Category: Scam Call

September 11, 2019

The Most Common Scams of 2018

The number of scams reported to Action Fraud jumped by 6.4% between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Of the 535,390 fraud reports made to Action Fraud over this two-year period, the most common scams are:-

Online shopping fraud – (86,127 reports). This type of scam can involve an online seller duping customers into making a purchase and disappearing without delivering the goods.
Advance fee fraud – (78,868 cases). These usually involve victims being asked to pay an upfront fee in return for future benefits, like a bogus estate agent requiring a deposit on a non-existent property.
Computer fixing fraud – (38,891 reports). Typically this con involves a cold call with a scammer posing as an IT specialist working for a brand such as Microsoft, and convincing victims their computer is at risk and that they have to hand over a fee to fix it – and in some cases pass on details that allow fraudsters access.
Cheque, card and online bank fraud – (35,502 reported incidents). This type of fraud occurs when your card or chequebook is stolen or cloned or a scammer manages to gain access to your online account to steal money.

Other common scams include bogus tradespeople, computer virus attacks, dating scams, fake loan frauds, hacking of social media, or email, investment fraud, direct debit fraud, retail/consumer fraud and ticket fraud.

Despite an increase in public awareness of scammers, the figures for those caught out in scams continues to rise.

Do leave a comment on this post – click on the post title then scroll down to leave your comment.

August 8, 2019

Do You Recognise My Voice

This is a variant on the text message from a scammer pretending to be a friend who is in dire trouble and needs your help.

This one is a phone call and relies on you to falsely recognise the voice.

The caller says “Hi, Do you recognise my voice?”

Generally people will guess the nearest sounding voice they can think of and a typical response is something like “Is that Charlotte?”

Now the scammer has the name of one of your friends or relatives and will play the part, while being careful not to give anything away that would tell you she’s not the person you know.

“Oh Thank God I’ve got through to you.”.

Then she launches into a long story about being overseas and how she was mugged… or needs an urgent operation in hospital… or needs to escape the country she’s in but hasn’t enough money… or was in a car accident etc.

The scammer’s aim is to get you to wire money to her urgently and not ask too many questions.

Don’t be rushed by the apparent urgency of the matter – think it though and think about how to prove who you were actually talking with.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

April 8, 2019

The 118 Call Redirection Scam

Disreputable 118 directories businesses have been buying up out of use phone numbers – they chose ones that are very similar to popular numbers e.g. one digit wrong from Marks and Spencer or numbers from well-known companies that have gone out of business e.g. Toys R Us.

Why do they buy these numbers?

So they can put what is essentially an advert for themselves but cunningly made to look as if it is instructions from the out of business company.

e.g. you call a number you think is valid but get a recorded message telling you the number is no longer valid and you should call 118 ……. You call them and you will be talking to a directory service which then charges you for calling and asking for the right number and likely charges you for every minute you talk on that new number.

This can catch people out and they can end up with hefty bills that are unexpected. In some cases more than £50.

Power Tel that run the 118 023 service has been fined £200,000 by the Phone Paid Services Authority for this scam.

Do you have an opinion on this matter? Please comment in the box below.

February 8, 2019

London Police Sent to India

In India, there are large numbers of scam call centres. It is scamming on an industrial scale and a high proportion of their fraudulent calls are made to UK and US citizens.

The FBI are on the case tracking down these criminals and working with Indian authorities to stop them.

Now, the City of London Police are deploying officers to India to combat these scammer’s multi-million pound racket.

It seems that some Indian call centres run legitimate work during the day then turn to scam calls during the night.

The UK Police have formed a special team to work on global solutions to fraud and part of that is building a capability to take the fight to the criminals.

This sounds a good idea – to get ahead of the scammers and stop them where they live and work. International crime can be harder to track and to block but maybe this approach will improve matters.

Do you have an opinion on this matter? Please comment in the box below.

December 20, 2018

Christmas Scams

Fake Websites – There is a big increase in fake special offers, email alerts etc in the lead up to Christmas as scammers try desperately to attract you to their websites. Most of these fake sites are copies of well known and trusted sites such as Marks and Spencers, Amazon, Bentalls etc. The sites are either phishing sites designed to get your login information or sell poor quality copies of well known products. Be careful visiting any retail websites that you haven’t used previously.
Social Media Gift Exchange – This is a fairly new scam whereby exchanging gifts or purchasing and selling may seem a good plan but scammers turn these into schemes where they make money and everyone else loses.
Grandparent Scams – Scammers target pensioners, pretending to be a grandchild that has been injured in an accident and needs financial help immediately. They hope the emotional impact of a hurt child may lead people to react and send help without thinking though what’s going on or verifying the situation first.
E-Cards – More people than ever are sending e-Cards at Christmas and scammers create fake websites and advertise them on social media to attract punters. But instead of an e-card they take your login details and payment details and make money from you. Be careful using a new e-Card website.

Be careful more than ever online at Christmas.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

November 15, 2018

Fake Accident Calls

The phone rings and a voice says she is Katie and she’s calling about the accident.

“Go on” I reply assuming this is a scam call.

Again she tells me she’s calling about the car accident.

“Which one” I reply thinking to confuse her as she clearly she has no knowledge of who I am or whether I have recently been in a car accident.

There are about 170,000 road accidents in Great Britain per year where someone is injured and the figure including all minor bumps etc. where no injury occurred must be significantly higher.

Even so, the chances of a scammer getting through to someone who has had an accident recently must be fairly low.

However, even for someone who does drive and has not been involved in an accident recently it is probably confusing when someone calls to talk with you about ‘the accident you were involved in’

What do the scammers want from these calls?

There are various possible motives for them

Collecting names and contact details for people who have been in accidents, so as to sell that data to insurance companies, car repair businesses etc.
Standard phishing scams i.e. they try to get as much personal information from you to sell to other spammers and scammers
A more elaborate con where they pretend to be an insurance company willing to pay you for the accident (but if accepted then they need retainers, pre payments etc., before you can get the cash which of course doesn’t exist)

Do not be taken in by these callers. If someone calls to ask you about any event – then check if they know who you are and dates, locations etc. of the event. Once asked these questions they will likely put the phone down.

Do Share this post on social media – click on the post title then scroll down to the social media share buttons.