Last week I talked about credit card debt.
mrlimitless95.blogspot.com
Today I am going to talk about the topic regarding finances. Financial scam and fraud.
Now I know different type of scams & fraud so based on my own experience, I am going to detail it one by one so that you can understand what I am coming from.
Also I was glad that I didn’t experienced any other transactions.
One day before my trip to Paris, I received some alarming text from Barclays, saying recent activity that had happened strangely. Well when I checked on my account on Barclays Mobile App, there was no money (£421.15) being deducted from “Changi Recommends” (which I never heard of the organisation given it is an Singaporean travel agency company) & I am happy that I didn’t recognise the transaction as I texted “N” & that no money was taken away from my account.
I have no idea why would someone from Singapore who works in travel agency were attempting to take away £421 off my account. At least it did not happen & I didn’t even want to bring stress & headache given that I was ready to go to Paris, France & that thingy was a scam.
Then late February last year.
£699.99 scammers from HRG which they were unsuccessful. I received a text from my bank (Barclays) & I typed “N” for not recognised & no money was taken from my money (& I didn’t had that amount of money). I was lucky that those two unrecognised transactions didn’t occurred at all.
& now unlucky ones.
Here it goes.
1.Game and gun websites from Hong Kong/Netherlands and the United States of America.
In late May 2019 I received a text from my bank Barclays about two unrecognised transactions (which I called them by phone). I went to the bank next day after talking to the staff on the phone to report fraud in order to block anymore transactions from G2A (Dutch/Hong Kong game site. I don’t know that website & I don’t buy anything for game) & Precision Reflex Inc (US gun website. American gun website? What the hell. The maniac figured out my old card details to buy guns. That fraudulent person really has problems especially his/her interest for a gun given I never buy any weapon & I will never do so) I don’t recognise the payments from G2A & Precision Reflex Inc.
Eventually the two funds are added back to my account so that was sorted out & that lasts couple of weeks.
2. Paris Taxi Scam.
Now this one is an interesting one because I was conned into paying for a taxi fare that isn’t a proper taxi fare. Here’s a full detail about it.
When I was enjoying myself in Paris, France (which mostly were trouble free) in summer of 2019 & that I was there for three short days in late August, I arrived at Paris Gare Du Nord station via Eurostar train. When I was out of the station, the person came to me & said “do you want to go on ride?” I replied “yes”. Then next thing despite the journey from the station (Gare Du Nord) to the hotel (which I was staying for 3 days) was 8 minutes (not a long distance), he (the taxi driver who appeared to be “genuinely polite”) told me that the price was €75 (£70) & that he did conned me to pay for it. Not one but two amounts of the same amount €75 (£70 which made up the total amount of £140). It was on Sum Up card reader.
At least when I returned home from France, I went to my bank (Barclays) straight away to report it as fraudulent & quickly, the money was refunded back to my account.
No wonder the taxi car I went on the ride didn’t had the taxi meter & the taxi sign. I would had gone for Kapten or Uber. In fact I was really going to book Uber for the ride before that person (rogue taxi driver) did approached to me.
When I informed the reception at the hotel that it had happened to me, one staff member told me that he “knows” some people who do operate in the dodgy business of fraud & scam & that he’ll do his own investigation in order to report rogue taxi driver to the French police.
The taxi fare from Gare Du Nord station to the hotel (which I was staying) should had been around €10 - €16 (£10 - £16). Instead it was too much expensive fare price. £70 (€75) for the journey which was less than 10 minutes from the station to the hotel, it was not a proper fare price.
I could had took the picture of the car number plate of the rogue taxi driver who conned me to pay two exact same amounts of €75 (£70) & reported to the French police. Instead I decided not to because i didn’t want my 3 day holiday in Paris to be overshadowed by taxi scam. So that’s how my time in Paris was mostly trouble free, it was unfortunate that had happened especially after me being out of the station from the Eurostar train that took 2 hours from London St Pancras to Paris Gare Du Nord. I loved the journey by the way. Next time when I come to visit Paris or any big European cities that has many tourists visiting there like Barcelona or Rome, I have to be street wise before that sort of thing like taxi scam happens to me which I will have to do my best not to be in that situation again.
3. HMRC tax scam
This one is one of the saddest & very difficult thing to avoid. Tax scam (HMRC scam). That happened in late October 2019.
Although that didn’t fully affected me, it is that was so unfortunate that happened to my mum (& I tried my best of telling my mum not to proceed with the payment = HMRC tax scam as she was on the phone, it’s not an genuine person as i knew it’s a scammer, my efforts of telling my mum not to do so had failed & my own money £300 including £150 of my own. The rest was from my dad = same amount was deducted). While most of my mum’s own money had gone to that scammer with Indian accent. He (the HMRC Scammer who by the way goes by the name of “RC” & didn’t give his real name) even sounded aggressive on the phone to my mother, saying “oh my god, hurry up”. All of that had really happened out of the blue. Myself and my dad advised mum to go to the bank to report it as an fraudulent transaction which mum said it was not possible & that she won’t get her own money. She could had tried. I did as I went to my bank to report it. Although before Christmas 2019, I didn’t received a money fully with £300 amount, I received a half amount of £150.
So yeah. Normally, Tax revenue like UK/British HMRC (Her Majesty Revenue and Customs) or Inland revenue if you like, I know for the fact that they (HM Revenue and Customs people. Real people who work there) never call or text anyone especially out of the blue in situations like that. When it comes to tax affairs, they write letters & yet there are lowlifes who claims to be from HMRC in order to take advantage of the person including most on the elderly, they are so cruel and idiotic imbeciles. Conning people by making a profit out of misery. It’s very terrible.
gov.uk
So I know HMRC would never do that on purpose. Those scammers have been trying to give the tax office a bad name by destroying the reputation which I know that won’t work & that they’ll never be successful. Those who conned people and making profits out of someone’s misery.
That leads me to two recent fraudulent transactions as it had happened at the start of this year 2021.
4. Clickbait advertisement scam
He clicked the clickbait advertisement showing the health product that he was interested of wanting to buy something (Keto Pro) & he persuaded me to buy it for him. I told him “are you really sure about this cos I don’t want this to happen again like last time last year with lottery maximiser last year February?” He told me no worries (reassuring me that they won’t happen again). Then when I was ready to proceed with the order, something have came up (pop up advertisement = clickbait). Garcinia. Which have unfortunately ended up on my order which the carer of my disabled brother (my disabled brother who is non verbal & has challenging behaviour) didn’t wanted that item (Garcinia). That was when we were being tricked into ordering it. Even the cater himself have looked up that two items (Keto Pro and Garcinia) are health products for women.
I was not impressed at all. I even said to him before ordering that are you sure about it cos in my mind & my conscious (I knew something that is not right & the website link is not really genuine).
Given I shouldn’t had to be in awful position like this.
As the result of it, I called my bank Barclays regarding about it. He told me that it was not possible to block two transactions (£4.95 for Keto Pro & £4.96 for Garcinia makes up £9.91 in total = $12.24). Instead he told me that there will be blocks (mechanism) that can identify & prevent any unrecognised and fraudulent transactions in the future (for some websites that aren’t genuine. Especially unless that If I approve or not which I already received notifications by Barclays app with any payment deducted to prevent fraud & all that & that if I do recognise or not). So my Bank was not able to block it except I emailed Keto Customer support to refund my money back to my account which they did.
I understand the carer’s experience that he have been victimised by scammers to order something he never wanted & that he was being tricked (deceived) into buying Garcinia but to persuade me to order something he wanted (health product. Geto Plus Product which is mostly for female) which we ended up paying for another item (which he never wanted & liked Garcinia one) that we never wanted. He should had been careful while seeing these type of advertisement because some advertisement can be misleading & that makes the person to click the link (clickbait). He could buy the item that he wanted on eBay or Amazon.
So that’s how for 4th time in a row (first time in 15 months. October 2019) it happened to me again. Just like other three in 2019, two unrecognised transactions (Dutch/Hong Kong game website), Paris taxi scam & HMRC tax scam. Luckily last year 2020 (I didn’t experience any of problems like fraud & scams).
So it was so unfortunate that sort of scam that happened to me again. This time with clickbait advertisement (which that tricked the carer into wanting a health product & persuaded me to order despite I knew that it was not genuine). I am glad few weeks ago that it was sorted out that money £9.91 ($12.24) as I did emailed customer support & my bank Barclays.
So if you don’t know what clickbait means then here is an definition/meaning of the word. It is a text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, with a defining characteristic of being deceptive, typically sensationalised or misleading.
That’s what clickbait means.
And finally.
5. Flight ticket scam from Travel Unravel & me in overdraft debt.
Last month, I paid £522.23 on my dad’s behalf as he sent a money to my bank account to pay it for my dad’s friend who was coming from Nigeria & flow on Virgin Atlantic (although I won’t recommend anybody to travel during this difficult times because of the coronavirus pandemic). Then next day, I received unexpected and unpleasant phone call from travel agent (Robert with Indian accent) who later turned out to be completely fraudulent & scammer. Bothering me & my dad about weight limit. Weight limit? That wasn’t a part of flight ticket 🎫 Why someone from Travel Unravel would be harassing me & my dad about something that isn’t part of the ticket. When I first heard a voice recording from that guy about it, i passed on to my father to deal with it. As the result of it, flight ticket was cancelled & the guy & other person from Travel Unravel had bothered my dad & he (my dad) almost had a heart attack because of the fact they wanted to speak to me which I was the one who made a payment. Worse of all, refund process from Travel Unravel (& WorldPay which is merchant provider for that travel Unravel company is not very genuine) would take two weeks so my dad advised me to talk to my bank Barclays on the phone which I did so. After all, money was added back to my account (refunded) and the matter was sorted (which i originally thought) until it was not.
This month I received a letter from my bank (Barclays) which was sent on 4th February & I received on 8th February. At first, I thought that was done (sorted) & not cared of the outcome (which now I regretted as I could done something with that letter & I really thought that was a small transaction for other fraudulent transaction for clickbait transaction which I really wanted to find that out & already decided to move on from it). & then weeks later as of yesterday (Thursday 18th February, my whole money £178 was out & my bank account balance have gone into zero. Empty). In other words, for the first time in my life, I am in debt. Overdraft debt (meaning me in debt to my own bank Barclays). I didn’t read anything about it on Barclays Mobile App until today & I reacted shockingly 😳😳 that it really happened to me. Never in my life that I have experienced of my account being overdrawn. It never happened to me before. Overdraft. It’s a horrible feeling.
Me I have experienced some of financial problems (which includes scam) but never in the situation like this = overdraft. At the time of writing (on Friday 19th February 2019 my account is £-344.19). That means my bank believed the scammers from Travel Unravel company over me (meaning fraudulent transaction £522.23 was genuine despite it was not really genuine) & that is a mistake that Barclays (my bank) have done so (even if I didn’t do anything that prevent that from happening). So yeah, I am really really in deep s**t financially. Thankfully with the help of my dad & that I have evidence to prove the contrary as I wrote the letter & posted at my nearby post office which I have the receipt. I hope and pray that can be resolved asap (as soon as possible). I even contacted my bank few hours ago & I requested a chargeback. Staff member told me who understood my situation & said it was not possible for accept my request for chargeback (refund). I even told her (Barclays staff member) that I delivered my letter with my evidence that proves last month fraudulent transaction from Travel Unravel was not genuine that will soon be delivered to them (Barclays).
So it’s very sad for me to be in this situation like this. Hopefully once that is sorted out, I’ll update you guys regarding about my situation.
Anyways that is the whole 5 list of me being victimised of scam and fraud.
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