Mumsnet users share their thoughts and experiences of financial fraud with Take Five

[JustineBMumsnet]

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Finding out that you’ve been a victim of a financial scam or fraud is never an easy thing to deal with. They can occur through varying methods such as via phone, email, text and/or post. With that being said Take Five want you to share your and/or your friends and family’s experiences of fraud or scams.

Here is what Take Five have to say: “Our research shows that many people do not feel confident that they could identify a fraudulent approach. Therefore the event will aim to empower and inspire parents to feel better prepared to ‘confidently challenge’ fraudsters, and recognise signs of fraud - remembering the mantra – My Money? My Info? I don’t think so."

Do you have an internal siren that goes off when you feel like something is a scam? Perhaps you’ve been scammed before and now know the best course of action to take? Or maybe you helped stop a family member from giving their bank details to someone you didn’t feel was genuine?

Whatever you or your family’s experiences of financial frauds and/or scams, write them on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

I enter a lot of competitions and get a lot of spam email, occasionally the spam emails will be offering something I have entered a competition for. I always check the email address that it was sent from and if it is similar to other known spam addresses I just delete it without clicking on any links.

Sometimes I think I must be the most suspicious person alive, I am always fending off scam phone calls at work, I have my credit cards in RFID blocking sleeves, my car keys are kept in an RFID blocking pouch, my purse has bells on it to alert if someone tries to take it from my bag!

I tend to presume anybody phoning is trying to sell me something or defraud me (apart from if it's my mum)! On the internet I have learnt the trick of hovering over the sender's name on an email. It then shows you the actual email address it was sent from which makes it easy to tell if the email is genuine.

A few weeks ago I bought a charm from what I though was an official pandora website. It wasn’t. I’ve learnt that if an offer seems too good to be true it probably is...

I'm very grateful for my teens - I had an email that looked exactly like one from Apple saying I'd been billed £79 that month. I was going "£79?!! For what?!!" . Luckily my teen caught me before I clicked the link in the email, said it almost certainly was a scam and got me to check the sender address etc. It wasn't from appple. They clearly want you to be incensed and click on their link - and then, I assume, get details from you. It was incredibly convincing, looked exactly like the genuine bill.

had credit card hacked/copied three times in last 5 yrs, no idea when or how, and now never let it out of my sight at restaurants etc

We get phishing emails on a daily basis, so we've asked our bank never to email us anything crucial.

We had our credit card cloned a few years ago and worked out where it must have happened. Very frustrating that they weren't interested in this information as it would have helped stop them scamming others.

I know a scam a mile off . I love sending them down the garden path and going along with it to waste their time

The Internet can be a wonderful thing and has had a big impact on us all in recent years often for the good but it has also created a new area of crime which is becoming increasingly sophisticated . I pride myself in being computer savvy but always remember pride comes before a fall. I ensure I keep my computer security up to date and myself with all the known scams and keep my family informed as best I can. It just concerns me that with all the warnings there are out there people still fall for the simplest cons. Education, education, education has to be at the forefront of our defences.

Our elderly parents seem to get a lot of scam/begging emails. They get far more than us and I wonder if they're being targeted because of their age and perceived gullibility

I am careful to keep the virus checker up to date and don't follow links from emails. I change passwords on a regular basis.

I still got caught out. I sold a phone on ebay and sent it Special Delivery once I had the email confirming payment had been received from PayPal. The email was faked.

It was the first time I had used PayPal and it wasn't user friendly and when I emailed them and ebay for help and advice they were not very helpful.

I have never sold anything on ebay since

I’ve had some emails from a company saying that I’ve bought something so I have a mailed them directly about it and not replied to the original email

I think I know when something sounds dodgy, but I worry for vulnerable people who are more at risk. I'm concerned that the recent publicity about Bitcoin will open some up to being conned.

Emails from a finance minister of any African nation saying millions or part thereof can be mine if they can use my bank details.

Just act ultra cautiously on the internet and instill this on my children

If I spot a new scam being mentioned online or in the newspaper I always make my parents aware of it, just in case.

Beware when on-line shopping and the site appears to crash, then a fake site appears and you put your card details on... The fake site can look convincing.

Another one is, you are shopping on a fake site and it crashes, then gives you a number to call, you call the number and the person asks for personal details like your mother's maiden name.

My father in law once had a call from Microsoft claiming his PC had been compromised. He went through the whole process with them, only realising it was a scam when they asked him for a £3 fee to fix it. He thought this was a low amount and started questioning what they were saying. They became aggressive so he hung up. He then took his pc to a professional and paid a fortune to have it checked out. It was fine!

Had my credit card used fraudulently at a petrol station which i did use occasionally. If they hadn't used it for more thn the amount of petrol that would have gone in my car i might not have noticed. Refunded eventually.

I genuinely spot a scam a mile off and touch wood have never been caught. Even the ones that look legit right down to logo's and email addresses usually have a clue. If it sounds too good to be true it generally is. Do a bit of research on the company's logo and spellings - even extra capital letters and full stops can stop you making a huge mistake. It makes me angry these people continue to get away with it and it, especially where older and vulnerable people are concerned.

My phone account was hacked a few years back. Not sure how they did it but it was very distressing and the phone company was worse than useless.

I get a lot of spam advising of a problem and to link their link, I will never do this. If I get an email like this from a company I use then I will open up their website from another page and sign in. I will not give any details out, always look for a padlock on sites. Cover my pin at the cashpoint and check my account regularly. I say this because a few years ago I had somebody book a flight on my card to Germany, the bank were very good and refunded the money but it definitely opened my eyes to how easy it is to get scammed.

I think I'm quite savvy when it comes to scams. I never open links in emails and am careful with sites I order from. Some are so clever though ad I can understand how people are taken in.

I've encountered websites displaying a PayPal logo (my preferred payment method) but they haven't given the option at the basket.. I quickly avoided, turned out to be a shop selling fake goods.

We have been a victim of fraud before but luckily the bank acted quickly. As for scam/spam - I'm pretty clued up on fakes and send them all on to the spoof dept so they can highlight them too.