Tag Archives: fraud

Weekly Top 5 Annoying Spammers & Scammers

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Another week has passed and we are back to you with our weekly update. Scammers and spammers were very active this week and as a result we have a new Top 5 leader.

1. 01422387713, from Halifax – United Kingdom, with a Tellows Score of 8
2. 01618505451, from Manchester – United Kingdom, with a Tellows Score of 7
3. 01792455426, from Swansea – United Kingdom, with a Tellows Score of 8
4. 01933698538, from Wellingborough – United Kingdom, with a Tellows Score of 7
5. 02031671196, from London – United Kingdom, with a Tellows Score of 7

There were more than 10000 inquiries for the Top Leader !! It drives me crazy when I think of how these people are persistent in annoying UK citizens with their scam calls days, weeks and months long. They do not even somehow get our numbers, but they also know our names! Tellows-user rosie is very frustrated and she shared her experience with us:

THIS COMPANY KNEW MY NAME, AND WAS TRYING TO GET ME TO COMFIRM IT,
I SAID I DO NOT COMFIRM ANYTHING TO SOMEONE WHO I DONT KNOW, I KEPT SAYING TELL ME WHO YOU ARE AND I MAY KNOW WHO YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, ABIT OF THIS BANTER WENT ON, AND AS I WOULD NOT COMFIM, HE HUNG UP, IVE READ THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER COMFIRM ANYTHING TO STRANGERS

2nd place this week and the winner of the last week 01618505451 as well as owners of 3rd place 01792455426 and 4th place 01933698538 are very active telemarketers that “help you to claim your PPI” but actually don’t. Another classic scam. Our user GÄntz is also wondering how many are there ???

evers day another PPI calims company calls… how many are there?

The last but not least /02031671196 is another telemarketer. Tellows user scott has reported:

These guys hassle me every day for the past 3 months, they call at all hours to catch you off guard! They try to sell me vacant land for property development. AVOID at all costs!

Every week spamers and scammers are getting more and more active and we really need your help, dear Tellow-users, to report the numbers that have been annoying you the most. The war is not over. And we are very thankful for every comment you leave and every number you report !

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The UK Top 5 Annoying Numbers

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Here are the most annoying and most wanted spam numbers that have been harassing UK citizens during the last week. Luckily, tellows users provide us with vital information and we are always up to date of the UK’s Most Wanted spam and scam Numbers.

1. 01618505451 from Manchester, United Kingdom with a Tellows Score of 7
2. 01792455426 from Swansea, United Kingdom with a Tellows Score of 8
3. 01933698538 from Wellingborough, United Kingdom with a Tellows Score of 7
4. 01614867770 from Manchester, United Kingdom with a Tellows Score of 8
5. 08453130337 from United Kingdom with a Tellows Score of 6

The most wanted number this week 01618505451 was searched almost 7500 times now. Our user Lucius identified it as Cost trap and reported:

yet another scam with profound interest in me claiming my PPI. they cold call any number they get their dirty little fingers on. scum/scam.

The 2nd place goes to 01792455426 . It is another PPI claiming company. Our user fred bloggs shared his experience with us:

apparently, through searching on the web, 01792455426 belongs to Liefstyle Money who call you about reclainming PPI which is very easy to do yourself and there is no reason why anyone should use a separate company !

The 3rd goes to the number 01933698538 which was reported as Telemarketer. Our user paul told us:

this caller is from smart claims and consumer solutions they keep phoning my mobile. never had a loan or credit card or been invilved in an accident.frustrated

The 4th place goes to number 01614867770 that has been annoying our users for a long while already. Our user Richard said:

I keep getting calls from accident claims saying that I had an accident last December and that I can claim for injurys but I have not had an accident. I told them dozens of times! called 6 times yesterday .

The 5th place goes to 08453130337. Our user Sean Haroldson has identified it as a Survey and reported:

Just recieved a call from this number the man said he was conducting research, i asked how he got my number, he told me they pick one number the rest is randomised thats how he got it, i wasnt buying it so i said not interested and hung up

Scammers have been very active this week so be careful and don’t hesitate to share your experiences with us,
Your Tellows Team

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A new week leads to a new Top 3!

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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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Another Day, Another Scam – Be aware of current fraud-methods!

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Another scam trying to lure you into a trip by promises of great riches sprouts shoots.

We would like to warn you about a message which promises a bonus payment of 1000₤ in addition to the regular pension. This recorded message want you to push 5 for further information or 9 for unsubscribing. Sometimes it’s not a message but a call. One of the numbers which are used by those fraudsters is 01619610056. Please don’t answer to that, its a scam! If you know other numbers, comment them here in order to warn other users!

Another method to get your money is stealing your bank details. We reported last year about scammers who claim to be SKY-employees in order to get your bank information. Now another company called Lending Stream is intend to gain access to your purse. They claim they granted you a loan in the past which they debit from your bank account now – although there isn’t any evidence for this loan. Even big banks like Lloyds aren’t protected from this method. Unfiortunately, you are often left alone with the problem because they don’t know how to avoid scams like this.

Our user Andrew tells us about his bad experiences with Lending Stream.

this company offered my father a loan so he paid them a u-cash voucher for 145 pounds so as his loan went into his bank account… it all seemed above board then they said they wanted another 250 to process….LENDING TREAM… Comlpete rip off merchants PLEASE STAY AWAY… my dad is 68 years old and they took most of his wages and then wanted more…SCUM THATS WHAT THIS COMPANY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they said he cant have his money BACK!!!!

All we can do is to pay attention and to share our experiences on tellows.co.uk.

Take care, your tellows-Team!

Sources:
Guardian – Lloyds Payday Fraud
Guardian – Recorded Phone Message

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Great Success Against PC Doctor Scammers

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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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The Silent Call Plague – Weekly Top 3 Spammers

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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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Beware: Fraudulent Sky Callers Want Your Bank Details!

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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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Ignoring The TPS!? The British Top 3 Phone Spammers

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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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Spam Numbers Of The Week – The British Top 5

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The most annoying numbers are still the same, though there are some changes on the minor ranks:

1. 01484818084 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 8
2. 01234945454 from Bedford with a tellows score of 7
3. 07968463380 a mobil phone number with a tellows score of 7
4. 07787225074 a mobil phone number with a tellows score of 9
5. 07787241083 a mobil phone number with a tellows score of 9

This week’s most annoying phone number 01484818084 has been searched more than 5293 times now. Beware! Several stories about what the callers are offering on this number have been reported. The range is very wide, starting off with PI claims, mortgages as well as solar pannels. This does not sound trustworthy at all.

This is what waveylines wrote about this number:

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.

For number 01234945454 we found out that the initial ping calls comming from this number turned into PPI claims spam. We already reported about this method in a previous article:

Main principle of the scam: the caller is trying to convince people that they are owed money for an unclaimed PPI insurance. The method of the fraudulant calls is simple: assuming the called person has a loan, stating exactly how much money the person is owed by the unclaimed insurance and offering their service of getting the client’s money back – after prior payment, of course.

read more

We count on you in the struggle against phone spam and scam!

Your Tellows Team

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UKBA scammers try to sqeeze money from immigrants

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There is a new scam that especially affects foreigners (mostly students). There are two reported telephone numbers connected this case:

The caller pretends to be an employee of the UKBA (United Kingdom Border Agency). All calls show the same structure. The fraudster will tell you that there is a problem with your immigration status or your visa and that you’ll have to pay a fine. You’ll be advised to give him your credit card / debit card details or directly make a Western Union payment to settle the issue as easy as possible to prevent the UKBA from taking further steps against you. To convince you of his authenticity the dubious employee may tell you some personal information about yourself like your passport number or your telephone number. One victim even reported that he was called concerning one of his relatives. If you refuse to cooperate the caller will most probably try to put pressure on you with deportation threats and other tricks.

We provide some simple tips that you can rely on

  • do never ever tell someone your credit card details during a cold call
  • nor give any other personal information like your name or address
  • instead ask the fraudster for his name, job title and telephone number
  • note down the telephone number and report it on tellows.co.uk

Sources:
http://ljmu.ac.uk/NewsUpdate/index_124039.htm
http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/

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