BingMan
Member
- Joined
- 8 Feb 2019
- Messages
- 479
I get calss about cavity wall insulation despite living in a 200 yr old building with solid stone walls.
I am tempted to get a salesman out and then get really cross when he says he can't do it.
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A scam phone calls and emails discussion.
- Thread starter S&CLER
- Start date
I am tempted to get a salesman out and then get really cross when he says he can't do it.
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ChrisC
Established Member
I get occasional calls from people asking about loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. They are usually very polite and quite well spoken but try to tell me that their records show that my property may be eligible for this. I quickly tell them that I don’t deal with people I don’t know who just ring me up. They then either hang up or say a polite goodbye.
It‘s the scam calls allegedly from Microsoft or BT concerning computers and internet that I find more of a problem. They usually speak with an Indian accent and become increasingly rude and aggressive when you don’t listen to them.
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Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
One of my sons had a scam call from an Indian call centre and said that he was an actor in the process of reading through the script of a play he will soon be appearing in at an event for charity and asked the young female scammer how long it took for her to master the script she works from. The line suddenly went dead.
BombayMix
Member
Evening all
I've just opened this email purporting to come from the RMT Credit Union.
----------------
From: "c.union@rmtcred[anti-spam]itunion.co.uk" <c.union@rmtcred[anti-spam]itunion.co.uk>
To: [my real email]
Subject: Email Subject: YOUR RMT CREDIT UNION INACTIVE ACCOUNT
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 17:04:48 +0000 (UTC)
Dear Member
Your account is currently on hold and is inactive with the RMT Credit Union.
Please can you contact us by email [email protected] or call on 0203 5355820 as soon as possible to either reinstate your direct debit for your savings or notify us of your intention with your account.
Failing to contact us with an update as to how you wish to proceed will leave us no option but to close your account.
Kind regards
Nicola Hoarau
Office Manager
----------------
The things that arouse my suspicion are that the email address to reply to, [email protected], appears to be misspelt; and even if the direct debit had failed (which it hasn't - I've checked), why would they close my account? I can log in fine and there's nothing to indicate that my account is dormant.
They've spelt the administrator's name right though. Anyone else had this? And what do you think?
I've just opened this email purporting to come from the RMT Credit Union.
----------------
From: "c.union@rmtcred[anti-spam]itunion.co.uk" <c.union@rmtcred[anti-spam]itunion.co.uk>
To: [my real email]
Subject: Email Subject: YOUR RMT CREDIT UNION INACTIVE ACCOUNT
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 17:04:48 +0000 (UTC)
Dear Member
Your account is currently on hold and is inactive with the RMT Credit Union.
Please can you contact us by email [email protected] or call on 0203 5355820 as soon as possible to either reinstate your direct debit for your savings or notify us of your intention with your account.
Failing to contact us with an update as to how you wish to proceed will leave us no option but to close your account.
Kind regards
Nicola Hoarau
Office Manager
----------------
The things that arouse my suspicion are that the email address to reply to, [email protected], appears to be misspelt; and even if the direct debit had failed (which it hasn't - I've checked), why would they close my account? I can log in fine and there's nothing to indicate that my account is dormant.
They've spelt the administrator's name right though. Anyone else had this? And what do you think?
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pokemonsuper9
Established Member
The email is incorrect, the valid email is
[email protected]
and that email is
c.union@rmtcrediutunion.co.uk
They added a u inbetween the i and t in credit "crediut"
100% a scam
About an hour ago the phone rang. It was “Constable Simpson” at “Charing Cross Police Station”.
He said that there was a man in the station with a driving license with my name on it and my phone number. He said that if I went over they would show me a picture and demonstrate that it wasn’t me. I asked if I was under arrest. “No”.
So I went in. Quite a few people waiting, one Constable on duty who did some calls after I stated who I was to see. Another man in the hall was also for “Simpson” too.
I waited ten minutes. The chap on duty asked if I had a first name or warrant number. I did not. So I said that if he needed me again he had my number.
So it is all rather eerie. Either the scam is that somebody really does have a driving license with my name and phone number. In which case I am glad that the Met are on the case, although rather disappointed by the poor organisation.
Or somebody is calling around getting people to go into Charing Cross Police Station. Which seems strange indeed.
Any thoughts?
He said that there was a man in the station with a driving license with my name on it and my phone number. He said that if I went over they would show me a picture and demonstrate that it wasn’t me. I asked if I was under arrest. “No”.
So I went in. Quite a few people waiting, one Constable on duty who did some calls after I stated who I was to see. Another man in the hall was also for “Simpson” too.
I waited ten minutes. The chap on duty asked if I had a first name or warrant number. I did not. So I said that if he needed me again he had my number.
So it is all rather eerie. Either the scam is that somebody really does have a driving license with my name and phone number. In which case I am glad that the Met are on the case, although rather disappointed by the poor organisation.
Or somebody is calling around getting people to go into Charing Cross Police Station. Which seems strange indeed.
Any thoughts?
Why would you go to the police station? The cops will know the person isn't the guy on the driving licence without laying eyes on *you*.
That's obviously a scam or a prank.
Gloster
Established Member
Or they wanted to get you out of your home, either to enter it or to observe you.
Fortunately I was not at home. I was just around the corner in a public building.
Gloster
Established Member
Well, they could be intending to remove you from whatever you were doing for a period or they thought you were at home. I would be checking a number of things carefully just in case. But a prank by someone who knew you were nearby might be more likely.
I can only assume that they're hoping some people will go down the "Can't we deal with this over the phone? " route. Which will lead to them disclosing more sensitive personal information.
Thank you for the advice Ggloster. What, specifically, would you be checking please?
That wouldn't account for the fact that someone else was also there looking for Constable Simpson.
It would, to be honest - they've done the same thing to someone else, who must have been nearby.
Gloster
Established Member
I don’t know what you were doing, but suggest you check that any work you were doing has not been altered or somebody unauthorised had access without telling you. At home I would be looking for signs of entry and check any documents that might be of interest to somebody. It really is very difficult to say without knowing your circumstances, both in general or at the time.
Did you know or recognise this person? If there is some connection, you might be able to guess more.
Remember, it is presumably someone who has access to your number.
I dunno, makes it less likely to me. What are the odds that they know both people well enough to know where they are and have their phone numbers, without the two people knowing each other?
Quite involved for a prank.
Thinking it back, I am sure it is a scam.
I did not give any details over the phone. I am sure of that. No date of birth, address, password, secure information. I also don't think he knew my name, although I answer my phone with my name anyway so that means nothing.
But I did ask "How did you get my number?" The scammer said "he's got a list of business leaders and their driving licenses, phone numbers, crypto details, that sort of thing".
This is it I am sure. The scammer definitely said "crypto details". Presumably they would ask about these.
Gloster
Established Member
One more thing that strikes me is that once it was clear you weren’t going to give out any details, the scammer, if it was one, would be best to say something like, “I will contact you at a later date to arrange an interview.“ Letting you go to a police station brings in the police, even if only in a passive way.
No.
Something about him suggested he had a different background to me - the ability to spend ages waiting in a police station, not wearing smart clothes etc...
On the other hand, he looked like an ex-public school (I am ex-public school) rugger bugger on hard times.
He might have said that. As I am deaf I don't hear so much. I said "I will come in, see you shortly" and put the phone down.
I was at my club in St James's. I am often there.
Alternatively, if it was a phishing expedition they likely hoped that the target was far enough away to make going there a faff - and so more likely to try and solve the issue over the phone.
Indeed. Call a thousand people, the chances are that a good few of them are going to be in London. Some of those will be nearby. Two of us went in.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
What gives the owners of the Indian scam call centres the belief that having automated call preambles on calls to the UK using recorded harsh-sounding female American voices a good idea, as by now, that is the most obvious warning that a scam call is in progress?
Just had such a call made from what seemed a UK mobile phone number claiming to be the international fraud department of my bank and spoke to a person saying that I needed to know which of my five banks were calling and asked for the 16-digit security conversation code that all my five banks have agreed to use when telephoning me. The line suddenly went dead.
Just had such a call made from what seemed a UK mobile phone number claiming to be the international fraud department of my bank and spoke to a person saying that I needed to know which of my five banks were calling and asked for the 16-digit security conversation code that all my five banks have agreed to use when telephoning me. The line suddenly went dead.
Pretty well the only landline calls I seem to get these days are scams of one sort or another, all too often given away almost at once by an Indian accent. There definitely seem to be fashions — the majority at the moment appear to be about roof insulation and come from an 0116 number.
DM352
Member
Related to the "scams" part one year ago I ordered some cat food from Amazon like normally do.
Normally Amazon have theirs listed first but the one shown was marketplace which I should have I realised after ordering (my bad). I knew things were iffy when it was shipped by a major courier weighing next to nothing to my city but never physically arrived though it showed as delivered.
I found the marketplace seller in companies house in Oldham with many other companies of "interesting" names same house with some directors in Pakistan. Also the major courier customer service person said the city address it was delivered so googled that and it had a similar last name to a seller director.
Amazon did not seem to care about losing money and just refunded me and the marketplace seller spammed me for the bad review asking me to trust them to put it right. By then there were similar complaints mounting up.
Moral of story is Amazon marketplace sellers which may be brand new, limited/no reviews and have often mixed popular inventory should be approached with caution.
Normally Amazon have theirs listed first but the one shown was marketplace which I should have I realised after ordering (my bad). I knew things were iffy when it was shipped by a major courier weighing next to nothing to my city but never physically arrived though it showed as delivered.
I found the marketplace seller in companies house in Oldham with many other companies of "interesting" names same house with some directors in Pakistan. Also the major courier customer service person said the city address it was delivered so googled that and it had a similar last name to a seller director.
Amazon did not seem to care about losing money and just refunded me and the marketplace seller spammed me for the bad review asking me to trust them to put it right. By then there were similar complaints mounting up.
Moral of story is Amazon marketplace sellers which may be brand new, limited/no reviews and have often mixed popular inventory should be approached with caution.
That's sound advice. While there are plenty of legitimate vendors on the marketplace, it's also full of fly by night operators who are dodgy at best, and outright scammers at worst.
Unfortunately, in my case Amazon refused to refund since the vendor asked for return of the item, which would have cost me quite a bit: I had the item forwarded, they only provided a return label for domestic UPS ground. I would have got back less than half the purchase price had they refunded everything, and been at loss if they declined the refund for spurious reasons.
75A
Established Member
0116 is Leicester & surrounding area.
dangie
Established Member
Can’t the spammers change their caller ID number? Make it look like the UK but still originating from elsewhere?
Indeed they can. It's relatively easy to spoof caller ID information.