Thais in UK warned of scam calls

[webfact]

 

The Thai Embassy in London has warned Thais living in the United Kingdom about the scam calls, stating that it has no policy to call and ask for personal information.

 

It issued the warning on its Facebook page following complaints from Thai residents.

 

According to the embassy, scammers have manipulated the caller ID of the embassy (0207-589-2944), to make it appear that the call is from the embassy.

 

It advises Thais in the UK should avoid answering calls from unfamiliar numbers, as they may be from scammers. Additionally, it posted guidelines on “How to deal with scam callers,” suggesting that, when receiving a call from an unknown number, one should assume that the caller is a scammer.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2023-12-22

 

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[ezzra]

Now days the world is awash with all sorts and kinds of scams, from the silly ones to the very sophisticated ones, so everyone should be on their toes, only the other day a Chinese man was coughs stealing thousands of dollars from passengers carry on luggage in the overhead bins on a Scoot flight, he was apprehended and handed to Singapore police...

Edited December 22, 2023 by ezzra

[NightSky]

Has the embassey been hacked by any chance, otherwise how did the fraudsters obtain telephone numbers? 

[PETERTHEEATER]

Item 3, recording of audio is legal but the data stored can be shared only between the two parties. Not much use if you don't know who they are.

[bradiston]

Not entirely on topic, (ex pats in Thailand), but I'd also suggest taking screenshots at regular intervals of any suspect calls. I had a call from a US number, which I still have a record of. It initially looked kosher of course (why not halal?), but I was passed to a WhatsApp number that was definitely a scammer. Although the number and conversation came up on my phone, as soon as I suggested they fxxx off, the number and all trace of the call disappeared. Not sure how they did that.

Edited December 23, 2023 by bradiston

[Bday Prang]

 

I think there is something going on at the embassy in the UK ,  Twice now after paying for Visas using my debit card, additional funds were subsequently taken from my account. My bank refunded the amounts after I contacted them, but it does seem a bit suspicious  to me as these are the only times this has ever happened to me.

The funds were taken by direct debit, I asked the bank if it was possible to set up some sort of blanket ban regarding new direct debits being set up  to avoid this happening again but apparently, according to them  it is not,  The only recourse is the direct debit guarantee scheme which in theory at least will ensure  that money taken via fraudulent direct debits is refunded.

Ok the bank refunded the money on these two occasions and it was less than £100 both times but I would much rather it had never happened  in the first place.