New Scam Alert

Tornado

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Last night on our local news was a story of a couple of victims of a new phone scam.
A call comes in claiming to be your credit card alert system stating you've got unusual charges and telling you to immediately call your card company with the number on back of your card. The caller hangs up, or so it seems. In fact they just play a dial tone sound while you then hang up. You then dial your card company number. Someone (the scammer still on the line) answers and pretends to be your card rep, getting you to provide your full card number, addy, other personal identifiers etc. Then they proceed to make huge credit limit charges etc.

This can happen b/c many land line phone providers still have an archaic "feature" that keeps line open when you hang up if caller stays on line. Concept was to permit you to hang up and move to another phone in you home and get back into same call. I know of no one that has ever needed this old feature. The news report contacted the Canadian providers about their feature policy, some were only 15 seconds, others 5+ minutes.

Be careful out there folks!
 
My friends and I used to use this "feature" as middle schoolers to tie up people's lines as a krank. It was more like 15 min then... way before caller ID or *69
 
May I suggest you call 1471 in the UK to see if you can get the last call dialing ?
I don't know if you would get their phone number , or throw a spanner in the works or what?
 
A chap at work is very good at dealing with these people, he once strung one of the fraudsters out for so long with dumb questions the fraudster called him a vvanker and hung up!
 
A chap at work is very good at dealing with these people, he once strung one of the fraudsters out for so long with dumb questions the fraudster called him a vvanker and hung up!
My favorite trick. Also, if I am busy I just set the phone down without hanging up and get on with what I am doing.
 
A friend of mine used to answer buy saying “I dunno, I don’t live here, I’m just robbing the place” and hang up !
 
Not a new scam, its been operating for maybe up to a decade, the trick is to ring the number on your credit or bank card on a different phone as that ensures you are ringing the bank or credit card company and not the scamster.
 
I never answer the phone from an unknown number. Just add it to the 'call block' list. If you don't know the number, hang up. If it's important they will call back and you can hang up again.

But I will say, the Virginia health dept called about our Covid shot and wifie hangs up on them, they call again, and she hangs up again, I call them back and get an appointment. Both jabs now so we're good. Now I hang up on them too.

But sometimes I will string them on, oh, wait my wallet is in the car, please wait. See how long you can waste their time. Or ask them for their credit card number...click.

In general I just haven't got the time to waste on them.
 
Agree with you there DogT, never answer a withheld number or an unknown one , although my mate was being pestered all day with one a couple years ago & blocked it , turned out to be a hospital in Thailand trying to get hold of him cause his son had had a scooter accident out there & had no insurance! , he thought it was a foreign telesales call or scam call , he wasn’t popular with his wife
 
A number of large companies, our doctor included, have telephone systems that show up as withheld and it makes it a bit awkward when I start with ‘wtf do you want?” Before realising I need to talk to them.
 
The whole local Health board shows as a single number, if they do not leave a message you have no idea who to ring back, could be any hospital or clinic. Last time I took a guess and rang the surgery who denied calling until I reminded them the missus was waiting for a flu jab appointment.
 
I had one today, a number appeared on the screen I didn’t recognise. The caller addressed me by name although very unsure of herself, she was clearly from the sub continent as ever. She then told me my washing machine warranty was about to expire (er, it’s 10 years old now) and she could help me to extend it. How is your washing machine, she asked me. I said I was so pleased she called me as it exploded last week. :) Bloody cow hung up on me.
 
I received this curious looking request today. I wonder if a scammer hijacked the owner's email account?


Hi Knut,

I am so happy you emailed me back, I was beginning to wonder if you didn't get my first email, I am so sorry I am bothering you with this but I need to get an iTunes gift card for my niece, whose birthday is today, and I was hoping you could please help me out with this today, I was going to call you, Malcolm had a stroke on Wednesday early morning, We all left to get to the hospital, so I cannot take or make any calls at the moment, I don't know what time I will be back but it will be later. I tried doing it online, but my bank is having issues charging my card. Please let me know if you can handle this so that i can tell you how much i want on the gift card, I will definitely have your money back in full to you as soon as the issue with my bank has been resolved.

Thank you & Cheers,
Darren & Malcolm Upfield
Sealy Cycle Service, LLC.
3816 College Street,
Sealy, Texas 77474.
Tel: N/A
E-mail: sealycycleserice1@hotmail.com
Website: www.sealycycleservice.com


I've never dealth with Sealy Cycle Service, to my knowledge. Please note the typo in the e-mail address. Has membership info at AccessNorton been compromised? (Jerry?)

- Knut
 
Maybe not a new one, but the first for me; a text from a bank I use with an OTP for an AirBNB booking. And a phone number for their fraud line if I thought it was a suspicious transaction. Except the phone number in the text was nothing like the banks published number, so ignored. In the UK, the 'whocalledme' website is my usual place to look when an unknown phone number calls me.
 
I did feel sorry for a couple of tourists one day last year. They turned up at the company reception desk asking for the keys to the flat they had booked on AirBNB. They had been told to check in at the company reception desk to collect the keys to a flat in the adjacent building. They had obviously been scammed, and for booking a flat in that part of London (St Johns Wood), probably for a lot of money.
 
I have two email addresses, one 'official' for business and banking etc., and another with a different provider for trivia and the like.
Not unusual (thanks Tom) to see a: 'Track Your Package', or: 'About Your Recent Order' notice from the site I don't use for these things..
Never opened, of course.
 
I like to interupt them , when they just start their scam, " will I need a large bowl of curry and rice to get through this " :) :)
 
The question that really seems to upset them is to interrupt them and ask...

"Does your mother know that you're a scammer? I bet she'd be really ashamed!"
 
New one in my PC inbox today....
'Thank you for renewing your prescription for protecting a device'
Along with a 'receipt' for same, but only viewable as a download.....
 
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