Stay Safe Online – Latest Phone and Text Scams

 

How to avoid being billed for expensive calls you didn’t make
O2 mobile customers have reported receiving a £150 bill for a call claimed to be for a 50 minute international call.  O2 claimed the customers had fallen for a ‘Wangiri’ scam where people are tricked into phoning back a premium rate number abroad.  It’s also known as a ‘missed call scam’ as fraudsters call from a premium rate number and hang up after just one ring.  If you return the call, you are ringing a premium rate number!

Ofcom have received increased reports of these calls which mainly originate from developing countries such as Botswana, Guinea and Guyana which have dialling codes that begin with +267, +224 and +592 respectively.

You can avoid this by asking your network provider to bar all premium rate calls and texts – or by logging into your account and setting a spend cap.  Many packages offer unlimited free calls so if you set a small limit you will immediately know if there are any unauthorised charges on your account.

Parking Fine scams
It was bad enough when parking ticket machines stopped taking cash and you had to pay for parking by credit card, then they brought out new technology called ‘apps’ and, in many car parks, you need your mobile phone in order to download an app and pay for parking.  To add insult to injury, fraudsters have now taken advantage of this to impersonate the DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) and issue fake parking fine claims.  These are often followed up with final warning messages.

Local authorities and parking companies do not have access to phone numbers and email addresses so real penalty charges are always sent by letter through the post. 

Parking fines are not called ‘parking penalty charges’ they are called a:

Penalty Charge Notice (PCN – issued by a council),

Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN- issued by the police) or

parking charge notice (issued by a private landowner).

The DVSA do not issue parking fines.

Don’t click on messages, ignore them.  Scammers can often tell if you have opened a text message – and will target your phone number again.

You can forward scam texts to 7726 – the National Cyber Security Centre.

Whilst we are on the subject, if you do get a real parking ticket, Which? has some advice here on how to appeal:

How to appeal a parking ticket – Which?

Report scams using this Which? Scam Sharer tool: You can report any kind of scam – online, email, text, phone, etc. here: Scam Sharer – free Which? tool

If you have been affected by a scam – help is out there – Victim Support has a free confidential helpline 0808 168 9111 and so does Mind 0300 123 3393.

Sign up for Which? Scam alerts: https://campaigns.which.co.uk/scam-alert-service/

Find details of recent scams here:

www.actionfraud.police.uk and on our Facebook page: Rainford-it-stay safe online

Published in the November edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

#staysafeonline #WeFixMacs #parkingscams #missedcallscam @actionfrauduk @WhichUK