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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to tell fake police scammer to fuck off?

101 replies

MadMadMadamMim · 04/05/2021 00:42

Had a phone call today from a bloke with a faint London accent telling me he was phoning from Brixton police station. On a Bank Holiday Monday. Not suspicious in the slightest...

Him: Am I speaking to (my full correct name)?

Me: Who is this?
Him: I'm calling from Brixton police station.
(I live in the North East)
Me: Right
Him: We've arrested a young man with your Visa credit card on him

Me (interrupting). Oh no officer! What should I do? I'm a vulnerable old lady!
Had I better give you all my bank details and security codes or should you just FUCK OFF YOU SCUM!! I don't know how you sleep at night!

I'm not sure which of us put the phone down first, but Brixton police have sloppily not called again, so I assume they know nothing of this.

Bastards! I'm getting sick of answering calls from twats like this. I am considering getting a whistle to blow down the phone.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 04/05/2021 00:46

Blimey, how many do you get that it made you react like that?

I normally just hang up but if it made you feel better then I suppose it must've done some good.

Don't bother with the whistle, it's silly and won't stop them phoning.

BlackDaffodil · 04/05/2021 00:46

Did he actually ask for all your bank card details 😱

YANBU

DramaAlpaca · 04/05/2021 00:51

Presumably you do still have your Visa card about your person?

Original poster
MadMadMadamMim · 04/05/2021 00:54

@WorraLiberty

We are currently getting roughly 5 to 10 calls a day from:

BT Internet, your Wi-Fi is about to be disconnected.
Amazon prime account has been charged £79.99 (no it hasn't)
Phone is being cut off
Electric will be disconnected

DH is disabled and every time he struggles to get up and answer phone for this it's painful. I keep blocking numbers, but it's so intrusive.

OP posts:
Bagamoyo1 · 04/05/2021 00:54

I probably get one scam call per week, and they make me furious, because I can imagine people falling for them. If I’m very busy I just hang up. But quite often I ask them how they sleep at night. Or I pretend to go along with it, just to waste their time.

WorraLiberty · 04/05/2021 00:54

@DramaAlpaca

Presumably you do still have your Visa card about your person?
Could be a cloned card though
acatcalledjohn · 04/05/2021 00:58

I screamed at the top of my lungs at one the other day. Didn't know I had it in me. It was deafening, a proper high pitched blood curdling type of scream. Somehow they continued the conversation and all I could think to say was "how are you not deaf?". So I'm not sure that has the effect we hope for.

I do find time wasting works. Most recently I told the "HMRC" dude that my name was Theresa May, using the postcode for 10 Downing Street. He couldn't handle my panicked responses and eventually hung up on me. Grin

DramaAlpaca · 04/05/2021 01:01

Ah, could be Worra. Didn't think of that.

acatcalledjohn · 04/05/2021 01:02

Blimey, how many do you get that it made you react like that?

Gosh, I've been harsher than the OP. They know they are scamming innocent and vulnerable people.

Homemadearmy · 04/05/2021 01:03

Have you thought about call guardian another call screening service

LizJamIsFab · 04/05/2021 01:03

My DM has a whistle

Original poster
MadMadMadamMim · 04/05/2021 01:04

I don't have a Visa...It's MasterCard.

OP posts:
Shamoo · 04/05/2021 01:04

Is it a landline OP? Can you change your number? Assume you are ex directory etc?

Sounds so so annoying. It’s why I don’t have a landline now but I realise not everyone can make that decision.

Original poster
MadMadMadamMim · 04/05/2021 01:12

I guess we could change the number. It's annoying and we've been here 20 years, so I'm reluctant to go to the hassle. Currently I block every nuisance call and we're registered with TPS but it just seems constant at the moment and WFH means people are in and being interrupted.

OP posts:
BetsyBigNose · 04/05/2021 01:17

Fair play OP and you're definitely NBU!

My DM got taken in my this type of scamming scum around 5 years ago (she was 64), before it became a more widely known ploy. Because they called her on her work landline, the call was recorded, so I've heard it myself and it really did seem quite plausible... up until he asked her for the 2nd and 4th digits of her "Personal Identification Number", as he called it - then around 5 minutes later asked her "Could you just remind me of the 1st and 3rd digits again, I haven't written them down, sorry". In between he'd had her reading out all sorts of account numbers, sort codes and phone numbers and it was easy to see how she'd become so confused with it all.

My DM felt hugely embarrassed once she realised what had happened, really violated and it massively shook her confidence. The bastards stole £5,000 from her (they took it off a credit card, it wasn't like she had £5k sitting in a savings account), but luckily, the bank eventually took pity on her, after hearing for themselves just how credible the scammer sounded on the call.

These arseholes deserve to have expletives screamed at them down the phone, they target the elderly and the vulnerable and are incredibly difficult to track down and bring to justice. I don't understand how they can sleep at night.Angry

Summerfun54321 · 04/05/2021 01:25

The amount of scam calls I now receive to my mobile is really disruptive to my working day. I have a call screening app but it’s still not 100% effective. The government need to do more about this kind of fraud and crime. It’s especially distressing for vulnerable people.

alexdgr8 · 04/05/2021 01:31

so i assume this is a landline.
TPS is no good now, with phone number spoofing etc. outdated.
but i can recommend Call Guardian phone.
not expensive, widely available. you need to have caller display.
everyone who sees it in use, wants it, gets it, in my experience.

no scam callers since.

eechypeechy · 04/05/2021 01:37

My father is a police officer and he gave me one really good piece of advice recently - when you get a call from a number you don't know, DON'T speak first if you pick up - a lot of the times these people are fishing for a voice clip that can easily be used for voice recognition software for online banking - if it's someone who genuinely wants to speak to you, and they hear silence on the other end of the phone, they'll speak first - otherwise, a lot of the time, the call automatically disconnects because the software hasn't picked a voice up.

ElGuardiandenoche · 04/05/2021 02:17

I've noticed that they've started to ring from mobiles now, which is a pain in the ass.

chilling19 · 04/05/2021 02:26

I can recommend Call Guardian. Had it for four years and not one scam phone call has got through.

LaBellina · 04/05/2021 02:28

I would keep them on the phone for as long as possible 😂. Playing along and giving them a taste of their own medicine.
The time they lose by talking to you can at least not be used then to phone a truly vulnerable person who might actually give them their details.

TomPinch · 04/05/2021 02:31

@eechypeechy

My father is a police officer and he gave me one really good piece of advice recently - when you get a call from a number you don't know, DON'T speak first if you pick up - a lot of the times these people are fishing for a voice clip that can easily be used for voice recognition software for online banking - if it's someone who genuinely wants to speak to you, and they hear silence on the other end of the phone, they'll speak first - otherwise, a lot of the time, the call automatically disconnects because the software hasn't picked a voice up.
I used to get loads of phone calls where the line would just disconnect after I said 'hello'. I wonder if this is what they were.
IndecentCakes · 04/05/2021 02:34

What is the scam in the OP? Haven't heard of this one.

Amdone123 · 04/05/2021 02:43

Get a whistle. They're a pain in the neck.
I watch a lot of scam baiting on you tube. Atomic Shrimp, Kitboga and Jim Browning all very good.

Fuckitfuckit · 04/05/2021 04:53

I had a call a few weeks ago,
Apparently HMRC were going to put a warrant out for my arrest or some shit. I've got anxiety, so I'm like, I have to check it's fraudulent...what if something with my accounts has gone terribly wrong.

I pressed number 1.
I'm like, if I give a bogus name, old address, made up DOB and change a few numbers of my NINO.
My husbands like, put the fucking phone down..

So I was Sarrah Smythe (spelt it out for them! Its quite an unusual spelling! Everyone gets it wrong!)
Can't remember the dob I gave,
But after all of that. Yes, I have your file here.
Are you employed or unemployed?
I said I was unemployed.
How long have you been unemployed?
"I've been unemployed since last summer because of Covid issues"
Ah yes!! Mrs Smythe I can see that the amount owing is from the tax year before.
So, 2019/2020? Yes the one before.
You owe £45000 (extra pounds and pence but I can only remember the £45k bit)
-Yes, it was a very good year! I'm surprised I underpaid by over £45000 though!
(I'm probably giving myself away because I think I probably sound more amused than stressed, I'm not Sarrah Smythe, I didn't earn 45k in that year, let alone owe tax on it!)

Mrs Smythe, ill need bank details to confirm payments you did make.

Why?

I'll confirm your card details, and it will show any payments you have made.

Oh no, how do I know you're not one of them nefarious scammers I keep hearing about?

Ma'am, were calling from the HMRC, let me reassure you, we are not scammers. If I can track payment I can help you better. Now your card details please.

What shocks me is it doesn't seem too far from plausible. I know that my FIL would get very worried and would give over bank details because he would become flustered.

They seemed very confident, and they kept the call moving quickly, even more shocking is how busy that call centre sounded. There must be thousands and thousands of these calls each day from that 1 call centre.