Banks To Use Criminal Money

Fraud in the UK is estimated to be more than £1.26bn in 2020 and some Police actions result in money and assets belonging to the criminals being frozen. For 2020, that was roughly £130 million.

The government is considering a proposal from banks that these funds obtained through criminal activities be used to pay back at least some of the victims.

According to a survey, three-quarters of those asked said they supported the idea, although there isn’t enough money to pay back all victims so that would create difficult choices on who receives the money.

A Home Office spokesperson stated that the government is working with the financial sector to unlock suspected criminal funds held in ‘frozen’ accounts across the financial sector.

Under some circumstances, the banks do pay back victims currently but, in many cases, the victims don’t get anything.

The Banks cannot make the decision to use that money until there is a change to the law, by the government to enable it. This is likely to be under the money laundering laws.

You can campaign on this issue to your local MP or the Home Office.

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

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Premium Rate Phone Numbers

Premium rate numbers are the ones where you get charged for calling.

These are prefixed with 09, 118, 0871, 0872 and 0873.

Prefix Description Cost from landlines per minute Cost from mobiles per minute
070 Personal or ‘follow me’ numbers regulated by the Phone-paid Services Authority 4p to £3.40 (plus a possible 51p per call) 30p to £2.50 (plus a possible 51p per call)
09 Premium rate numbers regulated by the Phone-paid Services Authority up to £3.60 and your phone company’s access charge, plus 5p to £6 per call up to £3.60 and your phone company’s access charge, plus 5p to £6 per call
118 Directory enquiry numbers regulated by the Phone-paid Services Authority up to £5 and your phone company’s access charge, plus possibly up to £6.98 per call up to £5 and your phone company’s access charge, plus possibly up to £6.98 per call

 

Take care when phoning any of the numbers – the costs can add up rapidly.

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The Psychological Basis for Scams

It’s easy to assume that people who are scammed either didn’t pay enough attention to the details or were too trusting, but that’s not usually the case.

Anyone can be tricked and although some scammers are as dumb as dirt, there are many who are very professional about the methods they use to con innocent people.

Different types of scams may exploit different aspects our personality, but there are common features to most scams, including:

  • Appeals to trust and authority – scammers claim to be from government departments, driver licensing, utility suppliers, major brands, the tax office etc.
  • Visceral triggers i.e. anything that creates desire or greed, or the avoidance of pain, happiness etc.
  • Herd validation e.g. testimonials from people who have bought the product and tell how wonderful it is
  • A huge payment in return for a small cost
  • Scarcity i.e. the product is only available now and will soon be gone
  • Conspiracy theories e.g. an array of lawyers are trying to get this website taken down

These factors may push the victim to ignore any consequences and the risk involved and instead focus on the potential high rewards.

The key message for people wanting to stay safe from such scams is simply to consider carefully and not be pushed into precipitate action. Is the offer genuine or much more likely to be a scam? Is it to good to be true? If yes then it’s a scam.

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The Vaccine Survey Scam

 

Scammers are circulating fake vaccine surveys.

So far they are targeting the Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca vaccines.

The advert / email / texts / social media post tells you that by filling in a short survey on your experience of the vaccine you will be saving lives.

Plus, you are promised a reward worth at least $90

You just have to pay the shipping cost.

That’s how they get people to input their credit card details and once the scammer has that – they will run up your debts on your card as fast as possible.

If you get an email or text like this, do not reply.

Legitimate survey do not ask for your credit card or bank account number to pay for a “free” reward.

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

 

Stupidest Spam of the Week Ukrainian Delivery

Lots of scammers send out messages with attachments containing malware of various sorts.

Natalia Leshcuk’s message is a carefully designed document with lots of details and an attached file, but it describes a delivery due from the Ukraine.

The Ukraine is known for exporting raw materials such as iron, steel, mining products, chemicals etc. so how many companies in the West would be expecting a delivery from the Ukraine?

That must be a very very small number, so you can see that this choice of country by the scammer will rule out almost everyone she has sent the message to.

Also, the dates on the message are wrong – the message claims the delivery is due September 9th having been rescheduled at our request and that her payment was due on September 3rd but is overdue and we need to pay immediately.

That is a very confused message and is presumably one that has been used before, when the dates matched, but this latest scammer couldn’t be bothered even reading what she was sending out.

Complete rubbish.

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