Schlagwort-Archive: scam

(English) Timeshare Cold Calls

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

It seems as though there is a new player in the game of scamming innocent timeshare owners into purchasing help to move their timeshares. Action Services International, or ASI, has been recently noted to be cold-calling individuals who own timeshares, and offering to assist the owners in selling their timeshares. What happens on this phone call, and what should you been looking out for? The agent(s) performing the cold-call will generally invite the owner to Spain to partake in legal action against the company which owns their timeshare on something called a “no-win, no-fee” basis. Subsequently, the individual would then be offered another service, this one referred to as a “disposal service,” which would buy-out the timeshare for an upfront fee. If the trip to Spain for legal action wasn’t something to be cautious about already, the upfront fee certainly is.

Tellows user mmj reported number 01474607608 and shared her experience with us:

Told that I was a former owner of time share and so was entitled to a week’s holiday for 6 anywhere in the world accomodation only but had to agree within 3 days and pay up front.

With any agency such as this, whether or not they are marketing a timeshare or any other piece of personal property, an upfront fee is not an industry standard, and allows the company to profit from you without helping you.

Be wary of how you interact with these companies, because if it is a scam, you may spend the money without even moving the timeshare from your name. When this happens to an someone, that individual still owes yearly dues on the timeshare, even though they spent the money to the scamming company to remove them.

It can get very annoying, tellows user angry man has reported number 01229346001 as a harrasment call and commented:

This is a Timeshare resale scam, asking prospective customers to part with their money as a ‚Retainer‘ before they sell their timeshare or holiday club membership to them.

Unfortunately, this occurs more than you may think. This sentiment is mirrored by Alberto Garcia, the director of Mindtimeshare, a consumer association in Spain that represents victims of fraud such as this. He mentions that there are numerous cases where the “disposal fee” is paid, and the timeshare is never removed from the owner’s name. Fortunately, many timeshare companies are now changing their regulations in order to combat fraud such as this, in an effort to protect their customers. It is important that timeshare owners contact their representative companies first before seeking third-party assistance in marketing such assets.

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(English) A new week leads to a new Top 3!

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

Hello tellows-friends! It’s time for a new Top 3 of the most annoying telephone numbers. And here they are:

• 01277897600 from Brentwood with a tellows Score of 9
• 01792455426 from Swansea with a tellows Score of 8
• 01614867770 from Manchester with a tellows Score of 8

Place 1 goes to 01277897600 from Brentwood. Our users evaluated the telephone number with a score of 9 which shows the untrustworthiness of it. The caller is identified as ufindalocal.com. Bert explained the method of them:

I had the same parasites call me my bill went from a couple of hundred to like 6k. They call you back trying to do add-ons and you think they are adding to the same contract! WRONG!! They give you a new one but don’t tell you we have even cancelled our contracts within the 60 days and they still try and get money from you!! Brad who seems to be the very obnoxious and with no people skills is a parasite he really needs help!!!!!

Place 2, 01792455426 from Swansea, seems to be another number from the PPI calling you because of different offers. Our users complained about silence and strange noises at the other end of the line. Like for example Clara L:

calls me a couple of times a week. it always goes dead when I answer it. when called back it’s always engaged

The 3rd place is again 01614867770 from Manchester with a tellows Score of 8. Some users reported that number as one of the Action Claims. Cooper illustrated a possible procedure of such a call:

„jo?“
„Hi, is that Mr Anthony ********?“
„Yes, speaking…“
line goes dead.

That’s it from this week.
Take care, your Tellows Team!

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(English) A weekly update: Our Top 3 of the most wanted telephone numbers!

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

These three numbers are currently most requested on tellows:

1.) 02034760353 from London with a tellows Score of 7
2.) 01933698538 from Wellingborough with a tellows Score of 7
3.) 08448471424 from an unknown place in the UK with a tellows Score of 5

The first place goes to 02034760353 from London. In spite of the fact that this number is our winner this week, nobody knows who hides behind it. User Holly shares her bad experiences:

This number called and called me… even at night! I tried to phone back but no one answers. Very annoying!!!

In case you know the person or company belonging to rank 1, feel free to add comments!

Number 01933698538, which was the most annoying number in the last Top 3, comes in second this week. There are new findings about it. Harveytoo supposes that we are dealing with a data-sale:

They asked for my husband, who has had a separate number for 15 years. So, they must be buying numbers from an old database

Our 3rd place goes with more than 1800 search requests to 08448471424. According to the users comments it’s a question of a debt collection company. But they aren’t at one with each other concerning the trustworthiness. While Ashton is sure that it’s a scam, MeSir talks about a serious debt collection number from O2.

Ashton:

I received two txt about an unpaid and overdue bill. Scammers, do not call back or pay!!!

MeSir:

Late payments for o2, not a scam.

Did you have a call from 08448471424, too? Then clarify the situation by commenting the trustworthiness!

That’s it from this week.
Your Team Tellows

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(English) The UK Top 3 Annoying Numbers

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

There are some new numbers on the top UK spam ranks:

1. 01933698538 from Wellingborough with a tellows score of 7
2. 01614867770 from Manchester with a tellows score of 8
3. 01622845421 from Maidstone with a tellows score of 8

The first number ist a telemarketing call. User Tom shows us we should stand our ground!

„Another scammer? Caller quickly hung up when he realised he wasn’t going to get anywhere.“

This week on 2nd place ist another silent call number. And this is how it goes reportrted by Cooper

„a most interesting call.

„jo?“
„Hi, is that Mr Anthony ********?“
„Yes, speaking…“
line goes dead.

sparkling, isn’t it? „

The UK presents a new nighttime harasser with 01622845421, calling late at night claiming to be from Energy helpline.com asking for your bank account number. Remember you should never give out that kind of information over the phone!

That´s it for this week
Stay tuned and keep eyes and ears open for more spam numbers!
Kind regards,
Team Tellows

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(English) Great Success Against PC Doctor Scammers

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

It sounds like a relief from one of the most common scam methods of the past two years: the American FTC (Federal Trade Commission), in cooperation with several crime defense organisations such as the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency as well as law enforcement officials in India, has arrested 17 people in responsible positions of fraud companies.

As the Guardian reported, Indian fraud companies used locations and acounts in the USA and Canada to funnel the money back to India. Namely it were the following companies whose assets have been frozen: Pecon Software; PC Care247; Connexxions Infotech; Connexxions IT Services Private Ltd; Zeal IT Solutions; Lakshmi Infosoul Services Private Ltd; Virtual PC Solutions, First PC Solution; Direct PC Solution; Virtual IT Supports; Global Innovative Service; 24x7pchelp; 24x7pctech; Transfront Solutions; New World Services; Megabites Solutions; Mega Bits; Greybytes Cybertech; Bluesystemcare; Shine Solutions Private Ltd.

Tellows reported about the so-called PC doctor scam method on its blog earlier this year: http://blog.tellows.co.uk/tag/virus/

The scam was addressed to citizens of all English-speaking countries, with calls originating from India. Briefly said, the scam consisted in calliing the victims on the phone with the caller introducing himself as an employee of microsoft calling because of a virus that had been detected on the called person’s PC. The caller would ask the victim to open the Windows Event Viewer – a part of the Windows operating system that regularly gives error warnings, but these have no negative influence on a computer’s functioning.

Consequently, the caller would instruct the person on the other end to download a pseudo-anti-virus programme for a fee or even subscribe the person to a regular update for the application that should fix the computer problem. Even worse: in some cases the fraudsters were asking for personal information and bank account details to gain their victims‘ money. According to the Guardian, the fraudsters were in average able to ripp more than $ 800 off each conned person.

Tellows has records of the following UK numbers connected to the fraud:

Source:

Yours,

Team Tellows

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(English) The Silent Call Plague – Weekly Top 3 Spammers

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

There’s not much news on the top UK spam ranks:

1. 01932504981 from Weybridge with a tellows score of 7
2. 07520905002 mobile phone number with a tellows score of 8
3. 02073286956 from London with a tellows score of 7

Insurance scam business is still flousishing, especially with the number 01932504981 that is still relentlessly trying to sell car insurance on behalf of Van compare.

User Odd call’s comment speaks of the incompetence of the caller:

Answered and they said calling from car insurance company and that my insurance was up for renewal and was this right? I said „I have no idea“ the guy on the other end said „oh my gosh!“ and hung up. I have no idea what he thought I said, but it was different for a sales team to hang up on me rather than the other way round.

We got a silent call number on rank two for a change. Best comment of the week by scamhater says it all:

My advice is to always do what I do with these scam type calls;

1. use your phone to make a recording of 1 second of silence. (keep this 1 second silence in your ringtone or media folder)

2. save the recording and call it scamtone or something.

3. then enter the scammy number into your address book as ; scam1, scam2, scam 3 etc. Each one represents a different scammy number that you get over time.

4. finally, associate the 1 second of silence with each scammy number as a ringtone.

Simple – they can ring and ring and if you dont hear it you dont pick it up. If it is associated to a name ; Scam1 etc, you will never be tempted to ring it back from your call history.

Last week’s rank-3-number stayed where it is, still harassing people in the UK at all times of night. There are some hints that such silent calls at night could originate from an overseas call center, probably in India. Some companies are hiring telephone assistants in countries, where workforce is cheaper for them. They obviously did not keep the time zones in mind.

And as we already emphasized a million times, silent calls proved to be the precursors of real telemarketing or scam calls – so watch out!

Stay tuned and keep eyes and ears open for more spam numbers!

Kind regards,

Team Tellows

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(English) Weekly Top 3 Spammers

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

Were are back again to bring you the top 3 spammers of the week. Shame on:

1. 01932504981 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 7
2. 01412582118 from Weybridge with a tellows score of 8
3. 02073286956 from London with a tellows score of 7

Last week’s second and third rank numbers moved one rank up. The new most active spam number is 01932504981 trying to sell car insurance on behalf of Van compare.

Dorothy reported last week:

Never heard of them, phone number not normally given. But then again all I got was someone that sounded stoned and hung up, but when i checked this number they said it was about car insurance.

This week’s second worst spammer has been well known to us already. We already found out that it must be a slightly unprofessional call centre. If they are not giggling or leaving offensive messages on people’s answer machines, they are tying their best to sell a wide range of products: air conditioners, home security alarms and solar panels.

Short comment by user 111a:

Rude people making harrassment calls, keep hanging up if you speak.

The last but not least annoying number is 02073286956, providing thousands of households with harassing silent calls. You pick up, but there is no-one on the other end.

Silent calls proved to be the precursors of real telemarketing calls – so watch out!

Remember: Never ever tell confidential personal information to telemarketers or fraudsters phishing for information!

Kind regards,

Team Tellows

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(English) Beware: Fraudulent Sky Callers Want Your Bank Details!

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

Were are back again to bring you the latest news on a new fraud method circulating in the UK. Scammers pretending to work for SKY TV or companies related to SKY are calling (former) sky customers, claiming their package had to be renewed or their bills had not been paid. Watch out! It might sound logical in the first place, but all these fraudsters want is to get your bank details!
We are talking namely about the following numbers:

The caller pretends to be an employee of SKY TV or a company installing the gear for SKY. All calls show a similar structure: first you will be confronted with some financial matter. Either you have not payed your SKY fee or you are paying too much and should get money back. Second part: you will be asked for your details.

We provide some simple advices how you notice that this is a scam call

  • Never ever tell anybody your credit card details during a cold call, nor give any other personal information like your name or address. The caller should have at least your address, if it really is a legitimate company calling you. Ask for the information they got on you!
  • Ask the caller for her/his name, job title, company and telephone number
  • Write down the telephone number and report it to tellows.co.uk
  • Keep in mind that legitimate companies do contracts in a written way and never ask for personal details and financial matters on the phone

Source:

Yours,

Team Tellows

Read more on the topic in our press release.

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(English) UK’s Top 3 Spammers Sell Insurance

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

Surprise, surprise! 01484818084 is persisting on rank 1 of the British top spam numbers.

1. 01484818084 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 8
2. 01932504981 from Weybridge with a tellows score of 7
3. 01412582118 from Glasgow with a tellows score of 8

As we already reported last week, number 01484818084 is a telemarketing number for PI claims, mortgages, insurance and even solar pannels. The latest comment by user Amber says that the number is still active, but it sounds like it is giving silent calls once in a while, as well:

Keep calling me, no one ever speaks, now on my phones „blocked number“ list sends their call straight to my voice mail.

Insurance, insurance, insurance. Is there anything in life they do not have an insurance for? The company number on rank 2 is apparently Van Compare Insurance or Connect Quote – or a callcentre working for both of them. Several users reported this fact after having called them and after being led to the company´s answer machine.
copper1fox wrote:

Called this number back and this number takes you to an automated message advising they are calling up about car insurance.

On this week´s rank 3 we have a really ridiculous call centre. They really seem to be selling anything! Tellows users commented the following items sold by this number: air conditoning/dehumidifier, solar panels and grants, Home Safe Security and alarms as well as green energy.

User Broadsword wrote:

They rang twice man with strong Glasgow accent asking „Do you want any Gear“, plus other dirty comments. Laughed a few times and hang up. This at 10.30am.

Did they call you, too? What else can you tell us about these numbers? Are there any other harassing, ridiculous or dangerous numbers trying to call you?

We appreciate all useful comments on harassing phone numbers.

In the name of the community: Thank you!

Your Tellows Team

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(English) Ignoring The TPS!? The British Top 3 Phone Spammers

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Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar.

The only number that didn´t change since the last British Top 3 spam number report is 01484818084 on rank 1.

1. 01484818084 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 8
2. 01412582118 from Glasgow with a tellows score of 8
3. 01234945454 from Bedford with a tellows score of 7

Manyfold telemarketing offers seem to originate from number 01484818084 – the British top spam number! As we discovered recently with the help of all Tellows users, the callers are not only trying to sell PI claims or mortgages but also goods, suchs as solar pannels. The latest comment reveals even another „product“ – CI insurace. Insurance scam seems to be the most flourishing fraud method of all in Britain.

User waveylines reported:

Asian person who rang me wanting my details…for a claim he reckoned i was due….was reluctant to give me any details about the company he worked for -was evasive but eventually told me that hie company was called Talk International and he worked in the CI claims department..Difficult to understand his accent….

Tellows does not want to promote any stereotypes or xenophobia. We highly depreciate this. Please keep in mind that suspicious telemarketing companies hire the cheapest workforce and therefore often make a profit out of globalization and bad economic situations in other countries.

The number on rank 2 is getting on people’s nerves with silent calls. It is a typical method of checking phone numbers with the help of an automath in order to give telemarketing calls sooner or later. Same thing with 01234945454 which is on rank 3.

Don’t let them take over! The community counts on your comments!

Your Tellows Team

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