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

My Mum (75) gave a donation to cancer research, from a letter she received, from that donation her details must have been 'shared' with other charities, she was getting around 10 a week. She felt overwhelmed and it was difficult to know which charities were genuine and if the money did go to the charity. I took some advise and contacted the Fundraising Preference Service, and it took some time but I was able to 'block' any more letters. Its a real shame this happened, she now donates to her local cancer research charity shop instead.

My sister is very careful and distrustful of some of the mechanisms of the internet and giving information over the phone. Whereas we may think it is overly cautious to the extent that it sometimes restricts her life, a little of it does rub off, so I question things and check thoroughly.

I think I have a scamdar! I go very much on intuition and if something doesn't seem right I double check. I don't click on email links if I can avoid it. If I get a message from a business, I'll tend to obtain their details from a reliable source e.g their website if I know of them. Or if I've never heard of them, I would do more checks such as with companies house if a Limited company and just do a general search to see if there's any info about them. I've been victim to fraud on my cards, but it seems that whatever you do, it may happen from time to time.

I've had plenty of dodgy looking e-mails in the past, you just need to look at the senders e-mail address most the time to realise it's not legit. Never click links until you're sure the e-mails are from a safe source and NEVER download attachments from addresses you don't recognise.

Get phone calls sometimes from people claiming to be from SKY or Microsoft etc. The broken english and the fact that's obviously coming from a call centre usually gives it away.

My instincts have served me well thus far.

The emails can look so real and true. I've almost been scammed by fake paypal and ebay emails in the past, its awful how real they do look and how easy it could be for people to fall for them and be scammed.

I always check an email address properly to ensure it’s legit (and not just go by the name).

If an email says ‘click here to validate’ or something or the like, and I find the content concerning, I will never click but type in then web address myself to check.

it's the one that everyone should know - never give out any passwords over the phone

I think i've always had an internal siren. Especially online it's pretty much common sense. If something seems to good to be true it probably is. If you get an email from a stranger saying they've got 6 billion sitting in the bank and want to give you some its pretty obvious it's fake. The grammar in them is also very bad and is another red flag. I never pay for a job to be done until it is finished. That also cuts out the possibility of being scammed.

I run anything past snopes and spend my life googling phone numbers and blocking them from my mobile. I try very hard to be savvy and igore or delete things that don't scan.

i always avoid dodgy emails! don't click on the link!!!

I assume everything is a scam until I have time to check it our. recently stopped a neighbour from filling out all her details "to renew her anti-virus" she had completed all her details but luckily she hadn't pressed send.

I'm currently trying to help a friend (although it's difficult as he doesn't realise he needs help), he had some work done to his double glazed windows last year, and what he said about it rang alarm bells at the time (the ones he had were the 'wrong sort' of glass, so they replaced it (not the frames, just the glass) at a cost of many thousands of pounds), then the same company arranged for some 'booster' for his existing boiler/central heating system, then something for the radiators, roof, now it's insulation panels for the outside of the house, so far it has cost him at least £25k - this is just to 'save' money on his heating bills - he only lives in a small 3 bedroomed bungalow. He is clearly on a 'mug' list, he's not stupid, but is being taken in by these con artists. When I try talking to him about it he gets quite agitated and thinks it's me that doesn't get it, like these people are doing him a favour. Brainwashed. I think I'm going to ask the Trading Standards their opinion/advice.

We have had cards cloned in the past but have always been quick to pick up on this. On line banking helps as we can see exactly what is going on.
Unfortunately some of our relatives are not as clued up and have been caught out. We never give details over the phone

Had an email message this morning looked like it was from ebay, said it was an unpaid item, so I checked the user name as I have bought a few things being near Xmas No it was not on my list, so I checked the item number it did not exist, message was from user name Abel 465, the email address [email protected], also another email attached to it david4arsenal@hotmail. com, sent this to ebay as spoof and informed the sender I would make him public.

I don't bank on line. I still use cheques and if I'm buying something on line it's from John Lewis or m&s . If they can't take my card number over the phone then I don't buy.

I am always having to tell my dad (71) to look out for suspicious emails and links, but I still get weekly phone calls from him declaring he's won something, bought something, getting something delivered etc. I just cannot seem to get it through to him. Very worrying.

When I was a student I lived in a large house divided up into small flats with one communal post box in the hall. The box was locked so couldn't be accessed by anyone who didn't live there.

I went to the bank one day to withdraw some money to pay my bills, but was told I was over my overdraft limit. I knew this couldn't be right and asked them to check the last few transactions. Someone had written a cheque and helped themselves to £150 from my account. They must have stolen my new chequebook from the post box.

Thankfully the cheque hadn't fully cleared, so they managed to stop it in time, but I don't think the thief was ever caught (despite me telling the police the name of a tenant with the same name as the cheque was addressed to!).

I worry about my Mum who is elderly and has vascular dementia, she's had a few calls from scammers. I always tell her not to give information on the phone, but I worry that she will forget and tell them anyway.

I’ve had a few near misses with my credit card but I have always been able to contact my bank and get the money back. That’s not really the point to me though I don’t want the bank to be out of pocket because that isn’t whose fault it is and I want the criminals to be held to account. I am a pretty sceptical person and usually can smell a rat! I do google things and check them out before I follow any advice or buy any ‘amazing’deals. I think you’ve also got to make sure you check the actual addresses of emails because it’s so easy to make your email look like an official one these days. I don’t know though, I think you’ve just got to be confident and a little bit sceptical but I could get scammed by a very clever scammer I’m sure!

I look at the email address that sent it, and look for spelling mistakes- they often give it away!

I get a fair few scam emails. I don't read them where it's obvious. It's the fake Apple ones that look the most believable, the only giveaway being the email address looks dodgy.

When we moved house and used the redirect post service somehow some of
Our old post got misdirected and fraudsters must have useless our old
Address to apply
For
Loans in our name! Shocking

Im convinced most things are scams, Im probably to over protective but you cant be too careful these days.

I often smell a con by the pushy attitude of whatever it is. I'm also tech savy so spot the computer based ones. I'm always concious that beliving you can spot them is the first step to being had though. Anybody can be done and it shouldn't be embarrassing.

A club I belong to just had £50k stolen and the police weren't intertested. Bonkers - If you steel a loaf of bread they arrive but £50k and not interested. Our policing has been left behind.

I only use a basic cash account, day to day, as the fraudsters can do very little to or with it. It also helps with spending habits as I have to physically withdraw any cash.

I very rarely use my current account only to pay for holidays/big ticket items and use a reputable companies. I keep the card in locked small safe box in case burglars.

I am so careful with emails and phone calls. I don't ever give out personal information on the phone unless I have made the call and know who I am speaking to. Sadly my family have fallen for telephone scams and I don't know that they would know any better next time! Too innocent!