Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Phone Scam Warning

I just dodged a phone scam.
A private phone number call to my mobile pretending to be Tesco Bank about my mastercard.
The guy knew I lived in Suffolk & had my email. He said they had blocked two strange transactions to TUI for each over £1k so my card was now cancelled.

He didn't take me through any security which did make me wonder. He then asked if we had a text from Tesco & I did . I could for one of the transaction type Y for yes thus agreeing it was valid or N for no. He urged me to send Y as otherwise my Barclays account & the new card would be blocked for 28 days. Luckily he would then file a report for us so that no money was taken.

He got most insistent but I hung up and called Tesco on another phone who told me it was a scam.

Always wondered if you could trace the leak of CC info like this. Whatever company you used that leaked is committing a big no no re PII rules on credit card number storage. Worth now asking for a CC replacement no, and always ask for the last 4 digits of any card related to a security issue.

Given the amount of vendors that you have likely provided with your card details some of which may be typed in by humans to company systems, what are the chances if them harvesting some, to sell on if their jobs seem ever likely to be replaced by automation be that A.I. or whatever...Hmm..?
I received one such communication which seemed likely that only one of my car insurance companies seemed to have my phone number and vehicle details...Frustrating or what, I am left to wonder just how long before my ever reducing grey matter fails to trigger a scam alarm possibility.... Sigh.

I recently had a very convincing scam attempt via WhatsApp, trying to get me to re-enter my card details to secure my hotel booking for June. I didn't follow the link they said but instead rang the hotel direct to check.

Apparently it was a scam as a result of a hack on Booking.com.

I now only use booking.com to identify accommodation, and then I deal directly with the hotel.

Which? has issued dozens of scam alerts about them over the last year, if you subscribe to Which? magazine these are worth a read...

Lack of proper checks is leaving Booking.com wide open to scammers, Which? warns
A lack of effective checks is leaving Booking.com wide open to fraudsters, Which? finds.

The scam crisis on Booking.com
Which? calls on Ofcom to investigate as nearly one in 10 Booking.com customers in our survey believe they’ve been sent scam messages

Scam alert: why you can’t trust that ‘Booking.com’ message
Which? explains how messages that appear within Booking.com's messaging system could actually be from scammers

Booking.com replaces customer service staff with AI
Scam victims forced to first report traumatic fraud experiences to artificial intelligence bot

Fake ads using copied details of genuine property.

I never give my email address to retailers .They all ask for it with post code. I just insist I pay no information needed .

When they insist on a phone number I give them my internet number that doesn't have anything connected to it.

My phone solution is easy - only answer the landline if you recognise the number - local calls can be spoofed.

Mobile only rings if the number calling is in my directory.

They will always leave a message if it is urgent.

^^^ This, and having no mates is a bonus.

Oh and I never look at the voicemail. I tried to stop that and failed.