Have you been scammed ?

Bellbird

Bellbird

-Oceania-South Pacific
Location
New Zealand
I had a phone call this afternoon from my supposed bank informing me that there were 2 debits going onto my credit card for over $1000 each, from a certain overseas company that she said I had not dealt with before.
My first thought was its a scam then when she mentioned that I had not dealt with this company before I was beginning to think there must be some truth in it otherwise how did she know.?
In the next breath she said will you give permission for these amounts to be debited to your account, that really rang alarm bells, I hung up.
This week I heard that so many people in NZ are being scammed for millions of dollars a year.
I can understand how it happens.
 

One of my financial institutions did call me a few years ago and asked if I had tried to buy an $1,100 plane ticket online using the credit card they'd issued me. I said "No!" She said "I didn't think that was you so we didn't let the charge go through. We'll be freezing that account number and issuing you new cards."
 

We started getting so many "spam" calls, about a year ago, that I installed a call blocker on our phone. When someone calls, if we don't recognize the number, we let the phone go to "leave a message"....which almost Never happens. Since I installed the blocker, we have blocked several hundred numbers. We have even had a couple of calls which showed our own number on the Caller ID.
 
Bellbird said:
I had a phone call this afternoon from my supposed bank informing me that there were 2 debits going onto my credit card for over $1000 each, from a certain overseas company that she said I had not dealt with before.
My first thought was its a scam then when she mentioned that I had not dealt with this company before I was beginning to think there must be some truth in it otherwise how did she know.?
In the next breath she said will you give permission for these amounts to be debited to your account, that really rang alarm bells, I hung up.
This week I heard that so many people in NZ are being scammed for millions of dollars a year.
I can understand how it happens.
Click to expand...
I've had calls from scammers but never fell for any of them. I had a call from the "IRS" saying I owed a couple of thousand dollars worth of taxes and unless I paid immediately a sheriff would come to my house and repo my car, etc. He said I could be arrested and put in prison if I did not pay. I let him babble on for a while, wondering how far he would go, then I jumped on him letting him know that I could report him for the scam he was trying to pull and he'd spend a long time in prison for his crime, hung up soon after that.
 
SeaBreeze said:
I've had calls from scammers but never fell for any of them. I had a call from the "IRS" saying I owed a couple of thousand dollars worth of taxes and unless I paid immediately a sheriff would come to my house and repo my car, etc. He said I could be arrested and put in prison if I did not pay. I let him babble on for a while, wondering how far he would go, then I jumped on him letting him know that I could report him for the scam he was trying to pull and he'd spend a long time in prison for his crime, hung up soon after that.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. I always like that one. If you stay on long enough, they'll tell you that they have a sniper trained on you if you don't go get those gift cards they want.
 
Don M. said:
We started getting so many "spam" calls, about a year ago, that I installed a call blocker on our phone. When someone calls, if we don't recognize the number, we let the phone go to "leave a message"....which almost Never happens. Since I installed the blocker, we have blocked several hundred numbers. We have even had a couple of calls which showed our own number on the Caller ID.
Click to expand...
Yes, we've had some with our own name as the caller. 🤡
 
Don M. said:
We started getting so many "spam" calls, about a year ago, that I installed a call blocker on our phone. When someone calls, if we don't recognize the number, we let the phone go to "leave a message"....which almost Never happens. Since I installed the blocker, we have blocked several hundred numbers. We have even had a couple of calls which showed our own number on the Caller ID.
Click to expand...
We did the same.
 
Bellbird said:
I had a phone call this afternoon from my supposed bank informing me that there were 2 debits going onto my credit card for over $1000 each, from a certain overseas company that she said I had not dealt with before.
My first thought was its a scam then when she mentioned that I had not dealt with this company before I was beginning to think there must be some truth in it otherwise how did she know.?
In the next breath she said will you give permission for these amounts to be debited to your account, that really rang alarm bells, I hung up.
This week I heard that so many people in NZ are being scammed for millions of dollars a year.
I can understand how it happens.
Click to expand...
You can never be "too careful".
 
I think if my bank called I would not give any information, I would hang up and call the number I had for the bank and speak to someone about the problem, if there was one. I've had calls that show my local utilities company in the caller ID, and it was just a scammer using their name to get people to pick up.
 
Bellbird said:
I had a phone call this afternoon from my supposed bank informing me that there were 2 debits going onto my credit card for over $1000 each, from a certain overseas company that she said I had not dealt with before.
My first thought was its a scam then when she mentioned that I had not dealt with this company before I was beginning to think there must be some truth in it otherwise how did she know.?
In the next breath she said will you give permission for these amounts to be debited to your account, that really rang alarm bells, I hung up.
This week I heard that so many people in NZ are being scammed for millions of dollars a year.
I can understand how it happens.
Click to expand...
If you are concerned about spam and spammers then hang up and immediately phone your banking institution to enquire about the phone call you received
 
Bellbird said:
In the next breath she said will you give permission for these amounts to be debited to your account,
Click to expand...
Obviously you weren’t going to say yes so I don’t understand how this was worrisome. I would just say no, say I’m calling the bank and confirm this was them.

Before texts and alerts, banks used to call and check to confirm a suspicious call. It happened to my husband and a couple of friends. The banks weren’t the least bit interested in any help offered to figure out where the card info was stolen from.
 
I got so many hoax calls that I bought an answering machine. They never leave a message but they try ringing at different times to try to catch you.
Many of the calls have an overseas number, and as I have several family members living abroad, I always used to answer. Now I stick to emails, not phone calls.
 
Bellbird said:
I had a phone call this afternoon from my supposed bank informing me that there were 2 debits going onto my credit card for over $1000 each, from a certain overseas company that she said I had not dealt with before.
My first thought was its a scam then when she mentioned that I had not dealt with this company before I was beginning to think there must be some truth in it otherwise how did she know.?
In the next breath she said will you give permission for these amounts to be debited to your account, that really rang alarm bells, I hung up.
This week I heard that so many people in NZ are being scammed for millions of dollars a year.
I can understand how it happens.
Click to expand...
I got a call from my bank the other week saying that two people — located at quite a distance from us — were trying to use my card to place charges of over $1,000 each and wanted to verify that this was us. They (the bank) blocked one charge but, because the the second charge had already gone through, ate that charge, and sent me a new card. I feel bad for the bank for having to swallow the bogus charge that had gone through.
 
Discover Card called to ask if I used the card, but I did make a purchase. I don't answer the phone. I let the answering function take the call. Most of the time, they hang up. And if it's someone I want to talk with, their phone number is right there
 
hawkdon said:
Got this on my jitterbug phone.....
https://news.yahoo.com/gotten-wrong-number-text-woman-204639129.html
but she didn't text me LOL....;)
Click to expand...
In the Yahoo article it says that responding to the text message confirms your phone number is real.

It also says “Once they have access to your phone, then they have access to your contact list,” she lays out. “One victim makes it a good day for them.”

How does replying that the text was sent to the wrong number give them access to your contact list?
 
I have had my bank call me to confirm the validity of a check being cashed for a large amount, I'm happy they are cautious and I'm glad they didn't block the roofer from cashing the check I sent :)

And I've had the credit card people call and email at various times (once from my daughter buying over a hundred dollars of subway sandwiches in the middle of the night - she had asked my permission a few days before to use my card to give a party to her fellow graduates, but I didn't know it was going to be in the middle of the night, she was lucky I was still up and saw the email from the credit card company that the charge was being blocked until I confirmed it was legit).

Once I had the excitement of a scammer calling claiming to be from Microsoft support and saying my computer was alerting them to a problem. I'd seen YouTube videos of that scam so it was interesting to hear a scammer in real-life. I gave him a lecture about he should look for a better job that didn't involve stealing money from people. He was polite but got off the phone quickly.
 
We get 1 or 2 robo calls a day, but since we have caller ID they are easily recognized. I just disconnect them. Few months ago I answered one out of curiosity. A kid sounding voice on the other end said Hello gramps I've been arrested! Then he goes on to explain his innocence -- while I wait for the money request. (I've heard they usually want pre-paid cards.) He finally gets to the "I need your help", and I replied "I think you should have called someone else." Click -- dial tone. (-8

As for the scam emails, they can be forwarded to the FTC -- spam@uce.gov
 
Jules, my post was actually referring to the many NZ'ers who get scammed out of their money not about it being worrisome per se.
 

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