184 Fraud Troubles

It doesn’t matter how small or how big it is, fraud is a crime. But what is fraud? Fraud is knowingly giving someone wrong information. There are different levels, and some are more punishable than others, for example when you text someone from a phone that isn’t yours, that is called fraud unless you announce who you are. Granted it is usually not a punishable version, but it is still fraud.

Recently there have been a lot of fraud scams going around, particularly through phone calls. If you answer a phone, you are at risk of falling into a scam. Luckily so far, I haven’t been caught out, I kept them talking and got their number after hanging up. So, I wanted to share the general things I do to try and avoid fraud.

My top tips are:

• Keep an eye on local news, usually when a large operation is taking place a lot of people will get a call from the same number. When many people are affected, it is common for it to be posted on social media and in small local newspapers.

• There was a recent news report of callers asking, “Can you hear me?” if the person says “yes” they now have a recorded phone call of you agreeing. They then use this as you say “yes” to the scam.

• Another common one is the HMRC. In 2015 over 500 million fake emails were sent telling people they were due for a refund.

• If they are claiming to be from a company that you are a member of. Think about it, have called you before? The chances are if you have never had a call from them, it is likely to be a fraud call.

• Ask them for their name, fraud callers often won’t want to give it to you.

• Find out information about the company, and where their call centres are. If you are with a company that has a call centre in Liverpool, the background noise should be a lot of people speaking English.

• If they are asking for your address, ask them why they need it.

Ask them how they got your number. Fraud callers have been known to demand they take your name and number and won’t say anything else until you hand it over.

What I tend to do is play along without giving any information just to waste their time. It is also more likely that you will end up with their number which you can take to the police. To get the number, as soon as you have hung up dial 1471 but have a pen and paper ready to write the number down.

Feel free to leave your thoughts or comments below, have you ever been caught in a scam? Maybe you had to change your email account or your Facebook account. Fraud is sadly a regular occurrence especially as internet usage is on the up rise.