General Chat

I think I escaped being scammed a few months ago.

One Saturday in early December, we got a phone call. Young-ish man, accent sounded like a South African, quite excited, addressed me by name.

He said he was phoning from Cartier in downtown Vancouver, gave his name and a phone number by which to contact him. They had a man who was trying to buy a very expensive watch and had handed over a credit card in my name. When questioned, he said I was his aunt, and had given him permission to use the card. Cartier had called the police, but I was being called because the guy had several bags from expensive shops in the same area.

The South African wanted to warn me, and wanted me to phone my credit card company "now" to determine whether it had been used.

I was a bit wary, although he sounded very genuine, because, despite all my asking, he would not say which card was involved. He just kept saying phone the company. Eventually I said OK, and hung up.

I didn't phone immediately ......... I went online, checked the activity on one of the 2 cards I carry. No action, nothing "pending".

I checked Cartier online, the phone number he gave me differed by the last digit from the one shown. No problem, companies often have several numbers.

I eventually (after about 20-30 minutes!) tried to phone Visa to ask about that card ........ advised there would be a 30 minute wait, before even punching in my card number. So I hung up.

I kept watch on card activity for the next few days, before we went away for Christmas. Nothing. And there was no activity on either of them other than what we put on while we were away (and none since).


Last week the police in Vancouver issued a warning about a new scam that had been going on for "a few weeks".

People were being phoned, told someone was trying to use a credit card in their name in a luxury store, and advised to phone the credit card company. The caller would then hang up.

But they did not disconnect .......

...... so if the "victim" did phone the credit card company immediately, the scammer got hold of ALL their details and could then use the credit card.

A number of people ended up being scammed.


I think I was lucky!

The only thing that really puzzles me is how he got my name and phone number ........ the landline is and always has been shown in the phone directory under OH's name.


Unfortunately, I threw away the piece of paper on which I had written his name, phone number and details, and I haven't phoned the police about it.

I posted this on another site that I am on, and someone who also lives in Canada has replied saying that she had received a similar call, but regarding Louis Vuitton luggage

The watch in my case was worth $10,000, the luggage in hers worth $11,000 ............

so not inconsiderable sums.


Don't be taken in by this scam if it spreads!!!

Don't immediately phone your credit card company. Check out online first. Use a cell phone if you can.

I think she means the called person hangs up...

Steam telephony uses at&t star codes to set up calls and variations Inc not dropping the line. These can be embedded into a computer program.
for mobile phones there are the # codes and the hackers delight of USSD.

Sylvia's scam has proved popular and effective with scammers in the UK. Often they pretend to be from the bank and send a courier to collect the victim's card. Usual targets are over 60s. Helpfully the UK electoral rolls include ages.
Watchdog has covered it several times.

Although the scam can use mobile phones it is tricky. With trad land lines ezpz.

Not had that call...yet.....but have had numerous others including a recorded message telling me my card has been used for fraudulent activities and I should contact the authorities immediately.

I had a good one from a man purporting to be from TalkTalk, our internet and landline provider.

Dragged it out as long as I could ..... puffing and blowing as I went upstairs, moaning when I had to bend over to the switch, muttering and mumbling as I searched for my password and ending with a startled cry as the whole kit and caboodle disconnected itself. You know the scenario - going a bit gaga for the caller.

After ages, I then said very politely, 'I can try again if you like.'

Dead phone.

It rang a minute or so later and a female voice said 'Bitch.'

What surprised me was that we have always been ex-directory apart from the time we first got the phone in the mid-60s when we had a shared line (remember them?).

Island .............

I used the exact phrase that the police used.

The caller hung up but the line was not disconnected.

I'm not well up in telephone scientifics, and don't pretend to be (unlike some on here), so I have no idea how the scam works .............. but the basics is that the person called BELIEVES that the caller has hung up and therefore has disconnected.

Somehow that is the impression given ............ but the victim's phone is not disconnected from the scammers line.



Rollo ....... for your information ...........

This scam is NOT the same one as the one you mentioned ................ "Sylvia's scam has proved popular and effective with scammers in the UK. Often they pretend to be from the bank and send a courier to collect the victim's card."

The police are not comparing the two, they consider this a new scam.

No-one offers to come for your card. The item purchased and its value is specified but the store "has not fallen for the attempted scam". You are told to phone your card company to find out if it has been used for other purposes "as the man is carrying a number of bags from luxury stores in the neighbourhood and your card might have already been compromised".

All sounds very genuine.

Do you ever read other posts thoroughly before posting what you THINK is what is said????

Sylvia, I don't know whether that particular scam has been used in the UK or not but there have been several where the scammer suggests you ring bank/credit card company etc. but hasn't disconnected. There are regular warnings in the newspapers, on radio, by the police and so on telling those who want to ring their bank etc. to do so from a different phone.

Many people have a landline and a mobile. If they don't have access to another phone they can often ask if they can use a neighbour's. If they cannot access a separate phone then the advice is to leave it for quite a long while before making that call.

Sadly, people still get caught out.

Yes ; they are all 101 variations on not dropping the line when the call terminates. This is a legal telephony function which is needed when somebody needs to put a call on hold while they deal with another call.

Most ISPs post the * star and # hash codes they support on their web sites.
Not USSD though.

In the UK there have been recent changes in the law such that banks are liable if they do not fully check out the bona fides of whoever is extracting funds from an account. Unfortunately the change is not retrospective.

The inability of the police to deal with even low level I.T. crime such as this is fairly well known. It is not because they are stupid ( they are not ) they just do not have the required training and kit. There is a tendency to hire in "experts" who quite often are ex -hackers. The trouble with that is the police are not very aware of what the hackers are doing and the hackers have little idea about the laws of evidence, Result either way few convictions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3TOcw7taBo

I've had recorded calls allegedly from BT, informing me I was being hacked, and to press a number to be taken to their helpdesk.
It's a shame it's recorded, I'd love to tell them what I think!

They appear to call on a regular basis, if the number of 'missed calls' I find on my landline on returning home from work, are anything to go by! :-D :-D

Send for Captain Crunch

https://telephone-museum.org/telephone-collections/capn-crunch-bosun-whistle/

Who's Catain Crunch?

Did I ever say I had a 'rellie' - well, my mum, actually, so a close relation rather than a name in my tree, who was a 'Hello' girl, in Southampton
It's actually how my parents met.
Dad made a phone call, mum put him through, dad liked her voice, so kept phoning.
Met her after work, they got on, then he asked her out! :-D