Unwanted phishing 'phone calls following insurance claim.

theartfullodger

Had a theft from my car, satisfactorily sorted by insurers, CIS.

I then got loads of annoying 'phone calls from various people all wanting to help me with my "accident" (it's wasn't an accident) and quoting the correct date: (So someone has been telling/selling the info).

Eventually after well over 10 I emailed the insurers and got this interesting response...

Incident date: dd.mm.2017
.
Vehicle: AB123CDE
.
Following to the conversation today. We have been having many customers receiving a lot of phishing and Accident Management calls. All Insurance companies are facing this difficulty too.
.
We are looking further into this and have a team investigating this and looking into how these companies are gaining the information and have passed the contact number over to this team to look into this. I can also confirm that you may already know that coop insurance have not instructed these companies to provide you these calls. I can confirm that Coop Insurance have not provided your information under any circumstance.
.
If you've got any questions, please get in touch. Our lines are open Monday to Friday 8:30am until 5pm.
.
D*********** W***************
.
Claims Advisor Motor Claims

I suspect someone is making a fortune flogging this info (could be Police of course).

Anyone else getting this problem? (It's not me I'm bothered about, it's the little-old-lady - or gentleman - who might get ensnared.. )

Whenever I did speak to one of these charming people I politely enquired where they got my 'phone number from: They all got most upset/rude/hurt I'd asked..

Quentin

Lots of reports like this both here and across the net


Get a call blocker system of some sort if you are bothered too much


Many are truly just fishing - though you are right, lots of people know about claims (police/insurance staff/bodyshops/ambulance/hospital etc), and the source could be anyone!

paddyandstumpy

The price comparison websites sell this info.

Have you researched car insurance prices recently?

Ebe_Scrooge

These people are just parasites, but if you've got time to spare you can string them along a bit. I had a classic a few weeks ago :


Me : "Hello"
Scammer : "We are calling about the accident you had"
Me : "Oh yes, which one ?"
Scammer : "The accident you had"
Me : "Yes, which one ? I've had 2 recently"
Scammer : "I'll transfer you to my supervisor"
Supervisor : "We're calling about your accident"
Me : "Yes, I know, I was just speaking to your colleague about it"
Supervisor : "Were you injured ?
Me : "In which accident ?"
Supervisor : "The accident you had"
Me : "Yes, I know. As I explained to your colleague, I've had 2 recently, which one are you referring to ?"
Supervisor : "The one you were injured in"
Me : "I was injured in both of them"
Supervisor : "Oh - in that case, the one you were most seriously injured in"
Me : "Ah, right, that would have been the one a couple of weeks ago"
Supervisor : "Were you very seriously injured ?"
Me : "Yes, I'll say. In fact I died. But luckily I'm a Buddhist so I got reincarnated"


... Scammer puts the phone down at this point :rotfl:

Stoke

After I listed the Audi on Gumtree, an automatic web crawler must have picked up my phone number. Ever since, I have received phone calls (At one point, it was 4 or 5 a day) from companies telling me they can make me loads of money from an accident I never had.

I just block them now. No point in getting frustrated about it.

theartfullodger

It's not me I'm bothered about, as said before it's the

....little-old-lady - or gentleman - who might get ensnared.. ...

Another recommended response is
"hello"?
blah blah blah....
"Oh, thanks for 'phoning, I've not spoken to anyone for 9 days and was about to kill myself, so wonderful to hear a kind friendly voice...."
- you get the idea, see how long (& therefore how much of their time & £££) you can keep them going

Robisere

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

These people are just parasites, but if you've got time to spare you can string them along a bit. I had a classic a few weeks ago :


Me : "Hello"
Scammer : "We are calling about the accident you had"
Me : "Oh yes, which one ?"
Scammer : "The accident you had"
Me : "Yes, which one ? I've had 2 recently"
Scammer : "I'll transfer you to my supervisor"
Supervisor : "We're calling about your accident"
Me : "Yes, I know, I was just speaking to your colleague about it"
Supervisor : "Were you injured ?
Me : "In which accident ?"
Supervisor : "The accident you had"
Me : "Yes, I know. As I explained to your colleague, I've had 2 recently, which one are you referring to ?"
Supervisor : "The one you were injured in"
Me : "I was injured in both of them"
Supervisor : "Oh - in that case, the one you were most seriously injured in"
Me : "Ah, right, that would have been the one a couple of weeks ago"
Supervisor : "Were you very seriously injured ?"
Me : "Yes, I'll say. In fact I died. But luckily I'm a Buddhist so I got reincarnated"


... Scammer puts the phone down at this point :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl:Wonderful! Can I use that, or is it copyright? :rotfl:

oldagetraveller

I wonder if the Co-op have many chickens in their "coop"?

AnotherJoe

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

These people are just parasites, but if you've got time to spare you can string them along a bit. I had a classic a few weeks ago :


Me : "Hello"
Scammer : "We are calling about the accident you had"
Me : "Oh yes, which one ?"
Scammer : "The accident you had"
Me : "Yes, which one ? I've had 2 recently"
Scammer : "I'll transfer you to my supervisor"
Supervisor : "We're calling about your accident"
Me : "Yes, I know, I was just speaking to your colleague about it"
Supervisor : "Were you injured ?
Me : "In which accident ?"
Supervisor : "The accident you had"
Me : "Yes, I know. As I explained to your colleague, I've had 2 recently, which one are you referring to ?"
Supervisor : "The one you were injured in"
Me : "I was injured in both of them"
Supervisor : "Oh - in that case, the one you were most seriously injured in"
Me : "Ah, right, that would have been the one a couple of weeks ago"
Supervisor : "Were you very seriously injured ?"
Me : "Yes, I'll say. In fact I died. But luckily I'm a Buddhist so I got reincarnated"


... Scammer puts the phone down at this point :rotfl:

LOL. I did the same. Phone went down when i said i had been decapitated

Seems to me if more people wasted their time like this they might have to pack it in.

Ebe_Scrooge

Robisere wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl:Wonderful! Can I use that, or is it copyright? :rotfl:

Please feel free to use it ! Actually, I managed to keep the !!!!!!s on the phone for about 15 minutes or so - that's the condensed version.

I did ask them where they got my details from - apparently, from the "RTA database" LOL.

I asked them to provide me with the date of the accident they were referring to ( they couldn't, of course - I've never had an accident ). But that flustered them a bit : "hang on, you've called me - you must be able to see on your system the details of my accident", etc., etc.

The trick is to remain polite and sound as though you're interested in what they have to offer - right up until the last minute when you've had enough. Hey, let's have a little competition as to who can keep these muppets on the line the longest :-)

OK, I know it's childish - but hey, we all need some fun in our lives. I was actually at work when that happened, and my colleagues were in fits of laughter just hearing my end of the conversation. When my phone rang again the next day, from an unknown number, they were so disappointed when it turned out to be some sort of crappy recorded message rather than a real womble who I could wind up. I am registered with the TPS, but apparently it doesn't work for numbers originating from abroad ? But hey ho, you can choose to either ignore the call ( and block the number ) or have a bit of fun

GunJack

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Hey, let's have a little competition as to who can keep these muppets on the line the longest :-)

Been doing this with the Windows/BT/TT/whoever techie muppets for several years...if you've got the time it's a giggle