Watch out for latest scam

[Ming the Merciless]

I've heard of calls like this before - but if the other person doesn't end the call - somehow your next call goes straight back to them ?

Maybe it's landline only but it's something to be aware of.

Yes always ring on a different phone or try speaking clock in between

 

[Yellow Fang]

Please don't think I'm being unkind but you are setting yourself up here. Purchasing from a possibly dodgy website and probably providing email address, street address, financial/payment details, perhaps a phone number? The next day calling an unknown number in response to a random text message.

Perhaps yesterday's website was dodgy and this is how the scammers targeted you?

I would urge you to think very carefully about your online activity because you are heading towards being caught out by scammers.

It could be dodgy, could be just a small company without much resource. I wanted that component. It is difficult to get hold of one. The price they were selling it for was cheaper by far than the only other place I have seen it sold. What most concerned me is that I did not get an email receipt. I have checked my recent bank activity, and that payment went through, and there were no other suspicious payments.

TBH I do not know what the safeguards are for making debit card payments online. I don't know what stops people the other end noting down the number. There is the 3 digit number on the back of the card, but I don't know what stops the person the other end noting that down as well. I have never before had a problem, and it might just be a coincidence this time.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Did you call them from the phone you got the text on?

I think so, but they may have just phoned me because I can't find the text.

 

[Milkfloat]

In my Grandfathers case (the 20k Policeman), the local bank branch were deemed at fault for not querying why a 90 year old man who came in once a week to withdraw tiny amounts of cash (and tenner or twenty) suddenly came in and was given £20k without any questions at all. Their policies should have slowed down the transition considerably and at least asked some questions. To be fair to them, they did pay out very quickly, perhaps it was because it was part of a anti-terrorism investigation based on what the funds were being used for. The case with many others was national news for a while.

 

[Dirk]

Any unsolicited calls, texts, emails etc should be treated with the utmost suspicion.
Treat anyone calling, who states their name is a common Christian name but has an Asian accent, as a red flag. Especially if the call relates to anything IT/money related.
Never, ever, allow someone to take control of your PC or download a programme on to it.
If you can identify a scammer from the start, you can have a bit of fun stringing them along and wasting their time, otherwise - just hang up/shut down/don't engage.

 

[newfhouse]

If you can identify a scammer from the start, you can have a bit of fun stringing them along and wasting their time

Back in the day I used to have XP running on a carefully firewalled machine to waste their time. If they were messing with my pretend PC they were not scamming someone more vulnerable.

 

[classic33]

I allowed someone to take control of my PC one time…. It was Microsoft.

In the early days of Windows 98 I received a CD, that I’d ordered, in the post and proceeded to install Windows 98 on a freshly installed hard drive. Before adding anything else I went to activate Windows and found it wouldn’t do it. I called the Microsoft helpline and they talked me through some steps, then escalated me to the next level when that didn’t work. The tech there took control of my PC to check a few things out. Quite quickly he was able to determine an installation issue due to a bad image on some discs and arranged for a new copy to be shipped. That arrived and all worked well with that one.

So, why did I let someone access my PC? It was Microsoft. I know as I had called them on a trusted number and asked for help. Secondly it was a new drive with only a fresh install of Windows so no personal data was available.

Windows 98 & 98se were on one disc only, as was windows 95 in all it's variants.

 

[Blue Hills]

Let me get this right. You received a text with a phone number purporting to be from Amazon. You called the number.

Is it any wonder scammers are successful?

yep - I was somewhat surprised.

And by this:

>> I called the number and was put through to what sounded like a busy call room.

and:

>>What made this scam sound more convincing was that it seemed to be made from a busy call room (she was foreign though).

More convincing how?

You can very often/usually hear all that manic background noise on scam calls - and folk high-fiving each other no doubt.

The Amazon text scam has been going on for ages.

 

[Blue Hills]

I was a bit suspicious, but I don't know when I would have said enough.

My stepfather was upset about being conned out of about £120. Someone pretending to be a new neighbour said he worked for a Mercedes garage and could him a new tyre. My stepfather studied Physics at Oxford University before transferring to medicine. Not sure he is still at his peak powers, but he's still not a complete idiot.

cripes - maybe your entire family is on some hot scam prospect list.
Thanks for alerting us to the door-to-door luxury car tyre selling scam.

(as folk have said upthread, these scams are usually fishing for the vulnerable - my elderly mum often gets the amazon text).

This can be handy for checking calls:

https://who-called.co.uk/

 

[Dirk]

I allowed someone to take control of my PC one time…. It was Microsoft.

You know what I meant.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I think so, but they may have just phoned me because I can't find the text.

Check the logs on your phone. They will show the sequence of events. But be very wary of that phone now, as it will now be marked as susceptible to scams. Expect more of the same as it gets shared around.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I allowed someone to take control of my PC one time…. It was Microsoft.

In the early days of Windows 98 I received a CD, that I’d ordered, in the post and proceeded to install Windows 98 on a freshly installed hard drive. Before adding anything else I went to activate Windows and found it wouldn’t do it. I called the Microsoft helpline and they talked me through some steps, then escalated me to the next level when that didn’t work. The tech there took control of my PC to check a few things out. Quite quickly he was able to determine an installation issue due to a bad image on some discs and arranged for a new copy to be shipped. That arrived and all worked well with that one.

So, why did I let someone access my PC? It was Microsoft. I know as I had called them on a trusted number and asked for help. Secondly it was a new drive with only a fresh install of Windows so no personal data was available.

Activation was only introduced in Windows XP, it wasn’t a feature of Windows 98 and the days of dial up modem connections.

 

[Profpointy]

A number of years ago I got a telephone call from someone saying they were from the fraud department of my credit card company and they had to verify some information before they could talk me.

I asked them to provide some information first to prove they were who they claimed to be but was told that they gas to identify me first. Getting nowhere I said I would hang up and call the number on the back of my card then ask for the fraud team. She said 'no problem, when you get through ask to speak with Alice'.

I ended that call and called aforementioned number from another line. Getting through to the fraud team and asking for Alice I ended up speaking with the woman who had called me. She said 'I wish we had more customers like you. '

In the end they were just querying a transaction that I had made and was able to confirm that.

I remain suspicious to this day of any unsolicited communications.

The banks really don't help when they do stuff like that do they? I've had similar impasses in the past and the girl on the phone just doesn't understand - though to be fair, it's their security & fraud dept who are at fault for having bad procesess and not training their call centre people

 

[oldwheels]

Some organisations are a bit strange.
I wanted a refund from Calmac and got a phone call on a Saturday morning from somebody with an Eastern European accent claiming to be from Calmac and asking for my bank details. I said I wanted to visit a local office to get my refund that way. Neither side would give way so I just disconnected the call.
In fact it proved to be genuine when I went to the office.

 

[DRHysted]

A number of years ago I got a telephone call from someone saying they were from the fraud department of my credit card company and they had to verify some information before they could talk me.

I asked them to provide some information first to prove they were who they claimed to be but was told that they gas to identify me first. Getting nowhere I said I would hang up and call the number on the back of my card then ask for the fraud team. She said 'no problem, when you get through ask to speak with Alice'.

I ended that call and called aforementioned number from another line. Getting through to the fraud team and asking for Alice I ended up speaking with the woman who had called me. She said 'I wish we had more customers like you. '

In the end they were just querying a transaction that I had made and was able to confirm that.

I remain suspicious to this day of any unsolicited communications.

I had this a few times, the most amusing was from the SIA who license all UK security officers. They got quite uppity when I wouldn’t answer their security questions, they even came out with the comment of checking the number they’d called from on my display. I did ask them if they’d ever heard of phone number spoofing?