Mother-in-law received a call from one of these gits this evening. Called us up shaking.
The scum threatened her with immediate arrest if an outstanding tax bill wasn't paid.
She's 84 and has been unwell (recent TIA). This won't help.
What got me was the level of info that they have or seem to have. She wrote down some details that they gave her to prove they were "legitimate"...
Full name (incl. middle name).
Maiden name.
DOB
Building society
Exact amount in bank which was their pretext in calling.
Amounts of monthly DDs
Now MIL does not have the internet or a smart phone and toddles the couple of miles to the building society in person to do her banking with cheques and paying in slips. Despite being ill she still does her own cooking and cleaning - so no cleaner or carer involved.
She also has a decent shredder for a while and I see her use it regularly.
Info must be being leaked from one of the organisations she deals with like the bank, utilities or councils, NHS, pension co and Govt. etc.
She is still on the ball (she beat me with the crossword last weekend). She didn't authorise any payments and we have checked with the bank using SHMBO's mobile whilst there.
She is also too polite to put the phone down on these b******s.
When they did hang up she felt unwell and called us but the sods hadn't cleared the line so walked round to ours as she doesn't drive (its only 5 minutes) but no fun at night for an OAP.
She's staying in the spare room tonight.
I am fuming at how these low-lives can be so callous and am venting here!
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>
>> Full name (incl. middle name).
>> Maiden name.
>> DOB
>> Building society
>> Exact amount in bank which was their pretext in calling.
>> Amounts of monthly DDs
Whilst some of that is in the public domain, I doubt they had the last three, you say she was too polite to put the phone down, I'd wager that if you could listen to the call you would see how they cleverly "socially engineered" some of that out of her, possibly on a previous call pretending to be the bank or some such pretex. They are very good at that kind of thing.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 13 Apr 19 at 08:02
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>> Mother-in-law received a call .........................
>> She is also too polite to put the phone down ..............
Sorry that she was upset by the call.
I am afraid that there are quite a few of these people out there. She will just have to learn to distinguish friend from foe and simply put the phone down on these people.
She is NOT going to get a call from HMRC, Microsoft, or any other organisation asking for money.
I am of a similar vintage to MIL and have learnt to just put the phone down. A message that I have repeated on various forums. She does not need a new phone, or some fancy attachment, what she does need is some help in learning to recognise unfriendly calls.
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A victim of two classic scams I’m afraid. The first is the “we are just checking our information” scam in which the scammers start with some publicly avaiable data like your name age and mothers maiden name and go on to elicit financial details from the unwary. I have had these calls myself.
The second is the inland Revenue scam experienced by the OP’’s mother. Nasty.
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I suspect they single out older people for this.
Came up a year or so ago at work as 'while you're here' question after giving a spritely sounding 90yo widow some advice (by phone) on utility bills. She'd had much same experience as Zippy's MiL from a man she described as 'not British if you know what I mean'.
She was aware that any tax she owed was dealt with at source from her occ. pension and had seen him off in the end but was quite disturbed by it
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 13 Apr 19 at 09:05
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Jim Florentine know how to deal with scam callers. He's done loads, but here's how to say no...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRtrffvgUg
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Frightfully droll - of course.
Why not just put the phone down?
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Her number's probably on a so-called "sucker list" somewhere. My father gets these all the time (well until the most recent change in number) - there are crooks working in banks in all walks of "secure" places - easily bribed to get information.
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As soon as I find out what they are up to or want, I roundly abuse them in language that can only be learned on the terraces of a rough east end football ground.
Its a wonderful outlet, very satisfying. Keeps me sane when dealing with fractious old goats from Esher.
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To me, it hardly seems worth ranting at the poor sucker trying to earn a crust really. I'm usually reasonably polite and keep the call short - not worth wasting either of ours time on. I have had a number of calls about solar panels which are based on data which ought not be in the public domain, so I quiz them a bit as to where the data came from but they obviously don't really know...
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>> poor sucker trying to earn a
>> crust really.
WHAT?
We are not talking cold callers, we are talking scum,
They know exactly what they are doing, to whom, and the pain it causes.
poor sucker my rse
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 13 Apr 19 at 13:38
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MIL is up and about today and reassured that noting has been taken from her building society and they have put a fraud watch on.
She says she has occasionally received the "Windows" calls and said that the foreign gentlemen don't believe her when she says she doesn't have a computer!
She really doesn't.
I have tried to persuade her to search for better value utilities but to no avail.
As a MIL, I can't fault her though.
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SWMBO can no longer use the phone so I now field all the calls.
I do not have caller identity so I let the phone ring a few times by which time usually the call centre have no bods left to talk to me.
Some centres have fired Sebastian or Boris or xxx and replaced them with an automatic response system which means my response is not required.
The kind person from "BT" still calls re my immediate broadband disconnection. How will they do that cos I am on a cable connection ?
I did experience the very smooth " boiler house guys". "Savvy investor like yourself " etc.
" We spoke six months ago........." Investment in wine !!!
Still get the odd oven cleaning, we are installing security alarms in your street but few and far between.
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Some scams are getting more sophisticated. My brother in law is a shareholder in an oil company and has had very convincing scam calls and professionally worded letters over several weeks. The scammers claim that they are involved in a takeover of the company and want to buy his scrip shares at an inflated price. All he has to do is send them an initial few hundred quid.......Up to that point he was wondering if it might be legit although he was pretty sure he didnt have any scrip shares.
Finally one thing to watch with the recorded announcement scams inviting you to press 1, 2 or whatever. These could well connect to premium rate numbers.
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Had a slightly different one in my junk mail today.
Different in that it actually appears to be proper (ie not pigeon Nigerian) English
Dear Sir/ Madam
I am Barrister Brendan Lingard, Solicitor and Advocate at Law. I am the personal Lawyer to Late Engineer Thomas, A citizen of your Country, Working in an oil servicing company here in my country. Referred to as my client, On April 5th 2014 my client, his wife, and their three children were involved in a plane crash all the passengers on board unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name over the Internet. I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my late client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where these huge deposits were lodged. The Bank where the deceased had an account Valued at about ($68,205,000) has issued me a notice to provide the Next of Kin. Or have the account confiscated within the next fifteen bank working days.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 5years now and due to the fact that you’re from the same Country with my Late Client, I decide to seek your consent to Present you as the Next Of Kin, of the deceased, So that this account valued at ($68 Million Two Hundred & Five Thousand Dollars Only.) can be paid to you and then You and me can share the money. 40% to me and 40% to you while 20% for any expenses incurred throughout the process .All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and I, from any breach of the law, confirm your interest by replying to this email.
YOURS SINCERELY,
BARRISTER BRENDAN LINGARD
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One of these days I'm going to reply to one just to see what Step #2 is.
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Combining terms barrister, solicitor and advocate at law is bit of a give away.
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I guess some time in the last three years he upgraded from "Attorney at Law".
From: "Barrister Brendan Lingard"
Reply-To:
Date: Thu, 12 May 2016 11:54:33 -0400
Subject: =?utf-8?Q?Spam:VERY=20URGENT?=
BRENDAN LINGARD ADMINISTRATIVE LAW FIRM
6 London Street
London | Paddington W2 1HR
Tel: +447509752957
E-mail: attorneylawfirmbl@gmail.com
My name is attorney Brendan Lingard, legal practitioner at Brendan Lingard administrative law firm here in the United Kingdom,, Attorney at law. A deceased client of mine, that shares the same last name as yours, who died as the result of a heart-related condition in March 12th 2009. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the plan crash in January 10th 2009.
I have contacted you to assist in distributing the money left behind by my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this deposit valued at Twenty Eight Million Dollars ($28,000,000.00) is lodged. This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the account will be confiscated.
My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my named client, since you have the same last name, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Then we can share the amount on a mutually agreed-upon percentage. All legal documents to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin will be provided. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.
This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from many breach of the law. If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology. I must use this opportunity to implore you to exercise the utmost indulgence to keep this matter extraordinary confidential, whatever your decision, while I await your prompt response. Please contact me at once to indicate your interest. I will like you to acknowledge the receipt of this e-mail as soon as possible via my private EMAIL :(mlbl@consultant.com) and treat with absolute confidentiality and sincerity. I look forward to your quick reply.
Have a nice day.
Brendan Lingard
Attorney at Law.
Clearly he must make money at it though, or he wouldn't still be doing it.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 13 Apr 19 at 20:33
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I have to say, flying out there seems pretty dangerous, planes crashing everywhere on various dates
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...Boeing has a lot to answer for, but adding the world's spam load to it is a little over the top.....
;-)
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This landed in my spam box:
IMPORTANT! You have been recorded masturbating! I have MP4!
t*****.
Edit. Swear filter doesn't like the vernacular for someone who masturbates.
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Sat 13 Apr 19 at 22:50
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>> media.kasperskydaily.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/86/2016/06/05192546/space-nigerian-scam.jpg
>>
>> They don’t all die in plane crashes.
>>
Got to say, its inventive. The tax call was incredibly invasive and I can see people falling for it, one has got to wonder if the returns exceed the electricity used to send the emails for these scams - surely!?
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I received an automated call advising that I am being investigated by HMRC for a tax fraud.
I hung up and searched on internet and discovered it was a scam, documented in HMRC website.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/phishing-and-bogus-emails-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples/phishing-emails-and-bogus-contact-hm-revenue-and-customs-examples#bogus-phone-calls
The number shown was 01895 797905
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"I received an automated call advising that I am being investigated by HMRC for a tax fraud.
I hung up"
That's what Ken Dodd did.
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>> "I received an automated call advising that I am being investigated by HMRC for a
>> tax fraud.
>>
>> I hung up"
>>
>> That's what Ken Dodd did.
Harry Redknapp blamed Rosie the dog
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Phew !!. I got my first call today so I no longer feel neglected and missing out !:-)
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LOL.
The Beeb reported a txt msg variant today.
www.bbc.com/news/business-47988270
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HMRC Tax Scam - Zero
