is it just me or do scam calls seem to be getting more frightening?

firthy85 · 2021-03-30T06:49:21+00:00

hello. got a call yesterday which was an automated message to tell me that my national insureance number was being used for illegal activity. if i don't press 1 to speak to an officer i will face arrest. how do you deal with them? i remember an old poster on this topic said she hands the phone to her little dd to just babble away at them until they get bored and hang up the phone. i ended the call, i am not taken in by such scams as sadly i get so many of these but god i shudder to think if my old granmother had answered the phone or a person with mh issues or serious anxiety how scared they would be? i don't understand why more is not being done to tackle this problem. if i hadn't been clued up on these things i may have pressed 1 for the fear as the voice sounded more and more urgent.

HeartsAndClubs · 30/03/2021 07:50

You just hang up.

mintich · 30/03/2021 07:52

Hang up and block the number

HeartsAndClubs · 30/03/2021 07:54

The other day I had one claiming to be from Virginmedia to tell me that there was some dodgy activity on my router and that unless I listened to what he has to say my internet will be cut off.

I said to him “tell you what I’ll do, I’ll ring Virginmedia direct and they can talk me through it,” to which he responded, “tell you what you can do, you can fuck off.” I laughed and told him at that point that did he realise I was a police officer and all my calls are recorded, and then hung up while he screamed and ranted on the other end.

But if it had been an older person they might have been really frightened by that.

Incidentally, having called me every day for the last week, after that they haven’t called back.

Temp023 · 30/03/2021 07:55

These automated calls are completely unconvincing though. I generally hang up and block, though tempted to press one and then use my football whistle when someone answers.

MrsTophamHat · 30/03/2021 07:55

I never answer calls from numbers I don't recognise. If it's a real call, they leave me a voicemail.

GlumyGloomer · 30/03/2021 07:58

First time I got one it scared the life out of me. I actually believed it until they asked for a payment and my common sense kicked in. Now I just hang up and block. Something I did find odd is that there's no easy way to report them unless you've actually lost money. I didn't lose anything but I had my morning ruined.

SecureYourself · 30/03/2021 08:27

For a split second I was almost taken in by the Royal Mail one saying we had a parcel and we had to pay £3 before they would deliver it. We often get parcels from relatives abroad and at times we’ve had to pay additional duty to have them released so it didn’t seem that weird and it was only asking for £3 — an amount that wouldn’t trigger a lot of concern in many or most people. Of course who knows what they would have done with my ID and credit card info after that. I could very very easily see an older or less sophisticated person handing over their info.

How is it not possible to trace these calls and stamp they out?? I reported to the police non-emergency and the officer who called me back said they have been getting a lot of complaints about this one but he didn’t really say anything about whether or how they would catch the people doing it.

Original poster

firthy85 · 30/03/2021 08:41

they should be doing much more than they do. people's anxiety levels are up to the max anyway because of the covid pandemic and fearful of losing money/jobs etc. problem of reporting is that they often spoof numbers and they come from different ones each time. i did once out of curiosity couple of years ago phoned a number back turned out to be a gym somewhere near oxford who didn't know what i was talking about but said they would flag it up that someone was spoofing the number.

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knittingaddict · 30/03/2021 08:48

The automated ones are the worst. There's no satisfaction in telling a robot voice what you really think of them. We don't get them very often, but had one day a couple of weeks ago when a real scam person kept ringing us. Annoying and dangerous as the land line is the only way my very elderly parents can contact me, so we can't afford to totally ignore a ringing phone. Idiots.

knittingaddict · 30/03/2021 08:52

I forgot, our number was used by scammers too. Had 48 hours of somewhat irate people ringing us because they had missed calls from these jokers. I think BT sorted it in the end.

Arbadacarba · 30/03/2021 08:52

If this is a landline, I recommend a call blocker phone - I have one and only my listed contacts get straight through, anyone else has to say who they are, and then I get the option to answer, block or divert to voicemail. Mostly the scammers don't even bother because they're just bots autodialling, but if they do you can block or divert to voicemail without having to engage at all.

user1471505356 · 30/03/2021 08:54

I hang up unless the caller speaks within one second. These scammers are ringing multiple lines at once so usually take a few seconds to respond. A genuine call will ring again.

Original poster

firthy85 · 30/03/2021 08:55

sorry should have said it was on my mobile. quite unusual as they don't usually target mobiles

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knackeredcat · 30/03/2021 08:57

I had a missed call from a Swiss number and an accompanying garbled robotic voicemail telling me I needed to ring both them back, and a lawyer. I did neither. But WTF? Swiftly blocked.

BertieBotts · 30/03/2021 08:59

Who do you want to stop them? The phone calls come from other countries so it's very hard to police.

Just keep sharing the awareness things so that people are hopefully aware that they exist.

EdithWeston · 30/03/2021 09:01

Lots of scams come no through on mobiles now.

I've had the one threatening to suspend my NI number, plus another one about tax. As well as emails about Amazon and Netflix accounts, and a text about a Royal Mail parcel. All in the last 6 weeks or so.

The one place there's been nothing is the landline. Though I guess that's fluke as my DMum got an Amazon one that way

Arbadacarba · 30/03/2021 09:03

Who do you want to stop them?

You would have thought the telecommunications companies could do something about number-spoofing from a technical point of view - make sure that the number that shows on your phone is the number actually calling you, unless it's withheld.

Chemenger · 30/03/2021 09:03

When I lived in the US I had hundreds of these on my mobile. Usually about the IRS (I didn’t pay US tax) or threatening to suspend my social security number (didn’t have one for months). About half were in Chinese. Usually the police were on their way to arrest me, never happened!

TurquoiseDragon · 30/03/2021 09:03

@SecureYourself

For a split second I was almost taken in by the Royal Mail one saying we had a parcel and we had to pay £3 before they would deliver it. We often get parcels from relatives abroad and at times we’ve had to pay additional duty to have them released so it didn’t seem that weird and it was only asking for £3 — an amount that wouldn’t trigger a lot of concern in many or most people. Of course who knows what they would have done with my ID and credit card info after that. I could very very easily see an older or less sophisticated person handing over their info.

How is it not possible to trace these calls and stamp they out?? I reported to the police non-emergency and the officer who called me back said they have been getting a lot of complaints about this one but he didn’t really say anything about whether or how they would catch the people doing it.

I had this text too, showed my kids exactly how to tell it's a scam. Showed Dad too, as he's getting to grips with an iphone.

I also had a couple of calls like the OP's, I just hung up.

Oldraver · 30/03/2021 09:05

To be honest they are so ridiculous that they don't frighten me as such, it's just the temerity of them thinking you will fall for a scam

bitheby · 30/03/2021 09:05

@SecureYourself

For a split second I was almost taken in by the Royal Mail one saying we had a parcel and we had to pay £3 before they would deliver it. We often get parcels from relatives abroad and at times we’ve had to pay additional duty to have them released so it didn’t seem that weird and it was only asking for £3 — an amount that wouldn’t trigger a lot of concern in many or most people. Of course who knows what they would have done with my ID and credit card info after that. I could very very easily see an older or less sophisticated person handing over their info.

How is it not possible to trace these calls and stamp they out?? I reported to the police non-emergency and the officer who called me back said they have been getting a lot of complaints about this one but he didn’t really say anything about whether or how they would catch the people doing it.

This scam was on the radio last week. They call you and try to persuade you to transfer all your money to a new account that they control.

Original poster

firthy85 · 30/03/2021 09:09

nothing more upsetting than having your number spoofed and getting abusive phone calls from people accusing you of things you don't know anything about and can't stop it happening. take a tip from me if your going to phone any of these numbers back(i only did once and wouldn't do again) don't get agressive. i know its easier said than done but sadly this kind of spoof calling is getting more and more common and people genuinely don't know why the number is being used.

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Turtleturtle81 · 30/03/2021 09:11

The Royal Mail one is quite scary. The payment of £3 is just the start. They then spend using your card and then ring you pretending to be your bank (on a spoofed number from your banks fraud dept) to alert you to the scam and to help you fix it by getting you to move your money into a new account.
This lady on Twitter fell for it a few weeks back and shared her story
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-birmingham-56500599

cherrytree63 · 30/03/2021 09:28

I've had a few calls that are from numbers almost identical to my partners, just a different digit on each call. That's just a bit creepy and feels almost personal.
I answered the first time thinking it was him, just some weird glitch with the contacts in my phone, and it was the NI number recorded message.
As soon as I block the number I just get another call from a very similar number.
Why cant it be like the old days when folk just used to try selling you double glazing

Original poster

firthy85 · 30/03/2021 09:31

my Dsis fell for the internet fraude call. she had been having problems with router connection being very slow. she then got what turned out to be a scam call saying they could fix her problem so she handed over her bank details thinking she was going to get a fix for the problem lost 500 pounds

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