I almost got scammed

[Grumpy John]

This afternoon I received an automated phone call claiming to be from Centrelink about underpaid pension payments and gave a number ( 02 61450391) to call someone in Canberra to arrange a cheque for the underpayment amount. This is a very complex scam whereby the scammer asked me to purchase $400 worth of iTunes cards to register for the refund.

I used 12 Complaints for (02) 6145 0391 in Australia 0261450391 to check the number and also logged on to scamwatch.

I am very angry at myself as I almost got caught, if it wasn't for the two links I used I think I would have been another victim. They are very smooth operators and much smarter than the usual scammers that try and tell you that your computer is infected. The fact that I have been receiving correspondence from Centrelink recently regarding my income stream didn't help matters any.

BASTARDS

[q9]

Remember, no government department is going to request gift cards/iTunes/Google play/etc. And will never complain if you say I will come to the local office to sort it out. N e v e r.

Good job on keeping your money.

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[Grumpy John]

The bastards even set up an appointment at my local Centrelink office on Monday at 10:30 with a Sylvia Johnson, so that I wouldn't have to stand in the long queue to collect my check. Bastards.

[Sir Stinkalot]

Just out of interest Grumpy John, what made you think that the government would require you to purchase $400 worth of ITunes gift vouchers before giving you a refund?

I can understand being tricked by “call this number” but the iTunes gift vouchers are illogical.

Not having a go at you but just interested in what is enough to trigger suspicion in these situations.

[Grumpy John]

Fair call Stinky, I am currently dealing with centrelink over my income stream and payments This call was/is a complete coincidence. It was the request for $400 to register for my refund cheque that got me suspicious Their logic for requesting iTunes cards was that their privacy policy prevented them from asking for bank details. Dealing with Centrelink is a PITA at the best of times, these scammers just happened to hit while I was dealing with payment issues, and I almost got caught.
Waiting for them to ring back

[q9]

Privacy policy? That's an interesting angle they push considering centrestink knows pretty much everything about you anyway.

Anyway, glad you cottoned on regardless.

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[quercus]

My intellectually disabled brother fell for one similar. He also was coincidentally waiting on a tax return and so fell for a scam where he had to do a western union transfer to settle a so- called centrelink debt before his refund would come through . As with you it was a coincidence and I think that is where a lot of otherwise savvy people come unstuck . As you said- Bastards


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[Sir Stinkalot]

Also glad you didn't get stung. Perhaps I should have included that on my initial post but I did it on the phone which forces you to be a little more brief.

The privacy issue is an interesting one as they are requesting money so there would be no need for them to obtain your banking details to obtain the money.

Whilst I fortunately do not need to deal with Centrelink I can appreciate how difficult they would be to deal with. We get the child care rebate (I think that is what it is). On more than one occasion we have received two letters on the same day from whichever government agency that runs the child care rebate. Open one letter and it claims we have been overpaid and we have a negative balance, open the second letter and it has applied a credit and we are back to zero balance. Both letters are dated the same so it's not possible to know which one comes first. We just ignore them and wonder how incompetent they are and why they wasted two stamps and the cost of producing the letters.

Good on you for coming out publicly and warning others. I am sure the scammers are hopping people are too embarrassed to come out which will let them carry on for longer.

[Dibbers]

I screen all calls that come through. I don't have a landline so everything comes through on my mobile which makes it easier.

If i don't recognise the number i let it ring out, google the number and see if its a scam or telemarketing number.

A couple of times (i mentioned in another thread) i've answered the call on my cars bluetooth not realising it was a telemarketer/scammer. If its a telemarketer, i just hurl abuse and they hang up pretty quick. If its a scammer, i string them along for as long as possible then finish with "Thank you for your time. This is Senior Constable blah blah or Agent Smith etc from ASIO, this call has been traced and local authorities have been contacted".

Scammers prey on peoples greed. Generally, if it sounds too good to be true it is. Centrelink for example couldn't run a chook raffle... so i doubt they'd cotton on to any form of underpayment anyway.

My mother in law had a call from "Microsoft" claiming she had a virus on her computer and that people had stolen her bank details... She just said "well theres not much money in there anyway and the poor buggers must need the money"... needless to say the bloke hung up...

I like my father in laws approach the best though. Anyone that calls their house phone, he just answers with a Chinese accent and pretends he doesn't speak english... everyone that know him would just laugh and tell him to stop being a twat... telemarketers and scammers just stammer and get all confused...

[BobL]

We'd like to think we have confused or scared a telemarketer or scammer but let's not kid ourselves about this, the reality is they most likely have already heard it all, and telemarketers in particular are trained to deal with all the situations above.
One of our neighbours kids (a smart, decent quiet unassuming sort of a person) put himself through a 5 year business and engineering double degree working part time as a telemarketer for an insurance company.
This enabled him to go to uni full time because he could work evenings.
I spoke to him several times about his work and it was interesting to hear what his training involved and the sorts of people that worked there.
Many of the people that worked there were like him , i.e. just trying to make a living.
Training involved going through what to do in all all of the scenarios listed above, and they were indeed told to hang up and move on.
They were told not to push too hard and are mostly looking for a soft touch.
According to "the kid" , those that try harder and maybe even become rude and difficult and happy to stay engaged and keep you on line are just bored and looking for a challenge and to waste your time.

Scammers are one thing, but just bear in mind that telemarketing companies hire all sorts of people, including those who are just trying to make a living and the telemarketers often take advantage of people who may not be able to get other sorts of jobs.

"The Kid" BTW is now a co-director of a small successful gold mining company.

[A Duke]

Hi,
I keep thinking about how these dickheads and scammers have messed it up for genuine telemarketers, pollsters and researchers.
Regards

[Dibbers]

Good on the bloke for sticking it out and earning the cash while at uni. I don't envy him having to work in that environment.

But at the end of the day, its an unsolicited call, often at very inconvenient times and they will be met with varying degrees of annoyance/irritation/straight out anger from me. If they don't want to deal with angry people, then i'm afraid they're in the wrong profession. I won't tolerate getting harassed by people who've obtained my phone number god knows how, asking me to sign up to things i don't want/need or even if i did, wouldn't sign up to over the phone without researching it thoroughly first.

Call me an occupational hazard for telemarketers... like dust for a woodworker... Telemarketers should avoid prolonged exposure to me and look to rid me from their workplace.

[BobL]

Good on the bloke for sticking it out and earning the cash while at uni. I don't envy him having to work in that environment.

Yeah I couldn't stand it either. The kid did try a few other jobs like flipping burgers and waiting tables first, but said he could make more by telemarketing.

[Grumpy John]

Also glad you didn't get stung. Perhaps I should have included that on my initial post but I did it on the phone which forces you to be a little more brief.
..........................................
Good on you for coming out publicly and warning others. I am sure the scammers are hopping people are too embarrassed to come out which will let them carry on for longer.

That was the main aim of the post.
I felt really stupid that I almost got caught, also very angry with myself. I am normally very cynical about emails and always hang up on telemarketers. I never answer the phone to a private number, the fact that the number was showing on the screen probably helped lull me in to a false sense of security. I'm going to the cops today with all the details, not that I think they can do much.
I have been wondering what the hell they wanted with $400 worth of iTunes cards.

They did call back later in the evening and SWMBO answered and gave them a real serve. Persistent bastards.

[david.elliott]

Hearing and reading about these scams more and more... the interesting thing that appears above with the one near and one successful scam is that both victims were engaged with the department that the scammer claimed to be from.

Not entirely sure these two and the others I've heard can be put down to lucky timing...