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Scams and fraud

France - English speaking man just phone but with accent

(22 Posts)
mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 16:07:36

Really weird, just had an English in speaking manphone me. Said my computer web connection was also linked to orange. He knew to speak English straight away with no prompting, he also knew both home and portable numbers and my home address . He asked me to switch on my computer. I told him to phone back at a certain hour on a certain day to sprak to my SIL He cut off when I repeated the request.
I feel shaky that someone knew all this information.

Blossoming Sat 11-Jun-22 16:11:20

Very odd. It does sound like a scam, you should report it.

Jaxjacky Sat 11-Jun-22 16:13:30

Have you signed up to Bloctel to block unsolicited calls mokryna?
Unfortunately this personal information is passed around between companies.

mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 16:20:01

Don’t think there is anyone to report it to in France. Will check it out with AC

BlueBelle Sat 11-Jun-22 16:22:15

Well it sounds like a scam but they don’t normally have so many details address tele number and mobile number
did you check for his number after he rang off i. pass it to the police to check it if I was you

mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 16:26:52

What is astonishing is that he spoke English as soon as I answered the phone and called me thé American style ma’am with an Asian- Indian accent.

mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 16:27:23

English number

mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 16:31:43

Oh don’t know sorry

BlueBelle Sat 11-Jun-22 16:31:55

Don’t know about in France but here there is a dedicated police team for scammers

Mamie Sat 11-Jun-22 16:36:18

Yes there is Bloctel mokryna.
www.bloctel.gouv.fr/
Those calls were very common at one stage. I just used to pretend not to speak whatever language they were speaking. Or ask them how I could have a problem with a PC on my Mac. Or just tell them to piss off. ?

mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 16:44:18

Thanks mamie

NanOf8Girls Sat 11-Jun-22 16:45:00

My partner fell for a similar landline phonecall. Very intelligent English speaking guy with an accent. He knew enough details for my partner to believe he was authentic. Same old 'open your laptop'. Caller stated because of the interruptions DP had suffered in his internet connections that they were crediting him with £200. Suitably impressed at the thought of 200 quid he complied. Caller being very friendly then said money was in DP's acct. Rang back mins later said he had made an error and had credited DP £2000 and would be surely sacked!. Cut long story short, DP's Building Society rang on his mob, said they'd been alerted by a £20,000 (twenty thousand!) taken from my partners account. Luckily it was reversed apart from the £200. Lucky escape! The whole thing was so authentic and shocking.

Mamie Sat 11-Jun-22 16:47:06

Actually one of them was so persistent I told him that his mother would be ashamed of him tring to scam elderly people. He did actually say sorry and hang up. ?

NanOf8Girls Sat 11-Jun-22 16:49:07

The scammer was still on DP's landline denying he wasn't genuine. Building Society pleaded with my partner to cut the call with scammer and talk to him instead. It was a bewildering situ for DP.

mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 19:17:31

Phoned my server but they couldn’t do anything. Took all devices to DD and SIL changed things. He thought they had got into emails which had them speaking English. Still not happy, don’t do any online French banking and hardly any UK but trying to think how they knew both numbers.

M0nica Sat 11-Jun-22 19:26:36

itcould have been an inside job. Someone working for either bank selling information.

welbeck Sat 11-Jun-22 19:35:22

yes, it does happen unfortunately.
like at filling stations of old, card being swiped on an extra machine under the counter, to garner the details, make clones. it was a lucrative side line.
OP, have you informed your bank that unknown person had your details.
good that you side-stepped them. take care.

mokryna Sat 11-Jun-22 19:44:24

The only thing I can think of recently is a specialist doctor appointment which I updated my mobile on the web. I never use these days my land line which they phoned on. Oh dear thinking out load

grandtanteJE65 Tue 21-Jun-22 17:36:15

I doubt, mokryna, that he actually had all that information about you. It was probably just part of his act. If you had answered him in French or any other language than English, he might well just have rung off.

Admittedly, if it had happened to me, I too would have wondered how he had got hold of all this information about me, but he probably really only needs our names to work out which language to speak, or else is just trying it on.

mokryna Tue 21-Jun-22 20:39:16

grandtanteJE65 My name is a French one, he knew that and address plus both portable and land phone numbers.
I have changed the password like SIL advised.

MariaP1984 Tue 12-Jul-22 23:41:23

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mokryna Wed 13-Jul-22 02:33:02

Reported