New Phone Scam. ( to me..)

[Barrymagrec]

I`ve been getting automated calls from "Visa Mastercard security" recently, apparently my card is being used for unexpected foreign transactions.....

 

[stevec67]

I suspect that in a fair few cases, the scam emails are deliberately flawed, so that anybody who responds is already flagged up as ripe for the picking.

This is a known strategy that's been observed and written about. The thinking goes that by having a few duff spellings they filter out the smartest customers straight away and get down to the ones who are not so savvy, possibly elderly, confused etc. If they were more convincing they would get more initial "hits" but more of these would be from people who got halfway through and said "hang on a minute, I smell a rat".

 

[Barrymagrec]

I imagine the marketing department of the Universal Scam Corporation are continually refining their techniques to zero in quickly to the gullible and minimise time wasted on the moderately suspicious and aware.

 

[nmtjb]

I haven't had one for a while, but walking the dog this morning got a call from a london number, automated message..."there's been suspicious charges made on your credit card...1 for £300, and one for £2000, (international), please press 1 to confirm, 2 to speak to security team advisor." I hung up. Is there an easy way of reporting these?

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

First, make sure all your numbers are listed with the Telephone Preference Service. Once that’s done, spamming the number is a bigger deal for the ICO. There’s an online reporting tool for spam calls on the ICO website. Worth doing as the more reports a given activity gets, the more likely the ICO is to take action.

 

[Locheeboy]

I ask, in a slow measured tone, after allowing them to make their spiel..."and ...is your mother proud of what you do ?" 9 times out of 10 there is a sharp intake of breath, then I hang up...smiling wryly

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Be aware, a lot of people making these calls may have been trafficked and don’t have much choice.

 

[Mick P]

I ask, in a slow measured tone, after allowing them to make their spiel..."and ...is your mother proud of what you do ?" 9 times out of 10 there is a sharp intake of breath, then I hang up...smiling wryly

Yes and after giving you the one finger salute, they may well send your number all over the place as a bit of revenge.

Best to bite your tongue and just say sorry not interested and leave it at that.

 

[gintonic]

I ask, in a slow measured tone, after allowing them to make their spiel..."and ...is your mother proud of what you do ?" 9 times out of 10 there is a sharp intake of breath, then I hang up...smiling wryly

make you feel good and superior?

Be aware that antagonising them may be unwise.

 

[garyi]

Jus a mobile for me, if I don't recognise the number I let it ring off, if someone needs me they can text or leave a message.

 

[Tony Lockhart]

One thing is for sure, the seasoned callers will have heard pretty much every insult us old fogies can think up. And then some.
I don’t answer. Then, if later in the day they haven’t called again, I block them.

For a while I responded all Liam Neesony, but I received strange looks one day in the Newmarket Waitrose, so gave up that idea.

 

[Jamie]

The thing that bothers me with this particular scam is where the eff did they get my email address?

Put it into

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach

Have I Been Pwned allows you to search across multiple data breaches to see if your email address or phone number has been compromised.

haveibeenpwned.com

And it will tell you if has been leaked by any organisations that have it on their database.

 

[Bob McC]

I haven't had one for a while, but walking the dog this morning got a call from a london number, automated message..."there's been suspicious charges made on your credit card...1 for £300, and one for £2000, (international), please press 1 to confirm, 2 to speak to security team advisor." I hung up. Is there an easy way of reporting these?

To whom?
My phone gives the facility to report it as spam and block it.

 

[nmtjb]

I was thinking Action Fraud or similar, although from recent episodes of ID theft, accounts being set up in my name (or part of it!) credit cards etc. the process is pretty painful with them.

 

[mercalia]

if yiou get a call from harry & meghan asking for a fare "home" you know its a scam

 

[garyi]

What if she is offering to sell me jam?

 

[soverton]

My email was subject to a data breach many years ago, but I like it and can cope with the spam and phishing - some of which are truly unpleasant.This week my Quattari financial advisor wrote to me with a message which began 'Hello Dear'.

 

[Barrymagrec]

What if she is offering to sell me jam?

Tell her you know a number of people that could do with a Raspberry.

 

[gez]

Many of these robo calling scams are voice activated. If you pick up the phone and don't say anything, you just get silence. Say hello and the speil will start. So I've taken to not saying anything when I pick up now (at least on my land line - my mobile seems pretty much immune from such calls), if it's a person that's called they'll inevitably say hello.

 

[Bob McC]

I was thinking Action Fraud or similar, although from recent episodes of ID theft, accounts being set up in my name (or part of it!) credit cards etc. the process is pretty painful with them.

Action Fraud is a waste of time. It isn’t even the police, it’s a private company who collate reports for the police.

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