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

My brother clicked through from an email he thought was from his bank so I'm extra careful online now and I know the signs to recognise

I really worry when paying on line and look out for the little padlock, and if the computer asks me to save my credit card details I say 'never' I also request a new debit card every 6 months are so from my bank, it's free and means any saved details from suppliers you have used in the past 6 months would be invalid. I also shred all my post. I try my best to keep my details safe. Touch wood I have not been a victim of fraud, and I hope it stays that way.

I just had an email from creditexpert telling me my email address and login are available on the black market!!!!!!!!

I have never. Thankfully.

I have had my credit card details stolen online so am very careful when shopping and ensure I check the security of online sites. I am very wary about clicking on unfamiliar links and won't open emails I am dubious about.

I feel I do everything right, yet some scumbag still managed to clone a card I rarely use. They made purchases online totalling £150. This is a lot of money for me. Luckily my bank saw that it wasn't a transaction in keeping with my usual activity and I got my money back. I felt so down during this time - no one is safe.

I got over cynical and after ignoring several obvious scam e mails from HRMC I missed a real one! luckily they eventually contacted me by post, albeit with a bill and we got it sorted out. NOw I check my accounts if I get an HMRC/Paypal/.Amazon email but never by clicking the links in the senders mail.

I had the, you have a virus on your PC phone call, I just kept them on the phone for as long as possible until they sussed what I was doing :)

Years ago I was an idiot and bought something on EBay and paid by bank transfer so of course I never got the item. I have never made that mistake again!!

I'm very conscious about links and attachments in emails - a neighbour of ours got scammed by a fake Paypal email. It worries me how common fraud is becoming, and it really needs to be addressed and tackled.

i never follow the links from emails that i dont recognise and never give personal information out to anyone who phones me!

I am so alert to scams as I have witnessed so many attempts and am desperately trying to protect my elderly parents from scammers.... I have lost count the number of times I have told my dad Not to Open an email etc! Now, finally he asks me for advise on each possible scamming situation

My dad was sold a rubbish car because he was such and honest man he expected everyone to be the same. Afraid to say I work from the other way round and trust no-one

I seem to get lots of scam emails, from PayPal and banks, I just delete them,

We went through a period of having phone calls from Windows to say that there was a problem with our computer and they wanted remote access to the computer to sort it out for me. I have never fallen for it but I am sure that many have. My mother-in-law gets the same sorts of phone calls but she doesn't own a computer or have the internet in her home so when she gets such calls she asks them what they are talking about because she doesn't have anything remotely resembling technology. Definitely a technophobe.

I'm always on high alert for scam emails and am quite perturbed at how genuine some of them look. I had one from netflix quite recently that had the last 4 digits of my bank account number on it which quite shocked me. My rule is to never click an email link, if I am unsure if will either check the online account it's referring to, or Google it!

i get tons of spam emails, i always check the spelling grammar and never click links unles in sure

I haven't read the whole thread so apols if this has already been done, but beware that the padlock on website isn't a cast iron guarantee that the site is safe - as long as you can demonstrate you own the site and that traffic is encrypted, you could still be a scam artist. The padlock symbol is being mentioned in Barclay's campaign at the moment without explaining this. To be fair they do say to check who you are dealing with - but I don't think they make it clear enough that you need to do checks above and beyond seeing a padlock/https

[]

I haven't actually been hoodwinked myself because I'm so vigilant but the telescammers and phishers certainly try! They even tried to scam me over an online auction site by changing the delivery country after they won the sale.

I got scammed out of 700 pounds for you some fake watches when I was young.

I'm luck enough to have never been a victim of fraud but I know I need to be more observant. I feel confident in being able to identify a scam email but fraudsters are getting very clever now, and us consumers also always need to be on the look out for changes.

I feel like i know as i am more experienced with the digital world than my moms generation, for instance. I would be quite worried if she got one of those exciting texts or emails, that she would be led astray but as I say to her and anyone else.... If it seems to good to be true, then it probably is! xx

I get SO many scam emails each week - mostly, it's blindingly obvious they are not genuine - but a few times I have ALMOST been caught out. Even if the content looks genuine, a quick check on the senders email address usual confirms it is a scam.
It is heartbreaking that there are people out there quite happy to exploit & scam money from others - awful that people have lost their entire pension pot in this way.
I'd just encourage people to follow the advice out there - don't give out any info over the phone on incoming calls, don't click on links or attachments in emails - these people are really clever & even though I consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to scams, they are always trying new & more canny ways of accessing your money.
If only they could use these powers for good!!

I was scammed earlier this year by a fraudulent loan company, I didn’t do enough research and the result was a loss of £75 which I consider to be almost fortunate having read stories of others who have fallen for the same scam with this particular fake financial organisation, although I reported them I haven’t been able to recoup my lost money and am still disbelieving at how I fell for their tactics, their modus operandi was very convincing and they had a way of tying you up in knots in a psychological way, I hope never to be so gullible again

I've been using the internet for many years, and used to be confident that I could spot a scam. However, these days there are so many ways that fraudsters attempt to part us from our money, that the mantra 'they're out to get you' definitely applies.
To protect myself, I never buy from unknown websites, and before giving card details, look for https and lock symbol. Never click links from emails stating they are from banks, or Paypal etc.
My social media profile gives little away, and I would never transfer money to an unknown bank account. Also keep my computer and mobile technology safe by running anti virus software.
The trouble is that scammers are becoming so innovative with their scams that it's difficult to keep one step ahead.