Common Scams Section

[myglaren]

Just received this:-

A scam if ever I saw one. I pay by direct debit and the last payment was on the 1st of June.

[Gibbo2286]

Every other morning over that last couple of weeks I've had the "This is the bank security department, a payment of £1,200 and another of £500 has been made from you account"......etc.etc.

[moizeau]

We get phone calls all the time here, loft insulation for 1€. It isn't a scam as such because you pay a Euro and the French Gov pay the rest but...it is a hard sell.
Last one was
"Is that Mr Marchant living at 2.....etc"
"Yes, and you are?" standard reply by me.
"Partner of the EDF"
"Loft insulation by any chance?"
and it goes on a little with the speel
"I haven't got a loft" I said. Then he asked if I live in a flat, "No, a house". He then started to tell me that I MUST have a loft then. I pointed out that the plasterboard goes full height upstairs next to the roof and the bedrooms have a height in the middle of 4m50, also pointed out that I knew this exactly because it was me that did it.
He hung up. Must have been below his quota for the month, got quite shirty. Oh well eh

[mickthemaverick]

My ex-wife had a call about loft insulation some years ago and they wouldn't leave her alone. One day I was there collecting my daughter when the phone rang. The ex called to me from the bathroom asking if I would answer so I did. It was her loft insulation pest who opened with "At last I've got the man of the house!" He explained they were a Peterborough firm who were expanding their area into Hertfordshire and could he come to give us a quote.
At this point the devil in me kicked in and I agreed providing he could come at a time to suit us as we were seldom at home. I suggested they come on Sunday and he said they didn't normally work on Sundays but he was happy to make a special trip down to Watford on the next Sunday. I was a bit frustrated having thought that Sunday would put him off but nevertheless I responded with it will have to be early before morning service so he would need to be with us by 7am. I sensed the cursing from the other end but eventually he agreed to call at 7am the following Sunday. I put the phone down and left with my daughter.

I never heard from them again, but I did imagine his face when he pulled up outside her place at 7am on the Sunday. Well he hadn't asked about the property so I hadn't told him it was a ground floor maisonnette!!

[CitroJim]

I never heard from them again, but I did imagine his face when he pulled up outside her place at 7am on the Sunday. Well he hadn't asked about the property so I hadn't told him it was a ground floor maisonnette!!

Magic! Supreme top quality

[Huskyxantia]

Scam ? Warning to all please check after your next MOT
Warning regarding front shock absorbers

I've been viewing plenty of cars over the past few months and have noticed one thing i keep seeing . The dust covers on the front shocks pulled down exposing the shock strut 25 cars I've looked at over 4 months 19 had the same thing . Whats going on ? MOT testers playing games ?

[Hell Razor5543]

My ex-wife had a call about loft insulation some years ago and they wouldn't leave her alone. One day I was there collecting my daughter when the phone rang. The ex called to me from the bathroom asking if I would answer so I did. It was her loft insulation pest who opened with "At last I've got the man of the house!" He explained they were a Peterborough firm who were expanding their area into Hertfordshire and could he come to give us a quote.
At this point the devil in me kicked in and I agreed providing he could come at a time to suit us as we were seldom at home. I suggested they come on Sunday and he said they didn't normally work on Sundays but he was happy to make a special trip down to Watford on the next Sunday. I was a bit frustrated having thought that Sunday would put him off but nevertheless I responded with it will have to be early before morning service so he would need to be with us by 7am. I sensed the cursing from the other end but eventually he agreed to call at 7am the following Sunday. I put the phone down and left with my daughter.

I never heard from them again, but I did imagine his face when he pulled up outside her place at 7am on the Sunday. Well he hadn't asked about the property so I hadn't told him it was a ground floor maisonnette!!

A friend had a similar issue whereby a conservatory company kept phoning, and would not take 'NO!' for an answer. Finally they agreed to a time for the sales rep to visit. He turned up, looked at the building, and left without even ringing the bell. My friend lived in a second floor flat!

[Hell Razor5543]

I have heard of a new scam where the perpetrators record your voice to 'sign' you up to switch energy providers, phone networks, etc.. They will contact you pretending to be from "Customer Services" (but they don't say whose customer services!). What they want is to record you saying "Yes" or "No", so they can then create a conversation where you appear to agree to switch (using the recordings). The most common way for them to do this is to ask you "Can you hear me?". The person who had revealed this scam (on Instagram, I believe) had heard of this and so, when they were asked "Can you hear me?" responded "I can hear you". After a couple more attempts to get the victim to say "Yes" (and the victim responded "I can hear you") the scammer hung up the phone.

[Michel]

A common eBay scam happened to me. I ordered some expensive jewellery for Mrs Michel, but they sent me motorcycle parts instead. Fortunately they fitted my F800R.

[Tarquin]

I once had a scam call from 'Microsoft' telling me that my computer was infected and that I would lose everything on it.
Feigning surprise, panic, distress and almost coming to tears I managed to keep the scammer on the phone whilst having a shower and cooking and eating a full English breakfast. Even got the dog involved but when I told her it was the missus with a bad cough she cottoned on.

[Paul-R]

I found this quite astonishing email in my spam folder today. It was originally in French and this is the translation.

Hello,

Call me BLADVIC15.

I accomplish all kinds of impossible missions related to the physical elimination of all troublesome people, as long as my services are required.

The main reasons are often the refusal to accept contradiction, hypocrisy, wickedness, politics, economics, social, sentimental or more specifically love or competition in the workplace.

This week, a client with initials HL-FR contacted me with all your contact details and entrusted me with the secret mission of physically eliminating you by administering a powerful poison : botulinum toxin or by spraying yourself with ( chemical element atomic number 7, symbol N ) on the face. Default practice: fast and painful for life. Without too much frills, for a large sum of money already available to deposit in my account immediately after the package.

I have all the necessary information concerning you, your itinerary; travel schedules, places of entertainment, sites and places commonly visited, etc. It only remains for me to take action.

It only remains for me to take action. But when I researched you, I realized that you are a good person, without history, without problems, and that it is wrong to accuse you.

In summary, I suggest that you make me an offer of inactivity and cancel this assassination project provided that I receive a large or deserving sum, otherwise I will carry out my mission without fail.

If you want to cooperate, in addition to my inactivity, I will provide you with all the information about the client and the real evidence and reasons why this person is so mad at you.

PS: You can try to complain to the police ( bad idea ) I don't think they will be able to solve your problem, remember not that I contact you via a pirated mailbox, so don't bother trying to locate me ... answer my email below if you want to cooperate, you have 48 hours to inform me of your decision.

See you soon !

BLAVIC-15

I doubt spraying my face with nitrogen would have any effect unless it was liquid nitrogen!

[mickthemaverick]

The sad thing is that somebody somewhere will probably fall for that and pay up to relieve a guilty conscience!!
Which is why this sort of scammer should be tracked down and put in irons on a slipway with a rising tide!!

[GiveMeABreak]

That's absolutely hysterical!

[CitroJim]

How utterly bizarre

[moizeau]

I'd reply and invite him/her for a glass of rouge and ask how much they charge because you know someone you don't like