Common Scams Section

[GiveMeABreak]

That's a common scam - and more prevalent in the USA - IRS scamming calls threatening to send the police round to arrest you - demanding payment of unpaid taxes - the usual credit cards required or iTunes gift cards All from scamming call centres by Indian accented individuals purporting to have English / American names like 'John Hughes', 'Rick Davies', 'Michael Jennings' and the like - completely farcical.

Here's one where they picked on a Police Officer:



and another playing along:

[myglaren]

Phone scam, purportedly from Amazon Prime regarding renewal.

https://conversation.which.co.uk/money/ ... hone-call/

[Paul-R]

I had that phone call a month or two ago and nearly fell for because I HAD just cancelled my month's free trial. It was only when they asked me for my address and email address that I became suspicious. That's what they rely upon, the 0.001% of the time that they happen to phone someone who happens to be in such a situation.

Fortunately, no harm done.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, they've rang me 10 times over the last 2 months - blocked the numbers (as much as one can as they are spoofed numbers). Just hang up.

[ekjdm14]

... I've had another idiot on another free to sell app ask me why I have covered my reg, is it because it has been involved in any illegal activities and is it a cut 'n' shut, i gave up and blocked him.

Just thought i'd pass on the info for others to be wary of, has anyone else been targeted by Ann.

Hi

Just a note to give you another perspective on this part of your tale.
I'm often asked to "check out" cars that are advertised on Gumtree, or similar sites.
A rule of thumb I have always found useful is, if the reg is deliberately obscured, walk away.
Don't even make contact with the seller.
9 times out of 10, obstructing the reg is done to prevent any background checks being done before actually seeing the car.
I can't think of a legit reason to conceal what is, after all, in the public domain anyway.
If you ever park, or drive, in a public place, you are exposing the car reg to potential low-lifes, who may perfectly legally photograph and/or video it for whatever nefarious purposes they may have in mind. Allowing potential customers to do a background check before calling is a sign of faith in your car and hardly increases the risk significantly.

Very true, usually done to hide significant upcoming MoT work or similar... A good get-round though if it's something you really want, is to contact them and ask for the reg number so you can get an insurance quote

[oscar]

... I've had another idiot on another free to sell app ask me why I have covered my reg, is it because it has been involved in any illegal activities and is it a cut 'n' shut, i gave up and blocked him.

Just thought i'd pass on the info for others to be wary of, has anyone else been targeted by Ann.

Hi

Just a note to give you another perspective on this part of your tale.
I'm often asked to "check out" cars that are advertised on Gumtree, or similar sites.
A rule of thumb I have always found useful is, if the reg is deliberately obscured, walk away.
Don't even make contact with the seller.
9 times out of 10, obstructing the reg is done to prevent any background checks being done before actually seeing the car.
I can't think of a legit reason to conceal what is, after all, in the public domain anyway.
If you ever park, or drive, in a public place, you are exposing the car reg to potential low-lifes, who may perfectly legally photograph and/or video it for whatever nefarious purposes they may have in mind. Allowing potential customers to do a background check before calling is a sign of faith in your car and hardly increases the risk significantly.

Very true, usually done to hide significant upcoming MoT work or similar... A good get-round though if it's something you really want, is to contact them and ask for the reg number so you can get an insurance quote

It's also done for legit reasons if displaying cars on net as lessens chances of reg being cloned as they see car colour type etc have the reg then to "legalise" it so they get away with running around amassing fines while your doing nothing illegal till postie trips over doorstep with weight of sack etc then you have to re plate car!

[Hell Razor5543]

I just had something happen which is very likely to be a scam. My Landlord is with TalkTalk, and we have their broadband. Just now I had a window pop up, purporting to be from TalkTalk, asking me to take a short survey, at the end of which I might win a prize. There were only three questions, and then I was told I had won an iPhone 11 Pro, and in order to claim it I would need to complete some details and pay for P&P. There was also a time limit (about 2 minutes) for me to do so. That went from alarm bells ringing to the four minute warning with enough claxons and hooters to wake the dead. I have let TalkTalk know, and now I am passing this on to the Forum.

[Gibbo2286]

I'm getting the pre recorded Amazon scam call again this week, twice so far, "Your Amazon Prime account will be charged £79.99, if you want to cancel press 1. "

[Paul-R]

Yes, that seems to be common at the moment. I just laugh and hang up.

[myglaren]

Had a nice message waiting for me when I got home from the waterfall expedition.
I am unable to download the original but copied and pasted into a Libre Office document (and redacted personal info)

I was almost taken in initially but the errors are rather compelling. I tried to reply and ask them what the game was but BT blocked it as containing insecure information and spam links - which are hopefully disabled to prevent anyone making a payment.

[Paul-R]

If you were to open that email on a phone you just wouldn't see the obviously suspect email address. I dare say that if you were to hover your laptop mouse pointer over the links then they would show up some equally suspect sites. Again, a function that just isn't available on a phone. A probably not a tablet either.

[myglaren]

Indeed. My phone is too stupid to do email from BT and I don't have a tablet, just don't like them.

[GiveMeABreak]

At the end of the day just bin ANY communications like this as no official organisation would contact you this way - always by snail mail. Considering there is no way 'HM Courts & Tribunal.....' would ever have your email address for a parking infringement...

The giveaway is when you hover your mouse over the dodgy email links and you see it goes to some nonsense address.

The latest this month with me have been PayPal fake emails going on about account issues that look totally genuine.

I suspect we shall soon be getting a load from TV Licensing after we recently cancelled it in protest.

[CitroJim]

There's some very convincing Covid-19 Track and Trace scam emails about too... They look very genuine and allege you have been in contact with someone testing positive...

The dead giveaway is that they ask you for £50 up-front for a Covid test...

[GiveMeABreak]

Cracking! That’s a new one on me. They have no shame using human misery to scam people.