A scam phone calls and emails discussion.

[greatvoyager]

I've long wondered what the point of the car crash calls was. If you admit to having a car crash, is it just to get bank or credit card details? Is it perhaps more subtle, to build a list of potential claims to sell on to a claim management company?

There was a spate of calls a while back where the caller seemingly seemed convinced you had worked for an employer that had called hearing loss. Unusually the call came from the UK. That seemed to tie in with a genuine Government scheme, but in practice I believe it was an attempt to build a database for onward sale to a Claims Management group looking to enter the UK market.

Either way, I find it a balance between being frustrated at receiving cold calls, and comical as it is good to see how they react as there time is wasted.

 

[Typhoon]

I've long wondered what the point of the car crash calls was. If you admit to having a car crash, is it just to get bank or credit card details? Is it perhaps more subtle, to build a list of potential claims to sell on to a claim management company?

There was a spate of calls a while back where the caller seemingly seemed convinced you had worked for an employer that had called hearing loss. Unusually the call came from the UK. That seemed to tie in with a genuine Government scheme, but in practice I believe it was an attempt to build a database for onward sale to a Claims Management group looking to enter the UK market.

I understood it was directly or indirectly related to the more dubious claims management companies.

 

[greatvoyager]

I understood it was directly or indirectly related to the more dubious claims management companies.

That’s my understanding of it too.
Having said that it is getting more and more difficult to separate genuine and fake calls.

 

[Bevan Price]

I understood it was directly or indirectly related to the more dubious claims management companies.

That type of company reminds me of a street conversation some years ago:
Him : "Have you had any accidents recently ?"

Me: "No - but you might have one if you keep dashing in front of people".

Him - Shocked into silence.

 

[greatvoyager]

That type of company reminds me of a street conversation some years ago:
Him : "Have you had any accidents recently ?"

Me: "No - but you might have one if you keep dashing in front of people".

Him - Shocked into silence.

The phone calls I received about supposed insurance claims sound like street conversations.

 

[BluePenguin]

Agree about the extended warranty scam. My usual tactic if in a shop is to say “I’d like to buy one of these machines, and if you so much as mention an extended warranty I’m out the door...”. I’ve ended up doing it a couple of times.

I was once seriously invited at the till somewhere to pay about £9.00 to extend the warranty on a £15.00 steam iron. You’d probably get better odds down the bookies...

What is that in PC World by any chance? I used to work in one of their stores and hated selling people the extras at the till.

The trouble is not selling them leads to our KPIs and metrics dropping. We were under serious pressure to force customers to opt for the plans. Managers would insist that it was possible to make every other customer say yes to buying one, when in reality it is down to chance whether they want it or not. They would watch from a distance whilst whispering encouragement down our wireless ear pieces which didn’t help either. Don’t get me started on asking people whether they wanted to upgrade their phone. Trying to refer 5 people a day from the till to the carphone warehouse island was a pain. Anyone who wanted an upgrade would have gone straight there themselves.

At times if I saw someone with a trolley full of stuff I knew they would say no to the plans on, I would avoid serving them to keep my percentages up and keep my job.

The instant replacement is good value for when you want a free replacement - printers that cost less than their ink cartridges for example. I used ours when we wanted a new kettle for no reason. The care plans and extended warranties were a rip off though. They claim to cover everything when in reality they cover very little. If you pay £9 a month for long enough, you eventually will have paid enough to buy a new model outright anyway.

If you go in and make it clear from the start that you don’t intend to buy any extras, the colleague will have little incentive to encourage you to purchase anything as their performance report will take a hit as a result, unless they believe you’re easy to persuade or manipulate at check out time. If you want to buy something expensive they will definitely try their luck anyway.

Sorry to everyone who said yes and bought one of the shoddy plans from me back in the day. I hope you abused them to death or canceled the direct debit the next day.

 

[Westcountryman]

Insurance on anything is essentially a gamble with the odds stacked to the insurance company. The scheme needs to accrue enough money to cover the payouts and to cover the cost of administration of the scheme, including the manager's bonuses. There are some that are worthwhile and essential, such as car, life, buildings and contents, as without insurance issues could be ruinous. But 10 for a £30 kettle? Just say no.

 

[Typhoon]

Insurance on anything is essentially a gamble with the odds stacked to the insurance company. The scheme needs to accrue enough money to cover the payouts and to cover the cost of administration of the scheme, including the manager's bonuses. There are some that are worthwhile and essential, such as car, life, buildings and contents, as without insurance issues could be ruinous. But 10 for a £30 kettle? Just say no.

I would exclude over fifties life insurance from your list (but keep it for a young family). I've just received my second piece of junk mail from the same company this year (all adds to their expenses). On receiving an 'invitation' near the end of last year I compiled a spreadsheet taking into account estimates for inflation and interest rates culled from financial sites comparing the life insurance with a regular savings account. If I reach my life expectancy, I will have paid in over twice as much as my beneficiaries will receive. Indeed there is only a small window (just over 8 years) when they will be better off. Fortunately they don't have my phone number, otherwise I would be classing that as a scam phone call!

 

[Westcountryman]

Don't forget that you are also paying for everyone's M & S vouchers, advertising costs, wages for Carol Vorderman, Parky (in the past), actor's fees. I wonder what percentage of the premiums paid actually gets paid out. Rather like the chuggers on the High Street. I read that if you sign up for a year, by the time everyone has had their cut only 2 of the first 12 payments go to the charity.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Apr 2021 ==

We had a new washer/dryer delivered yesterday. I registered it this morning and it was extremely difficult to register online without taking out an extended warranty. I had to refuse about 3 times before I could finish registration. It has only been 90 minutes and we've already had Domestic and General on the phone trying to get us to take out the insurance I've already declined at least 3 times.

 

[Typhoon]

Don't forget that you are also paying for everyone's M & S vouchers, advertising costs, wages for Carol Vorderman, Parky (in the past), actor's fees. I wonder what percentage of the premiums paid actually gets paid out. Rather like the chuggers on the High Street. I read that if you sign up for a year, by the time everyone has had their cut only 2 of the first 12 payments go to the charity.

... by which the victim has realised that they are really not interested in Save The Crocodile and cancel the direct debit (what happens if it is cancelled after very few payments - who gets the cash?) Why anyone gives someone in a hi-vis jacket with some charity name on the back their bank details (and contact details - some agency will then be employed to phone you for more contributions for some urgent appeal) I will never know, they are asking to be scammed. If I'm cornered, I ask for their solicitation statement, I have yet to see one.

One plus about social distancing is that you can legitimately stand well clear of chuggers or others trying to sign you up for some tv service. energy or broadband suppler or other pressure selling.

 

[Gloster]

With chuggers I have a simple answer. I say, “No, thank you,” and walk off. If you seem decisive enough they usually don’t try it on as they realise they will be wasting their time. If they do block me, then they get two chances, after which I need to put the end of my stick down on the pavement, and rest on it for a few seconds. If the end of the stick lands on their toes, that is unfortunate...for them.

In truth, I don’t get stopped very often. Either I look too determined for them to waste their time on or I look too skint to be worth bothering with.

 

[swt_passenger]

What is that in PC World by any chance? I used to work in one of their stores and hated selling people the extras at the till.

The trouble is not selling them leads to our KPIs and metrics dropping. We were under serious pressure to force customers to opt for the plans. Managers would insist that it was possible to make every other customer say yes to buying one, when in reality it is down to chance whether they want it or not. They would watch from a distance whilst whispering encouragement down our wireless ear pieces which didn’t help either. Don’t get me started on asking people whether they wanted to upgrade their phone. Trying to refer 5 people a day from the till to the carphone warehouse island was a pain. […]

Interesting stuff. I think most of the pressure I‘ve come under has been in the Curry half of what are usually their combined stores.

I think we should all ask any pushy sales assistants we meet from now on to declare if they’re being remote controlled, then get them to remove their “radio control” devices... We could always cite privacy reasons.

 

[greatvoyager]

Has anyone else been bombarded with calls with an automated voice claiming that the router will be switched off?
I’ve received no less than 5 calls since yesterday.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Has anyone else been bombarded with calls with an automated voice claiming that the router will be switched off?
I’ve received no less than 5 calls since yesterday.

It's one of the "normal" attempted scams to threaten internet disconnection. Unusual though to repeat the call to the same number.

 

[greatvoyager]

It's one of the "normal" attempted scams to threaten internet disconnection. Unusual though to repeat the call to the same number.

Usually it happens to me once and then I don’t hear for a month before another call.

 

[Lucan]

It's one of the "normal" attempted scams to threaten internet disconnection. Unusual though to repeat the call to the same number.

They tend to come in batches to me, perhaps 4-5 times in the same week. Never on the same day though. Having said that, I haven't had the internet disconnection one for a few months now. It's a pity because I like to play with them.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Some time ago, I received a call supposedly from "BT Technical" and I went against my usual policy of "deep silence" and asked them why, if they were BT, they were not ringing from a BT 0800 number, but from an 01753 exchange number. That led to some "flanneling" at the other end, who insisted BT were going to disconnect me at midnight. My response to that was to say that this call was the fourteenth such call made to me and that BT had never disconnected me in the past, so what was the difference this time. The line then went dead.

 

[greatvoyager]

They tend to come in batches to me, perhaps 4-5 times in the same week. Never on the same day though. Having said that, I haven't had the internet disconnection one for a few months now. It's a pity because I like to play with them.

It would be funnier to me if it was a real person, as they tend to have little patience.

 

[Westcountryman]

I've just had a call on my mobile from a car company which I have been dealing with. Not a scam call, but the security questions were a little odd. My name, my email address, and the number of the phone he is calling me on. I suppose he didn't want to talk to an imposter on a lost or stolen phone.

 

[Gloster]

Prompted by the last post and taking the question in reverse, although not enough for the Mods to want to start a new thread (I hope). How often have you either ignored or quickly terminated a call as it appears dodgy, but later discovered that it was genuine?

 

[MotCO]

Prompted by the last post and taking the question in reverse, although not enough for the Mods to want to start a new thread (I hope). How often have you either ignored or quickly terminated a call as it appears dodgy, but later discovered that it was genuine?

I tend not to answer calls from unknown mobile numbers unless I was expecting the call. The one that catches me out is the Ocado driver who phones to say they are running early!

 

[greatvoyager]

Prompted by the last post and taking the question in reverse, although not enough for the Mods to want to start a new thread (I hope). How often have you either ignored or quickly terminated a call as it appears dodgy, but later discovered that it was genuine?

I did that once and discovered afterwards that I missed out on a job interview.

 

[najaB]

I did that once and discovered afterwards that I missed out on a job interview.

If you ignored the call you'd think that they would call back at least once - even if just to be sure that they dialled the correct number!

 

[greatvoyager]

If you ignored the call you'd think that they would call back at least once - even if just to be sure that they dialled the correct number!

It was the fact it was labelled as “private number” on the caller ID that caught me off guard.

 

[najaB]

It was the fact it was labelled as “private number” on the caller ID that caught me off guard.

Similar thing that happened to me. I needed to renew my passport urgently for a work trip so I paid for the seven-day express service. Had the interview, they didn't ask for any documentation. Then a couple days later had a missed call from an withheld number and no message. When I didn't get the passport by the eighth day I called them - sure enough, they said that they called to say that they needed my birth certificate. In the end I got my passport at about 4:30pm on the day before my flight at 7:30am!

My boss wouldn't have been impressed given that the trip was to meet her after getting the job a month earlier.

 

[3rd rail land]

I did that once and discovered afterwards that I missed out on a job interview.

Surely you would have scheduled a time so would have been expecting a call at that time?

 

[najaB]

Surely you would have scheduled a time so would have been expecting a call at that time?

For a second interview yes, but not for the initial phone interview.

 

[greatvoyager]

Similar thing that happened to me. I needed to renew my passport urgently for a work trip so I paid for the seven-day express service. Had the interview, they didn't ask for any documentation. Then a couple days later had a missed call from an withheld number and no message. When I didn't get the passport by the eighth day I called them - sure enough, they said that they called to say that they needed my birth certificate. In the end I got my passport at about 4:30pm on the day before my flight at 7:30am!

My boss wouldn't have been impressed given that the trip was to meet her after getting the job a month earlier.

It makes no sense to me that private numbers are used sometimes.

Surely you would have scheduled a time so would have been expecting a call at that time?

No, I had sent my CV so this would have been before any proper contact. I only found out later as a friend of mine had applied for the same job.

 

[najaB]

It makes no sense to me that private numbers are used sometimes.

Doubly so given that the appointment confirmation SMS came from "HM Passport Office"!

 

[Cowley]

I’m getting so many silly phone calls like this from mobile phone numbers this week that it’s driving me up the wall.
I’ve got a vehicle for sale on eBay at the moment and every time the phone rings I’m hoping it’s someone interested but of course it’s not!