Covid19 Scam

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Hi folks, just heard about a Covid scam, from what I understand it starts off by offering a jab but goes on asking for personal details and a payment for an appointment. Maybe worth sending a warning to elderly parents not to fall for it.

[Gracie]

After tonight's announcement people have had enough with out some low life trying to scam us out of much needed money. Unbelievable 

Thank you for the info OBB x

[BroadAmbition]

Unbelievable 

Sadly or should I say infuriatingly it is all too believable, low life, pond scum will use every opportunity to scam innocent and vulnerable folk out of their hard earned

The similar scam I heard is that the scum ring up confirming that it is your turn for a jab but need your personal details confirming - All good to this point, until they then ask for bank and personal financial details.

The scammers need a public birching as they are aiming to exploit the most vulnerable in our society.

Can I volunteer to administer the Birch please?

Griff

[SteveO]

My next door neighbour had this. He had the sense to contact his local GP surgery, who advised that it was a scam. 

[marshman]

Thats been around for sometime now - not sure its that successful once they start asking for money!

[OldBerkshireBoy]

2 minutes ago, marshman said:

Thats been around for sometime now - not sure its that successful once they start asking for money!

As I understand the scam, I wonder how many people would take it up and spend  £10 for an appointment.

[Gracie]

One person scammed out of £10 is one too many especially considering how vulnerable and afraid people feel at this time, it's unforgivable x

[Chelsea14Ian]

The Covid  vaccine is only available  on the NHS, and is not available  private. That said any of these scammers are the lowest  of the low.Think since March we've had between  us at least  one phone call from scammers a week.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

I had no idea that others knew of the scam. Trust you alerted your family to it.

[marshman]

Fortunately, like some others I suspect, my sister got suspicious when they asked for money!

[floydraser]

A couple of ways to treat phone scammers: if you have time on your hands, keep them talking by asking dumb questions. The longer you keep them talking, the less time they have to scam others. It can also be fun. Tell them your name's Oswaldwhistle or something.

We also have one of those desk bells that you hit the plunger on top to ring. One of my lads bought it for me for a laugh, the dome is 6 inches diameter. This is sometimes deployed at short range; childish I know but as I see it, the scammer has already broken down the barriers of what is sensible.

[Chelsea14Ian]

Think it's best if you dont recognise the number dont answer it.

[Paladin]

11 hours ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

Think it's best if you dont recognise the number dont answer it.

In which case, you could very well miss the genuine call, giving you an appointment to get the anti-covid vaccination.

[retired]

They are also sending text scams.

[Chelsea14Ian]

If genuine, they will call you again.Also you can check the number,which I've  done a few times to see if it's a scam number.

 

[addicted]

During the run up to Christmas, on one day we had 5 scam calls before lunch starting at 7.30am mostly telling us that our intenet provider was about to pull the plug. I notice that we always get these calls when we have ordered  something on line. We hadn't ordered  anything since Christmas and we've had no calls but ordered something on Saturday and lo and behold we have had several calls since yesterday.

 

 

Carole

 

[grendel]

i had that one supposedly from BT this morning, saying they were going to pull  the plug, strange really as i have just taken out a new contract with BT as the previous had expired, upon checking out the number it seems as though the call originated in india.

one previous one was a call saying they heard i had been involved in an accident, when i responded that this was incorrect i got put through to a real human who asked me what accident i had had, they quite politely got told that i had said this was incorrect and that i would be reporting the matter to offcom.

[Chelsea14Ian]

What some of these scams work on is the fact you answer  there call.Therefore I dont answer a call if I dont recognise it.As I've  said you can easily check numbers to see if there genuine. 

From what I understand regarding  the vaccine you will be contacted  via GP surgerys or the NHS.This is what the Government informed me in writing.

[annv]

Hi Ian we dont get scam call's (i feel left out) we have the BT call phone that intercepts the call if its not in the memory it asks who you are and doesn't put the call through if we dont except it.  Ian how do you check the number to see if it is genuine please just in case we do get one. John

[Smoggy]

The problem is most NHS numbers show up as private number, I've apologised to NHS staff before for answering rudely, they understood where I was coming from.

[Chelsea14Ian]

Go to Google  and type in the number.It will show if it's a scam number.I've used it a few times very good.

[Chelsea14Ian]

2 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

The problem is most NHS numbers show up as private number, I've apologised to NHS staff before for answering rudely, they understood where I was coming from.

Very true.During my treatment  hospital numbers,often showed up as private  numbers,or sometimes there switch board.

[annv]

Thanks for that Ian i'l give t a try . John

[annv]

Hi Ian just tried that there are lots of sites to choose from, which is the best one just a bit paranoid that clicking on to wrong site may be problematic. John

[Meantime]

There a number of websites where you can enter a number and see who called you, however the information on them is only as good as the general public who supply it.

http://who-called.co.uk

http://checkphonenumber.co.uk

I once received an automated message stating that there had potentially been fraudulent activity on my credit card and to get in touch. I called the number back and it didn't accept incoming calls. I did the reverse lookup on the above websites and Google and they all identified that calls from that number were generally scams or hoax calls so I did not respond. A few days later I went to use my credit card and it was declined! I rang my bank to find out why and they said that they had detected suspicious activity with somewhere I had used my card recently and they wanted to replace my card and give me a new long card number. They also explained that they had tried to contact me Doh! and failed and therefore suspended the card pending me getting in touch. 

In that case it had been a genuine call which I ignored based upon bad information on the web. No harm done ultimately as I wasn't defrauded and apart from the incovenience of having my credit card declined and the number changed, they would have changed the card anyway.