Telecure - Telephone Preference Service Scam

Vampy99

I have just had a call from the above company stating they were calling to confirm £49 had been taken from my debit card for their "Telephone preference Services".

"To prevent telemarketing calls Madam" He says, which I laughed at, because wasn't he doing exactly that?

I said I had not authorised that and said they had called 2 weeks ago and taken my details and he just wanted to confirm that my confirmation letter was to be posted today.

I argued I knew nothing about it and £49 must not be taken as I could not afford it. He said that there may have been a mistake and as a good will gesture they would refund it.

I asked for their contact address and phone number and he refused to give it to me. He said that as I was no longer a customer I had no right to their details. I argued that if the refund did not happen, I would need it and he asked why I was calling him a liar and that I could trust him!!

The call was over 15 minutes long and whilst I know my rights and knew there was no way he could have my card details - especially when he called me by my maiden name (been married 12 years) and had an address that was 3 years out of date - I found it really scary. He was so persistent and made out he was doing me a favour. "The company has never refunded anyone ever but I understand your current financial difficulty so because I am a human being and I care, I will refund you today only".

It makes me sick these people can do this. As someone who enjoys giving these scammers a hard time - he actually unnerved me regarding this payment. I am super concerned for elderly or vulnerable who may get a similar call.

Horrible.

Xx

Coopdivi

Telecure appears to be a hi-fi shop in North London. Are you sure you have the correct name?

http://www.ilondon.co.uk/profile/717874/Hornsey/Telecure-Hi-Fi-TV-and-Video-Centre/

shaun_from_Africa

It may be a typo by the OP or they may have misheard the name.

There are a couple of firms with Telecare in their title who run the sort of service that is being described.

RATSY

I have just finished a 10 minute call with someone calling himself Mike Williams from Telecure. He said he had debited my bank/visa card with £49 a one off payment that would prevent me receiving tele marketing calls in the future. He asked me to confirm my details to him and he write acknowledging the payment. I told him I have not and do not give my bank details over the phone and have never asked for the service he mentioned. His response was the money had already gone from my account as requested two weeks ago. I asked where he got my telephone number from, what bank details he had and for his telephone number and company website, however he was unable to provide this information as it breached data protection rules. After telling him he was a crook I ended the call.
To my knowledge no money has been taken from my account but it is unnerving that there is a potential at some point in the future this company may be able to access my accounts.
I notice other forum members mention Telecure and Telecare but these appear to be legitimate medical and audio businesses. This Telecure on the other hand is apparently totally bogus and a scam.

Coopdivi

So by the sound of it there's no website associated with this company and they don't actually have any bank details at all of the people they ring up.

I suppose they'll catch a few people out with their line on 'confirming' bank account numbers etc. It just goes to show that you can't be too careful with nasty scamming cold calls like this.

Well done to Vampy99 and RATSY for alerting MSE users about this horrible scam.

annabandana

Thank goodness for MSE! I've just had a call from 'Telecure' (more fool me for lifting the phone as the caller ID did show 'unavailable'). Fortunately I happened to be browsing the forums at the same time and did a quick check so was able to establish very quickly that this was indeed a scam.

The call took the same form as others reported - apparently they called me a couple of weeks ago and I signed up for their TPS type of service, agreeing to give them £49 from my bank account. (Which I would never have done anyway!) The call today was to confirm my details and he said that the £49 had left my bank account this morning (but wouldn't show up for a week or so on my statement). He already knew my name, address and telephone number but he wanted me to tell him again (because of data protection, he said). I refused to do this - telling him he seemed to already know so why should I re-confirm. When I asked him which bank account it had 'left' and for the last 4 digits on the card, he was a bit flummoxed to say the least and asked me which banks I dealt with. I gave him the names of 2 banks I do not have any dealings with and he said that the card I used began with 47 (which none of mine do).

In a way, I quite enjoyed stringing him along and arguing the case that what he was saying was impossible, but he carried on undeterred and insisted that I must be wrong!! Obviously his intent was for me to 'confirm' (tell him) the 'long number' on the card.....

I think he realised he was fighting a losing battle when I asked for more details about Telecure (website/address etc) and when he wouldn't give them to me (just kept shifting the conversation back to bank details) I just told him plainly that if he wouldn't give me the information I requested, or let me speak to his supervisor, then I wasn't prepared to continue the call.

I do worry for unsuspecting or vulnerable people though.

zaksmum

I've had this call too.

I told the guy that no money had been authorised to be deducted from my account and asked the name of his company which he refused to give me.

I hung up.

I spoke to my bank and they said no attempts had been made to deduct the money.

luckybag

Unfortunately just had one of these calls.
They gave me the first four digits of my card which were correct.
Called bank they said it was probably a scam and have cancelled my card and I now have to wait up to 5 days for a new one - what an inconvenience - these people dont realise how scary these calls can be.

Hoof_Hearted

luckybag wrote: »

these people dont realise how scary these calls can be.

I think they do but they don't give a sheet....

Lavendyr

luckybag wrote: »

Unfortunately just had one of these calls.
They gave me the first four digits of my card which were correct.
Called bank they said it was probably a scam and have cancelled my card and I now have to wait up to 5 days for a new one - what an inconvenience - these people dont realise how scary these calls can be.

Often the first four numbers on cards are the same across a large number of cards. It's the last four which will most usually differ.

And yes, they realise exactly how scary these calls can be. It's why they make them and it's why they work.

zagfles

luckybag wrote: »

Unfortunately just had one of these calls.
They gave me the first four digits of my card which were correct.

Did you tell them which bank it was? The first 6 digits of the card identify the bank & account type so if they know what the bank & card type are they can tell what the first 6 digits are.

Or they might have just guessed a commonly held card, and perhaps if you hadn't recognised it they'd have said, "oops sorry, looking at the wrong thing, it's xxxx" and given another commonly held card.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Issuer_Identification_Numbers