Forums Forums Wirral Information Law And Your Rights Holiday Prize Telephone Scam

This one is on the go again. Flagging it up because it's just cost a local pensioner woman £605 and she now realises she was had.
The scam artist claims that by using their credit or debit card to pay for goods, people entered into a prize draw and have won a free holiday. The caller then asks for the card details to "verify the claim". She did it because she "buys lots of stuff with her cards." Two days later the money was debited to a comapny called "Calypso Ca Resort."
Warn your old relatives.

The muppets will never learn will they!! Always wanting something for nothing. Greed is all it boils down to. It doesnt matter how many times they are told, guaranteed I could whip their card details of them tomorrow if I told them they had one a small prize on the Afghanistan lottery.

Bit harsh but I see where you're coming from. I just see it as the old folks don't know any better, plus if there is any pressure put on they'd rather settle than cause a comotion. Either way the fookers should be strangled with a telephone cord....the callers that is

No it's just greedy old fookers, who look for the sympathy vote when they get stung basd on thier age. The image portrayed by the likes of Age Concern et al in this country is that they are all poverty-striken, cold, hungry etc, when in reality pensioners have never had it so fkin good!! How can they be living in poverty when they get twice as much money as a 55 year old would on the dole, and have less to spend it on, and more benefits (free unlimited bus travel, free TV license, many other "pensioner pricing" schemes and promotions)...

These scams are well known, there are, and have been, warnings everywhere, on buses, in bus stops, in magazines, in papers, on television, on radio etc for years, and if they choose to take no notice and be greedy enough to think they will win a lottery or competition they never entered, and give their card details out over the phone to any tom, dick or harry who requests them, then as far as im concerned, they deserve to be stung.

And if they are incapable of looking after themselves, what the hell are they doing with control over their finances, cards etc...

WHat exactly does a 'Holiday Prize telephone' look like?

May your marbles forever stay in place Matt. As a rejoinder, I worked bloody hard for my pension from the age of 15, always paid my way and never shirked. 50 years after starting work I decided to take the offer of a rest and hope to last long enough to draw it for it bit. I thought I could rant a bit but bloody hell........

Yeah, fair does you worked for your pay, like most other pensioners. But you can't seriously tell me that Age Concern and the like don't take the mickey, they portray pensioners in the same light as a child in Somalia or somewhere.

Everyone always thinks "awww its a pensioner, they aint got two haypnee's to rub together" when in reality, they can probably afford to be stung for £600 more than working people with families to support etc... Im sick of hearing of "the plight of pensioners" everytime I turn on the telly etc, and now we are getting into winter, it will be 6 months of "they can't afford to heat their homes"... yeah, because they spent their £250 heating allowance on a foreign holiday or taking their family out for a posh meal, and their pension goes on 3 nights at the bingo, 3 nights in the local and christmans presents and food galore for their loved ones - not to mention the bi-weekly outings with the 1 oclock club! Jeeze, my annual electric and heating bill is only about £400 maybe even less - and I bet I have a lot more electric gadgets than the average pensioner!!

Back to the point though, it don't matter how many times you tell these people, they will still keep doing it. And its not just confined to pensioners.

If they are greedy enough to fall for it, especially with repeated warnings and reports of the same scams going on, all the time, then stuff them is what I say.

Matty, you cant create scenarios of what a pensioner spends there money on then rant about it.

The money they have saved up for years and years is 'depreciating' by the ever changing cost of things (a cost that wont go down). Plus, they cant earn any more money so if the pots dry there in shit street - Its easy for 'younguns' to take chances, get mortgages etc because you have plenty of time to worry about paying it back, plus you can earn money - Pensioners cant.

Add to the fact crime was nothing to what it is now 'cue the lecture on not locking doors' so they are more gullible AND the brain doesnt work as well as it did.

Typical young persons view you have there, wait for your turn

Right, that's it..I am confiscating Matt's keyboard for the day!!

There are plenty of people on the MSE forums, not all young but many "are" pensioners or well on their way to getting there, who share the same views. There were arguments galore on there last year, there was even a dedicated thread to "What Are You Spending Your Fuel Allowance On This Year" as if it was some sort of competition win... and I don't recall anyone posting that they were spending it on heating or to help with their heating. The comment about the £250 being spent on foreign trips or taking their family out for a posh meal... well the former is based on the boasting that pensioners do on the MSE forums, the latter is based on personal experience - my grandfather always used to take the family out for a nice posh meal on his, and I do mean the entire family!

He never cried poverty and openly admitted he had never had so much money as when he was a pensioner... basically because he never really wasted money, he lived well within his means but still had plenty of cash come Xmas and birthdays to treat the family. But at the same time, he drover a car, had things done to the house when it needed it, had nice holidays, bailed out the family when someone needed to lend money etc!

Pensioners have never had it so good - fact. Pensioners get more than enough money to sustain a comfortable lifestyle - fact. The likes of Age Concern cry they are in poverty... then yesterday, I get a leaflet through my door with the Police Annual review booklet, guess who, Age Concern, trying to sell a funeral plan based on monthly payment system for the rest of their lives.

So... Age Concern tell us they all have no money and are forced to live in poverty on one hand, but on the other hand, Age Concern dont mind whipping another £20+ out of their pension each month.

It's not my fault if people are afraid to speak out and fanny around and bow down to these "accepted views" - I am not afraid, contraversial, maybe, but only because of the media brainwashing that is always thrown at us!!

So a sizable chunk of your opinion is based on a number of replies people have made on an internet forum? Wow thats funny!

Try and colate the amount of 'pensioners' on that forums as a percentage based on the total amount of pensioners in this country - I bet its less than 1% yet you believe that to be view of ALL pensioners - Total joke and I bet your sorry you made that statement now.

Never had it so good? Across the spectrum perhaps but not entirely true, look at the port sunlight workers...

I hope you didn't give your grandad a bollocking for taking you out then, wasting his bloody money on you.

I'd have a job, unless I could find a spirit guide lol. But then, he never cried poverty after doing it, in fact he never once cried poverty and was always very comfortable in retirement. More comfortable than at any other period in his life, according to him.

I guess when you have fought in the war as a boy soldier, you learn to appreciate everything you have. Maybe that's what is lacking from modern-day pensioners, many have never had to "struggle" like the last generation had to? And have become used to a nanny-state.

Oh yeah, and btw, I quite support the view that we should pay a bit more tax to increase the pension in line with the RPI year on year, I don't think the pension is perfect, but its certainly not the dogs life that Age Concern would have us all believe.

Iv seen your eply change 3 times now

So going through the war was the answer here? Bollocks, most pensioners now were either in the war and preceeded it meaning they had the aftermath (that led for years on) such as RATIONS.

Think your scraping the barrel for reasoning here now...