New scam - beware

Miss_Havisham

qetu1357 wrote: »

Maybe not stupid but too trusting or naive.

Sometimes I feel we have a choice between being naive and cynical. Which is worse?

we have to choose which is appropriate to the situation.

Equaliser123

Miss_Havisham wrote: »

quite right, never (so far, and touch wood) made such a costly mistake as giving all my money to a complete stranger without a compelling reason.

I think you misunderstand how con artists work.

Yes, in hindsight the people were silly. But the scam seems pretty sophisticated and I know a lot of intelligent - but trusting people - who may fall for this sort of thing.

bangersnmash

Equaliser123 wrote: »

I think you misunderstand how con artists work.

Yes, in hindsight the people were silly. But the scam seems pretty sophisticated and I know a lot of intelligent - but trusting people - who may fall for this sort of thing.

Yes, exactly. I'm savvy and skeptical and not at all trusting. I've got my wits about me so I automatically assume that lots of stuff is bent. I've spotted lots of scams and bent people over the years and managed to avoid them.

But I've also been done, what, probably fifty or sixty times that I didn't realise till it was too late. It's that many times because I used to do lots of trade in the 1980s and 90s so I dealt with hundreds of people and companies.

Yes, I've been shafted loads of times and I'm pretty good. So have lots of other business people I know, pretty much everyone gets ripped off at one time or another, it goes with the territory.

I probably wouldn't fall for that one but it's inappropriate to sneer at or be surprised about those who do. A lot of cons are smooth and catch you out.

It particularly bothers me that vulnerable and trusting people get done, especially old people, single mums, poor people who can't afford it.

But unfortunately it's UK government, police and justice system policy to allow most crime to succeed and proliferate with impunity.

So watch out, careful and sensible and aware though you are, it could be you or one of your family or friends next. Have some sympathy for victims rather than writing them off as twits. And certainly don't sneer at them, it's not their fault that someone sneeky and devious - and downright evil - has managed to exploit their weak or blind spots and get the better of them.

CKhalvashi

pmduk wrote: »

There were so many signs here that the call wasn't genuine. The gullibility of the victim here probably explains many of the stories reported by the Daily Mail.

I'm in full agreement with this.

If something like this came through, would it not be best to check online banking, or call bank on a different phone?

CK

booler

bangersnmash wrote: »

And certainly don't sneer at them, it's not their fault that someone sneeky and devious - and downright evil - has managed to exploit their weak or blind spots and get the better of them.

I won't sneer at them if you promise to stop sneering at everyone you disagree with in this forum.

meer53

I can't believe that someone spent and hour and a half on the phone to "the police" ! You're lucky these days if you manage to get more than 10 minutes to report a genuine crime.

SleeplessinScandinavia

For me, the key issue is/was 'we need your PIN number' - Get lost!!

Having said that, its perfectly possible to fall for such a scam coming 'out of the blue' (I'd like to think I wouldn't!) and there should be some sympathy for victims of it.

A while ago, where I live in Sweden, there was a slightly different scam involving some guy phoning saying he was from Microsoft and he believed I had a virus on my computer. He needed me to download some software - which (I now know from some victims) was malware.

I told him the computer was still booting up and went back to watching the TV! 20 minutes later, I returned to the phone meaning to say there was a problem - but the line was dead. The Swedish phone company said the call came from India.

Trust your intuition :cool:

Fella

Utterly plausible if you don't know how Banks, The Police, or Telephones, actually work.

No sympathy for anyone who takes a cheque from the Daily Mail anyway.

Dave101t

thats not a clever scam at all, daily mail if your listening your bile! i cant be sued as its a fact! ha!

PhylPho

pmduk wrote: »

. . . The gullibility of the victim here probably explains many of the stories reported by the Daily Mail.

The gullibility of the victim here is definitely explained by the fact that he thinks the Daily Mail is a newspaper.