New phone scam

Lord PuppyMcSnuggle of Cuddleshire

I think they've gone off the idea of claiming to be Microsoft and offering to fix your viruses. The new one I'm getting is "This is your phone company, and we're offering you a new tariff..."
I prompted her twice to give me the name of the phone company we're both supposedly involved with (easy enough question, surely she knows where she works), and she just hung up. Dopey bitch.

Be on the lookout anyway, spread the word.

Does anyone know how their scam plays out?

This sort of thing has been going on for years, why is nothing done? Is Ireland known internationally as some kind of soft-touch when it comes to fraud? It makes me livid to think of someone getting scammed like that. Finding myself on the phone talking to the scum of the earth is an unwelcome experience in itself.

Kimbot

This is probably oh we can give you a special offer if you give us your credit card type setups. Lots of them popping up at the minute.

the_syco

The crazy thing? When your bank rings you, they ask you for sensitive information to verify who you are. But they ring on a blocked number. Yeah, go f**k off.

Lord PuppyMcSnuggle of Cuddleshire

Aye, it's gotten to a stage where I completely distrust every incoming call. Hopefully there's still some awareness floating around after the spate of "Microsoft tech support" calls, and these people will eventually fu*k off with themselves.
What really annoys me is that, if it's at all sustainable for them to do, then it must be working, and people are falling for it and getting robbed.

Tiddlypeeps

Lord PuppyMcSnuggle of Cuddleshire wrote: »

This sort of thing has been going on for years, why is nothing done? Is Ireland known internationally as some kind of soft-touch when it comes to fraud? It makes me livid to think of someone getting scammed like that. Finding myself on the phone talking to the scum of the earth is an unwelcome experience in itself.

How do you suggest they combat it?

What makes you think Ireland is the only place effected by scams like this?

tin79

Lord PuppyMcSnuggle of Cuddleshire wrote: »

Is Ireland known internationally as some kind of soft-touch when it comes to fraud?.

Yes there is no fraud anywhere else in the world. None at all. China, india, Nigeria, Russia. All fraud free. Its only here.

Liamalone

Had some doll ring earlier about my computer, she got stumped when I said that I didn't have one.

Diemos

Lord PuppyMcSnuggle of Cuddleshire wrote: »

What really annoys me is that, if it's at all sustainable for them to do, then it must be working, and people are falling for it and getting robbed.

Absolutely, all they need is one call a month to cover their wages and they'll get that easily, probably daily. You just need one sucker, there are loads of stories of people who've been suckered in having won the Spanish lottery etc.

Personally if I have the time I try to keep them on the phone as long as possible, if they are wasting their time with me then they can't be ripping off some poor eijit, and it's great fun trying to find new ways of baiting them along.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

the_syco wrote: »

The crazy thing? When your bank rings you, they ask you for sensitive information to verify who you are. But they ring on a blocked number. Yeah, go f**k off.

Yea, complain about banks security. Would you like the bank to have even less securities to make your money vulnerable?

There's no guarantee that the number they are ringing is still the account holders number. The account holder may have given an incorrect number, or the person answering might be somebody else. How does the person calling you know this? They don't. So what do they do? Ask you questions to make sure it's you.

Johnny scumbag nicks your phone, you don't realise for quite some time as it's not something you would miss. Johnny scumbag gets a call from the bank and talks to him without any securities, he then asks the balance of the account and other sensitive info available to him.

The private number is so you don't ring back with your requests/complaints as there are specific channels to deal with this. If you are in doubt you can just mention this to them and they may give you a number to call or ask you to call your branch to deal with whatever issue they contacted you in the first place.

Tiddlypeeps

Juniper Square River wrote: »

Yea, complain about banks security. Would you like the bank to have even less securities to make your money vulnerable?

There's no guarantee that the number they are ringing is still the account holders number. The account holder may have given an incorrect number, or the person answering might be somebody else. How does the person calling you know this? They don't. So what do they do? Ask you questions to make sure it's you.

Johnny scumbag nicks your phone, you don't realise for quite some time as it's not something you would miss. Johnny scumbag gets a call from the bank and talks to him without any securities, he then asks the balance of the account and other sensitive info available to him.

The private number is so you don't ring back with your requests/complaints as there are specific channels to deal with this. If you are in doubt you can just mention this to them and they may give you a number to call or ask you to call your branch to deal with whatever issue they contacted you in the first place.

If a bank ever calls you they may ask for date of birth and address, but they will never ask for account numbers, sort codes or any other sensitive information to verify who you are. I'm fairly certain they won't call from a blocked number too but could be wrong on that.

Either way anybody who is ever unsure if it is actually the bank on the other end of the phone should tell them that you are going to hang up and call them back. Then call the branch and ask for that person by the name they gave. (Do not ask the person on the phone for the branch number, just the branch name and their own name. You should be able to find the rest on the internet).

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

tricky D

Lord PuppyMcSnuggle of Cuddleshire wrote: »

What really annoys me is that, if it's at all sustainable for them to do, then it must be working, and people are falling for it and getting robbed.

Diemos wrote: »

Absolutely, all they need is one call a month to cover their wages and they'll get that easily, probably daily. You just need one sucker, there are loads of stories of people who've been suckered in having won the Spanish lottery etc.

It works more than enough of the time alright for the numbers game to be profitable. Yesterday, there was one boards user who posted in another section on how he didn't pay them when they asked, but did allow them remote access so now their machine is very likely compromised.

Lord PuppyMcSnuggle of Cuddleshire

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

What makes you think Ireland is the only place effected by scams like this?

tin79 wrote: »

Yes there is no fraud anywhere else in the world. None at all. China, india, Nigeria, Russia. All fraud free. Its only here.

Yes, because that's exactly what I said. Remember to recycle those straw men when you're finished beating them.

wil

Liamalone wrote: »

Had some doll ring earlier about my computer, she got stumped when I said that I didn't have one.

Ken will ring later to sell you a computer.

Mince Pie

Just found this, one of the scammers has been sentenced. Good news.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/microsoft-pc-scam-boss-sentenced-102655801.html#uzrbo0w

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

If a bank ever calls you they may ask for date of birth and address, but they will never ask for account numbers, sort codes or any other sensitive information to verify who you are. I'm fairly certain they won't call from a blocked number too but could be wrong on that.

Either way anybody who is ever unsure if it is actually the bank on the other end of the phone should tell them that you are going to hang up and call them back. Then call the branch and ask for that person by the name they gave. (Do not ask the person on the phone for the branch number, just the branch name and their own name. You should be able to find the rest on the internet).

Where did you get this info from or did you just make it up?

A bank can call on a blocked number and they can ask you for your bank account and sort code...

Nobody can do a whole lot with that info. It's useless.

Savage Tyrant

Juniper Square River wrote: »

Where did you get this info from or did you just make it up?

A bank can call on a blocked number and they can ask you for your bank account and sort code...

Nobody can do a whole lot with that info. It's useless.

Haha. Not true. Jeremy Clarkson once posted his bank account number and sort code in his newspaper column and online in an attempt to prove the information was useless.... Turned out that it wasn't as useless as he, or you, would have thought.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7174760.stm

Tiddlypeeps

Juniper Square River wrote: »

Where did you get this info from or did you just make it up?

A bank can call on a blocked number and they can ask you for your bank account and sort code...

Nobody can do a whole lot with that info. It's useless.

I said I could be wrong on blocked number thing.

Has your bank ever actually called you and asked for your account number and sort code? If you call them then they may ask for those details, but it would be seriously bad form to request that information on an unsolicited call.

The only way to be sure you aren't talking to a scammer when someone calls you is to ask them for their name and the branch they are in and then call that branch directly yourself. This was the main point of my post and I don't think it's useless advice because there is literally no way of telling who you are actually talking to on the phone, especially when someone calls you on a blocked number. Always best to err on the side of caution. This advice is doubly relevant if I'm wrong about banks asking for bank details after calling you.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

Haha. Not true. Jeremy Clarkson once posted his bank account number and sort code in his newspaper column and online in an attempt to prove the information was useless.... Turned out that it wasn't as useless as he, or you, would have thought.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7174760.stm

Not sure how it works in the UK. You will need more than a bank account and a sort code to do anything here. The signature was fraudulent.

Tiddlypeeps

Juniper Square River wrote: »

Not sure how it works in the UK. You will need more than a bank account and a sort code to do anything here. The signature was fraudulent.

What more do you need?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

What more do you need?

A signature for a start.

Nabber

I never get these calls. My luck ran out when I won the Nigerian lottery

Tiddlypeeps

Juniper Square River wrote: »

A signature for a start.

That's not true. You can sign up to direct debits* online without ever actually signing anything outside of ticking a box to say you've read the T&C's.

*could be standing orders, I always get the two mixed up

ben101

When i get a call to say there is a problem with your windows OS i always say i'm using linux ,the awkward silence is hilarious.Or even better i pretend to be typing on a keyboard while bashing imaginary keys on the kitchen table while following their instructions.If you are going to get them you might as well have fun,ask them what they are wearing and then tell them you are naked or ask them to guess what you are doing while slapping your hands on your thighs

Dave_D

I got a phone call today from a guy who said he was from Eircom. He went on to say my PC was causing a blockage on the broadband line and I had to be in front of my PC for him to sort things out. I told him I didn't have my PC in front of me so he gave contact details. The number seems to be a genuine number because it looks like a Dublin area code. He gave his number as 012544043, and gave me his 'name' and 'Eircom' ID. He said I was to call him back once I had my PC in front of me. I have had these calls before from people saying they are working for a company called PC Doctor. They want to gain remote access to my PC and install Malware or a Virus etc. and they ask for credit card details for 'fixing' the PC. I get these calls at least once a month. But the 'Eircom' one is a new twist on the PC Doctor one. I hope no-one falls for this new scam.

Akrasia

The best thing to do with these scammers is to leave them on hold for as long as you can. They'll hang up as soon as they know you're not going to fall for the scam, but if you just say 'hold on, my laptop is upstairs' and leave them waiting for a few minutes, they'll wait for a while before hanging up.
They'll probably call back later, at which point, you give out to them for hanging up on you and tell them that you've got to go back upstairs and get the computer...

hawkwing

Get a whistle and blow it as loud as possible into the phone,preferably after talking very lowly for a few seconds beforehand,it's better than wasting your time thinking you are clever wasting their time when they have nothing better to be doing anyways.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

floggg

the_syco wrote: »

The crazy thing? When your bank rings you, they ask you for sensitive information to verify who you are. But they ring on a blocked number. Yeah, go f**k off.

I've had Three do that trying to sell me a phone and getting flustered when I asked them to evidence who they were.

The bank though (in my experience) is aware of the irony and will normally tell you to call them back from the publicly available numbers if you have any concerns.

Tiddlypeeps

hawkwing wrote: »

Get a whistle and blow it as loud as possible into the phone,preferably after talking very lowly for a few seconds beforehand,it's better than wasting your time thinking you are clever wasting their time when they have nothing better to be doing anyways.

I would imagine they are similar to most cold calling sales companies in that they get paid on commission.

Wasting their time could be fairly effective if lots of people do it. Less sales being made for the company and higher employee turn around (because they earn feck all) which results in higher recruitment costs.

booladen

Just off the phone from one of them "Eircom" workers, with UPC and have a google netbook, they were insisting on me having a laptop with windows. Fired them more questions than they were asking at me and they got the hint :-P

mikeym

RossFixxxed

the_syco wrote: »

The crazy thing? When your bank rings you, they ask you for sensitive information to verify who you are. But they ring on a blocked number. Yeah, go f**k off.

The really mad part is that you are obliged to do this from a bank. The thinking is that it is your private business and yours alone so nobdoy should know.

Say I ring your wife, but you answer her phone. I can't say oh it's Ross in Bank X can he call back. I have to say "it's a private business matter". This has lead to accusations from the husband of affairs and a lot of other confusion. The blocked number makes it even worse! Data Protection is good, but common sense seems to be lacking.

ibstar

Just remembered something that happened to me a while back, but never paid attention to it.
Got a phone call from "my bank" telling me they have some product that would be "suitable" for my account "upgrade".
Something to note is the lady didn't sound foreign.
I told her to send the leaflets about the "product" to my address as I don't feel comfortable with this call.
You would have guessed right if you thought that I never received these in my post.

ibstar

Nabber wrote: »

I never get these calls. My luck ran out when I won the Nigerian lottery

I win these so much, and also I find out once a week my distant relatives left me over millions of $$, that I don't even have time to stack all the money I am raking with these....
If only I could share some of this money with somebody to take the burden away from me.
Contact me via PM with your account details so I can share the millions of $$ that are being thrown in the bin to make some space in the house.

(for those who don't understand this is a joke, please note This is a joke )