Supermarket scam warning

General Chat In The News
1

Just got sent this by a friend.

Supermarket scam warning: Fraudsters are impersonating ASDA, Morrisons and Tesco (msn.com)

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I got one of these from Argos yesterday. Just deleted it
I don’t do surveys anyway, but just to mention Argos might be another one :frowning:

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I know Pixie
Funny thing is I always seem to get these types of messages after I have bought something from a particular shop.So I don’t know if it’s genuine or a scam.Hence like you I never reply to them.

It’s as if we haven’t got enough problems to worry about,seems nowadays we got to be aware of everything.

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That is because, in part, the problem is that Google etc, sells our data.

How can we ever know what is real & what is not, when our data is used against us, by companies who have legitimately brought it from lowlifes like Google?

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Why bother filling in a survey anyway when they ask the questions they choose and just give you a 1 to 10 to say how good or bad they are.
If I want to applaud, or criticize, any business I write a letter or e mail to their head office telling them what I think, and request a reply.
If they don’t reply I just don’t use their services again.

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I don’t do surveys, end of. Neither do I answer any communication from anyone unless it’s a person or company I do business with or know. If it’s from a genuine company then they will have identified themselves with some information that only they have knowledge of. If I am at all doubtful then I don’t answer whatever it is, if it’s important and needs my attention then I can be sure they will contact me again. The same with phone call scams, they can now have my landline with an answering machine attached. I no longer use the landline and everyone who needs to contact me knows that and has my mobile number. So far there have been 29 calls to my landline, not one has left a message and slowly the scam calls are becoming less frequent as to the scammers it’s a ‘dead’ number so they cease bothering after a while.

Scammers 0 – owner of phone line 29 and counting!
:grinning:

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Briefly, what’s the link about please?
It wont let me read it unless i accept all their cookies and rubbish.

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I had the same with “cookies and rubbish” but I just scroll down and either click on all the options so I don’t accept them or sometimes there’s the option to ‘Reject all’.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the text anyway Mups, they give an outline of what it’s about:

Supermarket scam warning: Fraudsters are impersonating ASDA, Morrisons and Tesco

“Consumers in the UK have been warned about a new scam which involves fake marketing surveys promising gift cards of up to £100 for filling them out. Which? warned fraudsters began impersonating Sainsbury’s in June but since then, other supermarket chains have been jumped on by scammers.”

"Scammers are cruelly taking advantage of consumers’ fears around the increasing cost of living, promising sums of up to £100 to spend at the supermarket.

“Cybercriminals have become skilled at crafting highly convincing emails that appear to be from well-known brands, and for many people these scams are almost impossible to spot. Don’t be fooled by convincing branding - we’d urge anyone who has received an email offering a cash reward for filling out a survey to double check the legitimacy of the survey with the supermarket in question before handing over their information.”

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Thanks very much for copying all that Baz, very kind of you. image

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No problem Mups, but a couple of minutes of my time.
:grinning:

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I had a call yesterday from a man with a foreign accent telling me that I was going to get a refund from Sky of £202 . I told him that I cancelled Sky a few years ago & he said that phones and TV come through Sky, even if you don’t pay anything to Sky.
I asked why he was phoning me then as all my bills are paid via direct debit , so why don’t you just send me a letter and repay the refund to my bank account? He said I need your date of birth so i said “Well I am not going to tell you that” & he got angry and said " I am too busy for this, so if you dont want the refund hang up" so that is what I did.
I am sure this is yet another scam!

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That has every sign of being a scam to me, had it not been then any reputable company would have agreed to send you a letter as requested. “phones and TV come through Sky, even if you don’t pay anything to Sky”? Nothing’s for nothing as the saying goes. Also they would never have got into an ‘argument’ with you. They are everywhere aren’t they, a real pain and it never ends does it!
:frowning_face:

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usually the email address gives it away or the mobile number. The official ones will be in your inbox if you use them and if a text is sent it comes with an integrated logo which fraudsters find difficult to replicate. Often on smart phones the number or email is hidden when you receive such messages and you have to double click on the address line/no.

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It’s a shame that our TV “News & Business” broadcasters never show trhe public what a Scam Centre looks like.

I think it would be extremely useful, for everyday people, to see who they are and how it all works.

People I know think that the typical scam caller is someone sitting in his/her room and making calls to try it on.

A few years ago, I saw a bulletin which showed what many of them really are.

Imagine a large room, with, perhaps, 40-50 people in there, each wearing an earpiece and holding a handset.

At the back of the room are a couple of large Machines which are churning through all of the known phone numbers, in a given Country, Area, or whatever.

Whenever any unsuspecting person answers the call, the machines, automatically, forward the call to the next available scammer employee.

Then the caller goes throught the ritual. Pleasant chat first, then leading on to bank details!

Hang up on them and the scammer gets given a new call, immediately, and the ritual goes round again.

Whyo are the people who work there?
They are the ones who speak English, and have some idea of the manners to be worked with - usually hard up students, etc.

Sadly, these callers, sometimes, don’t even know that they are scamming - the information gleaned, it is suggested, is just for “business purposes” - That’s why they don’t seem to feel any guilt.

Where are these centres? Anywhere, Asia, etc.

One point to remember, it must be working, or they would not keep doing it.

My advice? Treat every call as a scam call , only speak when they tell you who they are and the details of the person they think you are.

:policeman:

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I passed one once. A seedy little shop that had been closed and shuttered for so long. The shutters were up (askew) and it was dark. There was a table with what looked like hundreds of mobile phones scattered on it, and a machine. Round the table, were about a dozen guys on phones. There were two “heavies” doing door duty and they stared at me as I walked slowly by with the dog (letting her sniff and dawdle, heh). It looked ominous and unfriendly and stank of smoke. This was about 9 years ago, so maybe things have changed now :woman_shrugging:

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I never answer unrecognised numbers on my mobile, ever. It has voicemail set up so if the call is important they can leave a message. No one ever does, which tells me a lot.

I have BT phones for my landline, with built in call screening. Only numbers in my address book connect direct; all other numbers are interrupted by a recorded voice asking the name of the caller, the call is then directed to me and I am told I have a call from “name” and to press 1 if I wish to take it. Anyone who bothers going through all that rigmarole is a genuine caller - I never get scam calls at all on the landline.