Scams

(it started with a Postal Scam but it has grown...)

Can you circulate this around - it has been confirmed by Royal Mail and 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 £315 for the phone call.
 
If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact
Royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655.

and now

Supermarket Checkout Scam

 

CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUT 

from David Parker

I bought a bunch of stuff, over £150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of £40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it. She said I'd have to take the £40 because she couldn't delete it. I told Her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it.. I said NO! Taking the £40 would be a cash advance against my Credit card & I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance!!!!! If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & re-scan everything! The second time I looked at the electronic pad before I signed & a cash-back of £20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it. The total came out right. The cashier agreed that the Electronic Pad must be defective. 

 
Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the £40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed? 

Just to alert everyone. My co worker went to Milford , Sainsburys last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My co worker didn't look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for £20 cash back.

 
My co-worker called Sainsburys who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank and her niece told her this. This is a new scam going on. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in the queue. 

Please, please, please check your receipts right away when using credit or debit cards! This is NOT limited to Sainsburys; they are one of the largest retailers so they have the most incidents.

Friends were in Sainsburys and paying with credit card when her husband went to sign the credit card signer he just happen to notice there was a £20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said this machine has been messing up and she canceled it. They really didn't think anything of it until we read this email. 

 
I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be, "stung" by this one????   To make matters worse ...THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!!!   
 

BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUT........CHECK YOUR RECEIPT!!!!! 

This could happen anywhere. check your receipt before leaving the stand. i've seen people do just that. now i'll start!     Pass this on to your friends, kids, loved ones. 

Obviously the fellow realized I didn't  believe his story, so offered to demonstrate that he was from BT. I asked  how & he told me to hang up & try phoning someone - he would  dis-connect my phone to prevent this. AND HE DID !! My phone was dead - no  engaged tone, nothing - until he phoned me again.

Very pleased with  himself, he asked if that was enough proof that he was with BT. I asked  how the payment was to be made & he said credit card, there &  then.

I said that I didn't know how he'd done it, but I had  absolutely no intention of paying him, I didn't believe his name or that  he worked for BT.

He hung up.

Dialed 1471 & phoned his  fictitious 0800 number - not recognized.

I phoned the police to let  them know. I wasn't the first! It's only just started apparently, but it  is escalating.

Their advice was to let as many people as possible  know of this scam. The fact that the phone does go off would probably  convince some people it's real, so please make as many friends &  family aware of this.

FREE SAMPLE - DIET SUPPLEMENT - SCAM

Last year I was inveigled into sending for a Free Trial of a diet supplement (paying postage only)  - DIET MAX (I now learn from Google  that this can be any of the following names - ELG Tech, KMAssist, ProCleanse GOLD, Nutura Cleanse, Maximum Burn Xtreme, Weight Loss Nutra, AcaiMax Cleanse, Maximum Burn,Pure Cleanse, even Dermalift Anti Aging Cream - you get the idea......... I am far from being the only one.

This duly arrived from the USA - no paperwork at all, no invoice or instructions. I have now discovered that they have taken more than £111 from me since September. I eventually got through to a UK number which was so noisy I card hardly hear the gruff voice at the other end. He maintains that I should have cancelled the order within 10 days (half that at least must have been taken up with the post from USA) otherwise they were within their T & Cs to continue to take money - all sorts of differing amounts including one over £50 and one over £40 - I have received nothing else.

I contacted my Credit Card Company - RBS who know about this company - but say they can go on charging me legitimately - although I have received nothing else obviously I can now cancel this but I will not get my money back!

Worse still the capsules are Acai Berry and Caffeine - I avoid caffeine as it not only keeps me awake but adversely affects my Arthritis so quite useless.

I subsequently got a Cancellation Form purportedly from 'me' to 'me'! However in the header I found a 'scranbled'  email address that I replied to, to say the form was unreadable - none of the pictures displayed. I got a reply to say they did not sell any products! Now I have found a similar sort of Invoice in my system from another of named companies above - oh God! I suspect they just6 pass your Credit Card details to supposdedly another company - the same scam but under a different name?

I may be an OAP but I do know that it is foolhardy to give anyone permission to go on charging your card - so I am quite sure had anything given me the indication that was the case I would not have 'fallen for it'.

My bank must know which bank my money has been paid into and surely they ought to be able to get this bank to stop their client conducting this scam.