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

[JustineBMumsnet]

This activity is closed

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

[whatcheekyfuckery]

One can't be too careful over financial fraud and scams, and it's so, so necessary not just to be on the alert but also defensively/actively suspicious, especially regarding emails and phone calls which nowadays can be virtually indistinguishable from the genuine.

As others have said, it's so sad when polite, trusting elderly folks get scammed because they can't conceive of such communications not being upfront and honest, as they used to be. The internet has such potential for both convenience and abuse. Couldn't some genius invent a truly scam-proof system to verify ID and bank account access?

I have indirect experience of card fraud via DP, whose bank once called him to report fraud on his card (a few thousands) which he thought may have come from booking online rail tickets and hotels for work trips. I always wonder if a lot of this is down to some unscrupulous employee at the other end of a phone. I hate having to read out my 3 digit number from the back of my debit card when ordering something over the phone. I always ask for and record the name of who I spoke to (assuming it's true!) Once one has revealed this info, well, it's out there, isn't it, and no matter how carefully we personally hide or shred our names/addresses etc off letters, envelopes, bank statements etc, it only takes one dishonest employee or careless company or business failing to dispose of their confidential paperwork securely, to put our private info out in the public domain.

I do think banks are getting better at monitoring customers' spending patterns, though, and I never mind if some extra checks are made if I occasionally spend an unaccustomed large sum on a credit card for example - it may be inconvenient, but I'm grateful.

[dilydaly]

Personally if I ever get an email from paypal / bank / apple etc that asks for any info or asks me to click on this link then I delete it and go directly to my bank to enquire if it was actually them and if I need to take any actions on my account. Even if I think the email is genuine I'd rather be safe than sorry !

[cheekylittledevil]

DH had his card details cloned. Fortunately, the bank were on the ball.

[Megansmumsie]

We actually encountered some incredibly terrible fraud just after we got married, i don't really want to go into the ins and outs of it as it could be quite outing but a well known holiday company forged a signature (proven) on a document that accompanied something we were upgrading which resulting in them running not one, not two but five checks to see if we could have the hire purchase- it basically looked like we were trying to borrow more than £200,000 which we clearly couldn't have afforded until our credit rating got so low we couldn't do what we were doing. There were lawyers involved but despite the loan company even admitting that there was no reason for them to do what they did our one lawyer was no match for their fifty.

On a separate note i met a girl at university who had to go through this lengthy process to get her CRB check corrected (we were teaching) as someone had stolen her identity and there was a whole different process that she needed to go through to prove that she was the original her and not the one that had stolen her identity- i never did find out if the other woman was caught but in the 3 years we were at uni she had to do this every time.

[tubbyj]

never click on links in e-mail, if I think after a close inspection they are genuine always go through a direct route like their website.

[ememem84]

I’ve had loads of bogus emails. Including one from HMRC explaining I’m due a tax refund. It looked totally genuine as far as I could see. Quoted a tax reference etc. I knew it was bogus as I live outside of the UK so don’t pay tax to hmrc. Given the 11(?) digit tax references used itd be all to easy for someone to click on the link without checking anything.

I’m also on maternity leave at present. My assistant at work received an email from “me” last week asking her to arrange payment of xyz invoice for travel expenses for a new client.

It was a scam email. And my social media linked in etc are all now on serious lockdown. Somehow my work email had been cloned and whoever had done it had told my colleague that I’d received the emails while on leave. All our names bios and titles are posted on the firms website. She is the most junior one listed so would be the obvious target. Luckily she’s not an idiot and reported it.

Given our jobs, offshore finance, we are at risk of cyber attacks. So there is a lot of training going on here for us.

[WinkyisbackontheButterBeer]

Someone took out a payday loan in my name. Having a letter with the threat of bailiffs was terrifying and trying to convince them that it wasn’t me was awful.

[PorridgeAgainAbney]

Luckily I've never been scammed but I did make a complaint to my bank once because they rang me to talk about some activity on my account....and asked me for my name, address and bank account details. They wouldn't even tell me WHICH bank they were calling from so I hung up as I bank with more than one company. When I rang the normal number for them, the call had been recorded so was legit, but they couldn't understand why I was pissed off that they were ringing customers unsolicitored and asking for personal information .

[CheeseAtFourpence]

I am wary and even more so when it come so to my parents as they’ve only recently started using the Internet. Thankfully they are very suspicious and don’t open anything and ring me when they are not sure. I never answer my landline as many of the calls have a sniff of suspicion about them.

[Playdohnut]

I had my card cloned. Fortunately my bank spotted unusual activity in a location far, far away and stopped it quickly.

[EllieMumsnet]

Congratulations to @KittyKat88 for winning the £300 voucher!

[KittyKat88]

Thank you Ellie and thank you Mumsnet! It was an amazing treat to receive in January, just in time for hubby's birthday and our wedding anniversary!