Mcr Warrior
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Genuine missed call or an obvious scam?
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A scam phone calls and emails discussion.
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Westcountryman
Member
Genuine missed call or an obvious scam?
From post 483. Hardcastle said:
Had a call this afternoon saying my NI number had been compromised a male recorded message from 0747741497 i just hung up.
Same prefix code, different number. Although the one quoted by Hardcastle doesn't have (as reported) sufficient digits.
arbeia
Member
Had 3 calls before 0830 yesterday! 2 about cutting Internet off, and the other just going dead.
Western Sunset
Established Member
Unfortunately, all the Eastern European ladies trying to contact me is spam. Hey ho! At least the African prince I occasionally help when his funds are low appears to be genuine.
Hairy Bear
Member
Royal Mail redelivery scam now being sent out as a text from +447766735860 . **** Do not follow the link ****
Be very aware.
Be very aware.
Felixkoch2312
Member
As far as I have heard they try to get your interest point first
kevin_roche
Member
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- 930
No message left on the first call, no follow up call. So my best guess is that its another spam or scam call.Genuine missed call or an obvious scam?
Exactly. The hit rate for phishing is expected to be low, but then the cost of casting the net is also very low. So they keep phishing until they get a bite. And repeat…
This is in contrast to whaling which is much more involved and expensive, but is worth it because it's targeted to get a massive payoff. A single whaling expedition may take weeks or months, but can net tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds/dollars if successful.
This morning again a call with the CLID of a local number only about 4000 higher than mine. As I've now had my Covid vaccination invitation by post I ignored it. The caller cut off. When later I tried the number but putting 141 in front just in case the response was ' number not recognised ' .....
silverfoxcc
Member
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Just ask them what colour panties they are wearing.......However the caller from my bank was not amused!!!!
I once managed to keep an accident that wasn't your fault scammer on the phone for 12+ minutes.
I gave them a fake address and postcode. Eventually the person said tto me, why are you lying to me? To which I replayed, well they do build new houses! I got cut off.
In another recent one, on whether
I wanted to keep Amazon Prime or not, I managed 2.5 minutes. In order to record it, I'd put the phone on loud speaker. It was noisy at their end and so they were struggling to hear me, what with me using the loud speaker.
They even thought I was a woman, which I'm not. I do have a softer telephone voice. Eventually they said I should hang up and they would ring back. So I stayed in the line.
They then started talking to a colleagues in perhaps Hindi and I was eventually cut off.
To ensure they couldn't get through if they rang back, I left the phone on for a short tme.
I gave them a fake address and postcode. Eventually the person said tto me, why are you lying to me? To which I replayed, well they do build new houses! I got cut off.
In another recent one, on whether
I wanted to keep Amazon Prime or not, I managed 2.5 minutes. In order to record it, I'd put the phone on loud speaker. It was noisy at their end and so they were struggling to hear me, what with me using the loud speaker.
They even thought I was a woman, which I'm not. I do have a softer telephone voice. Eventually they said I should hang up and they would ring back. So I stayed in the line.
They then started talking to a colleagues in perhaps Hindi and I was eventually cut off.
To ensure they couldn't get through if they rang back, I left the phone on for a short tme.
OldNick
Member
A woman rang my mobile to say she'd had a missed call from me. Her number was only a few digits different to mine. Of course I hadn't phoned her. I told her to block my number - I assuming it's this number cloning thing.
I have had quite a few random numbers calling my mobile lately - if I accept the call and don't say anything, it just hangs up. Hopefully a genuine caller will say "Hello"!
Quite annoying as you expect phone calls from unknown numbers when actively looking for a job. Interesting how this massively increased after I sent out my phone number on a hundred CVs to random companies and recruitment agencies... I imagine its an easy way to obtain active phone numbers - quick fake recruitment agency account on Indeed/Monster/etc, advertise a tempting fake job and wait for those details to come flooding in.
I have had quite a few random numbers calling my mobile lately - if I accept the call and don't say anything, it just hangs up. Hopefully a genuine caller will say "Hello"!
Quite annoying as you expect phone calls from unknown numbers when actively looking for a job. Interesting how this massively increased after I sent out my phone number on a hundred CVs to random companies and recruitment agencies... I imagine its an easy way to obtain active phone numbers - quick fake recruitment agency account on Indeed/Monster/etc, advertise a tempting fake job and wait for those details to come flooding in.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
I find it hard to believe that a concerted politically-led move against these criminal organisations is seemingly beyond the ken of those computer literate sections of the intelligence departments of countries, unless they are fully employed in counter-intelligence computer actions against those "unfriendly" counties who mean us harm or terrorist organisations such as Islamic State and their associated creed-believers such as Boko Haram.
A Challenge
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The problem is they don't particularly care about whether people in the west are being scammed, if I remember correctly they will only investigate crime then happens in their country but not people in the country running a scam overseas.
It's not worth their time or money. And to honest, our time and money would be better spent teaching people how not to fall victim to scams in the first place.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
One therefore must ask, noting that these scam calls are indeed a methodology used to fraudulantly take monies away from the victims by criminals, which I am assured is indeed a criminal offence, how many other such cases of crime are felt to be not worthy of punishment by those who perpetrate such matters?
If that is felt to be acceptable, is it not right that the Government Departments that will be involved in such relaxation of the affected Laws should make this known to a Parliamentary Committee so convened to judge the raison d'etre of such a decision?
43096
On Moderation
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Perhaps Greater Anglia's revenue team could help out?
It is a fact, rightly or wrongly, that not all crime can be prosecuted since there's neither the police resource to investigate nor the court resource to prosecute. Crimes in which the victim has some degree of culpability, and ones which don't result in serious physical damage are the least likely to make it into the court. Throw in the complication that the perpetrators and victims are usually located in different jurisdictions making the cost of prosecution many times the amount typically lost and, as long as the criminals stick to low-value scams they are pretty much immune from prosecution.
There's nothing stopping a victim launching a private prosecution or attempting to recover their losses through civil action, but again they are more likely than not to end up out-of-pocket with a low probability of achieving a successful outcome.
steamybrian
Established Member
The latest scam I have received at their usual time for receiving scam calls between 0900 and 1000..
This morning received the usual "robotic" recorded message from "Visa Department" to say that £900 had been debited to my visa bank account and if I had not authorised it to press 1 to speak to an advisor....
Just be beware of this one.
This morning received the usual "robotic" recorded message from "Visa Department" to say that £900 had been debited to my visa bank account and if I had not authorised it to press 1 to speak to an advisor....
Just be beware of this one.
STEVIEBOY1
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I had a couple of very real looking emails supposedly from BT about my account, saying they will cut me off If I don't respond to their questionnaire. It came from a very odd email address. You have to be so careful with emails/texts& phone calls/scams.
On the BBC there was a programme recently late mornings about romance scams. How some people got taken in amazed me. One man said that a lady sent him a marriage certificate stating that they had married in Ghana despite never having met.
Another man after blowing £97000 and the presenters proving the pictures were stolen off social media and showing a message from the lady who the pictures actually were. Still thought that it was someway genuine.
Another man after blowing £97000 and the presenters proving the pictures were stolen off social media and showing a message from the lady who the pictures actually were. Still thought that it was someway genuine.
BluePenguin
On Moderation
Ah, Next Door is an interesting one. We had a letter through our door inviting us to sign up to the app. I’ve been on it a few months and I’m quite satisfied with it overall. It’s a better way of finding out about local news than the local Facebook groups. It is not useful for meeting people.
I had hoped to be able to get to know some more neighbours on our street and the surrounding ones although that hasn’t happened. To be honest I don’t think they’re our sort of people anyway.
There used to be lovely old couple who lived opposite us called Ron and Audrey. They would come round and have barbecues with us and bring myself my sister sweets as children. When they died an awful family moved in instead. The only existing original neighbour we have is on our left and a single man who we talk to sometimes.
British people are a lot less friendly generally speaking than abroad. Nobody here knocks on your door to say hello or brings you homemade food. I think even getting a Christmas card is too much to ask for these days.
Whether it is the stresses and strains of a busy and modern life or because people are less social and more introverted these days who knows. But there is a stark difference.
Anyone who has lived in private student accommodation with shared social areas with lots of flats knows the community feeling I’m talking about. I had hoped Next Door would help to ignite this on my street but sadly it hasn’t. Lockdown has been the perfect opportunity for everyone to get to know each other whilst their lives are on pause.
Seems people would rather live boring suburban lives rather than build new connections. You never know who you might need one day.
I wouldn't count Nextdoor as a scam. All of these neighbourhood groups are only as good as its contributors. The town I live in had a Facebook group which started good and became rubbish because of belligerent and ignorant contributors (many's the time I spotted incorrect bus/ train information - anyone correcting errors was shouted down). Several others have sprung up which seem to attract more positive contributors. They have tried to set up a Nextdoor group but apparently it is full of moans (mind you, the road that the originator lives in have every reason to moan).
I also live in Kent, but in the road, we look after one another (and, yes, we are guaranteed a Christmas card from other residents). Most of the residents have lived here for some time (10, 20, 30 years) and fortunately newcomers have fitted in. This is just like it was when I was growing up. I think the problem is the need to move around for employment and 'the Housing Ladder'.
Returning to my first point, really a discussion on Nextdoor belongs elsewhere in that there is no deceit, it is not illegal, they do not (as far as I know) trick you into handing over money; its a forum that is as good or as bad as its members.
Mcr Warrior
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Inclined to agree, not a scam, but the main problem with "Nextdoor" seems to be being bombarded with messages from small traders touting their businesses.
Just like some Facebook groups in this area; problems arose when traders outside of the area started posting. These things need tight control.
Mcr Warrior
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Just been on NextDoor (for the first time for several weeks), and guess what today's hot topic being discussed was...
Scam phone calls (!)
Scam phone calls (!)
As you go to the phone anyway, why not answer it for the satisfaction of telling them to go to a hot place? Or it might actually be a genuine call.
Of course it isn't, but don't expect any action from the authorities in India, Russia, or the other places that these calls tend to come from. What needs doing is BT and UK mobile providers raising the charge they make on incoming calls into their systems from abroad - someone upthread said it is currently trivial. Making it 50p would destroy the business model of many of these scammers.
Forget anything that relies on "education".
True, you can fly to India, hire an Indian lawyer, and negotrate with his help the labyrinth of Indian law regarding cross-border crime (if such law even exists). Eventually you might get to an unsympathetic court who might agree with you that the gang should pay you back, and then call for the next case. You might then get a piece of paper that you can then present to the scammers at their front door (if can find them) and ask them to pay you back. Good luck, and there are thousands of people who will be very interested in the story you bring back, because you are not likely to be returning with much else.
I often get this and I do press "1". Even then you are lucky if an "adviser" responds. Then I either tell them what I thinks of scammers, or string them along if I have time. Asking them for greater details explained loud and slowly because I claim I'm deaf, and then just leaving the phone off the hook, also wastes their time.
Westcountryman
Member
Just been out for our daily socially distanced walk with our daughter. She told us that she received a call on her mobile this morning. It was someone calling to say that they had had a missed call from her number. She also had one of the tax/national insurance/etc from a number which had the same 'dialling code' as her mobile number. She is considering calling Ofcom about this as she thinks her number has been cloned. I don't think she quite understand that these calls come from systems that generate random numbers and in both of these cases with the vast number of calls made it is entirely coincidental that these calls apparently use her 'code'.
The number has been spoofed and not cloned.
I had the same conversation with someone yesterday who is being bombarded with phone calls.
It turns out the scammers are now spoofing real numbers from a database rather than just a random number (there is a name for this). So it's important when you answer an iffy call to remain silent until the caller speaks.
He seemed to know a lot about it on how it all works.