AIBU? about a possible scam call?

[lightand]

Had a phone call this morning from someone saying she was from KAC or KAP or something. Whatever it was, I had never heard of it.

She seemed to know my name and address and wanted to talk about the renewal of the insurance payment on my washing machine.
She seemed to know the amount of our direct debit, but I wasnt sure if she had the exact amount or not.
So farish, so good, except I was wary of talking to someone from a company I didnt recognise.
The company wanted to reduce my monthly direct debit by £2.

I said I was going to look through bills next week, and was actually going to look into that particular direct debit about renewing or not, but ok, if they were going to reduce it. I would agree.

She then wanted further information. I said I was not happy with that, as I wasnt sure who she was.
I asked if the details could be posted and DH and I would then decide.

She said no. "Because of government advice about climate conditions"[new one on me, I presume she meant climate change but wasnt sure], they could not post it, and would only post anything if I agreed to the new lower payment.

I said no, as I wasnt sure who she was, was not happy with therefore giving out details, and for her therefore to put it all in writing.

On her third go around of "because of government advice because of climate conditions", I put the phone down on her.

Someone googled for me, and there is a scam going around. Whether it was a scam call or not, I dont know.

So, AIBU?

There are several things bothering me really.
I didnt know the company, so is it really a big deal to do that thing called, posting a letter?[assuming the call was genuine]
There seem to be many and increasing more sophisticated scam calls[found out my mother put the phone down as she too wasnt sure a call like I had was genuine].
"climate conditions" - perhaps not the thread for that conversation[I did wonder what her climate conditions were!]
Is the government really cutting down on postage??
Our data is increasingly being sold all over the place. It is not going to be difficult for scam calls to know more about us in future, and therefore scamming will be made a lot easier.

So AIBU?

To reduce your direct debit payments you’d have to give them your bank details & that’s the scam.

We get loads here and unfortunately we have started getting area code ones cigars so be careful. We use the google search and delete them. We have had loads of the washing machine ones but got a new one through our insurance. Tell them it is fine you have a new machine and it is under guarantee they ring off.
Had the RM Post one, computers, Amazon, HMRC,Internet is slow. BT left them about ten years ago. You name it bet we’ve had it. Make sure you dial another number before you ring a company too.

I had the warranty scam last week, she sounded quite plausible as i have an expiring warranty. Perhaps we should have a board on MN just to log them all and make others aware.

DH gets all the scam calls and texts, I don't seem to get any, we disconnected the landline because I was so fed up with the constant calls on it.

I’ve nearly been caught by this - though twigged when they couldn’t tell me what model of washing machine I had. Worth trying to remember who your cover is with so you can tell everyone else to get lost (and even be cautious with your provider).

But we are at an unusual time in our lives, and need to make sure we don't miss any calls, hence I answered this one.

I understand this, earlier this year when my MIL was ill and then in the last stages of life we had people ringing us from all over so we had to answer all calls as we couldn't tell them apart.

Sky cover is another one, but there is a lot around at the moment regarding postal charges.

I always ask them to confirm my account number for me... they can't.

We actually have a call screen system. Cost £100 and was well worth the money

That sounds like a scam right there. For free I will tell that anyone who phones you up that you don't already know or are expecting is a scam

In fact everyone can have that advice for free, also you don't need to pay for any parcels, you don't need to renew your amazon prime, you aren't going to prison if you don't press 1, your NI number hasn't been mis-used, you haven't missed a TV licence DD,I could go on all day

How are people still falling for this nonsense

I don't know how people are falling for it but they do.

My dad always used to say "ooh hang on a minute that sounds interesting, let me just go and get TV a pen..." then he'd walk off and leave them hanging on the line for 10 minutes. That usually did the trick 🤣

*get a pen! Not sure what a TV pen is 🙈

Perhaps we should have a board on MN just to log them all and make others aware.
There are websites like Whocalledme , you can look up a number and also lodge a report
However a lot of scammers are now spoofing numbers, most of the numbers recently have been very similar to my mobile number