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?

I work in data protection so I'd like to think that my radar is pretty good!

But no one is infallible. Factor in haste, tiredness, people's urge to please etc and it's easy to see how someone falls for scams.

But romance scams? No. I'd never fall for that kind of thing. I do care about some things, but I'm a cynical old bitch and I know that while my husband thinks I'm a goddess, the rest of the world probably think he's mad and don't even look at me. If some randomer declared love I'd probably not trust him. And I wouldn't send him money.

Someone tried it on me this week with a mobile offer.
Very insistent that I give them the 3 digit number on the back of my card.
passed onto two other people.

At one stage was told they were only trying to save me money so I wouldn’t be paying twice next month (didn’t make sense to me either)

Fabulous hour spent on the phone wasting their time until they finally have up.

I am deemed vulnerable due to mh. However I’m also paranoid and takes little to trigger this (and other personality disorder stuff). Someone also has poa already and regularly checks things like my bank account, and anything new I sign up with straight away I send them details, who if needed will cancel within the cooling off periods, or remind me to do it.

I also agree with others that say a lot of the scams are down to greed. Watched quite a few of the romance scammer stuff involving younger woman that get the attention of “rich” men, like the fake diamond guy.

Many scams still involve text that doesn't read well or spelling errors. These stand out for many people but if your literacy level is low (or it's not a language that you speak well) then it can be harder to spot these tells.

Am confident I wouldn't fall for a romance scam and am pretty savvy about the phone and online phising ones too but scams come into many different forms so do have to be on my guard. I was almost taken in by when banks first introduced two factor authentication. I was at an outdoor event and when purchasing something with my credit card had a text to authenticate the payment - it was genuine and all fine apart from things being a bit slow due to a fluctuating signal. A bit later on I made a smaller purchase on my debit card and a few minutes later received a text with a link to authenticate this one too. I clicked the link and had started to put in my details when something about it seemed 'off' and didn't continue. I rang my bank who put an alert on my account for any suspicious activity and advised me to change my password for all accounts I held, not just with them. I didn't suffer any loss but do think I came very close.
Another occasion was when my daughter was looking to rent a flat. We had offered to help towards the deposit and also acting as a guarantor if needed as she was just starting a new job after graduating. She had applied for a number of flats before a successful viewing and a tenancy offer the next day. The landlord wouldn't accept a credit card payment, said bank transfer only and sent the account details accross. I asked for the name on the account as this is something my bank asks for when setting up a new payee. The name supplied was completely different but he explained it was actually his partners flat but she was working in London, hence renting out and he was assisting etc. I definitely felt uneasy at this point. Googled the sort code which turned out to be a bank in Ireland, so yet another variable. Decided at this point that we wouldn't proceed. My daughter had missed out on lots of flats before finding this one and was gutted - said if she had had the funds available she would just have done the bank transfer as she was so relieved to finally have found somewhere. I did email the accommodation site advertising the property to express my concerns and some weeks later was contacted by the police. Apparently a number of people had paid for the same flat, either as air b&b stays in the city or deposits for longer tem rental, only for the landlord to disappear. Looking back it was clearly a scam but at the time it didn't feel so obvious.

Emails and phishing, probably not because we were tested to the hilt in my previous job. Texts and things "mum my phones broken so I'm texting from this new one" sort of thing...also no. Romance scams...never.

However, a few years ago I got caught with a website. My husband was ill with cancer and we were trying to buy a particular item of garden furniture so he could enjoy the outdoors. I found what we wanted on this furniture site, and it wasn't too expensive (and not ridiculously cheap). I had a lot of email contact with their customer service guy to ask questions and organise delivery. Then I started to get suspicious about things, and noticed some irregularities with the website, and of course, when I started asking probing questions he went silent on me. I had paid by this point and I dreaded telling my DH I'd been scammed as he had enough to deal with, with the cancer. I did eventually confess when the furniture didn't materialise and he got straight on to the bank and fortunately they did a claw back and got our money back several weeks later. It certainly made me more vigilant.

Once read some porn base fiction online. Just smutty stories no pics. Phone claimed to be locked due to viewing online every inappropriate material
I could pay £80 to have it unlocked.

Rang Vodafone who talked me through how they were scammers...
Phone was in fact fine.
And I hadn't broken any laws. Or been in any way viewing anything inappropriate at all!
Felt quite sick tbh.
Then very daft!

I was scammed recently online - bought some discount sports gear. Website looked totally legit. Wasn't - total scamsters. Had to cancel credit card, who refunded the amount.

My Mum was like this but she was scammed out of a huge amount of money (at least £70,000).
I worry about scams because of this, and I know that like anyone I could get scammed. When I have been close to clicking links, it has been when I’ve been tired or distracted. I know a few young and sensible people who have been scammed, I don’t feel anyone is immune.

Someone tried the 'we know what you've been watching on your laptop and pay up or we're sending it all your FB contacts' scam. Mate, if you think my in the single figure FB contacts would be interested in YT classical music vids, be my guest.

I literally got scammed in a similar way, lovebombing, making me feel special, then abuse.

So yes, it's entirely possible unfortunately. Or was at that point.

As for getting thousands off me I've a surefire way to prevent that one by simply being poor. If a guy asked me for a pound I'd have to say sorry but I don't have it.

I used to think that I was pretty savvy but I googled my insurer’s phone number immediately after being involved in a motorway pileup. Crying child, badly damaged car so pretty stressful situation. Didn’t realise the top search result was doggy until I had given them loads of personal information. It was years ago but I am still angry 😡

I'd like to say I never would - and certainly not any of the romance ones or phishing emails - but I did almost fall the the 'amazon' one last year.

Call from amazon saying someone had ordered an iPhone worth 950 quid and was it me? No obviously so they said they would cancel the order but also that they needed to install some extra security software on my laptop so that no more fraudulent activity could take place.

They wanted my IP address etc and I was just sat at my laptop on the verge of letting them go ahead when I came to my senses and ended the call. I was really annoyed with myself for letting it get that far!

They still call me now sometimes and I (pointlessly) give them a piece of my mind.

I should like to see anyone try it, just for the entertainment value.

Come to think of it, I nearly got scammed another time too! I was selling a high value item on eBay and when the listing ended, got an email saying XYZ had purchased the item. I then got an email from PayPal to say I'd been paid but at the very last second I spotted a spelling mistake in the email from 'PayPal' so I checked my actual PayPal balance and the funds were not in there. Clever scammer (or not so clever!!) had mocked up a PayPal email to make it look as though I'd received my money.

I can see how easy it would be to just dispatch the item and not think twice about it!

DH recently got one of those "Hi mum, my phone's broken" messages. As he pointed out at the time, it falls at the first hurdle!

A tech-savvy friend once got one of those "computer virus" phone calls from a guy with a very strong Asian accent. Our friend thanked the caller for his concern, then said that there were several computers on the premises, and asked for the IP address of the one which had the problem. There was a pause, then the caller said "Oh, you too fooking clever!" and hung up.

Only yesterday, I had the following phone call:

Scammer (you'll have to imagine the impenetrable accent): We have detected suspicious activity on your Visa account.

Me: Oh yes? Please tell me more.

Scammer: First you please tell me your name.

Me: You should already have that information.

Scammer: No - you please tell me your name.

Me: No - YOU tell ME what information you have, and I will tell you if that information is correct.

[Line goes dead]

I must admit I'm very cynical - to the extent that if I receive a text or a call claiming to be from my bank, if there's any chance that it might be genuine I end the call then ring the bank (from a different phone) and check with them.

There was a programme on the BBC a few months ago called "Scam Interceptors". It was quite an eye-opener, and explained (amongst other things) how the "Amazon Prime Refund" scam works. The victim is directed to an online form to request the refund, but the form is rigged so that when the victim enters the amount, a much larger sum appears in the box. The victim is then accused of having made a mistake on the form, and ordered to refund the difference.

I quite like giving scammers the run-around for as long as possible, on the basis that whilst I'm doing that they aren't trying to scam anyone else. One of my favourite tricks is to ask them to hold on for a moment, then put the phone down on the table and get on with what I was doing. It's interesting to see how long they're prepared to wait before giving up. The current record stands at twenty minutes.

I'm too tight with my money to part with it to some random internet man.
Phone calls and texts go straight into my spam without me ever seeing them, nor do I answer calls which show the number, but in a place that I have absolutely no connection with. I put them on my block list, along with spam texts etc.
Basically, if your not in my phone's contacts then you will be ignored and blocked.
Websites, I only shop at tried and trusted places online and normally I have the link saved, rather than googling. Check spelling and grammar on websites and never use the sponsored links.
On the rare occasions that my bank has called, I've hung up without giving any info, and then phoned them back on a different phone.
If something looks / sounds too good to be true, then it usually is so I avoid.
Simple steps that can save you a lot of hassle and financial loss and always, absolutely always hang up if they claim to be from any financial services.

Facebook regularly reminds me how gullible lots of my supposedly intelligent friends are - responding to competitions that are clearly scams, sharing posts about missing dogs/children that are blatantly fake and so on. If I think they are in danger of getting into trouble I tell them, but there comes a point when the same people respond to the same kind of things repeatedly so I just give up.

I am naturally and by training pretty cynical, so wouldn't get caught out by the run-of-the-mill stuff, but as others have said, some of these people can be very creative, determined and well trained in social engineering and psychological manipulation, so never say never.

I can say pretty confidently that I wouldn't fall for a scam, never have done so far.

I watched a couple of the romance scam programmes and the word the struck home was that these ( mostly) women had been “groomed”
These criminals are doing just that!

Maybe some scams I could fall for, they would have to be pretty damn good though as I am quite a clued up person I think.

The romantic scams - never. Honestly, I was watching one on bbc i play yesterday and it was astounding. One woman handed over 250k to 2 men who she was in love with - yet had never met them, never seen them and they were just words on a screen. Yet she sold her house(s) because they asked her to. I couldn't even feel sorry for her, how bloody stupid can you be. I know these awful people target the vulnerable and lonely but jesus christ, be a bit realistic. Another woman was 88 and being scammed by a 47 year old. I mean really, as if a 47 year old man us going to fall in love with an old lady. They believed what they wanted to and completely ignored the facts. One of the ladies said she couldn't promise she wouldn't send any more money despite the many many oddities about this "relationship" being pointed out to her. I feel sad for them, but not sorry for them.

My ex was not a thick man but thought with his penis-it seemed to override his brain (I’m going back a few years)

we broke up and he started using free dating sites

hed get talking to a ‘woman’ online,and after a few messages they’d swap numbers
100% of the time,they’d tell him that they where running out of credit,and would he mind just popping to the shop to buy them a £10/20/30/40/50 voucher (buy it then send them the codes-they never seemed to want cold hard cash) as they couldn’t top up via their phone due to payday being a few days away

of course they’d pay him back on payday-didn’t he trust them?!

he was in a low-Ish paid job but would do this-they would them disappear and the cycle would start again
his brother was so worried about this,he’d get the phone numbers from him and ring them himself to check to say they where the sex they said they where (They never where)

he lost thousands of pounds

couldn’t afford to pay for our son,but could afford this-like I say,he thought with his penis

on the basis that whilst I'm doing that they aren't trying to scam anyone else

Yes they are. A lot of these scams are big call centre operations, not just a few blokes in the internet cafe; these aren't based in someone's spare bedroom and organised crome is behind a lot of scams. Plus you've just proved to them that you'll engage, if not to them then to someone else, so you've gone on a sucker list as well.

www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/call-centre-fraud

www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/indian-scam-call-centres-looted-over-10-billion-in-11-months-from-us-senior-citizens-this-year-11896001.html

organised crome

S/b crime, of course

I've had quite a few calls that are probably genuine that I have refused to cooperate with because I'm ultra suspicious. I have been scammed twice with online purchases though.

Once was when I was looking for a particular fabric (quilting fabric has limited runs for the most part, when it's sold out it's gone) and I found a website that had it that appeared to be in Germany. I used PayPal and as the payment went through the payment name appeared to be Chinese not German. I gave it three weeks and the fabric never turned up so I raised it with PayPal. They refunded my money within about five minutes.

The other one was an Irish company that was selling an eye cream that I wanted to try. I actually did make sure that the physical address existed and it wasn't a foreign company pretending to be Irish. However it turned out to be a drop shipper, so I did actually get the cream but it was from Amazon.com and I didn't use it because who knows if it was the genuine article or a fake.

A lot of these scams are big call centre operations

Usually in India - and sometimes located in the same buildings as legitimate call centres. Which does make one wonder: how much genuine information is passed from one to the other?