Shari Vahl
Journalist, you and yours
Bbc
Paul told him that the bailiffs
A man described how criminals pretending to be bailiffs almost made him pay thousands of books to settle a fictitious debt as part of a developed scam.
In what has been reported as an increasing problem, people are telephoned and said that the bailiffs are on the way to their homes to withdraw their property and that the only way to cancel them is to settle the debt with a court local.
A false convincing of the court telephone service then tries to take payment with the criminals hoping that the panic of the bailiffs who approached them will persuade them to separate from their money.
Paul, of Northumberland, told BBC Radio 4, you and yours, he had started with a telephone call to the improvise.
‘Amazed and terrified’
“I answered the call and he then said that he was a bailiff and that he sounded because there had been a judgment of the county court against me in the previous summer before the court of The crow’s crown and I owed £ 2,950 more its costs of £ 970, “he said.
We then said to him: “” The boys and I are going to come later during the day to collect furniture from your house at the value of the discovery. “”
The man on the phone told Paul, who rents vacation chalets on his farm, debt linked to unpaid social media marketing costs.
“I was surprised and terrified, in fact, at the same time,” he said.
The man gave a number to Paul to contact the court for more details.
Although the number was false, Paul met the real automated standard message of the court – which the criminals had duplicated to make the scam more convincing.
When someone was put, Paul was said that he had unpaid “marketing expenses”.
He then received what looked like real legal documents by e -mail – which were shared with the BBC – detailing the debts that had apparently accumulated.
Paul was sent by e-mail which was claimed to be official court documents
Paul was invited to transfer money to the personal bank account of an “adviser appointed by the court” who worked as a freelancer.
“At this point, alarm bells sound loud and clear,” he said.
Paul then excavated online the correct contact number for the court and realized that the one who had been given to him was false, just like another email requesting a payment has arrived, from an email address Improbable dot com.
“Throughout all this, I continue to make telephone calls from the alleged bailiff who wants me to tell him that I had sent the money,” he said.
“He said not before the money was sent to cancel the guys’ action with the fists that would steal all my furniture.”
“Panic fashion”
Victoria, who lives in Cheshire, was also targeted with the scam.
When her phone rang, he was told that “law enforcement officers” were 40 minutes away and had just removed the objects from her house.
“I have sort of spent in panic mode,” she said.
The man told him that he could not discuss details by phone, but would give him the details of the County County court that he could call for an explanation.
“I was on the phone for ages,” said Victoria.
“I couldn’t go. So, because I couldn’t go and the bailiff was on the way, I panicked even more.”
She said that she had been able to reach another man, also a crook, who told her that she had accumulated debt via Google Advertising – and because she remembered having spoken to Google several years ago, It seemed plausible.
Victoria, who worked for a funeral company, had never bought Google Advertising, but the man told her that she had used a free trial and had not managed to cancel it.
Victoria was informed that she should have appeared in court and that there was a mandate for her arrest.
“I just wanted to send the money there and then,” she said.
“While I was on my computer, another bailiff called me and he was on the way and he was the bad bailiff, he was the bailiff.
“He simply said that he was now 10 minutes away and that he came to erase the property and make the bank transfer as soon as possible.”
While making payment on her online banking services, her husband had looked for the right number for the court online and called her – but was number 30 in the queue.
“He came out of the room saying he would never speak to me if I sent the money,” she said.
“And I just wanted to stop the bailiffs.”
A warning on the Victoria online bank that the details that had been given to her were for a personal account – not a company – sowed the first seeds of doubt in her mind – just as her husband managed to go to the real courtyard who told them not to pay.
‘Tie of the iceberg’
It was a quasi-failure for Paul and Victoria.
“They almost had me,” said Paul.
“You go into a shock mode where you don’t really think clearly.
“And there was also sufficient plausibility in a game because they said that I had not paid marketing expenses for the holiday trade that I was directing. And they approached me on my mobile number and they knew my name.
“There were a few question points where it seemed that it could have been real – sufficient to make me terrified …”
The Ministry of Justice said it was a criminal offense to identify a bailiff and that anyone receiving a similar appeal should hang up and find the right number for the court.
Sarah Naylor, of the sales organization against the bailiffs to inform real bailiffs after being scammed.
“These scam companies work on the basis of urgency and fear,” she said.
The authentic agents of law enforcement will always reprogram and allow people time to check the details, she said, and would never only offer a payment option.
“Breathe and think about it,” she advised anyone receiving a similar call.
“Does that seem right? Have the first heard about it? Not a legitimate application agent.”
False bailiffs, heat pump tourism and supermarket loyalty cards
