I hope you won’t mind if I share some scams with you. If you haven’t come across them it may save you embarrassment and dosh.
The first only happened once and I have not heard of anyone else being on the receiving end. However, it is a “victimless crime” and many people would not realise that it had even happened. It works like this; a courier delivers a registered package to your home and you sign for it. You open it and find a high value product – in my case it was the latest iPhone and a SIM card. You panic as you cannot remember ordering it. I had a glass of red wine to settle my nerves. Then the telephone rings and the problem is resolved. The courier has delivered to the wrong address and comes round to collect. Smell a rat? I did. I told the “courier” to bugger off and called the police. I never heard another word from the “courier” and the police eventually returned the ‘phone to Vodafone. I don’t know whose stolen credit card the purchase was made on but at least the scammer didn’t get the iPhone.
In the old days shares were registered in the shareholder’s name. Then, initially to my irritation, brokers insisted on holding them in a nominee name. It means that you don’t receive the annual report, you cannot vote at AGMs and, super-plus-point, you don’t get called by scammers. I have just shares in one company registered in my name and often get calls from a mystery buyer wanting to get a majority holding in the company. I had one on Friday. The shares are trading at £2.33. My mystery buyer will pay me between £3 and £8. I have no doubt that had I offered my shares at £10 or £20 it would have been accepted. I cannot tell you how the scam plays out except to say that I would sign over my shares and receive no money. The technical name for this is a boiler room scam – I haven’t a clue why but wiki does (natch).
The term is likely to have originated from the cheap, hastily arranged office space used by such firms, often just a few desks in the basement or utility room of an existing office building, with the “heat” and “pressure” of close quarters and fast-paced sales tactics analogous to the conditions in the boiler and, in the former case, its surrounding room.
In the early 1970s (and possibly earlier), boiler room was a term used by political parties for a room with many telephones used to call prospective voters.
The funny thing about this scam is that the caller just has a list of company names and their shareholders. They don’t check if it is plausible for a mystery buyer to try to get control of the company and they always offer to pay a silly premium. Remember that the price on the stock market is supposed to reflect the company’s value. They simply rely on human greed and stupidity; sadly neither are in short supply.
Quite often I get calls from a Help Centre advising me that my computer needs some work to protect it from a virus. If you go along with this it means parting with some money and then, having found a sucker, they ask for second helpings. A robust way to deal with this is to say, with courtesy, how pleased you are that they have called and you will transfer the call to your IT department. They always ring off.
Another ploy is for when you receive a call from the police reporting that they have arrested somebody with your credit card. They give you a number to call back and a crime reference number. If you call back a “policeman” will verify your credentials and hoover up all your credit card details. Best just to say “if you’re a policeman I’m the Archbishop of Canterbury”. I sometimes wonder if a real policeman will turn up on my doorstep to complain. When you get a cold call it’s never to put you into something good.