up now.
My elderly 80 year old neighbour has fallen for two scams after people have rung her up. I've managed to get the money back for her both times, but I've begged her to put the phone down in future and not to give out her bank details. 😳
As long as there are gullible people out there waiting to be taken for a ride, there will be scammers. Even if they didn't have phones or PCs, the same people would be equally happy to give their bank details to any skank that turned up at their door.
I have no idea what the solution is, because unless they discover a cure for gullibility, those people will continue to be scammed.
The problem is, I suspect, due to the fact that the elderly were brought up in an age when people were, on the whole, honest, because there were effective penalties for dishonesty. Nowadays, there are barely any repercussions for murdering somebody, and none whatsoever for dishonesty.
Many of the lawmakers are themselves dishonest, judging by what we hear about various politicians...
The trouble with my neighbour is that she seems to be showing signs of senile dementia, so she’s even more vulnerable. She doesn’t have a computer so that means checking her bank account is impossible without going into town to the local branch, so I have to ring them and then she tells them that I have her permission to have details of her account etc.
The dreadful thing is that she has three children (obviously adults) and they do nothing to help her. On the first occasion she got scammed, she did tell her daughter and she just got cross with her mum, but did nothing. That’s why my neighbour asked me for help.
As I said, I’ve sorted out two issues for her, but I think it will happen again because a few weeks ago I was round at her house having a coffee and her phone rang. I heard her starting to give out her details and so I took the phone from her and spoke to the person at the other end. When they realised that they were speaking to someone who was more savvy, they hung up.
Sadly there's not a lot you can do to help someone like that, Toril.
It's just a thought, but maybe scratching off the security code on the back of the card might reduce the problem, because the scammers would need that for buying stuff online, but it wouldn't affect her physically using the card in shops or cash machines...
Post by Berry McPaper-cuts on Oct 31, 2019 16:52:23 GMT
Today the Amazon Prime scam call - they must think nobody reads the papers or listens to the news as this has been high profile. It was a recorded voice one. Why can’t the authorities ID the voices in these automatic calls?
I had one the other week telling me that my Amazon Prime is up for renewal. As soon as I heard that I hung up as I know that they automatically take the subscription out of my account.
If I had continued to listen, would they have asked me for my bank details if that was the scam call that’s doing the rounds?
If it was then it’s their hard luck that they rang when I knew the renewal is imminent, but I wouldn’t have given them any details anyway because calls like that always make me suspicious.
Post by Berry McPaper-cuts on Nov 6, 2019 13:43:55 GMT
My ‘bank’ ( unspecified!) just rang to tell me a transaction for £600 has just been carried out in foreign climes 15 minutes ago. My real bank: i) would use my mobile ii) doesn’t let me shop at Tesco without checking! However I can see that someone could panic and press 1. Are the shysters upping their game for Christmas?