I recently had a very unsettling experience, and I'm still not 100% sure if it was a scam or not. But I suspect that it was.
I received a phone call from a 'London Fraud Squad Police Officer' (DC Charles 782215) who informed me that a young man had been arrested in a London store trying to use a copy of my Debit Card. He had used my family name but with a different first name. He also gave my address as being his. The arrested man was described as being black, six foot two, and as having a scar on his face. The Policeman wanted to know if I recognised the description. All very bizarre.
A long phone call continued which made me suspicious, nothing seemed to add-up.
I won't go into boring details about the call, because it's irrelevant.
I was just waiting for him to ask for my card details, so I rang off. He didn't phone back.
I told him in no uncertain terms that I thought he was a scammer, and he did everything possible to assure me that he was genuine. He even made me phone 999 to make enquiries about his name and number. However, knowing that once on line numbers can be transferred, it didn't convince me.
Has anyone experienced something similar. This was a very well organised scam, and was extremely convincing. I pride myself on not being open to scams, but this was on another level. There were at least two people involved; 'bouncing off each other'.
I am now regularly checking my online bank details to make sure nothing is missing. So far, OK.
Without wishing to add to your eldest's work load/responsibilities, in future just tell anyone vaguely iffy sounding that you'll get your son [by law of nature younger than you, therefore most likely a sharper tool] will contact them. Works like a charm.
ReplyDeleteOther than that: Contact your bank, change your details - and don't let the inconsequential ruin your day/s.
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I actually dealt with it quite well, but it left me feeling very vulnerable. They were just so VERY GOOD at what they were doing.
DeleteI haven't heard about this scam but I'm not surprised and I'm not surprised it left you feeling so vulnerable. There are so many clever crooks out there. They're on the news here everyday.
ReplyDeleteI hope id react as you did . Thanks for writing this. It's another warning never to give out any details over the phone or to someone we are not sure about.
It's a bit different here. A small island. We can go down to the bank or the police station to check.
As Ursula says too, I would mention that I'd talk to my husband, brother, son.
It did upset me, simply because it took me so long to realise that it was a scam. It all sounded so plausible until he got closer to the 'crunch point'. It was only then that I realised that I was right, and it WAS a scam.
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