Have you fallen victim to a scam?
With thousands of unsuspecting people falling victim to scams in the UK every year more and more scammers seem to be getting away with it.
“Almost three quarters of us has been targeted by scammers in the past two years and one in 10 know someone who’s lost money to fraud”, according to Citizens Advice.
Many scams originate from criminal call centres abroad, where teams set in motion their scams to defraud, regularly operating 24/7.
Often people are targeted by these call centres telling them there is a problem with their computer which can be fixed for a fee. Or they’re tricked into downloading malware by clicking on ads or suspect emails which then infect their computer with a virus.
Sometimes, scammers manage to trick the person into handing over money either over the phone or through a pop-up or made via money transfers. In severe cases callers steal financial and personal details. Other computer scams involve offering bogus virus protection or warranties.
BBC Panorama
It is very difficult for the police to find and prosecute scammers, so one man in the UK, fed up with the fraudsters, decided to do something about it. He hacked into a call centre in India from where scammers target their victims. He managed to film and record scam phone calls and then passed the information over to the BBC. The footage is shown in the BBC Panorama programme on BBC One at 20:30 on Monday 2nd March.
So close…
I had a near miss last week. I received an email offering a tax rebate reportedly sent by HM Revenue & Customs. Luckily, I had recently been in contact with HMRC and knew I wasn’t due anything, so I didn’t click on any links in the email but instead contacted HMRC and reported it. It could so easily have gone the other way.
Have you been caught by a scam? Or have you been shrewd enough to realise someone was trying it on? Do you think the police are doing enough to find these scammers? Will you be watching the Panorama programme? Let us hear your views and perhaps your experiences may help others be aware.
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It was late, I was tired and stupidly clicked the link without double checking the email address it had come from.
It was a phishing scam. I changed my password and have ‘hopefully’ learned to not fall for this again!
It’s always when you’re in a rush, and this is exactly the kind of behaviour the scammers are relying on!
We replaced her money and I went to the Police. That's the last time I'm reporting anything, such was their level of interest. Then rang the fraud helpline, but they just took the information.
However, I detected a vague Norfolk accent in the chap on the phone. On questioning him he came from Kings Lynn. We had a good, friendly chat about old times and I asked him what would happen to the information I'd reported, including the detective work I'd done. He said, nothing! It would be filed away only to join the 14,000 other reports they get every day!
Comforting isn't it? About as good as John Major's Cones Helpline!
Perhaps there is a lot of expensive equipment lying idle with no one with the necessary knowledge to use it ?
There does appear to be so much at the moment that there is no longer the will of the agencies involved to really make an effort to stem the tide.
Also I was caught up in the TSB/Lloyd’s scam, they completely wiped my money out overnight, as they did thousands of other people at the same time. I had given no information away at all. I did get my money back eventually, but the feeling of being a complete dupe never goes away, and all confidence in the system is shaken.
Late last year that piece of pride got a severe dent! Checking the bank accounts one Saturday morning there were a lot of odd payments going out, things my wife hadn't mentioned. Thirty quid here, twenty five there and other smaller amounts. But the total accounted for our being a little skint!
The bank immediately blamed us and the proverbial effluence hit the fan. 'A dating site? Thirty quid? I'm a lame near seventy year old, still contentedly married and currently nearly broke. Some target for a sixty year old bottle blonde looking for a financially easy ride into later life.'
It only got better from there. The bank did a quick search of the last few years of our account and declared there was owed over £700, made up mostly of 99p and £1.99 payments to an iTunes lookalike site, £7.99 to Amazon audible when we're both partially deaf and it goes on.
When we all calmed own the bank refunded everything. It was actually nearer £800!
New house rule: anything suspicious on the bank account, however small, we'll jump on it! The thieving beggars aren't having my money!
Fortunately the receiving bank noticed the transaction as suspicious and held the money in a suspense account. It took a few weeks to resolve the issue but I eventually received the money.
I don’t know what action, if any, was taken by the banks concerned or the jeweller. I checked my own Ymail account with Ymail support and there was no suspicious activity associated with it.
If the receiving bank had not noticed suspicious activity, I believe the money would have gone into the wrong hands.
Needless to say, I won’t send bank account details by email again!
Surely there is some form of call blocking which can be applied on a national basis?
One bit of info, if you receive a letter headed Royal London and notice that it is from a tracing company, it is genuine, I checked through its H.O. website. They are searching for old, accounts and policies that may not have been used for years.
(Martin Lewis always says never pay for anything by bank transfer!)
Passwords - instead of writing them out fully (because I can't remember them all) I write out clues that only I know the answers to!
I do worry that as we get older we are more vulnerable to scammers and believe that we should be offered more help and protection from our banks and government. We have a large ageing population (we are not all IT Whizzkids) and we need to feel safe, after all, our money was hard work to acquire!
If I feel doubtful about any financial transactions I stop, and don't proceed. Trust your gut instinct!
Last but not least, I check with younger family members if I feel that I need reassurance.
Get regular attempts now but am very much aware. If I am in the mood I will play along just to annoy. Usually just put the phone down.