THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

[Deleted User]

wrong thread I know but I believe I have had a really bad plausible attempted scam. Got an e mail from friend from 6 years ago, she wrote and said she had a serious matter that she wanted to discuss with me, I said` yes of course ring me and I will help`. I just came in and there is a second e mail `says that her cousin needs a really urgent cancer operation and is in India, friend is in Istanbul for a month, network is bad and she cannot access her money, so would I make a money transfer to friend and she will pay me back. Omg I am not taken in by stuff but this sounded so plausible. I e mailed back and just said, no sorry, I cannot help

Tell me I did the right thing. My first name was not on the e mail to me

That has left me quite shaken

ivyleaf

I'm sure you did the right thing kittie, try not to worry xx

Surely if you could make a money transfer she/the scammer would have to be able to access "her" own account in the first place.

mardatha Poor old RV, glad he seems to be better today. I was :eek: at you trying to lift a big heavy bike off him!

kittie just to add, it sounds as if it's a good time for a cup of camomile tea x

[Deleted User]

Oh YES you did and I'm pretty certain that the word MUG is not tattooed anywhere about your person and neither was yesterday the day of your birth Kittie, well done on recognising it for what it is and being grounded and sensible to act the way you did. Your savings will stay in the bank M'dear, well done xxx.

[Deleted User]

oh dear, I have got to get back to earth, that shook me.

I was thinking about prepping stuff and transport eg if petrol becomes unobtainable. I was thinking while I was learning on my feet, was maintaining my bike and wishing that I had been shown how to do stuff. Today I changed my first ever tyre, back one with gears. I was in the middle of it, at a stuck point and a parcel came. I went out with very oily hands and said` I am just changing a tyre` he said `can I help, I am a mountain biker`, he showed me two very good tips. Now Mar, there is something in the way he appeared right at that moment, like the right allen key was the only one that was sticking up in the pack, just the one I needed for the brakes

What I am saying is learn how to do stuff, to fix a cycle ie change brake blocks and an inner tube, clean a chain. Done all that now btw. Learn how to use a lightweight drill and about the different drill bits. To use a saw and to clamp wood in a vice. To oil the doors and windows, maintain outside wood. Fill holes in plasterboard. Do the house accounts. Drain the ch system. Watch what the OHs do and if you could not do it, ask to be shown

[Deleted User]

MrsLW, I have forwarded the e mails to my children and to my siblings, I can see now how people can be taken in

Ivyleaf I have water by my side and have eaten some nice dark chocolate. What a day, going from euphoric about my bike and `what if` re the e mail. I am actually going 5 nice miles on it shortly. Along the moors and by a canal

Nargleblast

Kittie you are so fortunate, you have the wit and wisdom to smell a rat with that email. I suspect the first email was a tester, to see if you would bite, the fact that this was supposedly from an old friend and yet she did not address you by your name - big neon signs there! If you are able to do so, put this person's email address in your spam/junk folder. Then treat yourself to a nice G & T and celebrate having foiled a con-artist.

monnagran

Kittie: You did absolutely the right thing. Well done you on spotting the scam at once. My friend had a similar experience. An e-mail from her sister to say that she and her husband were on holiday in Africa and her husband had fallen ill and was in hospital. The story was that the hospital demanded money before they would treat him and they didn't have the right cards with them to access their bank account. If she would just forward the money to the hospital...etc etcetera.
She e-mailed back and said, sure no problem, but just to check, would her sister e-mail back and tell her how they had celebrated her 21st birthday.
Never heard another word.

Even if everything sounds kosher it never does any harm to check.

fuddle

Have a lovely cycle kittie. You were no where near taken in, it's just that you believed your friend needed help. It sounds like your friends email account has been hacked doesn't it.

I try to be handy around the house as much as I can. I like to learn so I have a chance without DH and I think a lot of that was seeing my own mam struggle when she was widowed at the age of 33. I watch DH a lot, have a go and ask questions. Sometimes I make a big gaff like when I had the heat gun too close to the window and cracked it but at least I learned a lesson. The best lesson of all, especially as a youngish woman, is to have a sense of what is to be expected from a job. There's been times when I've had trades in the house where they've asked me a question, sometimes a loaded question that sways an answer that they want to hear in terms of easier job etc. I had an issue with a poor plaster job when I had my stove installed. When I had the firm back to make good they were trying to fob me off with "you've had it too hot, maybe mixing fuels that's why it's cracked". Because I'd been learning about plastering and wall skimming I knew about plaster tape (which had not been used) and blistering of the skim layer due to not allowing the plaster to dry properly before application. I was able to completely ignore the suggestion that I was overfiring the stove, point to the skim work on the opposite wall that I had done and make them look a bit daft. No more was said, all was happy, I was finally impressed with the customer service and the second lot that came and I have a good job at last. The same thing yesterday. "Would you like a nice new strip around your windows or would you like me to redo the poor plaster job". Because I knew I didn't want those plastic strips and I had become rather attached to my poor plasterwork thank you, plus it's wind and water tight. I don't want a nice new plastic strip and I didn't appreciate the way it was phrased. It suggested nice and new was better, just so the lad could finish the job easier and quicker. Not on. My poor plasterwork took hm ages but I'm happy with it so i'll let him off but goes to show.

mardatha

The daft thing is that I used to do everything - he just went to work and came home! But since he retired and I got ME, he gradually took over which was great as I wasn't well. But now we have new stuff like this stove and I have never had to do it. I will buy one of these ashcans and that's that problem ticked off the list.

[Deleted User]

fuddle you are so with it, what you are doing is just right. I used to follow our friendly plumber around and as a result was able to quickly drain the ch before a complete floor was flooded. Was I glad!

Prepping, when I used to be here ,was generally about world situations and having lots of stocks in but imo prepping is more likely to be needed close to home and in some ways, for me, having lots of stores was a bad thing. I have been following the kondo thread for quite a while and in process have got rid of an awful lot of stuff. Just now, prepping for me is preparing the house for me to get older in comfort. It would be different for younger generations. Strength does go when we get older and we need to find ways to cope

Thats the ticket Mar, a tick on the list and that is good and positive

The cycle ride was lovely, I took some tools just in case but all was ok. I met lovely people coming back and had a right good friendly chat. I am counting my blessings