This scam is STILL doing the rounds

Hi folks

the last time I ever answered personally to one of these types of calls --that was when they actually used a "Human" to call was some Indian voice saying "Your Windows installation is compromised - we will fix it for you"

I simply replied "My Windows are Triple glazed and have security locks approved and tested by the local Police and Fire service so thank you very much" and put the phone down.

I don't have a landline any more so am immune to these calls -- Indian call centres usually don't have the Iceland national code and certainly don't speak the lingo !!!! -- I suspect these scams are worse in places like UK, USA, Canada and OZ -- all places which make high use of these Indian type of offshored I.T stuff and call centres and obviously the English language helps -- even if most of those call centres to my ears speak absolutely unintelligeable English --certainly not "BBC or Oxford" standard. !!

These days most people probably could do without a landline - certainly in areas 100% cabled or where/ 4/5G internet available. That should cut down this type of potential scamming -- mobile phones are much harder to attack as it's easy to block calls with no legit caller id etc etc.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
I can't believe this but people are still getting scammed by this old perennial scam.

Unsolicited phone call says something like this "Due to illegal activity your ISP will disconnect your Internet in the next 48 hours --please press XX ...... etc etc"

Once you've pressed XX or whatever -- you've given away "The keys to the kingdom".

If you WERE doing illegal detectable activities the ISP would contact you directly -- either by email or by "Snail Mail" or both and at least have details of your account -- or if they did phone it would be a direct verifiable call from the ISP and not an unsolicited unidentified caller one.

I'm still amazed how so many people get scammed by these really obvious ones-- remember "The price of Education might be expensive -- but the price of ignorance is Astronomical"

Please guys here don't get scammed -- whatever the scam is and if you hear of other ones doing the rounds do post details.

Cheers
jimbo

I only want to suggest everyone to just ignore any kind of calls from unfamiliar numbers. Most of them are coming from scammers nowadays. Just hang up or ignore those calls, block the numbers, and report them to the authority or some complaint boards like http://whycall.me, so that more people will be aware of these scams.

Pejole2165 said:

I would say the most prevalent here in the UK are the TV licensing, the Inland Revenue and the Amazon scams.
All three are variations of the " there is a problem with your account" and " your details need updating" email scams, the email looks official in every way and if you click the link the landing page is an almost perfect copy of the official pages, but if you do enter your details on the page (especially with the Inland revenue scam), the scammers will have all they need to enter your account and copy your payment details or use your identity to commit theft in your name.
There is another variety of the Inland Revenue one claiming you are due a tax refund, please enter your bank account details for payment.
Needless to say a lot of older people fall for these scams since they don't necessarily understand what scams are or may be more prone to panic at the perceived issue and enter details without thinking.
The Inland Revenue will NEVER notify you by email of an over/ under payment.
The TV Licensing authority likewise.
As for Amazon, if you ever get any form of notice from them requiring action, you never click the links in an email, go to the Amazon official site and sign in there, any account issues will be notified in your account.

I haven't had a scam call for a very long time. Note there are stiff penalties now for such calls if the offender can be tracked down and the calls originate in the UK.

Do Not Disturb set to contacts only worked in iOS 12 but also silenced text notifications from people on your contact list. Guess Bat complaints got through cause with Silence Unknown Callers in iOS 13 I don't have that problem anymore.

I had the TV Licence scam email yesterday, telling me that my licence had expired. Email looked quite convincing even had my so called TV licence number. Did I click on the check account- noway. My bank had already paid the licence on Nov 1. The email header was the give away.

Hi there

rule nr 1 -- NEVER discuss money on the phone or even by email -- even if you owe it to a legitimate company -- always insist on a "snail mail" demand for it with the invoice / service you are alleged to owe -- the UK is particularly bad in using odious "debt collection agencies" for chasing people with even trivial amounts of debt -- without ensuring that the people they are hassling even rightfully owe the money --these people call at all sorts of times often I think 7 days a week.

As the people who generally work for these types of odious businesses are usually fairly "low life's" scams can abound -- I don't know if USA is as bad -- in (mainland) Europe these sorts of people are much more rigorously regulated. My experience in travelling around is that the UK tops "Telephone scamming" -- maybe because in other places where Internet / fibre systems more widespread the majority of the population don't have landlines any more.

Always treat ANY demand for money with absolute care and ensure that it is only paid to those entitled to get it.

Cheers
jimbo