Monday Night - BBC Panorama, Spying on the Scammers

[JGD]

Excellent documentary from Panorama this evening on Scammers who call their victims at home and prey on the lonely and isolated.

Hundreds of thousands of people fall victim to scams in the UK every year and are robbed of MILLIONS of pounds.

So if you get a scammer on the line anytime soon, your first response could be - "Are you the person I saw on the BBC a few nights ago who robs and scams people" !

And whatever else you do - put the phone down as soon as you possibly can. Do not worry about any risk of being rude. You simply cannot be rude enough to them. Despite how friendly and supportive they may seem, they are thieves. They will have a script, carefully crafted to suck you in and at some carefully plotted moment they will induce you to pay money to them .

So ensure you never reach that point and put the phone down - slam it down, carefully set it down or switch off the call, whatever suits you best. Just stay in charge. And be wary - sometimes scammers "hold" your line open waiting for you to return - so when you make the next call - make sure you hear a dial-tone before dialling out.

In the few early weeks of this year I have received scam calls with complex plots. Along with the Microsoft scam in the documentary, the most frequent is that their is a problem with my internet provider. Then there is your BT bill has not been paid. A newer scam is the Amazon call - Amazon apparently are planning to take £79.99 from my account - and sometimes twice a day to boot. They are wide and varied and could almost be plausible.

Personally I enquire as to whether their mother/father/family know that they are thieves and robbers and do they think their mother/father/family will be proud of them. The reaction from scammers, males and females, hearing these comments varies - some are so confused and shocked, they end the call.

From others it brings a string of anglo-saxon invective. And then I put the phone down.

Most importantly of all stay in control out there. Never reach for your plastic or handover any bank details or offer cash.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-5 ... red-handed

[JGD]

Received a timely warning around the unfolding situation around Covid-19 in an email today from a trusted source.

Unfortunately, fraudsters are already trying to use fake information and emails to attempt phishing attacks. If you receive any emails that ask you for personal details such as passwords, don’t click on them. If they direct you to websites where you need to input passwords, always stop, open a new browser and enter the URL directly.

Whilst it might seem unlikely that you will receive any email as described - please heed the advice.

Do NOT use links embedded in emails you receive.

If an organisation known to you contacts you -or appears to have contacted you - do not use the links in the email.

Only use a web address you know you have have used in the past, open a new browser and type in the address directly.

And whatever way it goes and however you get in a conversation or text or email exchange - most importantly of all stay in control out there.

Never reach for your plastic or provide any bank details or offer cash.

EVER.

[mosy]

Thanks for the heads up and alert to new scams.

Why are these posted in the Asylum rather than to a wider readership?

Could I add something: Although people ought to be covered by their banks,as I understand it that is provisional on the victim not being complicit or aiding the fraud in some way, e.g. by giving out details, so to reiterate, never give out any details.