Scam emails, phone calls, etc.

[Bryn]

I know these issues have been raised before but a search for "scams" in thread titles offered no hits.

May I recommend that all here subscribe to the following Which link? Always useful to be forewarned:

https://campaigns.which.co.uk/scam-alert-service/?utm_source=whichcouk&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=scamalert080421

[ardcarp]

Thanks Bryn. Apparently there's a scam, going around today...a message purporting to be from Royal Mail which says 'your package cannot be delivered unless you send £1.50' (or whatever) to them. Once they've got your details, of course, they'll take a lot more than that!

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks Bryn. Apparently there's a scam, going around today...a message purporting to be from Royal Mail which says 'your package cannot be delivered unless you send £1.50' (or whatever) to them. Once they've got your details, of course, they'll take a lot more than that!

I had random texts like that for a while some months ago (& emails I think, which happily arrived in my Junk folder). I knew I wasn’t expecting anything so just deleted them and they stopped coming.

[Petrushka]

I had random texts like that for a while some months ago (& emails I think, which happily arrived in my Junk folder). I knew I wasn’t expecting anything so just deleted them and they stopped coming.

Those kind of scam e-mails (also those purporting to come from courier firms such as DPD) are very common in the run up to Christmas. The most common ones I get now pretend to come from supermarkets etc (Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Sainsbury's etc) saying I've been chosen to have my shopping paid for or to try out a new product. The other type I get are to do with bitcoin.

All go to Junk and get immediately deleted.

[Pulcinella]

I had random texts like that for a while some months ago (& emails I think, which happily arrived in my Junk folder). I knew I wasn’t expecting anything so just deleted them and they stopped coming.

I had such a text a while back, so was a bit surprised to see the (recent) date on the Which? alert, as this Royal Mail one has obviously been around for a while.

[Bryn]

I had such a text a while back, so was a bit surprised to see the (recent) date on the Which? alert, as this Royal Mail one has obviously been around for a while.

I only learned of what I think is a new Which service a few weeks ago.

[antongould]

A friend has a theory that if you engage with these calls and string them along with duff information for a while and then own up before the damage is done they will not, having wasted about an hour, bother you again.
So I tried it - the call said £799 was going to be taken from my account by a firm in China ..... did I want to stop it ...... ???
I said yes and off we went on the joy ride .... I gave them a false name and address and a sort code that wasn’t mine .... I was assured this was all being verified and that they would now take steps to check further .... they asked what my balance was - for verification I said £4734 - I wish ... I was then passed to another department who would check further ... after a while they came back and said £4100 was about to be taken and to cut a long saga short ..... they needed to set up a new account for me to transfer the £4100 into ...... after 5 minutes they said it was set up and I should go into internet banking and transfer the money into this specially set up account .... I recorded the account details and then told them I had made everything up and realised it was an attempted scam ..... I added that I didn’t know how they slept at night .....
“ I sleep very well thank you”
“ Do you like stealing from people???”
“I love it sir”

I have reported the details to Action Fraud but surely for that account to be set up money laundering legislation means the bank will have full details of who set it up and what they used for validation ..... or am I being naive ..... ?????

[Frances_iom]

I have reported the details to Action Fraud but surely for that account to be set up money laundering legislation means the bank will have full details of who set it up and what they used for validation ..... or am I being naive ..... ?????

yes - but out of interest what is the bank sort code they wanted the transfer to? - I suspect this is a mule account - at one time students were 'conned' into 'loaning' their account (though many years of teaching have taught me some students are naive I suspect the lure of some extra cash was the major inducement to turn a blind eye).

[Serial_Apologist]

A friend has a theory that if you engage with these calls and string them along with duff information for a while and then own up before the damage is done they will not, having wasted about an hour, bother you again.
So I tried it - the call said £799 was going to be taken from my account by a firm in China ..... did I want to stop it ...... ???
I said yes and off we went on the joy ride .... I gave them a false name and address and a sort code that wasn’t mine .... I was assured this was all being verified and that they would now take steps to check further .... they asked what my balance was - for verification I said £4734 - I wish ... I was then passed to another department who would check further ... after a while they came back and said £4100 was about to be taken and to cut a long saga short ..... they needed to set up a new account for me to transfer the £4100 into ...... after 5 minutes they said it was set up and I should go into internet banking and transfer the money into this specially set up account .... I recorded the account details and then told them I had made everything up and realised it was an attempted scam ..... I added that I didn’t know how they slept at night .....
“ I sleep very well thank you”
“ Do you like stealing from people???”
“I love it sir”

I have reported the details to Action Fraud but surely for that account to be set up money laundering legislation means the bank will have full details of who set it up and what they used for validation ..... or am I being naive ..... ?????

Certainly braver than me for taking these people on!

[Petrushka]

A friend has a theory that if you engage with these calls and string them along with duff information for a while and then own up before the damage is done they will not, having wasted about an hour, bother you again.
So I tried it - the call said £799 was going to be taken from my account by a firm in China ..... did I want to stop it ...... ???
I said yes and off we went on the joy ride .... I gave them a false name and address and a sort code that wasn’t mine .... I was assured this was all being verified and that they would now take steps to check further .... they asked what my balance was - for verification I said £4734 - I wish ... I was then passed to another department who would check further ... after a while they came back and said £4100 was about to be taken and to cut a long saga short ..... they needed to set up a new account for me to transfer the £4100 into ...... after 5 minutes they said it was set up and I should go into internet banking and transfer the money into this specially set up account .... I recorded the account details and then told them I had made everything up and realised it was an attempted scam ..... I added that I didn’t know how they slept at night .....
“ I sleep very well thank you”
“ Do you like stealing from people???”
“I love it sir”

I have reported the details to Action Fraud but surely for that account to be set up money laundering legislation means the bank will have full details of who set it up and what they used for validation ..... or am I being naive ..... ?????

Trouble with this is, you've wasted an hour of your time as well as theirs! Better to simply never answer the phone in the first place.

[antongould]

Trouble with this is, you've wasted an hour of your time as well as theirs! Better to simply never answer the phone in the first place.

Probably .......

[antongould]

yes - but out of interest what is the bank sort code they wanted the transfer to? - I suspect this is a mule account - at one time students were 'conned' into 'loaning' their account (though many years of teaching have taught me some students are naive I suspect the lure of some extra cash was the major inducement to turn a blind eye).

It was Monzo Bank 04-00-04 and the account name was very far from Smith ......
Never thought of mule accounts ..... but it makes sense from the scammers point of view .... but surely the people who sell their details should be prosecuted ...... ????

[oddoneout]

It was Monzo Bank 04-00-04 and the account name was very far from Smith ......
Never thought of mule accounts ..... but it makes sense from the scammers point of view .... but surely the people who sell their details should be prosecuted ...... ????

I have read that students at the end of their studies and having no further use for their accounts (possibly foreign students returning overseas) are happy to take the money and hand over the details - no skin off their nose.

[Frances_iom]

I suspect it was a newly setup account - this bank (currently it seems non-profitable) is online only - London address - seems ideal for scams - a use twice account 1 payment in 1 payment out.
The NUS pushed warnings about 'loaning' accounts as could mean great difficulty in future financial dealings some years ago when such behaviour became noticed.
ETA seeing the suggestion that foreign students returning home might be a source of such accounts makes sense for if a trial overseas transfer is set up then a subsequent transfer to same overseas account would not immediately excite suspicion but quickly remove stolen money out of the UK.

[antongould]

I have read that students at the end of their studies and having no further use for their accounts (possibly foreign students returning overseas) are happy to take the money and hand over the details - no skin off their nose.

To get mildly self righteous ..... probably the impact of Hartlepool becoming a Tory fortress - as a student, if somebody had approached me to buy my bank account I would have smelt a rat and refused ...... I feel anyone who does this should be liable to prosecution .... having lived that call any old person could possibly have lost everything in their current account ......