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 got stung at a cash machine, I didn't even notice until my bank was £600 overdrawn, £300 over my overdraft limit too, the money was taken out in Morocco

Thankfully my bank helped me out, they put a stop on my account, gave me a temporary overdraft and paid my money back, unfortunately it all took a while and as this happened just before Christmas we ended up having Christmas in March,

Make sure you cover your hands when you're entering your pin. I'm so paranoid about it now I try to avoid cash machines and stick to getting cashback when I get my shopping, an expensive lesson learned.

Be aware do not purchase anything from Sheslovely.co.uk this company rubbish quality and fighting for refunds over a month

I'm very suspicious! Which helps I think.... a healthy dose of cynicism has probably saved me from being scammed more...

I was the victim of fraud many years ago, when accessing my online banking through a scam link. Ouch. A harsh lesson to learn, but no lasting harm done thank goodness...

So NEVER give out any details at all if you have even the slightest bit of doubt! Better to triple check and be sure, than sorry later.

My parents are really wary so they have never been the victim of a scam, but I used to work in a bank and an elderly lady came in and during a chat she told me about some windows she was having done. She told me the price and my jaw hit the floor, she told me a bit more and it just smacked of scam, I kindly told her it didn't sound right as they told her to write them a cheque whilst she thought about so I got the cheque cancelled. A few days later her son came in and thanked me as it was a scam, but luckily no money was taken.

A few years ago I had somebody set up an overdraft on my online banking and transfer almost £1000 out. Luckily my back realised it was unusual and phoned me to confirm if it was me (which is wasn’t) and they managed to recover the money for me. I believe they had hacked me through eBay/PayPal. It’s very scary!

I sent money to a "friend" by western Union a few years ago. Complete scam, but I was taken by surprise and fooled completely

Working in the IT sector as a Engineer has taught me to be on the look out. So i make sure i prepare examples of spam/ scam emails for my family to be aware of what not to entertain and pointers to help them.

I get lots of paypal and netflix scam emails and I always report them. I have almost been fooled a few times and they are getting more and more difficult to spot the genuine from the suspicious.

Always call the bank if an email requires you to click through to your account

I once had a phone call years ago from my bank asking if I was trying to buy around £60 worth of stuff in JD sports....I was laid on the sofa after a surgery over 100 miles away from said store! I think it was to do with cloned card details. I thought it was pretty impressive that they were so on the ball with it. I have no idea how these kind of things work but I was pretty happy with my bank that day.

I agree with pp regarding PayPal scam emails...they look so realistic. I messaged my mum to warn her as soon as I received one as she had only just signed up to PayPal (after I spent years persuading her!) and I would have felt awful if she had fallen for it. Scam emails make me so angry, as do scam phone calls. My grandparents are elderly and would easily fall for that if we didn't keep reminding them.

Be careful when clicking links and opening attachements.

I've had a phone call from the "UK Government" (via an Indian call centre) saying that because of new legislation I could clear my unsecured debt if I paid them 50% of the total amount due.

I told him my total was £3 million and he just about pee'd himself in excitement and was getting ready to take payment when I think he told someone else and they told him I was clearly on to them.

My rule is if it sounds too good to be true it almost certainly is. Take a minute to decide before making a financial decision, and never engage with on phone or my email from your bank.

had a couple of cards cloned, but luckily both banks thought the transactions looked dodgy and refused them, so no actual financial loss, just the inconvenience of waiting for new cards.

It's so scary to read stories of people that have been scammed for so much money. I try just to be as sensible as I possibly can in that I never click on links in suspicious looking emails and would never give out my password or pin number etc. I once got a phone call from someone saying that he was a debt collector and that I owed money and if I didn't pay over the phone right then they were sending debt collectors straight to my house with a court order to possess my things. I knew I didn't owe money so I hung up and phoned the police but it was scary just how convincing they were.

Always seem to get fake paypal emails but fortunately always check the email address it came from

We have never been scammed or defrauded. I feel like scams are fairly easy to spot, however fraud and theft is a concern. I never click on links contained in any emails even if it appears to come from someone I know.

Do not be tempted to open emails from dodgy people stating you have won a competition etc. Think before you press the link! Could be a costly error!,

I'm naturally suspicious. I've probably deleted and reported some genuinely important because I thought they were fraudulent!

I had to help a friend who woke up one day to find she had "sold" around 15 highly priced tech items on Ebay (obviously she hadn't) and her account had been hacked.....to be fair Ebay were very helpful & after the password was changed all was well again, but she was really unnerved x

Always look for the padlock and http at the start of the any website if you are going to be ordering and entering your bank details

I received a letter out of the blue one day from a bank that I had never had dealings with. I opened it expecting it to be junk mail, to find they were checking I still lived at that address because someone at the other end of the country was trying to take out a loan in my name!

I always check the spelling on email, also if you press block on Hotmail it actually shows the address which proves its dodgy! My bank once called me and in was convinced it was a scam, turned out it wasn't when I called them back but you'd never have known - they basically did everything they tell you not to do!

If emails look strange then they are! Bad spelling and usually a content not relevant to you. Bin them!

I was a victim of a phone / computer scam about 12 years ago, my computer had being very slow and I received a phone call from someone telling me they were from windows computer office which at the time I fell for, they asked me to run a scan on my computer which I did and of course It locked our computer and they wanted me to pay them to unlock it. Luckily enough our a computer whizz we knew was able to fix it and remove any software which had been downloaded, I felt very stupid afterwards but at that time there as much awareness of these scams as there is now. Now I am so cautious of any messages, calls etc