Suspicious phone calls

nyermen

You must pay now, you must give us your details now, you must hand over the code your bank who we are pretending to be is about to send you urgently, you must immediately withdraw all your savings and give them to the plain clothes police officer outside without ID, who says that the bank staff are under investigation so ignore them, etc etc.

They try different ways, but the common theme for scammers is always urgency.  Because in reality, your bank can freeze your account without you, and the police dont use the public for undercover stings.

Le_Kirk

My wife had a similar call from HMRC (so they said) and, after threatening to do all sorts of unspeakable things, least of which was to be arrested, the computerised voice said "have a nice day - take care!"

MACKEM99

We never answer the phone and let it go onto answerphone.  If it is important or someone we know they will leave a message and we call them back.  We also do this if we are near the phone when it rings.

cannugec5

MACKEM99 said:

We never answer the phone and let it go onto answerphone.  If it is important or someone we know they will leave a message and we call them back.  We also do this if we are near the phone when it rings.

The problem there is that some bodies - some departments of the NHS included are not permitted to leave answerphone messages, in case the message is received by the ‘wrong’ person, or cannot be verified as being received by anyone at all. 

Hence they will not leave a message saying they were trying to contact you for a Covid vaccination. They will move on to the next name on the list, if you don’t pick up. 

Abbafan1972

It is not always a good idea to block withheld numbers as well, as a lot of doctors surgeries, hospitals withhold their numbers.  So you could miss a call about your covid vaccine. 

TripleH

With the HMRC scam, another big tell is the language used. American accents or uncommon words are also a giveaway.

MalMonroe

MACKEM99 said:

We never answer the phone and let it go onto answerphone.  If it is important or someone we know they will leave a message and we call them back.  We also do this if we are near the phone when it rings.

I also do this. In my experience, scammers never leave any message. 

MalMonroe

cannugec5 said:

MACKEM99 said:

We never answer the phone and let it go onto answerphone.  If it is important or someone we know they will leave a message and we call them back.  We also do this if we are near the phone when it rings.

The problem there is that some bodies - some departments of the NHS included are not permitted to leave answerphone messages, in case the message is received by the ‘wrong’ person, or cannot be verified as being received by anyone at all. 

Hence they will not leave a message saying they were trying to contact you for a Covid vaccination. They will move on to the next name on the list, if you don’t pick up. 

No that is not true. I don't answer my phone and my GP surgery DID leave a message asking me to contact them to arrange my vaccination. They do not 'move on to the next name' at all. Everyone is entitled to have the vaccination and GPs will try again, or they will leave a message. That's just a bit of scaremongering without any foundation.

MalMonroe

Abbafan1972 said:

It is not always a good idea to block withheld numbers as well, as a lot of doctors surgeries, hospitals withhold their numbers.  So you could miss a call about your covid vaccine. 

They will send a letter if they cannot get through on the phone. No need to worry about it.

MalMonroe

Todd9 said:

I've had 2 calls with a recording saying their from HM revenue and there is a fraud case against me and to press 1 to discuss. I'm 74 and retired at 68. My earnings where with P.A Y.E.  I've hung up on both. Would like advice please.

As others have said, you did the right thing. Scammers just wanting your hard earned cash.