Common Scams Section

[myglaren]

Finally learned how to get rid of unwanted missed calls and voicemails on my phone.

One of the voicemails was from the 'police' regarding a post on Facebook and someone called Jodie.
Deleted without responding as it was old and suspicious and I know no Jodie and wouldn't touch Facebook with a bargepole.
Then it occurred to me that the police were here knocking on doors a week or so ago and looking for a 'Mattie'. I only know of one and he threw himself under a train a month ago.
And the people next door said they were trying to trace Mattie to see Jodie.

Curiouser and curiouser said Alice.

[bobins]

It sounds like you're putting together an episode of EastEnders or Neighbours, Steve Next there'll be a long lost relative turning up on your doorstep

[myglaren]

Not having watched either in four decades and no other TV in at least a decade I couldn't comment.
Can't watch at all now as my aerial fell off a month or so ago. Don't miss it.

[MattBLancs]

...as my aerial fell off a month or so ago. Don't miss it.

Aye, but the good news is it did miss you!

[myglaren]

Hasn't fallen to the ground fortunately, hanging on by the cabling.

[mickthemaverick]

Brings a whole new method to the concept of aerial assault!!

[CitroJim]

Hasn't fallen to the ground fortunately, hanging on by the cabling.

Must be some seriously good quality cabling Steve! I had mine taken down - if only to deny our pesky urban pigeons a perch

[momag46]

He probably had an Ostrich lad on his (sorry, couldn’t find an Ostrich).

[Hell Razor5543]

One Instagram post has some very useful advise if somebody phones you purporting to be from your bank. Ask a couple of very simple questions. "What branch are you calling from?" and "Which product do I hold with you?". A real bank employee will know where they are phoning from, and (as it will be on their screen) what products you have, while a scammer will say something like "Head Office" and "Your main account". I have copied and pasted the post;

Question one: “Which branch are you calling from?”
People using scripts can’t handle unscripted details.
A real bank employee will immediately tell you the exact town or branch they’re based in.
A pretender usually says vague phrases like “central office” or “head department”.
Banks don’t call from nowhere — they always have a physical location.

Question two: “Which product do I hold with you?”
Genuine staff see this information on their screen.
They can name the account type or confirm the last few digits of the card.
Pretenders avoid specifics and say things like “your main account” or “your card on file”.
That’s a sign they don’t actually know what you use.

Watch the shift in their voice.
People reading from a script lose confidence the moment you ask questions outside their flow.
You’ll hear rushed speaking, irritation or sudden keyboard clicks.
Authentic staff stay calm.
They never push, never pressure, never rush you.

Notice the language of urgency.
Phrases like “act immediately”, “confirm right now”, “your account is compromised” are classic red flags.
Banks don’t use fear to communicate.
They advise, they guide, they invite you to visit the branch — they don’t demand instant action.

The golden rule:
Never share codes.
Never click links in a call.
Simply say: “Thank you, I’ll contact the bank myself” — and hang up.
Those five seconds protect more than just your balance — they protect your peace of mind.

[Paul-R]

I heard something interesting yesterday. With the opening up of .uk domain, so that you can now have a domain name of abcxyz.uk instead of having to choose abcxyz.co.uk (or similar such as .org.uk or .net.uk, etc) has come an unintended consequence and it's quite serious.

When dealing with government departments we have been previously told to always make sure that they come from gov.uk. This is now not enough and (this is so subtle) you have to make sure that it's from .gov.uk. Did you get that? You have check that it's from dot gov dot uk and not just gov dot uk.

Be warned.

[CitroJim]

I've found this a very good listen and valuable education for a lot of scam tractics, including the banking ones...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m002h2gt

I feel we should all be very vigilant on all aspects of this topic.

[Gibbo2286]

GOV.UK
HM Revenue & Customs

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Failure to update your details will lead to significant cancellation of your VAT profile from HMRC.

For security reasons to avoid fines and ensure compliance .


Please follow the steps to update your VAT portal details .

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From HMRC team

[myglaren]

Text purportedly from the police.
Something about JACKSON being arrested and blahdebladeblah.
Blocked!

[bobins]

If you have a Nectar card - LOCK YOUR SPENDING on it unless you specifically want to use the points somewhere.

A relative has just had someone steal their points and apparently the Nectar system isn't particularly secure and is easy to circumvent the meagre security at the till - especially if they have a 'friend' working on the till
It would seem that Nectar will reimburse the missing points - but it might take up to a month for them to do so.

[myglaren]

Just seen this:-

Everyone please beware of a company called pictoart dot net. The company does online image-enhancement. I used it to sharpen an image and it told me it would be 10p to download, so I authorised a payment of 10p. A lot of legitimate companies operate that way - so much per download - so it looked perfectly kosher.

They then took the 10p from my PayPal account plus £49.90, and signed me up to pay about £50 per month, without authorisation, in return for which I could supposedly enhance 2,000 images a month - as if anyone who isn’t a major company would want to enhance 2,000 images a month.

I complained and they told me that OK, they had cancelled the monthly payment. They also said they would refund half of the £49.90 and that I could use the service meanwhile - which was another con, because their fine print says that if you use their service at all then you can't get a refund. I told them no, I wanted the whole £49.90, except for the 10p which I had authorised, and they said they would speak to management and get back to me - but they didn't do so. So I started a claim through PayPal.

When I went to report this firm to PayPal I discovered that they hadn't cancelled the monthly payment, despite assuring me that they had done so, and I had to cancel it from the PayPal end