ASDA scam?

HBelfast

Ergates said:

HBelfast said:

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone else had a weird call claiming to be from ASDA? I had a call which I answered because it seemed to be from a local landline number. The caller said they were from ASDA and said they'd noticed I hadn't shopped with them for a while and wondered why BUT then they said 'Ah I can see you shopped with us the other day' which I had done online. 

It's hard to explain, but the whole thing felt off somehow and I'm wondering if I've unwittingly given a scammer some sort of confirmation of my name and number...

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts!

Thanks,

H

Seems a little weird - but did they actually ask you anything?

Scammers are always after something - either money, or useable/sellable information.

They seemed to be keen to make sure my name matched my mobile number.

HBelfast

Thanks everyone. It's great to have your thoughts and insights.

It could be nothing, but something felt off about it instinctively. 

Why would they use a number which seemed to be local too? For a big corporation like Asda, that seems odd.

MyRealNameToo

HBelfast said:

MyRealNameToo said:

It would be a more concerning call if it was to someone who's never shopped at Asda or they claimed a recent transaction that the person hadn't made.

So what happened after they spotted you had made a purchase? 

Name and telephone number are hardly classified information, for those of us of a certain age you'd get your whole areas names and phone numbers delivered to you annually in the phone book with very few proportionally being ex-directory. 

They said something very vague like 'Remember to use your app and vouchers'. It's hard to explain, but it felt a little off!

It could be a person new on the job. 

When I did my outbound calling it was hard to answer "who do you work for" to friends but to the people I called there was a clear answer and I fortunately only worked for that one ultimate client. Other teams in the building switched ultimate clients frequently, sometimes they were running multiple compaigns at the same time so dont know if the call is for Tesco, Sky, BT or someone else until the computer has dialled the call. 

I can have sympathy for them too because when working for an insurer on their out of hours claims line we would also take calls for other firms as an out of hours service. On each desk was supposed to be a folder with a list of firms, what we were supposed to be doing for each and what to do at the end of the call. So you'd be sat their, your headphone would beep and say the name of the company and you are then on with the caller and you say "Goodeverning thanks for calling XXX, my name is ABC, how can I help you?" whilst furiously flicking through the folder to find out who the hell XXX and what you should do... often then lunging across to the next desk as XXX is missing from your folder. 

As these were inbound calls no one is going to think its a scam but they are sure going to wonder what the hells going on when the person doesnt know what the hell is going on etc. 

They asked you nothing, they got nothing out you, if its a scam its the most stupid one going. 

Alderbank

I don't see a great mystery here.

The OP has in the past signed up to Asda's loyalty scheme Asda Rewards and forgotten about it.

GardenBirdWatcher

They asked you nothing, they got nothing out you, if its a scam its the most stupid one going. 

I'd say they got quite a lot of valuable information from them - the fact that the mobile number is active and who it belongs to, that they shop at Asda (and possibly that they shop online there, depending on how the OP answered their questions).

I've never tried it, but it looks like you can log into Adsa accounts with either an email or phone number, so this could well be the start of a phishing attempt.

@HBelfast, It would be a good idea to keep an eye out for any suspicious emails/text messages relating to Asda and also make sure that your account has a strong password that you don't use elsewhere.

MyRealNameToo

GardenBirdWatcher said:

They asked you nothing, they got nothing out you, if its a scam its the most stupid one going. 

I'd say they got quite a lot of valuable information from them - the fact that the mobile number is active and who it belongs to, that they shop at Asda (and possibly that they shop online there, depending on how the OP answered their questions). 

Dont need a human to test if a line is active, vastly quicker and cheaper not to use one. They may or may not have gotten a full or partial name - OP hasn't fully stated the flow - but a name and phone number isnt hard to find if you are simply looking for someone (rather than someone in particular). 

The only real thing they potentially got was they shop at Asda, potentially online. Depending on which part of the country the OP is in it's probably a 1 in 5 anyway. Personally dont think thats a valuable piece of information to attempt to phish on its own and wouldnt incur the expense of human call agents to only attempt to get that one piece of information.

badmemory

I automatically now assume that every call I receive, unless the callers name shows, is some kind of scam/sales call.  I had to apologise to my solicitors the other day & he thought it was highly amusing & actually said good for you.  So these days assume doesn't always make an !!!!!! out of you & me and is often a good thing.  Actually unless they didn't have your email address I would vote for scam.  Why would any large company like Asda pay for someone to call when they can send a bulk email.  Whilst I may not respond directly to an email I am more likely to actually read it than I am to answer a unkniown call in a "receptive mood".

HBelfast

Thank you everyone. Lots to think about, you're all very helpful. 

powerful_Rogue

HBelfast said:

Thank you everyone. Lots to think about, you're all very helpful. 

Wouldn't waste too much time thinking about it.

born_again

No name, not a number I recognise. I No answer the phone. If it's important they will leave voice mail.