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  1. #1
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    England
    Posts
    9,616

    Default Scams on the phone

    I've just been reading an article where someone got conned out of several thousand pounds (mainly by their own stupidity) but also because they didn't know one little fact.

    This applies to phones in the UK. Those of you who live elsewhere might like to try it, in case it applies in your country too.

    If someone phones you, and you then end the call by putting down your phone, until the person the other end puts down their phone you are still connected to the person who called you. I've just experimented by phoning the landline with my mobile, and although I ended the call on the landline phone I didn't get a dialling tone on the landline until I ended the call on my mobile.
    (Though strangely, whenever I pick up the phone I always listen to make sure I've got a dialling tone before I start dialling, and thought it was something that everyone did! Perhaps it was the stress of the situation that caused the person being scammed to overlook that detail.)
    The story: https://www.
    dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249752/A-999-credit-card-scam-cost-thousands.html

    Pam

  2. #2
    Name well known on Brit-Gen
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    South Australia
    Posts
    4,594

    Default

    Fair makes one not want to answer at all.

    Have rellies who will not leave a message so often don't know if they called. No answering machine (other than supplied by system) now so cannot screen callers.
    Happy Families
    Wendy
    Count your Blessings, they'll all add up in the end.

  3. #3
    richard40
    Guest

    Default

    I agree Pam, I have tried the same. did read the article, thought the couple very gullible, you don't give pins to anyone if you want to stay safe, the answer they should have given is, Tell me what police station you are and I will visit with my details. the phone would have gone dead from the caller.

  4. #4
    A fountain of knowledge
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Penge, London, England
    Posts
    399

    Default

    I had this scam call a few months ago. As we'd been warned about it in the local press, I was preparing to give them a fake PIN and tell them I had to go out urgently, so could they send the courier in 2 hours time? By then there'd have been an unmarked police car outside my house waiting to follow the courier. Unfortunately, the call was cut off and they didn't call back.

  5. #5
    mfwebb
    Guest

    Default

    I, too, read this article and was surprised at the recipient's gullibility, albeit that the caller claimed to be the police. I was also amazed to read that they allowed themselves to be kept chatting on the phone for almost 2 hours -- or was it longer -- even after a "courier" collected their cards

    As soon as I began reading the article my first question was why would the police ring -- the first people to contact you about suspected fraud is the card issuer. I know this from personal experience. I was issued with a credit card when I changed banks back in 2000 but I didn't use it because I already had another credit card in use. In chatting with bank staff 14 months later I was told I could get cash back on my bank credit card. So I began using it the same day. My first purchase was a new dress for my wife and my second purchase was a new dress-shirt for me. The card was declined at the second purchase so I paid with my main credit card. No sooner had I walked out of the second shop I was contacted on my mobile by the card issuer to query activity on the card. It had not been used at all during the first 14 months of issue and had been presented twice within 10 minutes. They asked me one simple security question, I confirmed that the card was in my possession and that I had genuinely used it only twice and they released the security block on the card. Apparently, my card had been blocked automatically when suspicious activity was detected by their monitoring systems.

    A friend of mine had his card cloned some years ago and £3,000 had been spent on it before he knew what was happening. He is a regular visitor to Majorca and that was where his card had been cloned. The card issuer blocked the card when suspicious activity was detected -- the £3,000 had been spent/withdrawn in Majorca but there was a cash withdrawal in Sheffield within a matter of minutes of the last transaction in Majorca. So his card was automatically blocked and he received a phone call from his card issuer, and he was able to confirm that he was in Sheffield and that his card was in his possession and he had not been to Majorca for several weeks.

    Banks tell us they will never ask us to divulge or confirm credit card details over the phone or by e-mail. So if ANYONE asks for PIN numbers and card details it is a scam. Don't fall for it.

    Be safe,

    Malcolm Webb
    Lincoln UK

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