Is it possible to scam you? Or would you never fall for something like that?

[silverycurtains]

Inspired by another thread, I watched a couple episodes of the TV series about romance fraud. I couldn't bear to watch after a while, totally gobsmacked at people (mostly older women) who'd given away hundreds of thousands of pounds to 'boyfriends' they'd never met. Admittedly I thought 'how could you be so DAFT?'

But then I remembered the time that I was nearly taken in by a low level scam myself. My FB account had been hacked and as it had loads of pictures saved that I hadn't yet backed up, I was desperate to get back in. FB weren't responding to my messages so I tweeted and asked if anyone knew a way to reach FB. This guy (had a locked Twitter profile) responded and said his friend had the same problem but had a business dealing with FB and could definitely help. In a DM he gave me his 'friend's' email address.

I have no idea why but I was so fixated on getting my pictures back, I emailed this guy. He responded really quickly from what appeared to be a legit business email and asked for a screenshot of my FB (which I sent). Then he said he could fix it in about 30 minutes and it would cost $50.

Thankfully at that moment I suddenly realised it was a scam. It took me a full 20 minutes before it dawned on me though.

I now realise that my desire to get access to my account totally just smashed over my usual common sense. I can't actually ever imagine progressing from that point and handing over HUGE sums of money but I had new empathy for people who did, especially if they weren't tech savvy or vulnerable/lonely etc.

I think we're all capable of doing dumb ass things when we're vulnerable in some way. I also think that having watched some of the programmes, that for some people it almost becomes like a gambling addiction...'if I just give this last bit of money, I'll get my happy ending'.

Have you ever been scammed? Do you think there's a possibility you could fall for one? Or is that just not a possibility at all?

Yes. I almost got scammed by someone who rang the landline saying they were from Virgin (who did supply our landline). They weren’t asking for money or bank details but wanted me to download some software onto my tablet. Mid way through it installing I realised this was insane and stopped the download - thank god. Then rang Virgin who had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I feel an idiot still !

The romance frauds are very sad. Heart broken as well as lost all that £££.

I like to think I'd be hard to scam, as I check email addresses rather than just clicking links and log in to accounts by typing the address in rather than following the links in emails etc, but I also know that scammwrs are smart and work very hard at making things look legit, so it'll probably happen at some point sadly.

I also know that if its too good to be true it probably isn't right!

I haven't, and I would like to think I wouldn't ... but have seen some messages/emails/ whatever that made me wonder if they were real. However I'm a naturally suspicious person, and will NEVER click on a link from a suspicious source. If I did think there might be something to the message/email whatever, I would look up the company/bank and contact them myself.

I'm sure there's something that says that thinking you can't be scammed increases the risk you will be. Basically if you think you're too smart you don't check properly.

I think pretty much anyone can fall for a scam depending on circumstances- a moment of stress, or being short of time or feeling temporarily vulnerable.

I think I’m pretty difficult but I’m not daft enough to think it is impossible.

I have a family member that works in financial crime so I hear about all the new scams and what to look for all the time so I am pretty savvy. But it’s not absolutely impossible I couldn’t get caught out.

From what I see though the majority of non vulnerable people that get scammed do so because of greed. Trying to get something for nothing/very cheap eg all the Facebook Airwrap/AirPods etc scams. No-one is giving away or selling off very cheaply brand new highly desirable products. You can’t make thousands moving money around for people in the name of bitcoin. Just no.

The scams that target the vulnerable are something else though. Absolute bastards.

Never say never.

Scams are evolving all the time.

I think I'm quite up to date on a lot of the current scams, internet savvy.

But always helps to remain vigilant.

Those who think they can't be scammed are more at risk of being scammed than those who recognise that anyone might have a careless or vulnerable moment; and that scammers are constantly evolving their techniques to be more sophisticated.

I've worked in the area for nearly 20 years - I think it's very possible that I would fall victim to a scam despite thinking and talking about them nearly all day every day. Probably a mix of complacency and the fact that lots of scammers are very good at what they do (and getting better all the time)

My mid 80's dps don't have smart phones, no email addresses and not at all tech savvy and pay all their bills at the post office and pay cash 90%. They are extremely suspicious of any phone calls not from family members. I think because of all this they are less likely to be scammed. I think how we live now, thinking we are tech savvy plays right into scammers hands.

I'm hard to scam as my default position has always been cynical throughout life.
Don't trust anyone until they prove to be trustworthy.

I almost fell for a scam this time last year. A local event for kids was sold out and on the event Facebook page there were people offering tickets for sale that were not needed. They weren't expensive (£5 each or similar) but it was only when I followed the PayPal link the seller sent me that I realised the PayPal account name and Facebook account name were totally different and that there was an overseas payment charge being added to the transfer.

My mum almost fell for an HMRC email scam and we discovered that my late MIL had been scammed several times when we had to help her out with her online banking and saw that she was paying out about £150 per month for random insurance policies on appliances in her home.

I'm a cynical person by nature but never say never. Scams can be really sophisticated. Some stuff is really obvious like a holiday let page I'm on has occasionally had scammers post on it and to me they are glaringly obvious but people have been caught out.

No, because I never take anything at face value. I never click on a link without checking it's genuine and will always open a new email page and add a screenshot of the one I am replying to rather than reply directly. Any call from an unknown number are not answered if it's genuine they'll leave a message and if they don't, well, tough.

It’s certainly possible and know relatives and friends who have been scammed.

The PC call scanner one when my dad had just unboxed and installed his brand new PC so the timing was just right for him to believe it was Microsoft or whoever on the phone.

I had entered a competition not so long ago when I got a phone call offering to put me in another prize draw too. I stopped short when they asked me to choose some random numbers and I realised they were fishing for potential PIN numbers and passwords.

Ive just told PIL about the bank fraud calls because they already don’t quite trust not being able to go into a branch so someone calling to say there is an active fraud would absolutely push the right buttons to be scammed this way.

scammers are looking for any possible weakness they can leverage and will only get better and better each time they try or fail.

I don't think there's anyone who can't be scammed, ultimately. All it takes is the right (or wrong depending how you look at it) day or circumstance. That circumstance could even be that the person is distracted (bad day, unwell, already stressed or upset in that moment etc).

Of course there are lots of things you can do to reduce instances of it or reduce the success of it. I've never been scammed, am generally an over cautious person to my detriment most of the time and always set up as much security as I can on all my technology, appraise myself of what scams are circulating and would never click a link to sign in, check my networks when out and about and so on.

I still think it would be foolish and a bit arrogant to say never. Like I said, wrong day, right type of scam and I think anyone could fall foul. They'll only get better at it and complacency about how intelligent I am will only make me more likely to do miss it.

I don't think I would. For a start we are constantly tested via work with phising email tests etc. so I'm very careful around those types of things. Aware of all the usual 'selling scams' and any man asking for money would always have me running a mile.

Nothing is impossible, but I'm very cynical and very antisocial, so I expect it would be quite difficult for anyone to have the opportunity to scam me. I also work in data protection/information security, so it's something I have a fairly constant awareness of through my job.

@dontgobaconmyheart I agree that it would be foolish and arrogant to say never.
I do consider that I would be hard to scam, but we all have pressures or could be in a rush and overlook something.

Some of the scammers are getting so clever I've had to double check when I've been contacted legitimately about potential fraud on my credit card.

I'd like to think I'm immune to being scammed because I'm cynical as hell about things, but people can make all sorts of mistakes that look obvious to others when they're under huge stress.

The PC call scanner one when my dad had just unboxed and installed his brand new PC so the timing was just right for him to believe it was Microsoft or whoever on the phone.

Timing is a big factor - sometimes the scammers just get lucky with the timing. If you happen recently to have contacted your bank, or HMRC, or Amazon and you are expecting to hear back from them, you are far more likely to accept a scam phone call, text or email as genuine. And scammers operate at high volume so the law of averages means that they will hit at an opportune (for them) moment with victims, as in the case above.

100% agree with the point about sometimes it's just about greed. Some of the scammers (on the bbc programme) were promising bars of gold and huge houses in return for escalating 'handling fees'.

My elderly dad is quite tech savvy (has a smartphone/iPad etc) but he knows the rules of 'never give money or personal ID to someone who contacts you out of the blue'. He actually had a legit call from the bank the other day and refused to go through security, instead he said he'd find the bank's number and call them back. Felt really proud of him!

That’s what happened to a friend, she entered her details into a dodgy link because it came right when she was expecting a parcel and was trying to do a million things at once.
She has a postgraduate degree, is extremely well-travelled and streetwise. It can happen to anyone.

Also work in this area - no-one is safe! Yes, there are some simple, obvious ones that still catch older and more vulnerable people but at the other end of the scale it is quite incredible how detailed these things can be. Genuinely impressive work, psychologically speaking.

I agree with the timing, especially if you're expecting a call. Or you're having a bad day so a phone call saying your bank account has been hacked makes you think " of course it has this day is just going from bad to worse ".

I'm confident a Nigerian Prince or email in bad English isn't going to work with me but I'd never be overconfident about the cleverer scammers.

I don't think there's such a thing as a person who can't be scammed - I've fallen for one at work and nearly fell for one when someone was impersonating the CEO. The ones that have me gobsmacked are the people who pay over in some cases hundreds of thousands without apparently any alarm bells at all or any due diligence on the person.

As for phone scams - have had a couple ('we have an error message from your broadband' type messages) I just politely ask them for the security questions so they know they are talking to the right person and the phone goes down at their end.

Generally I don't engage at all and as a result I probably get one call every couple of months.