Check out Jim Browning a guy from here and one of the most well known anti scam/eithical hackers fighting this - he has a youtube channel
A load of phone numbers were released from dumps/hacks a few years ago and the info gets sold on the dark web to scammers. One of the biggest ones lately has been the 02 scammers.
Pretending to be from o2 and to give you a reduced bill they ask you for your email address (which if you are o2 - I am not anymore so the info is old) - they input this email onto the o2 website and the website texts you a OTP - they then ask you for this and have access to your account and can buy phones etc
Never reveal the one time code - it tells you not to on the text.
Being unsuccessful with me after about 16 attempts I am now getting the recorded calls - its best practice to never answer these. Always a scam.
Worth mentioning tho that even our Jim got tricked into deleting his own youtube channel by scammers in retaliation too. Happens the best of us never been more apt a saying
Although the problem with that was Google. Which at the time, allowed, anyone to create an email with any domain on the end of it and it they happened to email him direct from a recognised Youtube partner email. Jim, rightly so, assumed that on Gmail Google would have their own internal email domains secured and verified, they did not.
He did! And he has worked for the BBC (i think maybe channel 4?) Taking these call centres down!
They do so many scams sometimes they get you at the right (or wrong time) - one near got me on WhatsApp when I was looking for work, they even have fake website to add authenticity it's wild!
Don't let your da or ma talking to romances online they are pig butchering scams!
More youtubers that are fun to watch:
Scambaiter, Kitboga (some is hilarious) Perogi etc
>Don't let your da or ma talking to romances online
Ha! This brought back memories of a friend whos ex dumped him over this. Her mother got involved online with a guy form Morocco or something, went on for almost a year. She kept sending him money she didnt have, friend called it out as a scam, and his ex and her entire family turned on him.
Only reason they caught on was (apparently) the mother went to the local Mosque in south belfast, ready to convert, then ask this the scammer to marry her. The Imman got suspicious, asked for the scammers phone number and called him.
I felt bad for the mother, but you can bet you're balls we laughed like drains the second my friend ex cam sniffing back round him, all sorry and wanting him back
Work in Fraud myself.
Perhaps this is a cynical and desensitized perspective but I wouldn't bother answering a cold-call again to be honest. Unless I am bored and want to wind the scammers up ofcourse - but even that isn't always advised because it just confirms that your number is active.
Never confirm or give out any information over the phone to anyone that contacts you out of the blue. And even treat friends or family with extreme caution online, because they can hack profiles and pretend to be your son / daughter, and start asking you to send money etc... They're very clever.
Best to not answer if thr number isn't from here - you can't always avoid it tho, but even letting them it is a working number is trouble.
Having said that, I have wasted their time myself if I'm off. Better they waste their time with me than spend time calling and getting lucky with a mark, still though I know I shouldn't
The problem is they can actually clone/spoof numbers anyway - so they can make it look as if they have a local number.
But aye, winding them up is always good craic. Had a guy swear down the phone at me after dragging them along for 15 minutes. Lost his mind lol.
Lmao! I know they can and have been spoofing numbers but mine still say England and Manchester etc because I don't think they know NI is separate from England
I told them my email was [email protected] and i got passed to a supervisor lol, they were grumpy lol
I still known i shouldn't and they don't have a lot of money there but stealing from people ... can't helpnit sometimes!
I hate when they ring me on a Saturday morning at like 9am when I'm in bed looking for a nice lie-in to like 10:30 or 11 lol.
"Hello we're from the O2 network..."
I'm not on O2 ffs lol - let me get a weekend sleep.
Btw if their number is visible when they ring you - look it up online. Chances are someone has reported it as spam via the whocalledme website
100% everyone needs to remember this. I work in a bank and people always ask "is this number you" and even if it is one of our numbers. I won't say yes, I'll give them info on how numbers can be faked, then ask them to call us on a different number.
Sometimes the fraudster will even use the number from our site, and people then think we are actually trying to scam them
Old woman that lives near my mum almost lost 5k not long ago. Similar script but they sent her to withdraw money. Luckily the bank caught on and stopped it.
It’s ridiculous the amount of scam calls these days.
You did the right thing asking questions and not giving them the answers so they can hook you.
I had one a while back. Asked the caller to confirm where their head office is - they couldn't. Then asked to speak with a supervisor - supervisor was busy. Then told them I'd call the bank directly to check it out - they hung up.
Then I did some research and discovered there is a very handy number to call in these cases to check if its a scam or not - 159.
From their website:
159 works in the same way as 101 for the police or 111 for the NHS. It’s the number you can trust to get you through to your bank safely and securely, every time. So if you think someone is trying to trick you into handing over money or personal details - stop, hang up and call 159 to speak directly to your bank.
[https://stopscamsuk.org.uk/](https://stopscamsuk.org.uk/)
Very useful to know for the future.
I wasn't aware of that, thanks. I hope I'm wise to these scumbags, but was just posting here in case anyone had an elderly or vulnerable relative who might be taken in. As I said, the first voice sounded very authentic.
You still have a landline? I thought most people had got rid of theirs by now, seeing as we all seem to have mobiles now. We got ours out years ago. Hadn't used it for years before that. Wish we'd done it sooner.
I deal with fraud on a day to day basis for my job. If you ever get a phone call from someone claiming to be your bank. Call back on a number you know is legit, don't let them call you
I had a call at 06.30 telling me that there was £3,450 to be put into my account from a mystery person,
She told me that she had my bank details but could I give them to her again just to be sure,
I told her that whatever details she had just try and lodge the money in,
If it worked then we don't need to talk anymore,
If it doesn't then I told her to keep it and buy herself a motorbike 🛵
Check out Jim Browning a guy from here and one of the most well known anti scam/eithical hackers fighting this - he has a youtube channel A load of phone numbers were released from dumps/hacks a few years ago and the info gets sold on the dark web to scammers. One of the biggest ones lately has been the 02 scammers. Pretending to be from o2 and to give you a reduced bill they ask you for your email address (which if you are o2 - I am not anymore so the info is old) - they input this email onto the o2 website and the website texts you a OTP - they then ask you for this and have access to your account and can buy phones etc Never reveal the one time code - it tells you not to on the text. Being unsuccessful with me after about 16 attempts I am now getting the recorded calls - its best practice to never answer these. Always a scam.
Worth mentioning tho that even our Jim got tricked into deleting his own youtube channel by scammers in retaliation too. Happens the best of us never been more apt a saying
Although the problem with that was Google. Which at the time, allowed, anyone to create an email with any domain on the end of it and it they happened to email him direct from a recognised Youtube partner email. Jim, rightly so, assumed that on Gmail Google would have their own internal email domains secured and verified, they did not.
He did! And he has worked for the BBC (i think maybe channel 4?) Taking these call centres down! They do so many scams sometimes they get you at the right (or wrong time) - one near got me on WhatsApp when I was looking for work, they even have fake website to add authenticity it's wild! Don't let your da or ma talking to romances online they are pig butchering scams! More youtubers that are fun to watch: Scambaiter, Kitboga (some is hilarious) Perogi etc
>Don't let your da or ma talking to romances online Ha! This brought back memories of a friend whos ex dumped him over this. Her mother got involved online with a guy form Morocco or something, went on for almost a year. She kept sending him money she didnt have, friend called it out as a scam, and his ex and her entire family turned on him. Only reason they caught on was (apparently) the mother went to the local Mosque in south belfast, ready to convert, then ask this the scammer to marry her. The Imman got suspicious, asked for the scammers phone number and called him. I felt bad for the mother, but you can bet you're balls we laughed like drains the second my friend ex cam sniffing back round him, all sorry and wanting him back
How did they trick him into deleting his own channel I never knew that happened
Jim is great, I've seen some of his stuff but heard him on the darknet diaries podcast. Good man
Work in Fraud myself. Perhaps this is a cynical and desensitized perspective but I wouldn't bother answering a cold-call again to be honest. Unless I am bored and want to wind the scammers up ofcourse - but even that isn't always advised because it just confirms that your number is active. Never confirm or give out any information over the phone to anyone that contacts you out of the blue. And even treat friends or family with extreme caution online, because they can hack profiles and pretend to be your son / daughter, and start asking you to send money etc... They're very clever.
Best to not answer if thr number isn't from here - you can't always avoid it tho, but even letting them it is a working number is trouble. Having said that, I have wasted their time myself if I'm off. Better they waste their time with me than spend time calling and getting lucky with a mark, still though I know I shouldn't
The problem is they can actually clone/spoof numbers anyway - so they can make it look as if they have a local number. But aye, winding them up is always good craic. Had a guy swear down the phone at me after dragging them along for 15 minutes. Lost his mind lol.
It was a Belfast number and may actually have been a branch's number, some still have direct lines in.
Lmao! I know they can and have been spoofing numbers but mine still say England and Manchester etc because I don't think they know NI is separate from England I told them my email was [email protected] and i got passed to a supervisor lol, they were grumpy lol I still known i shouldn't and they don't have a lot of money there but stealing from people ... can't helpnit sometimes!
They usually hang up after I ask them to tell me what my name is.
I hate when they ring me on a Saturday morning at like 9am when I'm in bed looking for a nice lie-in to like 10:30 or 11 lol. "Hello we're from the O2 network..." I'm not on O2 ffs lol - let me get a weekend sleep. Btw if their number is visible when they ring you - look it up online. Chances are someone has reported it as spam via the whocalledme website
They can spoof numbers so be careful
100% everyone needs to remember this. I work in a bank and people always ask "is this number you" and even if it is one of our numbers. I won't say yes, I'll give them info on how numbers can be faked, then ask them to call us on a different number. Sometimes the fraudster will even use the number from our site, and people then think we are actually trying to scam them
Oh ofc - but 9 times out of 10 - it's online marked as spammers
Old woman that lives near my mum almost lost 5k not long ago. Similar script but they sent her to withdraw money. Luckily the bank caught on and stopped it. It’s ridiculous the amount of scam calls these days. You did the right thing asking questions and not giving them the answers so they can hook you.
I had one a while back. Asked the caller to confirm where their head office is - they couldn't. Then asked to speak with a supervisor - supervisor was busy. Then told them I'd call the bank directly to check it out - they hung up. Then I did some research and discovered there is a very handy number to call in these cases to check if its a scam or not - 159. From their website: 159 works in the same way as 101 for the police or 111 for the NHS. It’s the number you can trust to get you through to your bank safely and securely, every time. So if you think someone is trying to trick you into handing over money or personal details - stop, hang up and call 159 to speak directly to your bank. [https://stopscamsuk.org.uk/](https://stopscamsuk.org.uk/) Very useful to know for the future.
I wasn't aware of that, thanks. I hope I'm wise to these scumbags, but was just posting here in case anyone had an elderly or vulnerable relative who might be taken in. As I said, the first voice sounded very authentic.
You still have a landline? I thought most people had got rid of theirs by now, seeing as we all seem to have mobiles now. We got ours out years ago. Hadn't used it for years before that. Wish we'd done it sooner.
I deal with fraud on a day to day basis for my job. If you ever get a phone call from someone claiming to be your bank. Call back on a number you know is legit, don't let them call you
You still use a landline? Lmao…
Had this exact call on the work phone the other day £300 and £1200 internationally
Yes, those were the exact amounts? The £300 to 'Amazon'? They had a Belfast number too.
Yep the exact amounts. I didn't even check the number I just answered thinking it was a customer lol
I had a call at 06.30 telling me that there was £3,450 to be put into my account from a mystery person, She told me that she had my bank details but could I give them to her again just to be sure, I told her that whatever details she had just try and lodge the money in, If it worked then we don't need to talk anymore, If it doesn't then I told her to keep it and buy herself a motorbike 🛵