Telephone / Internet Scams

You seem to have mixed up two separate things.

You get "caller display" free of charge, so if the caller has not withheld their number you get to see the number the caller is (purportedly) ringing from. "Call Minder" blocks those kinds of "frequent calls" you speak of, which only distract you from more worthwhile activities.

"This is Microsoft calling to tell you you have a virus on your comp....".

"This is a reserved telephone line for her majesty's security forces. Please hold the line while we trace you".

'Click brrrrrrrrr'.

No more spam calls from that number.

The alternative is to just ask them if they think their mothers would be proud of them trying to defraud people of their money like common criminals. I have no sympathy for these bast*rds.

If that doesn't work, there's always Eric Morecambe's response of, "I'm sorry, we don't have a phone".

If iv got time, I play a senile old man( not difficult) when asked to switch computer on and put on an old slow voice

How do u do that? It’s me soms. He’s a financial adviser you know. He don’t like me fiddling with his computer, never used it. After half an hour trying to switch on and log in ( I’m in the workshop doing fine detail stuff) I change voice.

Who do you think you are? My dad is 96 stop bothering him.

Brrrrrr

But the best solution is to permanently leave the answer machine on usulaay they hang up as soon as it clicks in, but there’s one who persistently wakes us up at 7:45. Who needs an alarm clock!

Some scammers one has to feel sorry for **LINK**

* Danny M *

At todays exchange rate that comes to $6 au !

The really sad thing is these scumbags rely on the fact that a certain percentage of the population has a low IQ down at the bottom end of the bell curve somewhere and fall for their BS. Preying on the most vulnerable who can't help the way they were born.

Even worse, they prey on the elderly and others in the early stages of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimers and other dementias who are still functional enough to use a computer but have a childlike innocence as a result of their illness.

Absolute lowest of the low preying on them.

The government really should compel phone and IP providers to spend more money on filtering out these lowlifes because for the most vulnerable in our society they are much more than just a nuisance. They are predatory scumbags.

Edited By Hopper on 15/12/2018 04:35:15

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For example: **LINK**

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilydugan/home-office-visa-scam-victims

MichaelG.

Most of the scam calls I receive claim to be from my internet provider, claiming there is a problem with my router. If I have time, I amuse myself by stringing them along for as long as I can, but they tend to lose interest when I reveal I am using a Linux operating system. There is an internet site "Who just called me", where you can enter a phone number and sometimes get information about the caller. I usually post suspected scam call numbers on this site and then block them on my phone.

Latest financial scandal brewing in the UK is that many, perhaps most, British pension schemes have been quietly creaming money off on a large scale in the form of complex and unjustified administration charges. Up to 30% of the value of a pension might quietly disappear without the recipient knowing anything about it. Billions have gone walkabout.

Check your own pension(s). It is unlikely the charges are properly explained - you may instead be referred to a website full of generalising gobbledegook. If you write asking your pension provider for a full breakdown of charges, they probably won't tell you. (Expect changes in law that will force them.)

The issue has been suspected for a number of years because UK pensions often underperform compared with foreign equivalents. Also, because people who have tried to consolidate a number of small pensions, have discovered that they're not worth anything because high admin charges have eaten all the money.

I think it's clever in that most people receiving a pension would just accept whatever they get. Very few people understand pensions even if the detail is made available by the provider and we are very inclined to trust them...

Dave

My wife had an email scam yesterday from some scumbag site claiming to have sent her a new Samsung phone but as it hadn't been delivered it needed her to reply and send them just £2 for postage and she'd get the phone PDQ - or something similar. Yeah right, and there are lots of little fairies living at the bottom of our garden.

Needless to say the email got binned pronto.

Another usual one is from 'PayPal' saying it needs details updating before a transaction can go through, or that the account has been suspended until details have been updated - these get sent to PayPals scam (spoof) dept.

The trick with all these is to check the senders actual email address and compare it with what it should be, if in any doubt report it to the Company, if it claiming to be from a certain company, and bin it straight away.

What these scumbags don't realise is that not all of us came up on the down train.

Chris

Wish i only had 1 scammer every few days, get several a day for two decades nothing new seen the lot if can be bothered to read past the headline. Just blocked and deleted.
Phone calls much worse, again wish i only had 1 a day and use same number for business!

The scam that both amused and irritated me was when i was in business and needed to be signed up to the data protection agency annual money-for-nothing-government rip-off fee. My secretary got a letter for payment of the annual fee. It looked genuine enough at first sight but was via an 'agency' that pays the fee on your behalf and charges for so doing. She had stupidly filled it in with my credit card details and sent it off before i noticed. the real letter came the next day. This proved that the data protection agency itself was insecure with someone accessing their system and selling data.. makes a mockery of the whole thing.

I rang the credit card company to cancel the transaction but was told that once details had been sent it was officially game over even though the letter wouldn't have got there yet. I had an epiphany and asked what would happen if my card was stolen meanwhile and was assured that all pending transactions would be stopped under those circumstances. I then stated that my dog had just grabbed the card and run out of the door with it.

"Oh, dear" said nice Card Company lady "I'd better cancel that card immediately and arrange to send you a new one."

Here's a terribly sad, albeit ultimately ironic, scam **LINK**

Aussies set up a genuine charity to help Nepalese orphans. Nepalese partners over there recruit and imprison fake orphans via people traffickers and milk half a million dollars from the Aussies. Aussies eventually twig and shut it down. Now the Aussie charity is dedicated to spending money to reunite fake orphans with their families.

Edited By Hopper on 17/12/2018 03:22:19

Media news says that as of today that the MD's of the scam call companies will now be liable for prosecution up to £500K. Also stated that the number of scam calls had dropped over the last 6 months. Previously only the company could be charged who would then go bankrupt and open up under another name.

As I am phone voice deaf I never answer the phone, it is only kept for outgoing emergency calls and my phone calls bill is zero. I pay for the Broadband with it.

Edited By Clive Hartland on 17/12/2018 08:13:07

This scam is becoming a favourite here in Australia. Unfortunately a few people have been sucked in. **LINK**

Last night on the local TV a reporter engaged such a scammer and the abusive language that was hurled at the reporter was bleeped out as it was quite vile and disgusting.

Each month at the Day Club where I volunteer a Scamwatch **LINK** update is presented to the elderly people, The feedback is scary as many are targetted. Luckily, the warnings seem to have worked.

Older people, likely to own their own home, cashed up and not online are quite vulnerable and often targetted, so keep an eye on them please.

* Danny M *

My concern is that the really elderly, (Even older than me!) not particularly tech savvy, and maybe with deteriorating abilities, will be prey for these offspring of unmarried parents. At the risk of being sexist, little old ladies?

IF only the current punishments did fit the crime. (But that might offend someone! So pat them on the wrist and send them on their way - GRRRRRRRRRRRR!)

Howard

I had a new version this afternoon they wanted to speak to my wife they knew her full name and address and they were going to cancel her windows licence she does not know one end of a computer from another but it is frighting the amount they know about you.She does not go online at all and very seldom buys mail order'

I think the phone number was 01484429317 but when you ring jt back it says the number has not been recognised.

Graham

I wouldn't ring it back at all.

Best thing to do with unknown phone numbers is put them into google.

Neil

I had a call from a nice sounding West Indian gentleman.

Him. "Good morning Mister Cox, I work for Microsoft and need to talk to you about your computer".

Me. " I have an "Apple", what's that got to do with Microsoft?"

Him. (after a short pause) "Mister Cox, you are a bad man"....Click.

I think he had that the wrong way round!

Maurice