G’s Problems with Scam Callers

G. received a phone call from someone claiming to be from BT.

The caller told him there is a very important and urgent problem with your Internet router and we need to replace it.

“We will send a new one out to you immediately.”

G. wasn’t impressed and said that he wasn’t interested and goodbye.

The caller tried again – being more insistent this time.

“Your Wi-Fi is sending out dangerous signals and needs to be fixed”

G. is a courteous person and didn’t want to offend but again said he wasn’t interested. “Goodbye”. He hoped the caller would leave him alone.

But next day the caller was back again. This time claiming there were problems with the Internet line and replacement kit was on the way.

G. still didn’t want to be rude to the caller so politely asked him to stop calling, said ‘Goodbye’ And hoped that would be the end of it.

But the caller continued to call 2 or 3 times per day.

G. realised something had to be done so he set-up Sky Talk Shield on his phone.

This service stops anyone calling his number directly.

When you phone his number you get a recorded message from Sky telling you the number you’ve called  has Sky Talk Safe and to say your name and press 2 on the keypad.

When you’ve done that, the service calls G. and plays back the name of the caller. He then chooses to accept or refuse the call.

This service does have a cost but it does seem an effective way of blocking all unwanted callers and solved G.s problem with the fake BT caller.

A quicker way of dealing with this type of persistent scammer is to tell them exactly what you think of them, using direct language – have a good shout, it does you good.

If you haven’t worked out how G. knew from the start that it was a scam call – he didn’t have a BT line, only Sky.

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Ryanair Travel Agent Booking

Ryanair has complained to the regulators that too many people are booking Ryanair flights via travel agents and that’s causing problems for Ryanair including that some passengers are being overcharged.

This is perfectly legal of course – you can book a Ryanair flight via a physical or online travel agent. Ryanair estimate this to be 10% to 15% of their business – about 25 million flights per year.

They may charge you a premium over the Ryanair direct booking cost – but they do need to make money for their time spent, so is not unreasonable.

Most of concern is that they if they book the flight using their corporate credit card and then the flight is cancelled then Ryanair don’t have the correct details to process a refund and the agent may not pass on the full refund or refund  their own charges.

This is legal, so consider whether to buy a Ryanair flight directly through the Ryanair website or to use a travel agent which may be more convenient but more costly.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Which? Campaign Success in 2021

Which? Magazine is a British institution, fighting for consumer rights since 1957.

In 2021, their campaigns led to significant improvements for consumers and these are the ones they are most proud of:

Online Scam Adverts

Due to the pandemic, many people have become more reliant on digital platforms and there was a 30% increase in online scams in 2021.

In collaboration with the finance industry, law enforcement and other consumer groups, Which? led a coalition calling for the government to tackle fraud in its upcoming Online Safety Bill, so that the online platforms we use every day help to prevent scams appearing on their websites .

Which? and MoneySavingExpert made a powerful case in parliament which culminated in securing a major milestone, with a key committee recommending that the government should include paid for scam adverts in scope of the new legislation.

Bank Transfer Fraud

The government has committed to bringing in much-needed legislation to prevent the number of bank transfer frauds.

This will help to ensure reimbursement for scam losses are made mandatory and that getting your money back won’t be a lottery depending on who you bank with.

Access to Cash

Accessing and spending your cash became much harder in 2021. For some it was an easy shift to using a range of digital payments, but for many cash has been critical to buying essentials

More than 200 businesses, including major retailers, signed up to the Which? Cash Friendly Pledge to give people the confidence that they could spend their cash in store.

The industry-led Cash Action Group has committed to ensuring that communities’ needs for access to cash will be met by alternative provision before closing any branches in town in future.

Travel Problems

The travel industry has suffered greatly in the pandemic due to ever changing restrictions and rules for travellers.

Which? were delighted that by combing over 80 providers’ terms and conditions, they’ve been able to help more than 50,000 people find the best and most flexible holiday providers through the Holiday Checker tool . Which? have secured the return of around £8 million in refunds to affected travellers through CMA enforcement action.

For further details on Which? Campaigns go to https://campaigns.which.co.uk/

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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The Tarmac Your Drive Scam

This is Julie’s story of how she fell for a scam but it didn’t end badly.

A guy turned up on the doorstep – very friendly and convincing, saying his company were doing a neighbour’s drive and had some spare supplies so could give me a good price. In fairness our drive was pretty grotty at the time, and my husband and I had discussed getting it done.

Unfortunately he was away on business otherwise he’d have seen through this cowboy but I tend to believe what people tell me and said it might be a good idea but could I think about it.

I guess the chap took that to be a “yes” and not long after they appeared with tools and started ripping up our existing drive.

It was, to be fair, nice when it was done but I asked the neighbour the man had specifically pointed out as also having their drive done, and it was completely untrue.

I learned afterwards from my husband that this “we’re doing a neighbour’s drive and have extra supplies” is a very common trick.

As is the need for cash – supposedly because they’ve spent theirs getting supplies for the new drive and need cash to feed their kids or whatever. In this case the man was so persuasive about needing cash that I ended up driving my own car to a very public cash machine (he said he’d take me himself but I’m not quite that daft!), withdrew the maximum I could (I think £200 then) although he wanted more,

I said that was it plus I made him sign the receipt. There was an occasion when he became abusive, having discovered a bit of the pathway at the end had a drain or something he hadn’t noticed previously and he said he wanted more money to deal with it.

Luckily by then my husband was back by then and told him in no uncertain terms that he’d contracted for a job at a particular price and if he’d got it wrong then he’d got it wrong and needed to get on with what he’d said he’d do.

The man used a fair bit of bad language and threatened to smash up the drive he’d already done but for once in my life at that point I’d absolutely had enough and completely lost my temper (probably only the second time ever!) and I’m slightly ashamed to say that I gave as good as he did, even in the bad language stakes!

Amazingly it seemed to work because he calmed down and apologised for upsetting me and they got on with the drive, which was actually very nice when it was done, even if it did end at the drain where he’d had a problem, That didn’t actually matter as it couldn’t be seen.

I think my main concerns for other people, especially elderly folk, is the aggression and persuasion these people show and particularly the demand for cash.

I know some older folk tend to keep cash in the house and may well part with a considerable sum possibly without asking for receipts.

I’ve learned my lesson the hard way but now we have the perfect excuse for not having any work done – we just say we’re tenants and can’t do anything without the Landlord’s permission!

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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