Got this e-mail from my mum, posting it here to share. Can you circulate this around especially as Xmas is fast approaching - it has been confirmed by Royal Mail. The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam: A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call. If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk
Thanks for the heads-up Moony. I'm normally fairly cautious, but there's a fair chance I'd have fallen for that one too. The "£15 just for phoning up" bit seemed a bit steep and got me thinking it might be a hoax, so I did a bit of reading up. Just to confirm, in case any body else is wondering, this isn't a hoax. http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/pds.asp http://www.icstis.org.uk/consumers/ncd/default.asp (and enter the number Moony quoted in her post)
Also beware of any similar things, whether text messages to your phone, 'missed' phone calls and 'telegrams' which are not delivered in person. If any of these request you to call a number, or get in touch in some way, at least do a quick google search on the company mentioned to see if there are any scams associated.
Thanks for that, but if anyone calls an 090 number for any reason other than to vote on Big Brother, they're a mug, and deserve to lose money. Except grannies, and grannies aren't prevalent on this forum.
From another forum it might be an old warning, they also went on about checking on scopes et al before posting such things. The way i see it is though that even if it might be a bit bunk it's not hurting to post it and at least remind people that these things happen.
^ Agreed. I'm not a big phone user, and had no idea that 090 numbers could incur such massive charges.
So, errrr, this friend of mine got one of those "Call me baby, I'm hot and waiting for you" text messages, before the companies realised they had to add "Charged at 1.50pm" to the message. The idea is, once you make the call they phone up and innocently ask for an address to send the "account statement", then keep billing you until you pay out of sheer embarrassment. My friend discovered that if they don't even have an address to send the bill they're going to have a big problem trying to collect. My friend's mobile company sure aren't going to help them. So if you just tell them to get lost and give no address, they don't call back. :Angel:
Here's another internet scam circulating. They actually will send you money, in fraudlent money orders, which you pay 10% on the dollar, then the police arrive at your door, when the bank figures it out 5 days later. From : Kwame Smith <kwame_smith@walla.com> Sent : Wednesday, October 25, 2006 4:13 AM Subject : Please treat as urgent | | | Inbox MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Originating-IP: [41.204.46.40] X-Originating-Email: [kwame_smith@walla.com] X-Sender: kwame_smith@walla.com Received: from omail10.walla.co.il ([192.118.71.130]) by bay0-mc4-f11.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2444); Wed, 25 Oct 2006 02:24:34 -0700 Received: from omail10.walla.co.il (omail10.walla.co.il [127.0.0.1])by omail10.walla.co.il (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id k9P9Dr4O009796;Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:13:53 +0200 Received: (from informix@localhost)by omail10.walla.co.il (8.13.1/8.13.1/Submit) id k9P9DbgP009384;Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:13:37 +0200 Received: from ([41.204.46.40])by omail10.walla.co.il ([192.118.71.130]) with HTTP;Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:13:37 +0300 X-Message-Info: LsUYwwHHNt1Eh6MskNiCIrjL/6CbXlBwUO6tfWTXdtk= Return-Path: kwame_smith@walla.com X-OriginalArrivalTime: 25 Oct 2006 09:24:34.0535 (UTC) FILETIME=[6264D770:01C6F817] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- View E-mail Message Source Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------=_EREZ_P_WallaMail_43255_7200_P_0" Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------=_EREZ_P_WallaMail_34422_2906_P_1" Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attn, My name is Barrister Kwame Smith the attorney of the former president of liberia MR CHARLES TAYLOR who is presently in political custody. Before his departure to arrest, my client has delegated me as his legal attorney to search for a reliable foreign partner,to stand claim as the Beneficiary to his assest. My client's assest (consignment) contains money worth of( $30.8)Thirty million eight hundred thousand united states Dollars in the two trunk boxes right now in an Finance Institution in Accra-Ghana. I am now seeking your assistance to help me collect this consignment out from the diplomat and my client has aggreed to compensate you with percentage of 30%for your noble assistance and 5% for any expenses that may incure ,like you travelling from your country to meet the diplomat and also assisting to pay the diplomat charges and dumorage that might have incured for the safe keeping and the remaining 65% will be for his family and you will also assist him invest it in a very lucrative business in any where in the western world. Your urgent response and assistance is highly needed as i am informing you to keep this deal very confidentially as you have to know that my client is still in political problem with his country and the country will be interested to know where my client kept some of his assets. As soon as you confirm your interest, all further information will be passed to you as to enable you procced in getting this transaction excuted. Thanks and my kind regards , Yours faithfully Barrister Kwame Smith
Jeez, if anyone's still falling for these old chestnut's these days they deserve it! "I are from Nigeria and wants to give you loads of money"....Please....
How many fall for it? Actually 1/5000 will reply back. The scammer will rank your response based on the content of your reply... 1.) Did your reply contain your name, address, and phone number? +10 points 2.) Did you question any part of the email? + 5 points 3.) Did you question more than one part of the email? -10 points 4.) Did you respond in 24 hours? -15 points 5.) Did you respond in 72 hours? +10 points 6.) Did you just leave a name and phone number for contact? +20 points 7.) Did you ask for a name and contact information? +15 points 8.) Did you ask to console with anyone? -25 points
