Council Tax Scam (was: Anyone else had this?)

Central · 28-11-2009, 12:32

Just had a phonecall from a international number. I dont normally answer these but my dad is on holiday in Egypt so thought it might of been him.

Anyway it was a bad line with a women telling me she was from a claims court regarding council tax. She said my house is changing band and I am entitled to a refund as my house would be moved to a lower band.

Thing is my house is in the lowest band anyway. I knew it was a scam but carried on anyway. She then told me myphone number, postcode and full name and said some paperwork would be on its way.

She then asked what card I got? I asked why. She said she needs to know to move the application on. I said i had a standard bank account with only a cashpoint card. She asked if it started with a 4 or a 5. I then proceeded to tell her i was not happy to give my card details over the phone.

She persisted to tell me unless i do i would not be getting my money back over the past 16 years. I am only 29 so I must of started early.

Anyway I told her again I was not giving my details over the phone and she hung up.

Anyone else had this?

**Kymmy** · 28-11-2009, 12:35

It's recently been on the news as a scam, hold on and will find the link

---------- Post added at 12:34 ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 ----------

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8371520.stm

and

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/n...re/8382592.stm

---------- Post added at 12:35 ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 ----------

I hope you don't mind but I've changed the title as the more advertised it is as a scam the less likely a member is to fall for it

TheNorm · 28-11-2009, 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Central

...Anyway I told her again I was not giving my details over the phone and she hung up....

Well done.

I've had similar (but not exactly the same) calls in the past few years. When they say "can you confirm your date of birth/address/etc for security reasons" I say "how do I know who you are?". Funnily enough, they don't seem to be willing to leave a telephone number.

Central · 28-11-2009, 12:38

Thing is everyday i get home from work I had about 5 missed calls from a international number

Raistlin · 28-11-2009, 12:41

I once managed to get a cold caller from Sky to tell me my full name, date of birth, home address, and bank account details from the direct debit - I then pointed out to him that he had absolutely no idea who I was, and that he'd just given me a load of personal information for one of their customers.....he wasn't impressed.

webcrawler2050 · 28-11-2009, 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Central

Just had a phonecall from a international number. I dont normally answer these but my dad is on holiday in Egypt so thought it might of been him.

Anyway it was a bad line with a women telling me she was from a claims court regarding council tax. She said my house is changing band and I am entitled to a refund as my house would be moved to a lower band.

Thing is my house is in the lowest band anyway. I knew it was a scam but carried on anyway. She then told me myphone number, postcode and full name and said some paperwork would be on its way.

She then asked what card I got? I asked why. She said she needs to know to move the application on. I said i had a standard bank account with only a cashpoint card. She asked if it started with a 4 or a 5. I then proceeded to tell her i was not happy to give my card details over the phone.

She persisted to tell me unless i do i would not be getting my money back over the past 16 years. I am only 29 so I must of started early.

Anyway I told her again I was not giving my details over the phone and she hung up.

Anyone else had this?

Classic, good thing you didn't give any details. Would of very likely scammed your card for 100's

Central · 28-11-2009, 12:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by webcrawler2050

Classic, good thing you didn't give any details. Would of very likely scammed your card for 100's

I wish I had that much in there lol

webcrawler2050 · 28-11-2009, 12:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Central

I wish I had that much in there lol

hehe - Do they think "people" in general are stupid? The amount of times i've had this kinda call. If they are foreign they wont get any details from me. Same goes, i've blocked all foreign numbers calling me.

28-11-2009, 13:04

well there are enough people scammed per year to make it worth their while keep trying so yes a lot of people are in general stupid

**Kymmy** · 28-11-2009, 13:08

Look at the amount of people who were conned by the lottery scams, even though they never bought a ticket

I don't think it's about stupidity but more a case of trusting what people say a bit too much

heero_yuy · 28-11-2009, 13:41

Greed combined with innocence/stupidity. Dangerous combination.

squealy · 28-11-2009, 13:46

It's a sad day when innocence and stupidity are considered to be interchangeable terms.

Peter_ · 29-11-2009, 10:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob M

I once managed to get a cold caller from Sky to tell me my full name, date of birth, home address, and bank account details from the direct debit - I then pointed out to him that he had absolutely no idea who I was, and that he'd just given me a load of personal information for one of their customers.....he wasn't impressed.

You should have called SKY back and put in a complaint over that blatant breach of DPA.