Phone Scam...

[Levo-Lon]

I just tell all callers who demand money to take out of my nose..works a treat..

6 yrs and there still finding new ways to scam idiots

 

[Profpointy]

I've had my bank and my internet provider phone me up and ask to security check. I politely decline giving the obvious reason - which has the bonus of avoiding them trying to sell me anything. These genuinely are the bank / virgin media by the way

 

[ufkacbln]

Sadly this is true, I had a relative who fell for this exact scam. She lost about £25 I think when her credit card number was used in Spain to buy something. At the time I thought it odd that they would go to the trouble of commiting fraud to simply take £25, but I guess the smaller amount doesn't register on the credit-card security software.

Andrew

Smaller amounts are often used to "test" the card

That way it does not register as an unusual amount or activity

 

[classic33]

Smaller amounts are often used to "test" the card

That way it does not register as an unusual amount or activity

Small test amounts do register because they are usually paid straight back in. Instead of something like 50p the amount tends to be £5.
Done outside normal business hours, you can expect a call from your card provider.

 

[jefmcg]

ALERT: Bringing a thread back from the dead 6 years later!
I just had an attempted BT scam, though with a different approach.

A got a call from "BT" yesterday, asked for me by name (I'm in the phone book.. Yeah, I know...) and told me he was with BT and was going to ask some questions to verify my identity. I had no doubt he was calling from BT, but said no on principle, as I never prove my identity to someone who called me. This morning a had a message on my machine. It was from an automated system with a very convincing robot message, "urgently need to speak to the account holder .... press 1 if you are the account holder...."

So I logged onto my BT account. No sign of any issues. So I called BT, and pressed a lot of buttons before I was finally switched to a human. BT had not tried to call me. It was a scam. Paranoia paid off.

Though now I am disappointed they didn't get to the point of the scam, if it's like the one above. I'd have known when they threatened to disconnect me, as we have cancelled the land line and just waiting for the end of the month for it to be disconnected. As it's only called by shysters and phishers, the reinforces the decision to live without it.

OK, it's not a scam. I got another call, which asked me to call 0800443311. I chose "balance" and without entering any private information, it gave my correct balance, and next billing date - so it must be BT.

BT don't know their arse from their elbow. When I rang a different BT number earlier (from their website) I was assured that the phone call could not have come from BT.

 

[classic33]

Next billing date the 24th of this month?

 

[jefmcg]

no. And even if it was, the bills are quarterly, so that would still be a wild guess; and amount owed is 29 pence. They must be BT to have these numbers.