Are you scam savvy? Share your experiences - £200 voucher to be won.

[EllieSmumsnet]

Created for UK Finance

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With the cost of living increasing, it has never been more important to protect yourself from fraud and scams.

Criminals are taking advantage of the current challenges by targeting people with fake investment opportunities, too good to be true deals, loans that don’t exist and by impersonating trusted organisations.

What frauds or scams have you encountered recently? What gave the game away? And what steps do you take to protect your personal and financial information?

• Post your experiences in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw.
• One lucky winner will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

If you’ve fallen for a scam and are happy to share your experience, UK Finance wants to hear from you so you can help others avoid it: [email protected]

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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Most scams are very obvious and most people have enough common sense to spot a scam, however there are some people with limited intelligence, or elderly people who literally believe everything they are told, and they are the ones who need protecting. I know this from experience with friends/family, I am not just being horrible.

I can't believe the amount of people who share posts on facebook, that are for free centerparc holidays, or a free Discovery, or a warehouse full of damaged ipads..... I always point out that genuine pages have a tick on them and not to share this stuff.

Having said that, I do know a couple of sensible people who have fallen for bank phone call scams because they seemed so plausible.

The "windows" phone calls, and the "amazon" messages, are so common place that everyone should be aware of them.

I think the important thing is that if we know anyone who is vulnerable, that you make it clear to them that they should never agree to anything over phone/email and that they should let somebody else look into it for them.

I had the "mum my phone is smashed" text this week, i had heard about it anyway so knew it was a scam, but also, I know that DD would not have a new number because I sort her phone for her so even if I hadn't heard of it, I would know it wasn't real. The first thing any sensible person would do is check with their child anyway before doing anything.

I was selling an expensive item on Facebook marketplace (£200 worth) and I got a message via facebook (from a person miles away) wanting the item for cash - a courier would be sent for the item and drop cash off at the same time..... seemed really strange - so I googled the scenario and it is apparently a scam - not really sure how it works, something to do with buying insurance for the item, but expect they get your bank details as well - but I blocked the person and sold the item on ebay.

I've had the WhatsApp one - pretending to be my son - with a new phone who needs money quickly...... luckily for me - he was sat next to me when the message came in - I have heard a lot fall for it - when it's our children with act quickly and think later about what we have done - beware of this one Mumsnetters

Can I just say - beware of selling gift cards on Ebay - I sold a Spotify one for £50 - they paid and messaged me for the code and pin. Only for several days later I have the money removed and the person buying (from a good ebay account with lots of feedback etc) had been hacked. I lost the money and the value of the card. - Always post gift cards never give the number - lesson learned

I've had texts pretending to be my child and asking me to message on this new number. I don't have children so that was an easy spot. Warned my family about it and my parents were able to avoid a similar scam a few weeks later.

I changed my bank details recently and text my mum to let her know. She made me ring her to confirm which I was very pleased about.

I had this years ago when applying for an E111 card. It was only £20 but I'm still fuming.

I mostly get text scams

I've got the ‘mum my phone is broken please call me on this number’ (I was talking to one DC on the phone and the other was home fine playing games on her phone).

yesterday I got a text saying ‘your Apple Pay is suspended please follow this link to reinstate’ (I don’t have ApplePay)

also HMRC keep texting me that my national insurance number has been compromised and I will get arrested if I don’t call them immediately.
I got a phone call with that message the first time and it did scare me to be honest. But I wasn’t about to press 1 to a random automated message.

we also get phone calls with people wanting to give me the phone of my choice for free if I will give them my details.

I’ve also been left millions in America by an unknown relative and all I need to do is reply to the email with my details to verify I’m me and we can avoid the IRS getting their hands on my potential millions inheritance

its actually so bad that if I ever get a phone call from my bank I call them back on the official numbers I have access too.

I don’t pick up or respond to numbers I don’t recognise/am not expecting.

Too many scam emails to count. If I don't recognise the sender or the message seems out of the blue, its in the Trash right away.

Similarly, if I get a cold caller (in person or on the phone), they don't get the time of day.

I had messages claiming I did not pay my bill for phone network provider which threw me. I clicked on the link entered email and password and it only clicked when it asked for financial details. Trouble is once you enter so much they already have access to your information. I contacted the provider who instantly informed me about this new scam. Luckily I managed to contact them just in time you have to be so on the ball 💐

The only one I nearly fell for was a message from 'Microsoft' telling me that my account was compromised and click on this link. I wasn't paying attention and was about to when I noticed that the email address was a GMail one. OK then, makes perfect sense that Microsoft would be using a Google account....

I don't even respond, just cut them off. And if they are callers at the front door, I just tell them that's not where I do business.

Scam texts with blue hyperlinks have included postal deliveries I have not ordered, HMRC wanting to contact me and Covid contacts.
Phone call pretending to be BT.
Relative getting Whatsapp pretending their daughter (me) has broken phone and needs a payment.
Golden rules - nobody legit ever wants your bank details via text, phone or email. Blue hyperlinks should be avoided. Passwords should be changed on a regular basis/not the same across accounts. Regular checks on Have I been pwned website can check your email accounts. Two-step authentication -pain as it is - does help protect you. Finally, sadly there is no Nigerian prince!

I hadn’t realised the parcel delivery was a scam!! I’ve had a few of those not as I’ve not ordered anything I assumed it was an error.

I followed a link someone posted once a WhatsApp group for an easy to win competition. I started filling in details then thought they wanted a lot info and stopped. Apparently it was. phishing link.

I still worry now that my data has been compromised in some way even though I didn’t complete it.

Don't play Words with Friends! Or at least set the privacy and don't talk to strangers.
Every time I played I had someone telling me he was widowed father of 4 working on an oil rig in Texas or UAE. Suddenly loves me after one chat. And then asking for thousands of pounds because one of his kids needs an operation .
I had so many like this.
I'm ashamed to say I egged them on and had a laugh with it but that's not the best thing to do at all.
But it's clear this does work with some people sadly.

So many parcel scams in my inbox recently. Apparently they tried to deliver it and I need to pay a holding fee.

The other one is mcafee virus scan - I had four emails telling me my antivirus protection had expired and it all looked genuine til I looked at the email and it came from a really random email address that made sense. Each email came from a different address. I think it's really important to always go to the website rather than reply to emails

I seem to get a lot of the postal ones. I get an email supposedly from a courier saying something is going to be delivered but there's taxes that need to be paid or something along those lines. Usually it's easy to see it's a scam as when you click to see who's sent it the email doesn't look right. Also I haven't usually ordered anything. I get texts sometime too from 'Santander' but I don't even bank with them so straight away know it's a scam.

I was contacted by an asset manager on telegram. I knew it looked odd, strange language, weird links abd off punctuation. also it was the company my ex works for using a real person and their photo! I sent it to him and he forwarded to their cyber security.

Bit scary to use a real person’s identity.

I have my finances quite rightly controlled. I know when bills are paid and how much. This has meant that if ice received a scam call Ive recognised it as an unusual time/amount. Also I have asked them to email me to follow up or I have put the phone down and called them back using a phone number for them I already have from my account details

I get so many pretending to be from Amazon - sometimes 8 or 9 calls a week - first a recorded message saying that a payment has been made for an Iphone - usually a large amount - after the first call - when I was worried, I realised it was a scam. The calls were from a different phone number each time (I blocked them all). I now have the 2 factor authentication on my Amazon account so it always needs a code from my phone to access. The email scams are usually easier to spot as if you try to reply all it gives you the email address from whence it came

I tend to get recorded messages from Amazon, then press 1 to speak to an advisor - usually an Indian call centre - I will ask them why they want my details - and lead them on a while - then they realise I am on to then - the phone is put down on me. Others are the ones from PayPal which are very good, and want you to update your details - I really don't trust anything from Ebay Paypal or Amazon - shame really

I had the “you’ve been in contact with a covid positive person: book your free test NOW” scam text.. Except of course the PCR tests were discontinued over a year ago. I guess someone forgot to tell the scammers… apparently people who click on the link are sent to a highly convincing looking NHS-alike site where their details are taken, address, NHS number, card details, etc. Low lifes.

I had a convincing scam call which came up on my phone as being HSBC, who told me that there was suspicious activity on my account in terms of transactions and locations across the UK. Had loads of my personal details and sounded totally legit.

It was only when he asked me to get a verification code from my app and give it to him that I felt suspicious and hung up. Rang HSBC and they confirmed it was a scam.

I just don't buy anything, nor do I answer my mobile phone if I don't recognize the number.

When I’m performing scams, I’m very careful to protect my personal information so I dint get caught.

I make sure I use a VPN to hide my IP address. I’ve also used fake emails & fake names. I’m looking at investing in using a call centre in Mumbai, because I’m worried about the recession affecting my opportunities. I think working with and learning professionals will be the next step forward for me.

I have had a couple of texts supposedly from google asking me to confirm whether or not I signed into my account from another device. So easy to click on if you don't notice that the email address is off. Had the same with evri and I actually didn't notice when I clicked it that it wasn'tthe real website. Became clear once I had but it is so easy to do.

My dad actually had to cancel his card after ordering a new phone and contract. It was after he had been on the actual mobile provider website and he said as soon as he pressed enter for his card details he knew it was a scam! And he has not long retired as a computer software developer, he warned people about these scams! He said they often catch people who are in a rush and don't check things properly. The big scams from banks really push the time critical part so people panic and fail to check properly whether the information is correct.