Financial Scams - BE ALERT

My husband and I fell victims to identity fraud and theft at the beginning of October and lost ALLsavings invested in Nationwide Building Society and also First Direct who , when made aware of my loss , refunded me in full within 24 hours.
The case is now under review by Nationwide and the local Police in Battle .
These scammers prey on the elderly like me and ,without the benefit of hindsight and knowledge of their criminal minds , can suffer as a result .Please find time to read up on " Nationwide Police Identity Fraud " so you can avoid being SCAMMED,
Jenny Namaste

 

Should I ask how it was done, I have a Nationwide account.

 

Please read the article ,

 

Do you mean this one, @Jenny namaste ?

Police impersonation scams | Nationwide

 

So sorry @Jenny namaste what a horrible thing to happen, good luck with the aftermath.
I googled Nationwide Police identity fraud, and many results came up

Many years ago my father was scammed by a phone caller posing as a Microsoft employee, luckily only a few hundred pounds, but it knocked the stuffing out of him.

 

A very good article which fits in with our scenario,
Aaah, if only we'd seen it at that time
Jenny namaste

 

Yes, its a minefield out there these days !

As well as the type of scam Jenny has suffered there are the online Dating scammers that even the younger ones can fall for. Just on our local Yorkshire news last night, a 40 something single mother who lost £90k to such a scam, even though she had not met the person in the flesh.

One progam we always try to watch is Rip Off Britian which exposes such scams and trys to help us oldies avoid them.
Its has short series on BBC1 about 10am now and then, but they all can be viewed on iPlayer, really a must have watch.

Rip Off Britain - Series 17: 6. I cancelled my card, but scammers kept spending - BBC iPlayer

 

BBC scotland does a good programe "scam interceptors"

what i don't like is that theese scum bags don't seem to get caute

 

The main problem is that many of them are not in the UK so our police can do little about it.
Like that Scan Interceptors program shows they are in call centers in countries like India and Nigeria.

Probably the safest thing is not to accept any incoming calls you do not recognise, if it was really from your Bank they will also contact you by other safe means.

We have answered calls that were actaully from our bank and we refused to " take you through security" , they then replied, oh, thats so good to hear someone saying that and staying safe, please call our usual helpline number thats one the back of our bank card.

 

Ohhhh jenny how awful i hope it’s quickly sorted for you.

I had my credit card hacked and thousands spent in Johnlewis and I had no clue.


The bank tried to contact me on several occasions but I thought they were hoax calls and I put the phone down every time. But I rang my bank in the end and put through to fraud . The way they spoke to me you would think I was the thief. But all sorted but all very stressful.

it’s a weird feeling on how it makes you feel as , no house broken into or the car pinched.

big hugs Jen

Spruce

 

I'm sorry to hear this. My grandmother had a near miss, probably ten years or so ago with something that sounds very similar. She was very lucky that the nationwide cashier was on the ball because she questioned why she was withdrawing 20k and then called the police.

 

I had a call at 3 in the morning last Sunday from someone trying to pull the grandparent scam. You know the one where they claim to be your grandkid, in trouble and needing money. They count on catching you when your half asleep and your brain isn't in full motion. They could win a drama award.

Of course I gave them an earful and They hung up on Me!

 

I'm fortunate in not having children or even any relatives who would claim to be in distress/need money but this sort of scam can easily catch people out.
My landline phone is left on the ansaphone - if calls are genuine, they will leave a message, if not, they just put the phone down.
No device to send/receive texts so no problems there but, of course, the scammers are very fond of using the internet and so weird emails appear at times.
It's not a perfect solution by any means and I'm aware I can still become a victim without knowing until it's too late.
All best wishes for a good outcome @Jenny namaste