A scam phone calls and emails discussion.

[Bevan Price]

Recently had a call from a woman claiming to be a "local energy adviser",,
Then she asked "do you own that property ?"
Me - "That's my business"
Line went dead.

 

[Hadlow Road]

I believe that it is the wonderful Jeremy Paxman who used to respond to such calls with an enquiry along the lines of “Before we go any further, what are you wearing?” He may yet still do. Now that is inspired.

 

[swt_passenger]

There’s very few verisure alarm offers getting though this week, but now it’s free boiler upgrades all round. We’re supposed to believe a government department also uses the email address ”wewouldliketoplaynow.uk”, like the alarm scammers…

 

[contrex]

Got one today which started with a recorded or computer generated message, posh British accent, allegedly from East Midlands Trains, saying my debit card had been used to spend £115 on a ticket from London St Pancras to Glasgow (didn't specify St Enoch!). If that wasn't me, press 1. I did, but just got a 'disconnect' sound. So many filters in that opening spiel to filter out all except the gullible who don't know how bank cards work or what trains go from where to where.

 

[1D54]

Not exactly a scam call but everyday without fail i have a notification on home screen from Facebook. I'm not on FB and have no interest in joining it but all i can do is swipe it away. There is or seems to be no way of blocking such notifications.

 

[contrex]

Not exactly a scam call but everyday without fail i have a notification on home screen from Facebook. I'm not on FB and have no interest in joining it but all i can do is swipe it away. There is or seems to be no way of blocking such notifications.

What do the notifications say?

 

[Buzby]

Is this on a PC or Mobile? If the latter, even if you’ve never joined but downloaded the app and not registered you can get these messages, unless you remove the app itself or in the mobile settings switch off notifications for it.

 

[contrex]

Is this on a PC or Mobile? If the latter, even if you’ve never joined but downloaded the app and not registered you can get these messages, unless you remove the app itself or in the mobile settings switch off notifications for it.

A number of Android phones (including every Motorola Moto G series I have owned) and most Samsungs I gather, have Facebook pre-installed and Android treats it as a 'system' app, so that you can't remove it, only disable it, as here

How to manage or turn off Facebook notifications

Facebook notifications can be a big help but they can also be a big nuisance. Here's how to turn off Facebook notifications and manage them.

www.androidauthority.com

 

[1D54]

They are on Android mobile and FB is pre installed so it looks like I'm stuck with it. Simply says 'find friends and family on Facebook'

I've gone to settings and followed instructions, problem is if i fully implement them then lots of apps on my home screen automatically disappear and it's a whole load of hassle re-installing them.

Thank you all for the advice and help anyway.

 

[swt_passenger]

Today saw a call from ‘bank security’ . This time about a suspicious payment for a rail ticket purchased from East Midlands Trains for a journey from St Pancras to Edinburgh.

It makes a nice change from all those iPhones I didn’t ever see…

 

[1D54]

Very suspicious seeing as EMT ceased running services in August 2019.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

My son, last Saturday morning, took a scam call from a person with a very definite Indian voice tone wishing to notify him of a query on an order he was supposed to have placed for a quite expensive sports watch and that there was a 25% discount for pre-payment if made during the call. My son knew that no such order had been placed told the caller that his bank did not allow such transactions as that. He was asked which bank was that and guessing the call was a scam call, blithely told the caller that all his personal banking was dealt with by Coutts & Co... The call was suddenly terminated by the caller.

 

[contrex]

Very suspicious seeing as EMT ceased running services in August 2019.

I think it's a 'gullibility filter'.

 

[swt_passenger]

“Thank you for transferring £250 from Visa for war relief funds in Gaza etc etc”.

Yet another version of the ‘suspicious transaction’ scam…

 

[Trackman]

How do these duplicate social media scams work? It's usually dormant accounts. I did engage with one, but the account was closed not long after. Think's it a bot that collects all the information from a profile and sends out the private messages: for instance: 'Hello (trackman), not heard from you for a while, where are you working these days?' me: Hi Dad, obviously you've heard from me for 2 years as you passed away. Any chance of lotto numbers for this Saturday?', I cant find the reply as the account has been closed, but if I engaged further with this bot it would lead up to something. Never found out what the scam was.

 

[londonbridge]

I get a steady trickle of scam calls and as per Dangie I like to string them along.
I wonder how many have arrived at one of the false addresses I gave them- 24, Leinster Gardens, London W2 3ET....?

2 Old Eldon Square Newcastle Upon Tyne is another example, I believe?

 

[swt_passenger]

2 Old Eldon Square Newcastle Upon Tyne is another example, I believe?

That’s apparently the address of a dental practice, I think the building wasn’t completely taken over (for Metro ventilation). It’s ’double fronted‘ and I think the area to the left of the main door is fully usable. It doesn’t seem to be a good choice for a fake address…

 

[Purple Train]

I've just had a message on WhatsApp, in perfect English, asking me if I want to apply for some unspecified job (on second thoughts, it might have been specified, but have blocked and reported so can't remember). From a Tunisian number.

While I am all for a job, I think the commute would be a killer!

 

[bearhugger]

I've just had a message on WhatsApp, in perfect English, asking me if I want to apply for some unspecified job (on second thoughts, it might have been specified, but have blocked and reported so can't remember). From a Tunisian number.

While I am all for a job, I think the commute would be a killer!

I've had a couple of those last week - earn a few hundred pounds a day working from home. One was from Nigeria the other from somewhere equally exotic.

 

[Jon_jpwh]

This morning I received an email from Ursula von der Leyen, President of European Union. Headed "EU Monetary Compensation For Covid/Scam Victims". We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for Monetary Compensation of €3,000,000.00 (Three Million Euros) from the European Union Compensation Board for business and infrastructural development in your region thereby reducing the poverty level and providing more Jobs for the citizens.

Unfortunately I don't think I will be eligible. She appears to be using an email address in Uruguay.

 

[YorkRailFan]

I've been receiving a large amount of scam calls telling me that "My Royal Mail Express/Evri/DHL/DPD/etc package is at the pick up point" in a strong Chinese accent with "press 1 for English, press 2 for Chinese." For a laugh, I'll press 1 and hear music before Chinese is spoken (Couldn't tell you if its Mandarin or Cantonese) and I'll ask "Do you speak English?" Before the line hangs up on me.

I've also received a call telling me "This is the Immigration Bureau, your visa has expired. Press 1 for Chinese. Press 2 for English." I pressed 2 for a joke, and was greated by a Chinese accent speaking English. I said "You're not the Immigration Bureau as you're ringing from a mobile number, not a landline." The caller said "Yes this is and your visa has expired." I said, "That's funny, as I'm a British Citizen living in the UK." Before the call ended.

 

[Eyersey468]

A number of years ago I had an email stating someone I had never heard of in a country I had never heard of had died and I was their sole surviving heir. Yeah ok

 

[ChrisC]

I had a very polite, well spoken man, ring me this morning concerning my loft insulation. It was very strange how he immediately hung up the second I asked him if he could post me the details, as I would rather receive a letter, than discussing it with an unknown person on the telephone!

 

[MotCO]

I had someone phone me the other day from my mobile phone provider. I asked the girl who my provider was and she hung up. I wonder why that was?

 

[Amos]

I had a very polite, well spoken man, ring me this morning concerning my loft insulation. It was very strange how he immediately hung up the second I asked him if he could post me the details, as I would rather receive a letter, than discussing it with an unknown person on the telephone!

I had one about loft insulation the other day.I couldn’t really tell if the caller was human, or a very convincing robot.He told me that I had the old type of loft insulation which was now illegal, so I asked which type he was selling. “I’m sorry, I don’t have the answer to that question”.I said that he must be some sort of idiot (or words to that effect) if he didn’t know what he was selling.”I’m sorry, I don’t have the answer to that question”.Needless to say, he didn’t get a sale.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I have already had 4 calls in regard to the worldwide outage currently in progress. (Crowdstrike) Pretty damned obvious they are scammers but damn they were quick to latch on.

 

[swt_passenger]

Yesterday a chap rang saying he was from Green Energy. I asked him what that was, and mentioned I used to have it, but now had a small nuclear reactor in the cupboard under the stairs. He hung up.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Yesterday a chap rang saying he was from Green Energy. I asked him what that was, and mentioned I used to have it, but now had a small nuclear reactor in the cupboard under the stairs. He hung up.

Brilliant response!

 

[Amos]

Yesterday a chap rang saying he was from Green Energy. I asked him what that was, and mentioned I used to have it, but now had a small nuclear reactor in the cupboard under the stairs. He hung up.

I can sell you some good insurance against nuclear reactor leakage if you would care to send me your bank details

 

[DelW]

I've had several texts recently from unknown 07xxx numbers claiming to be Evri with a parcel for me, but needing me to log into a website to "update my location". The website addresses are variations on "evri-serve" or "evrii-service" (with the double i).

I'm not expecting a parcel via Evri and my assumption is that they're scams, but are they widespread at the moment, and are others getting them? Alternatively any likelihood that they might be genuine?