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

[asuwere]

I never click on links, always go direct to the website. I also never give details over the phone unless I've made the call - I remember getting a call from my energy supplier asking for a meter reading but wanted me to confirm name/address etc, they weren't happy when I said I would phone them back, they even tried to give me a direct number to them but I insisted I would look up the number myself. I can see how people can get tricked into giving out details, you've just got to think - take 5 is a sensible campaign.

[Ghostontoast]

I’ve had about £600 taken out of my account. That bank investigated and I was refunded thankfully.

Looking back at my card use, the only time me that the card was swiped and they had all my details was at a car hire place. Other than that I can’t see how anyone got access to the card.

[therealposieparker]

I get loads of these types of calls. Sometimes I string them along... I don't work... and pretend to be doing what they ask. I especially like the ones that want to know about accidents, I say I have loads and that I drink and drive.

Alternatively when I'm sensible, I just hang up, I never give incoming calls any details or even confirm my name.

[TheKnackeredChef]

I've always been really impressed with how my bank has handled stuff like this. One time somebody had got hold of our credit card number and used it to buy a laptop. The first we knew about it was when the bank rang us, told us not to worry, the money had been refunded, the cards cancelled and new ones were on their way.

[CMOTDibbler]

My parents are targets for scammers, and despite being on phone preference services etc get a lot of calls. Dad prides himself on being wise to them, but fell foul of a particularly well put together one where they made it sound like they had been asked to call by his healthcare team, they had things to help his legs. When he told me about this, I googled and found out that he'd be sent rubbish products (vitamins and herbal supplements - good thing they had no active ingredient as he could have had a severe reaction due to his complex medication), but then theyd keep taking money out of his bank account.
His bank were brilliant and changed him to a new account as well as blocking payments to these people, and we reported it. But he continued to get very agressive calls from the scammers

[Alison175]

I've been done twice with HSBC credit cards.

1. Phoned by fraud team, card stopped after a £2k spend, money refunded, no problem.

1. Phoned by fraud team, £9.5k spend all over the world, USA, Doha, France, form sent out to identity dodgy items, filled in and a copy to police. Part refund, I paid off the genuine items and stopped using the card, HSBC didn't credit me back for the full amount of the fraud, so I'm getting interest and late payment charges added every month. Wrote to the bank, got a person assigned to my case, who could barely speak English, part credited again but still outstanding balance. I ended up with a bad credit score due to their incompetence, it was so bloody obvious which the fraudulent items were, the were all overseas, at the same time I was using the card in Sheffield.

I'll never ever get a credit card from hsbc again.

[KnottedAnchorChief]

I get lots of email in both my personal and work inbox that often looks suspicious, so I rarely open or respond to anything emailed from banks, paypal, amazon etc. I think if they really need to contact me then they would do so by other means.

I do worry about my elderly parents and fraud though. Often they get cold calls and are too polite to hang up straight away. They were contacted by people that I'm sure were fraudsters when they were selling their last car but luckily became wary enough to cut contact with the people pursuing them. I think often people rely on trust and goodwill too much, and especially maybe older generations. Fraudsters know this and use it.

[CopperPan]

I've been pretty lucky with fraud and the only one I remember in recent years was getting an email from Paypal to say that my account was used to buy a pizza for someone! It even had a delivery address, that I'd never heard of before. I changed my password immediately and contacted Paypal. They dealt with it swiftly and refunded the money with no quibbles. I also reported it online to Action Fraud, but I've never heard anything back about it. I think my password wasn't particularly secure - I'd picked it years ago before I knew how to make a secure password and my passwords now are much better.

[NoStraightEdges]

My FIL was recently scammed-they rang him pretending to be from his bank to alert him to fraudulent activity, so he duly gave all of his security details over. They took thousands.

So we've had a family pow wow and decided to all have a dedicated account for online shopping/phone transactions. No overdraft and only very small amounts to be kept in there because it's so easy nowadays to transfer money between accounts that you don't need to keep lots of money in accounts which get used the most.

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

I'm very cynical when it comes to things like this - those too good to be true emails you receive. I never open anything that I suspect is dodgy. On the odd occasion I've accidentally opened one I just delete it straight away and never click on any links it may include.

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

I'm very cynical when it comes to things like this - those too good to be true emails you receive. I never open anything that I suspect is dodgy. On the odd occasion I've accidentally opened one I just delete it straight away and never click on any links it may include.

[thatslow]

When I was heavily pregnant and having just moved into our first house (so at a time I really could have done without the stress of it), my account was frauded of over £200.

I went straight to the bank when I realised and they confirmed a purchase had been made at Tesco somewhere in the UK (had never heard of the area).

The bank were really good and refunded it back immediately. They also confirmed another attempt had been made for over £500 but the request had been declined (obviously not enough in the account!)

[MoreProseccoNow]

I've had 2 recent experiences: firstly, I received a text from my bank, querying an online transaction supposedly made with my bank card, to a well-known retailer. I was initially unsure of the text, so called the bank myself & the transaction was declined, my card cancelled & a new one sent quickly.

The second was buying a pair of
Converse boots online, to what I thought was a UK retailer. Unfortunately the transaction came up on my accounts a few days later in Chinese yen. I immediately contacted my bank, and was fortunate that the item did not arrive, so the money was refunded.

I was really impressed with my bank on both occasions - they acted swiftly & dealt with it in a reassuring manner.

[Tigger83]

When I was a student I had my card stolen and they racked up £2k in one day!! Fortunately I got all the money back and that fraud is much better managed now. I'm still cautious though.

[Pipsqueak11]

Once had my card stolen then a call from someone pretending to be my bank - very convincing til he asked for my pin .
Alert to dodgy emails usually linked to PayPal but never follow instructions and never click on links . They look so real though

[ilovekitkats]

My credit card was scammed over 20 years ago when I went to London. I only used it in Madam Tussauds and Harrods, so somebody at one of those places copied the details and it was then used to order cinema and concert tickets. I reported it to the police and the cc company as soon as I saw my statement. They could see that the tickets were all delivered to a London address, and I got back all of my money, but nobody was ever charged with a crime.

The phone calls are the worst scams where people fall for it and give out bank details etc. My dad fell prey to a "Sky" one where they pretended to be from Sky and said his warantee had run out. He believed them and signed up.

Advertising is another one, these companies who get business to advertise in "wall planners" and "magazines". They claim to be working on behalf of the police, or ambulance service and get gullible people to sign up. Most of the time the magazines never get printed, and even if they are, why on earth would somebody here want to advertise their building business or hairdressers or whatever, in a place that is over 200 miles away and won't bring in any customers!

[shuggas]

We got caught out years ago- my husband had a very legit looking email from our bank- the whole log in and check your account job. Once bitten twice shy, thank goodness the bank were understanding and put the money back. Very aware of it now. Felt so sick at the time, so scary how these things work

[Candyperfumegirl]

I recently got a text message telling me my netflix account had some issues and I need to click the link and sign in. I thought it was a bit dodgy. I can't remember exactly but the text came from something like 'dot.com ' so I googled it and it was a known dodgy site, so it was clearly fishing for my detais. I blocked the number immediately.

[MuffinMad]

I know of a very clever scam that is doing the rounds at the moment,thankfully hasn't happened to me but I do know who it happened to.
It goes like this:

To begin with, you will get an email from the scammer pretending to be from HMRC, informing you that you have a rebate owed to you.
They ask you for your bank details (so they can transfer the money).
They will ask you for your bank account number and sort code. Not much they can do with that, after all, these details are printed on cheques, you may think. They will also ask you for a contact number.

So, just with that info,the scammer now knows who you bank with and has your mobile number.

Some weeks/months later as you are waiting for your 'rebate', you will receive a text message supposedly from your bank, telling you that there has been suspicious activity on your account.
They will then give you instructions on how to resolve the matter, while all the time, lulling you into a false sense of security while they empty your bank account.

[Lilliepixie]

Emails from bank, PayPal, apple, netflix with the suggestion of a problem with your account with a link to login. Leads to a very convincing login page.
If you check the full address of the sender it's always a nonsense account.

I was taken in once, co-OP bank. They took my login details and applied for loan and overdraft.
Fortunately they were refused by the bank and the refusal letter came to me.

[Cintacmrs]

some hack bank account tried to transfer funds from saving to main then withdraw (found out as fraud prevention phoned) no clue how x

[scottishem]

I was recently a victim of financial fraud. I had had my emails hacked and suddenly received thousands and thousands of spam emails. I then received a call off Next saying there was a problem with my account. They said there was hundreds of pounds worth of items awaiting payment on my account but that they couldn't take payment for it. The items were nike trainers, armarni tracksuits etc. Their fraud team were absolutely fantastic in dealing with it though, dealt with everything for me and advised me on what to do regarding my bank and cards.

[Summergarden]

My bank rang to check that a few purchases were genuine as they didn’t fit my usual spending pattern. They were made in St Kitts, which I think is an island in the Caribbean which sadly I wasn’t on at that time!

I was impressed that the bank spotted it, cancelled the purchases and my cards and got replacement cards sent out quickly.

[Mrsmonkeymoo1]

Ive recently been targeted by an overseas scammer - saying ive come into money through a legacy in Austria. Im aware of online scams and avoided this like the plague - however an older person or someone a little more gullible might have fallen for this.

[GetKnitted]

I have (touch wood) never been so unfortunate as to be defrauded. I don't think i'm doing anything particularly clever, just grateful that I haven't been unlucky yet.