He was very confident that we spoke last week, but I am absolutely sure I've never spoken to him. Plus he pronounced my surname wrong, which he wouldn't if we'd spoken before because I would have corrected him. Told him to email me if I'm wrong, but he said "I don't have your email". Scammer, right?
Sounds scammy Probably hoping that most people would be embarrassed to say they couldn't remember speaking to someone
yeah, that's what I think. He was very insistent, but I have an excellent financial adviser who I know. I wouldn't have spoken to someone else
Sounds like he might be called Scamexander Scamilton
Bit creepy that he knew your name 🤔
I assume my phone number has been exposed in some data breach, which is ugh, but the way every Tom, Dick and Harry website wants your phone number these days, it's not a surprise
Scammer. A few people have had similar calls
Grr. I can see how someone might end up thinking "oh, I must have spoken to him, it's me being dense".
Indeed.
Sounds very like it. I’ve had a few people phoning me about work recently who sound plausible but I’ve always got a tab open while I’m talking to them, googling away to see if they actually represent who they say they do. Sadly a lot of the time they don’t & all they want is information about me.
addressing you by name? This guy was calling me by my name
(sorry for the late reply) Yes. "Is that Andy Lewis? I got your number from your website [I DON'T HAVE A WEBSITE WITH MY PHONE NUMBER ON IT SO IT MUST'VE BEEN ACQUIRED IN A DATA BREACH] and I'd like to talk about some potential work for my client..."
Uggghhhhh.
Thing is I am *so* desperate for paid work it's almost too tempting to engage. But I always get suspicious when the talk turns quickly to personal details, address "for the contract", bank details "for payment information" etc.
Yeah, red flags all over the place. Well done for not getting sucked in!
The biggest thing I ever "stood for" (in the immortal words of Budgie) was doing a job for a massive international music corporation (who weren't) who promised me a fee of a thousand pounds, took delivery of the work and never paid me. I have developed an immunity to such things since.
😡😡😡
💯
Hell, yeah.
Right
100%
Definite scammer.
Definitely a scam. Getting bolshy or insistent is more evidence. If they were a legit company, they'd leave you their contact info for if you remember/change your mind, etc.
yeah, good thought. He was very pushy.
Hard/pushy sales tactics are a huge red flag. It's perfectly legitimate to tell someone, 'I don't care if I seemed keen when we spoke before. I definitely don't want to work with you, as you seem like a pushy arsehole.' (I have told legit businesses this before too, tbh...Life's too short. )
yes, it was the pushiness that was the red flag (I'm pretty alert to scams; I did a lot of work on them when I worked for Which?). I could see someone less confident about telling someone to sod off getting sucked in to whatever it is.
Sounds pretty scammy to me. Spidey senses twitching.
Certainly sounds like it. Just like a scammer that tried to persuade my dad he was a long lost cousin or some such bullshit. Called him by name too if memory serves. Story's too long for this site but it was obvious he was a scammer.
Sounds like.
Sounds like it.
I had something not dissimilar a few weeks ago and I am also sure it was a scam
yeah, you're not the only one who says they've had similar, which makes me more confident it's a scam.
I would say so
Yes.
Did you do a phone number look up on 'who called me' ? They've usually got previous
I did - no hits, but then I Googled the number, and had only one hit for it, on this very random TikTok account www.tiktok.com/@zana.hamid4
Sounds very scammy. Either way it’s better to be safe than sorry.
yeah, I hung up on him.
Sounds like a horrible tactic I’ve not heard of before. If they can get people to accept they did speak to you recently they’ve got a significant way in as they’ll be able to claim YOU thought they had a good product/scheme/etc to sell. I don’t like it.
yeah, it's very manipulative. I am fine at telling someone to sod off, but plenty of people are more polite than me
100%
That's one of the benefits of being able to check if that number has called you before, I guess.
Wish you could tell if a number has called you before you pick up!
Yes, sometimes I'm embarrasingly rude to people who call before I realise they are not a scammer. But any unidentifed number is suspicious (including, of course, my GP practice who insist on No Caller ID).
I do tend to pick up because I get calls from TV and radio producers
Hoping to cold read you by getting you to reveal enough information that he can convince you.
yeah, that's my thinking. Anyway, told him to sod off.
Just so long as you didn't tell him any financial info like, say, how much HMRC owe you, that type o' thing 😜
Yes they’re getting more personal.
yeah, it was him having my name that threw me