A new text scam?

[Pale Rider]

I've received a couple of texts telling me I have a doctor's appointment later that day when I have no such appointment.

The text says 'we look forward to speaking with you' although there is no number to call.

The texts appeared to come from standard UK mobile number, so presumably I could reply to that by either text or voice.

This must be an opening gambit in a scam, but I've not replied just in case the sender has some means of charging me extra for doing so.

Unhappily for me, I do have a few genuine doc/hospital appointments at present, so the texts did make me think for a moment.

When one is under the weather, it is surprisingly easy to lose track of where you are supposed to be and when.

Fortunately, I still have enough marbles to spot this sort of thing coming, but some people may not.

All frauds against the person are nasty, but aiming for people who are already poorly is particularly mean.

Needless to say, I would happily administer some proper Daily Mail justice to those responsible.

 

[byegad]

I've received a couple of texts telling me I have a doctor's appointment later that day when I have no such appointment.

The text says 'we look forward to speaking with you' although there is no number to call.

The texts appeared to come from standard UK mobile number, so presumably I could reply to that by either text or voice.

This must be an opening gambit in a scam, but I've not replied just in case the sender has some means of charging me extra for doing so.

Unhappily for me, I do have a few genuine doc/hospital appointments at present, so the texts did make me think for a moment.

When one is under the weather, it is surprisingly easy to lose track of where you are supposed to be and when.

Fortunately, I still have enough marbles to spot this sort of thing coming, but some people may not.

All frauds against the person are nasty, but aiming for people who are already poorly is particularly mean.

Needless to say, I would happily administer some proper Daily Mail justice to those responsible.

Assuming you're not suffering from amnesia or dementia, it sounds like an attempt to get you out of tge house for a burglary.
I keep getting urgent requests to log in to one account or another, to ensure I keep the service. My Halifax account is under massive and successive attacks by ne'r do wells. Which is amazing as I haven't had a Halifax account for over 50 yrs. Maybe there's tens of thousands of pounds in there that I and my ex-wife* have forgotten about?

*Unlikely as she got everything else when we split up in the 80s.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Its called a smishing attack. As the SMS is used rather than email which is called phishing. Laws needs to be revised to act as a proper deterrent. Its took more than 10 years to enact laws on revenge porn. We should have learnt by now. Time for telcos to start monitoring their infrastructure just as banks now do KYC on new customers.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3538831/what-is-smishing-how-phishing-via-text-message-works.html

 

[PeteXXX]

I was talking to one of the Polish lads at work yesterday as I was wondering if they get the option of Covid jabs (which they do). He was saying that he's had several smishing texts re the jab. No money is asked for, just send your ID verification and other personal details to them.
He's wise to these scams but preying on the worried and vulnerable is quite disgusting, I think.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

it sounds like an attempt to get you out of tge house for a burglary

That seems extremely unlikely. It would require the texter to have tied a mobile number to the victim’s home address, know that he or she lives alone, and be observing his or her movements there at the same time.

 

[Pale Rider]

Assuming you're not suffering from amnesia or dementia, it sounds like an attempt to get you out of tge house for a burglary.

I hadn't thought of that, although the wording of the text appeared to be encouraging me to reply straight away to query the appointment.

Its called a smishing attack.

Thanks for the link.

I am curious as to what the endgame is in my case, but not curious enough to risk responding.

I was talking to one of the Polish lads at work yesterday as I was wondering if they get the option of Covid jabs (which they do). He was saying that he's had several smishing texts re the jab. No money is asked for, just send your ID verification and other personal details to them.
He's wise to these scams but preying on the worried and vulnerable is quite disgusting, I think.

I've heard of a vaccine one which involves a fraudulent booking site which asks you to enter personal and bank details for 'identity verification'.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I've received a couple of texts telling me I have a doctor's appointment later that day when I have no such appointment.

The text says 'we look forward to speaking with you' although there is no number to call.

Forward the texts to 7726, it’s free and the service provider can use the info to block the use of its network by the the scammer/spammer if enough reports are received. What’s the sender’s number?

 

[Pale Rider]

Forward the texts to 7726, it’s free and the service provider can use the info to block the use of its network by the the scammer/spammer if enough reports are received. What’s the sender’s number?

I've deleted the texts, but when I looked the number appeared to me to be a standard UK mobile.

My phone is a dumb one, so doesn't have many text features such as blocking, but it ought to be able to forward, so I will use 7726 if I get another one.

 

[Julia9054]

If you get another, you can put the mobile number into a website called who called me and see if other people have reported it as a scam.
Though, as you say, it is hard to see what a scammer might get out of sending texts such as these.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Ive had two text scams in the past week from UK Mobile numbers. One was a claim of a tax refund in which i must click a link to obtain from my local council and the other was a Royal Mail text in which i had to pay a £1.09 fee for redelivery (following provided link) in order to avoid my parcel being returned to sender. I must admit, i haven't seen that one before and i send parcels all over the world and thought it might have been a charge back through the postal system from another country, but then realised that is extremely unlikely. Bleeding pond life...

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

I had text scam telling me that due to fraud my National Insurance Account was being frozen. Click on a link to verify identity. Then my future pension would be protected. No thank you.

 

[Pale Rider]

If you get another, you can put the mobile number into a website called who called me and see if other people have reported it as a scam.
Though, as you say, it is hard to see what a scammer might get out of sending texts such as these.

Thanks, I might give that a whirl as well.

the other was a Royal Mail text in which i had to pay a £1.09 fee for redelivery (following provided link) in order to avoid my parcel being returned to sender.

I had something similar, although I rarely receive a parcel, let alone send one, so spotting that scam was easy enough for me.

As per the article linked by @Arrowfoot, it does appear text scams are on the increase.

I didn't get any for years on end, but have had several in the last few months.

 

[mistyoptic]

Mrs Optic had this one this week.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56859091

she’s fairly wise to this kind of thing and didn’t act on it. Apple phone anyway so wouldn’t have worked, allegedly.

thanks for the 7726 tip. Wasn’t aware of that

 

[Blue Hills]

If you get another, you can put the mobile number into a website called who called me and see if other people have reported it as a scam.

Good recommendation - I use that a lot to check numbers "used" (in fact it's just what is displayed) by junk coming into my mum.
She's plagued by all sorts of stuff, though thankfully mostly on the landline.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Mrs Optic had this one this week.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56859091

she’s fairly wise to this kind of thing and didn’t act on it. Apple phone anyway so wouldn’t have worked, allegedly.

thanks for the 7726 tip. Wasn’t aware of that

If you forget the number, it spells out SPAM on your phone’s keyboard.