Yet another new scam

[Murflynn]

4 minutes ago, Slim said:

After my wife died some years ago I fielded many such calls. Not once did I get the 'human' response "sorry". In the end I just hung up without comment.

unbelievably sad.  

[sueb]

Moving house and getting a new number helps. I don't give my landline phone number out and we have registered with the telephone preference service. Unfortunately the medical services all withhold their numbers so ignoring these on the mobile isn't an option.

[Lily Rose]

1 hour ago, sueb said:

Unfortunately the medical services all withhold their numbers so ignoring these on the mobile isn't an option.

Unless I'm expecting their call it still gets ignored. They always leave a message and I then ring back if necessary.

[Momac]

I signed up to the mailing preference service and the telephone preference service some years ago.

After a few months the unsolicited mail and calls reduced .

We get little junk mail and very rare calls on the landline.

You cant stop mail from people you have traded with, unless perhaps you specifically ask them to stop . You cant stop hand delivered mail (but could try a sign on the door).

 

 

 

[jonathanA]

7 hours ago, MartynG said:

I signed up to the mailing preference service and the telephone preference service some years ago.

After a few months the unsolicited mail and calls reduced .

We get little junk mail and very rare calls on the landline.

You cant stop mail from people you have traded with, unless perhaps you specifically ask them to stop . You cant stop hand delivered mail (but could try a sign on the door).

 

 

 

You are very lucky then. The TPS service is pretty useless as it only covers uk based call centres and when did you

last get called by someone who’s  first language is English.... 

 

unfortunately the utterly useless and inept ICO will only accept complaints for cold calls if you are registered with the TPS 

 

In my experience wasting time and keeping the bar stewards on the phone as long as possible is the most satisfying way to deal with them...

[dor]

On 28/08/2019 at 20:46, sueb said:

. Unfortunately the medical services all withhold their numbers so ignoring these on the mobile isn't an option.

My hospital has numerous DDI numbers, some of which they do not want people calling.  Rather than setting caller display to ‘private’ they use the first three digits plus ‘999’.  So you know it is the hospital calling, but dealing the number just gets you a message to call the main switchboard.

Something others could do.

[restlessnomad]

I got a call from 'uk govt' telling me that I am debt free, I asked them not to call me again....

not sure what it was about... but am sure not debt free.

[matty40s]

2 hours ago, restlessnomad said:

I got a call from 'uk govt' telling me that I am debt free, I asked them not to call me again....

not sure what it was about... but am sure not debt free.

They wanted your advice as its another thing they dont have a clue about.

[Guest]

We always ignore unknown numbers on mobiles (we only have mobiles.) One night last summer my wife's mobile rang at about midnight and eventually stopped, then it rang twice more and I suggested she had better answer it. It was some department at the hospital telling her that her recent routine blood tests were in and her liver function was in the thousands, when it should have been 40. She was ordered to phone an ambulance immediately and get to hospital. Turned out she has auto immune hepatitis and her liver had failed. If she had not answered that particular call it may have proved fatal! Luckily the doctor who was calling was very persistent. 

[Boater Sam]

11 hours ago, catweasel said:

We always ignore unknown numbers on mobiles (we only have mobiles.) One night last summer my wife's mobile rang at about midnight and eventually stopped, then it rang twice more and I suggested she had better answer it. It was some department at the hospital telling her that her recent routine blood tests were in and her liver function was in the thousands, when it should have been 40. She was ordered to phone an ambulance immediately and get to hospital. Turned out she has auto immune hepatitis and her liver had failed. If she had not answered that particular call it may have proved fatal! Luckily the doctor who was calling was very persistent. 

Had a similar thing whilst waiting for a heart operation. Ignored calls as no caller id left. It was to tell me to go to hospital.

They are not allowed to leave messages in case they have the wrong number and frighten folk.

[Hudds Lad]

I always used to ignore unknown numbers until my old mum went into care a few years before she passed, as I had PoA I just had to answer everything in case it was social services, care home, doctors etc. always made for an unpleasant few seconds until you knew who it was calling.

I still haven't got back into the habit of ignoring the landline, but mobile I always do and then google the number.

 

calls are usually a 50/50 split between "our records show you were recently in an accident" or "we've detected a problem with your computer"

[Nightwatch]

On 28/08/2019 at 09:04, Boater Sam said:

I have been known to wrap a small brick in the complete unwanted mail or officious official forms, then brown paper, and post them back to the sender. With a Green Shield stamp if you have one else none at all.

Bet you never get another.

Genuine question, as asked by my darling astute wife. Where do you post it from?

[Boater Sam]

10 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Genuine question, as asked by my darling astute wife. Where do you post it from?

Use a thin brick like a facing slip or quarry tile and use a post box.

[Nightwatch]

Just had the ever so popular call saying there's an inland revenue fraud case against me. Shock horror.

when I get the accident compo call, I asked them to name, date and detail which particular accident/incident they refer to, then I will talk. Normally followed by a click.

 

i have also just heard the deadline for PPI claims has passed. Kept that quite didnt they?

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

 

i have also just heard the deadline for PPI claims has passed. Kept that quite didnt they?

You're joking I assume. Even I heard about that, and I don't watch/listen to  adverts and live in a muddy ditch in the middle of nowhere.

[MtB]

2 hours ago, rusty69 said:

You're joking I assume. Even I heard about that, and I don't watch/listen to  adverts and live in a muddy ditch in the middle of nowhere.

 

Me too. I knew about it. 

 

What I haven't heard a bean about though for ages, is us leaving the EU. Is it all done and dusted now?

 

 

 

[restlessnomad]

20 hours ago, catweasel said:

We always ignore unknown numbers on mobiles (we only have mobiles.) One night last summer my wife's mobile rang at about midnight and eventually stopped, then it rang twice more and I suggested she had better answer it. It was some department at the hospital telling her that her recent routine blood tests were in and her liver function was in the thousands, when it should have been 40. She was ordered to phone an ambulance immediately and get to hospital. Turned out she has auto immune hepatitis and her liver had failed. If she had not answered that particular call it may have proved fatal! Luckily the doctor who was calling was very persistent. 

good to know, thanks for sharing.

I have got call from nhs asking about my details first before proceeding, and I knew it was probably genuine as I had an appointment next day, still I hate the fact that I need to give my personal details to a stranger for identity verification when I was not the one making the call.

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, restlessnomad said:

good to know, thanks for sharing.

I have got call from nhs asking about my details first before proceeding, and I knew it was probably genuine as I had an appointment next day, still I hate the fact that I need to give my personal details to a stranger for identity verification when I was not the one making the call.

That should be legislated against forthwith. BT do the same and I suspect all the other telecos. Anyone phoning their customers/patients should be compelled to identify themselves in some way. The way things are at present its a scammers Christmas everyday.

[john6767]

8 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

That should be legislated against forthwith. BT do the same and I suspect all the other telecos. Anyone phoning their customers/patients should be compelled to identify themselves in some way. The way things are at present its a scammers Christmas everyday.

Banks do the same, it is disgusting.  Obviously no one other than a vulnerable person it going to give a  cold caller any information. I would always tell the caller what I thought of them I no uncertain terms.

[TheBiscuits]

2 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Banks do the same, it is disgusting.  Obviously no one other than a vulnerable person it going to give a  cold caller any information. I would always tell the caller what I thought of them I no uncertain terms.

I have been known to ask a caller from the bank for their full name and address and the three security numbers from their credit card.  Oddly none of them ever seem to want to provide the information.

 

I then tell them that if they need to contact me they can send me a secure message via their online system or they can write to me.

[Nightwatch]

8 hours ago, rusty69 said:

You're joking I assume. Even I heard about that, and I don't watch/listen to  adverts and live in a muddy ditch in the middle of nowhere.

Correct. 

[ditchcrawler]

Had a text from Tesco saying they were upping the security and sending new credit cards. Today the old ones stopped working when I tried to pay in Rugby Tesco. The text was genuine

 

[jonathanA]

On 21/08/2019 at 16:43, Grebe said:

we had new one today.  Strange number on the caller ID, (they never look right).

 

Message starts " This is acall from VISA, a £600 debit has just been made on your card please press 1 to contact us...

 

 

Just had one of these calls today... needless to say I just hung up

 

and then checked my account online ?

[restlessnomad]

22 hours ago, john6767 said:

Banks do the same, it is disgusting.  Obviously no one other than a vulnerable person it going to give a  cold caller any information. I would always tell the caller what I thought of them I no uncertain terms.

when banks call me, and I reply saying I cant go through verification process, they advice me to call them on their standard customer care number. I think its a catch-22 situation, they cant give you info without knowing your identity even though they called your number.

 

[1st ade]

44 minutes ago, restlessnomad said:

...when banks call me, and I reply saying I cant go through verification process, they advice me to call them on their standard customer care number. I think its a catch-22 situation, they cant give you info without knowing your identity even though they called your number.

 

Be careful

 

The better scammers hold the line (if a landline), play dialtone, wait for you to dial then a different person speaks. It's the same call held open.

 

If at all possible, call the genuine number from a different phone.