Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
The "How are you this morning" is a real scam give-away. Typical Indian courtesy in speech, normal over there, not normal in the UK.
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
A scam phone calls and emails discussion.
- Thread starter S&CLER
- Start date
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
pdeaves
Established Member
I had five or six emails recently, all 'from' (so it would appear) different addresses and all worded slightly differently, but all saying stuff about cleaning contracts with the usual 'bad English' way of scam messages. Never seen this before, not going to investigate further, all deleted, but a new twist.
contrex
Established Member
My favourite was one about "your recent accident". I pretended to be a bit sceptical - how do you know about that? (we work with the police). I said dolefully it was a very nasty experience (sympathetic remarks) and, yes, I had to take time off work (we can help you get compensation). Was I injured? Yes. Badly? Yes. Time in hospital? Yes. Long time? No, I was killed! (what?) I was killed! I'm brown bread! (Indian swearing, then, CLICK.) I suppose some people might think it was sick, but it was not much sicker than what they were doing.
steamybrian
Established Member
Had a phone call today from a lady with an Asian voice telling me that they are offering me a special reduced price on a guarantee for my kitchen appliances (cooker, fridge, microwave, etc).
I kept her talking and she asked me to confirm the address they had on file which I agreed (I did not tell her I had moved and she had my previous address...!).
She asked to confirm my age but I said she should have it on file.
After about 3 minutes of not getting any information from me she slammed the phone down.
Has anyone else had this "kitchen appliance guarantee" scam calls...?
I kept her talking and she asked me to confirm the address they had on file which I agreed (I did not tell her I had moved and she had my previous address...!).
She asked to confirm my age but I said she should have it on file.
After about 3 minutes of not getting any information from me she slammed the phone down.
Has anyone else had this "kitchen appliance guarantee" scam calls...?
Last edited:
swt_passenger
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Apr 2010
- Messages
- 34,308
Just ask them to quote for your ancient appliances. Hand mangle, overhead pulley dryer, flat iron, clothes horse, etc etc. Endless fun.
steamybrian
Established Member
Noted- and will try to remember this......
Gloster
Veteran Member
I do seem to be missing an awful lot of fun by having my ‘phone switched off unless I am expecting an incoming call. However, I am able to get on with other matters without being disturbed.
Well played. I had a similar call recently and thought it was a scam from the outset as they quoted an old address. Initially I played along and asked what appliances they had on record. Response was 'cooker, dishwasher, tumble drier' to which I replied 'that's fine, but I do hear reports about scams so just to reassure me can you confirm what makes and models of these you have on file for me?'
Funnily enough the caller hung up at that point...
The 'Call Guardian' system built into my current landline handsets is wonderful. If the caller is not on my contacts list in the handsets they are asked to announce who they are and I can chose whether to accept the call or not. I bought them a bit over 4 years ago when I was averaging 2 unwanted calls a day. Clearly the scammers have found out they won't get through as in the whole of August I had only two unwanted calls which never disturbed me as they were stopped by this system!
I have been getting calls from unknown numbers recently. I had 2 this afternoon which I did not answer. On searching, all of them are shown as associated with scams. So I have now set my iPhone to divert all incoming calls to voicemail if the caller is not in my contacts. I have also blocked those numbers.
I will turn that off if I am expecting an important call but haven’t had any real calls for a couple of weeks.
I will turn that off if I am expecting an important call but haven’t had any real calls for a couple of weeks.
Spamcan81
Established Member
Had a text today allegedly from Motorway offering me £33,950 for my Porsche - I've never owned one and am not registered with Motorway - and all I had to do to complete the deal was click on a link and complete my profile. The only thing I clicked on was the delete button.
317 forever
Established Member
I had a text from Wise saying that "A new transfer was attempted to (name redacted) for (amount redacted). If you did NOT make a transfer: VISIT : https://wise-transfer.net/ to cancel this attempt."
NOT and VISIT were in block capitals.
I have not clicking that link yet alone entering any of my details there. While someone may have innocently got a digit wrong when entering their mobile, meaning they entered mine by accident, I do not want to take any risks in case it is a scam.
I am not replying to the text either.
NOT and VISIT were in block capitals.
I have not clicking that link yet alone entering any of my details there. While someone may have innocently got a digit wrong when entering their mobile, meaning they entered mine by accident, I do not want to take any risks in case it is a scam.
I am not replying to the text either.
If it's any comfort, that domain doesn't appear to exist.
ABB125
Established Member
Amusingly, the email notification I received telling me that there was a new post in this thread (this one quoted above) was sent to the spam folder by Gmail. And marked as suspicious. See here:
Almost certainly because the URL/domain in the link had been marked as suspcious between the time that @317 forever posted and you opened the email.
317 forever
Established Member
The web link must have been deemed as suspicious by Gmail, possibly quite wisely.
Thank you for your assurance @najaB although I am still not going to look up that website yet alone respond to the text.
Bevan Price
Established Member
- Joined
- 22 Apr 2010
- Messages
- 8,344
I have just had a suspicious phone call telling me that "my internet service and landline will soon be cut off for a security reason", and inviting me to press number 1 or 2 for more information. (I did not press either of those numbers - goodness knows where they might have taken me...)
Down a rabbit hole in an attempt to part you from a not-insignificant amount of your money.
busestrains
On Moderation
I always get these Indian and Nigerian scam phone calls and emails. But whenever i get them i always pick up the phone or phone them back or email them back and waste their time for as long as i can. It is quite fun messing around these scammers and wasting their time.
A lot of these scammers in India and Nigeria run multiple different scams targeting people in the, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc, so sometimes they get their scripts mixed up.
Last month i was speaking to an Indian HMRC scammer who was claimed to be a "Senior Tax Crime Investigation Officer" from the HMRC called "James Henry" with a very thick Indian accent and very poor English and grammar who told me that i was being prosecuted in the "Federal Courthouse" and that if i did not pay my unpaid taxes immediately they would send "Sheriff Deputies" to my house to arrest me! I have never heard of a "Federal Courthouse" or "Sheriff Deputies" here in the UK! He then wanted me to go to the shops and purchase ten Google Play gift cards of £100 each (so £1000 total) and read him the codes! I just pretended that i was going to the shops and ended up wasting a couple of hours of his time!
As stupid as these scams sound there are actually plenty of people that fall for them. I read so many stories in the news over the years of people who have fallen for such scams.
A lot of these scammers in India and Nigeria run multiple different scams targeting people in the, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc, so sometimes they get their scripts mixed up.
Last month i was speaking to an Indian HMRC scammer who was claimed to be a "Senior Tax Crime Investigation Officer" from the HMRC called "James Henry" with a very thick Indian accent and very poor English and grammar who told me that i was being prosecuted in the "Federal Courthouse" and that if i did not pay my unpaid taxes immediately they would send "Sheriff Deputies" to my house to arrest me! I have never heard of a "Federal Courthouse" or "Sheriff Deputies" here in the UK! He then wanted me to go to the shops and purchase ten Google Play gift cards of £100 each (so £1000 total) and read him the codes! I just pretended that i was going to the shops and ended up wasting a couple of hours of his time!
As stupid as these scams sound there are actually plenty of people that fall for them. I read so many stories in the news over the years of people who have fallen for such scams.
Mcr Warrior
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 17,298
Can't say I have, either. They're in the U.S., aren't they?
I guess it's picking up the suspect URL, so good for them.
busestrains
On Moderation
Yes indeed i think those are things that the USA has. I think they still have "Federal Courthouses" and "Sheriff Deputies" over there. I imagine that the scam call centre i was speaking to was probably also running an IRS scam and they forgot to change some of the words and terms used in their scripts for their HMRC scam.Can't say I have, either. They're in the U.S., aren't they?
steamybrian
Established Member
I recently had several emails from "friends" asking me for a favour. The first two from friends spelt "favor" and not "favour" so accordingly were binned. The subsequent one spelt "favour" correctly but had my neighbour's email address on it. So I went to see him and he confirmed it was a scam as his friends had received the same email.
Has anyone else received similar emails.?
Has anyone else received similar emails.?
Not recently, no. But it's a pretty common scam.
If the victim is using Hotmail then it will be an absolute pain to get them out of the account because, unless things have changed recently, an account that is logged in on an iOS device will stay logged in even if you change the password!
Mcr Warrior
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 17,298
Is this one of those scams where your supposed "friend" will then ask you to go buy a gift card of some sort and then e-mail them the card details?
Usually that, or wire them some money as their debit card is blocked/stolen.
steamybrian
Established Member
No. It just asked me ..." for a favour."
I presume if I had replied then I would have had the sob story of wanting money.
Mcr Warrior
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 17,298
Almost certainly.
Off topic but in the vein of many posts here about scam calls:
Way back in 1972, I moved into a house in Colchester which already had a phone from the previous owner's occupation so we decided to take it on having terminated our account in the previous house on the day that we left. We notified 'Post Office Telecommunications' (the snappy name of the organisation that became 'BT' in 1980) that we would take it on. A few days after moving the phone rang and a very polite lady asked us if we would like a phone installed at that address. We replied, that we had a phone here and that we were speaking to her on it. There was a pause, then a silly embarassed giggle, followed by an apology. We all had a laugh after that!