After watching a widow on GMB today who was scammed out of all her funds I do question how safe social media is,its terrifying.
Some evil people hone in on the vulnerable and lonely and they sound so convincing,and its no good saying it could'nt happen to you,because it can,no one is immune from tangling with evil.
I have been considering leaving social media behind because it can be destructive and problematic if we are not canny enough to recognise the warning signs.
Its not only the people who are questionable,it is so many adverts offering amazing products which are absolute rubbish too,and i have fallen for some of these things.
I do think Facebook should be much more responsible in who they allow to advertise,but of course its all about money and they dont care a damn if people are fleecing us.
The internet does have its uses,but i do feel it can be very unsafe,and even with online banking its not absolutely safe.
Some people are so clever in accessing peoples accounts,and instead of financial services demanding that we use the internet ,they should remember that not everyone trusts or likes it.
Life was so much easier and trustworthy before we depended on all things techno.
When we go on line now we go through a raft of questions ,passwords,numbers etc,and still its not fool proof,and that is scary,and just try to speak to a person and not a machine and we are b&@#*ed
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secrets22
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Oh I couldn't agree more Roddy. I grumble all the time about the way in which we've been funnelled towards using online services for absolutely everything. It starts out with a bit announcement about how much more convenient everything's going to be (for them of course, not us), and ends with vulnerable people scammed, confused and broken through the cunning of what seems like a growing group of people, having been conned out of life savings. Not only is the risk of losing your money so high, but the levels of customer service are at an all time low! 👍
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I agree Roddy.... I never use online banking, If I want to know something, I physically go to the bank, I won’t use the hole in the wall, I always use the machine inside the bank, And I only deal with online companies that I’ve used and trust!!!
Yes I agree. I don't do Facebook or any of those things although friends and family are always pestering me to. I've noticed a lot more weird e mails arriving these days. I resisted online banking for a very long time- until the first lockdown when I couldn't get to the bank to pay bills. I also got fed up with the pressure to bank online every time I went into the branch.
I don't like the way everything is going online and companies etc assume everyone has access to the internet or wants to use it. I still prefer to go into shops - when I can of course.
That's true. I only started buying stuff online after covid started and I had no choice. And then I only buy things from shops I'd usually go to anyway🐰
I agree. To be honest I can't be doing with all the stuff people post. My friend gets fed up with her daughter in law posting all the time. I can understand it's useful if you have family abroad. I prefer to talk- either in person or on the phone. I'd much rather see friends and family. When we can of course😁🐰
Timely reminder secrets. I have just been driven crackers (friends will say I hadn’t got far to go!!) sorting out my mother’s affairs following her move to a care home. Trying to speak to some banks and Inland Revenue in particular means hours sitting on the phone in queues. Some questions need a discussion with a real person. I suspect that it is a combination of the inevitable move to internet transactions and reduced staff availability because of COVID-19. Nothing beats a bank branch within walking distance for our more senior citizens and ready phone access for anyone with mobility issued; sadly, premium accounts apart, these people seem to have been forgotten.
I agree secrets, we have to be so careful nowas there seems to be an army of fraudsters and scammers etc who I'm sure are multiplying by the day and whilst a lot of them are invisible to us, some are wolves in sheeps' clothing - they are like a breed apart from the human race - it worries me silly sometimes. x
i so agree with you,and as for doctors with online appointments makes me reluctant to even bother,in fact doctors have never had it so good,and each covid vaccine they administer they get £15 each time.gggrrr.
Lots of the small branches in the cardiff suburbs have shut down as well!
We are OK where we live as we can walk into town and also to our local one in Albany Road and the Canton and the Llanishen nat west branches are still open but if you don't live central or near a business centre and don't have a car or have mobility problems then they don't care.
Those scammers are low lives!
I received a scam text claiming I owed Royal mail money and I deleted it!
I have had calls off them as well and when I realised what they were up to I had hung up the call!
Hi All,
Any email you receive that addresses your email address and not by your name is an scam email. Any text you receive by phone don't press on any links. My friend got a phone call purporting to be from amazon saying someone had used her card fraudulently to open a new account which sounded plausible but they also went on to say the card was used to hire a car that had been in an crime. That blood was found in the car by forensics. Now, how would an amazon operator know that. It would be confidential police procedure. This was said to get her to panic and get access to her account number. Put the phone down and call amazon yourself and your bank.
I got an email supposed to be from TV licence people informing me my licence had ended and i needed to set up a new payment. On closer inspection of the email, it was addressed to my email address and not my name and also the date was written the American way. Also checking my bank statement for the monthly payment to TV licensing was still going out proved that it was a scam. Please be aware.
If you have YouTube you can learn how to check to avoid scam websites and protect your banking and other info safe. Always use a strong password.
Never announce your going on holiday on social media. Your telling burglars your house is empty. If you get a call on your old analogue phone saying it from your bank, police and they say you can check that it's them by calling back, when you put your phone down and pick it up to call them ,ALWAYS LISTEN OUT FOR THE DAILING TONE. IF THERE IS NO DAILING TONE THEN THEY ARE STILL ON THE LINE AND IT'S A FAKE CALL. In the old days when we ended a call we would put the receiver down to end one call and to make an new call. We'd assume that the person on the other end would do the same but a scammer would just keep the line alive so that it would seem like you had got through straight away to lull us to believe they were the genuine article.
SO REMEMBER IF YOU'RE ASKED TO CALL THEM, CHECK THE NUMBER BY CROSS REFERENCING WITH YOUR BANK, POLICE, UTILITIES NUMBERS AND YOU DON'T GET THROUGH STRAIGHT AWAY, YOU USUALLY HAVE TO NAVIGATE THEIR AUTOMATED QUEUEING SYSTEM. I KNOW IT TAKES TIME BUT BETTER TO CHECK THEN BE SCAMMED. REMEMBER ALWAYS LISTEN OUT FOR A DAILING TONE OR A RINGING TONE WHEN YOU CALL.
Sorry this post is long . It's not to scar you but to keep you aware! Keep safe!
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