One little email turns Hunter into the hunted

“Must you?” I said. “I am so busy.”

He said that it was important. He was from their fraud squad.

“Ha ha,” I said. “You don’t catch me. I may be old but I am not stupid. I’ve read all the stories about these phone calls, trying to get information out of you.”

He explained that there had been multiple usage of my Barclaycard that he wanted to check, but he needed first to be sure of my identity with a few personal questions.

“How old will you be on your next birthday?”

“Cheeky sod. If you are from Barclaycard, you will know that. Anyway, I would prefer if you emailed. You must have my contact details if you’re genuine.”

“We’re not allowed to email. But you can ring Barclaycard and check. The number is on the back of your card,” he said.

“But I have no proof of who you are.You are just a voice.What is your name?”

There was a pause and he said Gervaise.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “That’s your stage name, when you became a conman. How old are you then?”

“We’re not allowed to give out our date of birth.”

“Yet you are asking me all these questions and telling me nothing. I don’t believe any of it. Now piss off.”

I hung up, just as three large men entered my room. Oh no — I am being burgled as well as conned.

Turned out to be the architect and two builders. I had not heard them ringing the doorbell while I was shouting at Gervaise. I had given my door key to the architect, so they had let themselves in.

I explained about this conman pretending to be from Barclaycard and so they told me their stories (which I did not want to hear). It seems the whole world and his auntie have got a credit card fraud story.

When they had left, I decided to ring Barclaycard. There is another con I have read about where they don’t hang up and if you immediately ring the number they have given you, it’s them all the time. So you wait, or ring from another number.

Oh, they don’t catch me.

I got through to Gervaise and, of course, he had to go through all the stupid personal questions again, such as my credit limit.

“Look, can’t you just tell me the questions to come and I will decide whether to carry on this pointless conversation?”

No, he said — each question has to be answered before he can get on to the next. Oh my God, this is Alice in Wonderland.

Luckily I found a Barclaycard statement and in the small print, which I had never noticed before, it said my credit limit was £8,900. (Oh heck, now you know. Please wipe it from your mind.)

I eventually answered all the personal questions, feeling like I had passed the 11-plus. Gervaise then revealed that on April 14 and 15 there had been multiple purchases made on my credit card, including about 20 at John Lewis.

I wondered if it was my wife from the grave, having a laugh. I always moaned when she bought stuff at John Lewis, saying: “What’s wrong with Poundstretcher?”

He could not tell me what had been bought, as he did not have the details, but mostly they were around the £90 mark. There were other mysterious purchases, such as £300 at Tesco in Cleethorpes. All together about £2,000 had gone.

There was also a payment of £2 at something called Skrill, which is apparently an internet payment system. This might have been the fraudster’s first use of my card details to see if they worked. Once that had gone through, they were away, on a mad spree, buying endless stuff online at John Lewis. Clearly a good class of conman.

Gervaise explained that it was a serious case connected to lots of other frauds and the police were on to it, getting John Lewis to reveal delivery details. He would now cancel my card and issue another. He would also send me a form listing all the false payments for me to confirm and sign. I would not lose a penny — I was fully protected. Phew. That was good news, at last.

But how had they got my details? Gervaise didn’t know. Perhaps my card had somehow been cloned, or there was a virus on my computer giving away my details when I bought stuff online. All day I wondered if I had been to blame, despite being so awfully clever, cynical and suspicious.

Thinking back, a few weeks ago, I had a strange email from Apple saying my ID had to be changed in 48 hours, or I would lose it. I logged into the site they gave me, was asked lots of personal questions, I could not understand, and gave up.

I then forgot about it, thinking I had got out of it in time, though I couldn’t remember what I actually told them.

If you buy or do anything online, you find yourself giving away details to unknown persons in unknown places doing unknown things. One friend said he never used a credit card — only his debit card, as you can immediately and easily check everything going out and coming in. But he did admit credit cards offer good protection, as it is easier to get your money back if you are ripped off or sold a pup.

I was unfair and rude to that Barclaycard man , but it seems to me they should create a better system. He did not ask me to reveal my Barclaycard number but he did ask all these dopey personal questions, which made me suspicious. It should also be up to them to prove who they are. He could have asked, when I had confirmed my name, if I had spent £90 at John Lewis on April 12. I would have said no. Then he could have read out a more recent payment and I would have said yes. I would then have believed he was from Barclaycard, which would have saved us both so much time. And abuse from me.

Sorry, Gervaise.

Hunter’s memoirs of the 1950s, The Co-op’s Got Bananas!, are published by Simon & Schuster, £16.99

Poisoned Apples: don’t take the phishers’ bait
If you receive an email from Apple — or any other well-known brand — asking you to verify your details urgently, delete it and report it to Action Fraud.

Criminals try to steal data to make online purchases, access banking services or create fake documents.

The process, known as “phishing”, usually involves an email that appears to be from a genuine retailer. The fraudster may have some information about you already to appear credible.

The emails try to trick you into visiting a bogus website — usually by claiming a need to “verify” or “update” your details or “reactivate” an account. Sometimes a phishing email encourages you to fill in an attached form and send it back.

The bogus email that Hunter Davies received said: “Your Apple ID is due to expire within 48 hours of this email notification because you failed to confirm your Apple/iCloud ID profile. We are required by statutory EU regulation to perform an annual check on our users of which you failed to confirm your details. Hunter Davies this is your last notice. You can prevent permanent expiration of your Apple ID by confirming your Apple ID. You can confirm your Apple ID by using the link below.”

Financial Fraud Action UK, which records fraud figures, said: “The email [usually] claims to come from a reputable company such as a bank, but also increasingly other organisations such as HM Revenue & Customs, utility companies, technology companies and major retailers.”

Apple told Money it would never ask customers to provide personal details via email and that an account is never in danger of expiring “within 48 hours”.

You should never send credit card information, account passwords or extensive personal details — name, address, date of birth or national insurance number — in an email.

If you think you might have visited a phishing site or responded to a phishing email, contact your bank and the retailer immediately to explain what has happened. You should also report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.