{"id":187956,"date":"2023-10-18T23:12:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T23:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/?p=187956"},"modified":"2023-10-18T23:12:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T23:12:39","slug":"think-only-fools-fall-for-scams-ive-been-duped-three-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/lifestyle\/think-only-fools-fall-for-scams-ive-been-duped-three-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Think only fools fall for scams? I&apos;ve been duped three times"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>CLARE FOGES:\u00a0Think only fools fall for scams? I&#8217;ve been duped three times<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>More than seven in ten adults in the UK were targeted by scammers last year, with 13 per cent losing money<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0I was picked for a dating reality show. I&#8217;m so glad I pulled out&#8230;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hello madam, I\u2019m calling from the fraud department at your bank. We have reason to believe your account has been compromised, is this a good moment to talk?\u2019 \u2018Oh, no! Yes of course&#8230; \u2019<\/p>\n<p>The polite young man, who knew where I lived and who I banked with, asked me a series of questions: what were my most recent transactions? Did I recognise a payment of \u00a3143.27 to suck-it-up-sucker.com? Could I confirm my address and card number, including the three-digit code on the back?<\/p>\n<p>I prattled away until his final question: \u2018And do you have any other bank accounts, madam? The Financial Conduct Authority requires us to check, so that we can alert them, too.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I gave him the name of my other bank. \u2018And roughly how much is deposited in the other account?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>At this point (late in the day, admittedly) I smelled a rat. Of course, I realised, my real bank would never call and ask for this sort of information over the phone. Ever.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/22\/76727787-12645787-image-a-1_1697664587611.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A report this week found that more than seven in ten adults in the UK were targeted by scammers last year, with 13 per cent losing money as a result<\/p>\n<p>When I told the young man I wasn\u2019t comfortable giving out more information, he said he\u2019d get someone from the other bank to call me back.<\/p>\n<p>Three seconds later, the phone rang again. This time it was a guy who sounded about 11 years old, with all the authority of Jimmy Krankie.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He asked again for my card details. I hung up, not before suggesting to him that instead of nicking people\u2019s money, he should go out and earn his own.<\/p>\n<p>On that occasion a few months ago, I was lucky. I called my bank\u2019s actual fraud department to block my card so nothing was taken.<\/p>\n<p>A lucky escape, and one you may think would have insured me against future scams.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2014 like millions of Britons, as was revealed this week in a report that illustrated the shocking scale of the scammers\u2019 reach \u2014 I was to fall prey again.<\/p>\n<p>I received an email from Royal Mail telling me they couldn\u2019t deliver a package because the postage was \u00a31.40 short. I paid the shortfall online with my card, putting in details about my address, postcode and so on. This, too, was a scam.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Embarrassingly, there was a third occasion just days later when I gave out more information than I should have after I received an email purporting to be from Apple, saying I needed to re-confirm my card details. Reader, it was a rotten Apple.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s that saying again? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame I have the common sense of a gnat.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m still down to the tune of about \u00a3300 while my bank decides whether to refund the money.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/22\/76727781-12645787-image-a-2_1697664608948.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Clare Foges (pictured), who\u00a0 has fallen victim to scammers on three occasions, believes the authorities don&#8217;t take fraud seriously\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It seems the thieves went wild on takeaways, chalking up a dozen orders before I noticed the money going out. The audacity of these people, using my hard-earned cash to stuff their faces with chicken chow mein!<\/p>\n<p>Scams are not only irritating, with all those hours on the phone to the bank, they are utterly demoralising, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With online fraud, you\u2019re a victim twice over: a victim of crime and a victim of your own vicious inner voice asking \u2018How could you be such an idiot?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Many times, I have patronisingly warned my mother to keep her wits about her online, and yet I fell for it so readily myself.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s little comfort to know I\u2019m not alone. This week\u2019s report found that more than seven in ten adults in the UK were targeted by scammers last year, with 13 per cent losing money as a result.<\/p>\n<p>Seven per cent of people had lost as much as \u00a35,000. And yet the authorities don\u2019t seem to take fraud seriously.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If someone burgled your home, you\u2019d expect at least a visit from the police, but if you lost money online, would you even bother calling them?<\/p>\n<p>Those takeaway-gorging thieves who stole my money are operating in what is effectively a lawless space, despite the fact that the fraud \u2018industry\u2019 raked in \u00a31.2 billion in England and Wales last year.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, 3.7 million fraud offences were reported to the police (the tip of the iceberg, I suspect) and just 3,455 were successfully prosecuted. How many went to jail for their crimes? A pitiful 1,177.<\/p>\n<p>Fraud is fast becoming a punishment-free crime.<\/p>\n<p>You might think that it\u2019s the victims\u2019 fault for being so gullible in the first place, but these scams are getting more and more sophisticated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As we give out our card details umpteen times a day, it can be difficult to tell the difference between legitimate requests and dodgy ones.<\/p>\n<p>The whole business makes me yearn for simpler days, when purchases were paid for in crisp notes and shiny coins, and some oik with a computer couldn\u2019t steal your money from several hundred miles away.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the insecurity of online banking and purchasing makes me even more certain that the \u2018cashless society\u2019 we are told is coming would be a very bad idea.<\/p>\n<p><span>Sorry, Joanna, I\u2019m all for Botox<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/22\/76727795-12645787-image-a-4_1697664629287.jpg\" height=\"784\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Joanna Lumley (pictured) has always avoided cosmetic surgery &#8216;tweakments&#8217; such as Botox and fillers\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Joanna Lumley says one of the reasons she looks so good at 77 is that she avoids cosmetic surgery \u2018tweakments\u2019 such as Botox.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I worked with Lumley on a project years ago and can testify that she is a stunner, with cheekbones you could hang your coat on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But for those of us with the bone structure of a potato, can we be forgiven for having a few tweakments, please? I have had Botox before and will definitely do so again.<\/p>\n<p><span>I respect Jada for avoiding divorce<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/22\/76727791-12645787-image-a-9_1697664675320.jpg\" height=\"893\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jada Pinkett Smith said\u00a0 she is prepared to work through the issues in her marriage, despite being separated from Will Smith since 2016<\/p>\n<p>Eyes have rolled about the revelation that Jada Pinkett Smith and husband Will have not divorced, despite separating in 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>People may sneer, but in an age when half of marriages end in divorce, I think their ongoing commitment is refreshing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Says Jada: \u2018I made a promise that\u2026 we will work through whatever.\u2019 Isn\u2019t that what the vows are all about?<\/p>\n<p>Glasgow Museums says a \u00a33 million sculpture by Auguste Rodin is \u2018unlocated\u2019, a fancy way of saying \u2018lost\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I imagine it will turn up on Antiques Roadshow in 2095, brought in by some light-fingered museum assistant\u2019s great-great grandchildren.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, losing such a massive artwork makes me feel better about my daily search for the car keys.<\/p>\n<p><span>We must learn to talk about death<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/18\/22\/76727793-12645787-image-a-7_1697664650942.jpg\" height=\"204\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Actor Richard E. Grant lost his wife in 2021<\/p>\n<p>Richard E. Grant says friends crossed the road to avoid talking to him after his wife\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>When I lost my father, aged eight, I longed to talk about him and yearned for someone at school to ask me about his death, but they never did. As Grant says, it\u2019s extremely hurtful.<\/p>\n<p>Why are we so strangely awkward around the grief-stricken in this country? It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s trite, awkward or clumsy; saying something is always better than saying nothing at all.<\/p>\n<p>Another \u2018world\u2019s gone mad\u2019 moment with news that a West Sussex boarding school has created an AI chatbot to be its deputy headteacher.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A good way to cut costs \u2014 but if I were paying \u00a332,000 a year to send my child there, I\u2019d be cutting and running.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-12645787\/CLARE-FOGES-Think-fools-fall-scams-Ive-duped-three-times.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CLARE FOGES:\u00a0Think only fools fall for scams? I&#8217;ve been duped three times More than seven in ten adults in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Think only fools fall for scams? I&amp;apos;ve been duped three times - News Need News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/lifestyle\/think-only-fools-fall-for-scams-ive-been-duped-three-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Think only fools fall for scams? 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