He sounded like a nice man!

Bill shares with us his concerns about scams, our Friend and neighbour Pat was deep in conversation with Sophie, then the phone rang. Sophie could hear both sides of the conversation; Pat was naturally loud, and the other party was excited. It was, seemingly, a call from the bank. The proof of this was that the other person gave Pat the FIRST four digits of the Big Number on her debit card. Pat went on to tell this 'Other Person' all of her bank details, including the juicy total of her wealth. Sophie was in turmoil, making gestures and bouncing around, trying to get Pat to shut up. This wasn't about to happen. Pat answered every question, with the bare facts. The excitement on the other end of the line was reaching fever pitch when the instruction came for Pat to go to her computer and turn it on. "Computer!? No bonny lad! I don't have a computer!!". Sophie said that the desperation on the other end of the line was palpable as Pat, finally, hung up the line. Sophie called me, in some distress, and I joined them to hear of the experience. I called Pat's bank, immediately, and they put their measures into operation, cancelling Pat's card, for the second time in a few weeks. The bank was quite happy to do this, and they are Always Happy to go ahead with fraud control measures. It is, plainly, better than having to look at replacing stolen money in someone's account. *The FIRST four digits on bank cards are the BANK'S IDENTITY numbers and they will be the same as everyone else's FIRST four digits, in that bank. The first thing the scammer did was get the name of Pat's bank, using the debit card ploy to establish some trust.

Information from Morning Live Website (bbc.co.uk/morninglive) Phishing emails are emails which encourage you to contact them or to click on a link. You can forward the suspect email to report@phishing.gov.uk Never click on anything which you do not understand. ASK someone, it is always best to overcome shyness in these cases.

Always remember that REAL BANKS and REAL ANYTHING ELSES won't ever ask you for your password and log in details. They don't need to. They may ask for the "Second" digit or "Third/Sixth" digit - but NEVER the whole password. Keep your wits about you and, if you have any suspicions, HANG UP AND CALL THE BANK OR OTHER INSTITUTION - Preferably on another phone. Ask for the FRAUD department. They will be quite happy to listen to you and to give you advice. This is Too Costly for anyone to be precious with feelings. You can always tell someone that you will call them back later. It is safer than the risk of losing money from your accounts.

IF YOU AREN'T SURE WHAT IS HAPPENING, HANG UP!! BUT HANG UP PROPERLY. SCAMMERS CAN TRY TO STAY ON THE LINE. This is why it is always best to call on another phone line, to which they haven't got any access.