Scammers

[oldbluefox]

Just a warning to everyone to be aware of scammers who seem to be quite active at the moment.

I have just taken a call from an Indian 'gentleman' whose number showed as unavailable on my phone. We have had one or two of these calls lately but I have always been too late in responding to them. Anyway today I did.
You know the score. He said he was from the service provider and my internet security had been compromised. I expressed my grave concern that such a thing could have happened. He said he could fix it and could I switch my computer on. It was already on but I told him it was an old machine and took a long time to start up. I left him for a while whilst doing other things.
Basically I strung him along as much as I could and played the dithering old fool (no need for any comments from some quarters). I must have been doing very well because he passed me on to his supervisor who asked how he may help.
At that point I told a big, fat porky and said he was connected to a private line at the police station, we were tracking his whereabouts and would he like to answer a few questions.
Needless to say the phone went down quicker than snow off a dyke!!!

These scumbags are very charming and believable so please, please, if you get such a call don't do what they tell you. Basically they are out to take control of your computer and can then download everything which is on it and either use it for their own gain or hold it to ransom and demand money to get it restored. Maybe I am teaching grandmothers to suck eggs but people are still getting caught out. Please do be careful folks.

I wonder what everybody else does to deter these lowlifes apart from putting the phone down.

[Quizzical Bob]

Get one of these, or something like it (other brands and devices are available):

https://www.shop.bt.com/products/bt8600 ... -BV9T.html

You will need to have Caller Identification from your phone provider.

[david63]

I wonder what everybody else does to deter these lowlifes apart from putting the phone down.

I don't answer the phone in the first place.

I have noticed though that a lot of the scammers now display a phone number but even then unless I recognise the number I do not answer the phone, but always do a Google search on the number - it is (or probably not) surprising how many people get call from the same number.

[Dancing Queen]

I love the 'porky' you told Foxy .. I must remember that one when I've had this type of call I used to say I was the 'cleaning lady' but tbh I can't even be bothered to speak to them now so I just say 'no thank you' and put the phone down .. works for me if they are rude enough to invade my privacy then why should I worry about being equally as rude back.

[oldbluefox]

I wonder what everybody else does to deter these lowlifes apart from putting the phone down.

I don't answer the phone in the first place.

I have noticed though that a lot of the scammers now display a phone number but even then unless I recognise the number I do not answer the phone, but always do a Google search on the number - it is (or probably not) surprising how many people get call from the same number.

Apparently they are able to generate false numbers so even if you do get a number from them it may not bear any resemblance to the number they are calling from.
Unfortunately if you ignore them they keep calling back later on which is why I went on my time-wasting routine. I suppose now I will be picked up for impersonating a police officer!!!

[Onelife]

Hi foxy....l've had a couple of these calls, on the first occasion l did very much what you did, on the second it was a woman so l just asked her what underwear she was wearing....that seemed to do the trick as well

Good shout foxy.

[david63]

I suppose now I will be picked up for impersonating a police officer!!!

Just tell them that you are a "Modplod"

[Jan Rosser]

Had a call last week allegedly from BT saying problems with my broadband and it was affecting Windows on my computer. When I told them I used a Mac they referred me to the supervisor who insisted I switch the laptop on - by this time I'd had enough and told them (politely) to "go away". I only answered the call out of curiosity because the number was 00123456789 - a scammer's number for sure.

[qbman1]

Perhaps they thought you had a virus in your leeks Blod ?!

[qbman1]

.....it's allium white rot, by the way !!

[Stephen]

Hi foxy....l've had a couple of these calls, on the first occasion l did very much what you did, on the second it was a woman so l just asked her what underwear she was wearing....that seemed to do the trick as well

Good shout foxy.

The second one was me you perv. I was wearing me tight pants that day hence the high pitch voice. Mrs S was giving me some funny looks when she heard "hello sweet cheeks, what you wearing" over the loud speaker.

[Kenmo1]

OBF - we are with talktalk and have been absolutely bombarded with these scam phone calls in the last two weeks. The most recent call was this morning from a lady called Christine - I find it amusing that they think that they are more believable because they quote an English name but have extremely heavy Indian accents.

I fear our name and number has again been passed on/sold on to another set of scammers.

Maureen

[oldbluefox]

They are a pain in the neck Maureen but I would hate to think anybody I knew was taken in by them. Obviously some people are so the more we can get the word around the less chance they have of success.
I was doing quite well with my act until he asked me to press the Windows key and either Alt or Ctrl and then asked what I saw on my screen. As I was only stringing him along I couldn't tell him otherwise I would have carried on and got him all the more excited that he had a catch on the other end of the phone.
I am quite happy playing the 'blundering old fool' although I am getting worried that it seems to get easier and easier these days!!!

[GillD46]

We had one supposedly from BT yesterday. My husband hung up, but I tend to string them along a bit.

[AileenB]

We used to get bombarded with cold calls and possible scams. We were registered with the TPS, but it made no difference. Our house phones had seen better days, so we bought new ones similar to those in the post above. Easy to set up... we already had caller ID. We've now got our lives back. The phone only rings for genuine callers.

[towny44]

What I find amusing about the scam calls from supposedly telecom or computer companies is the awful quality of their phone systems. I would love to string them along a bit but when they sound as though they are calling from Mars, and with the accent as well I can only understand about 50% of what they say, I quickly lose interest.

[Onelife]

Hi foxy....l've had a couple of these calls, on the first occasion l did very much what you did, on the second it was a woman so l just asked her what underwear she was wearing....that seemed to do the trick as well

Good shout foxy.

The second one was me you perv. I was wearing me tight pants that day hence the high pitch voice. Mrs S was giving me some funny looks when she heard "hello sweet cheeks, what you wearing" over the loud speaker.

Pack it up Stephen...PMSL ain't no good for my bladder.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We were allegedly caught up in an attempted scam this year when I had a genuine text from my bank confirming my account address had been changed as requested and asking me to call them if I had not requested the change. I did so and they changed it back, installed additional security measures and sent us new debit cards. I then as a precaution spent two days changing all my passwords just in case.

But this is what annoyed me. I asked how it had actually been changed so I could take additional precautions. On line, on the phone, in branch, by letter? I presume they must have a paper trail. But no, they couldn't or wouldn't tell me.

I also suggested that since the supposed scammer had provided a new contact address, my presumption this being a precursor to requesting a new card or cheque book to then be sent to that address, they might alert the police and give them the address to round up the suspect. They said they wouldn't. I requested they give me the address so I could call the police. They declined. Guess what. Data Protection Act.

In the end, my suspicion? That there was no scam. That another account holder requested changes and someone updated the wrong account, putting us to a lot of inconvenience. Pah!

[anniec]

I had a very similar problem with my Sainsbury's supermarket account - not in the same league as a bank, but, like you, it involved a lot of password changing. When they reacted in a similar way to your bank, I came to the same conclusion.

[Raybosailor]

.....it's allium white rot, by the way !!

Can allium white rot kill rabbits Cubie ?.

[oldbluefox]

I wonder what these lowlifes will say if I tell them I will ring them back if they give me a contact number, which I can then pass on to TalkTalk. Of course I would never ring them back anyway but the more I can take them away from their prepared scripts and make life awkward for them the more satisfied I will feel. Cat and mouse?

[Raybosailor]

We have an answerphone built into our alarm unit and we can interrupt if it is someone we want to talk to, otherwise we just let them blabber on. A lot of the auto dialing systems that marketing companies use must detect that there is an answerphone on the the other end of the line because the line is cut before my sarcastic welcome message trips in.

[towny44]

The problem is Foxy that none of these phone jockeys seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, and I'm not sure that they would understand irony and sarcasm.

[qbman1]

Sadly not - it doesn't put the rats off either !

[Meg 50]

Had a call last week allegedly from BT saying problems with my broadband and it was affecting Windows on my computer. When I told them I used a Mac they referred me to the supervisor who insisted I switch the laptop on - by this time I'd had enough and told them (politely) to "go away". I only answered the call out of curiosity because the number was 00123456789 - a scammer's number for sure.

we've had the 'problem with windows' one.

Me: windows? Yes, I have windows

operator : chunters on for a bit

Me: but they are double glazed so I can't turn them off and on.


line goes dead