UK Care Leavers, Please Read

Hi all.

I'm writing this thread for two reasons; To vent my frustrations, and to warn others of a potential scam targeting victims of abuse.

Back story; I grew up in children's homes and foster homes in various locations throuout the British Isles, and stuff happened.

I received a phonecall yesterday from a guy claiming to be from 'Airport Security and Police Service', or some similar nonsense.

He only addressed me by my first, shortened name, and didn't identify himself, other than he was apparently a Police Officer.

I don't know how he got my number, or how he knew that I'd spent time in the particular children's home he was talking about, but at this point that's by-the-by.

He couldn't pronounce the name of the town, and he gave the wrong geographical location for it.

He gave me the name and number of a female police officer, and a phone number.

I contacted my local Island Police Force, and they know nothing about it.

Some years back, UK CID came to the island and knocked on my door to speak to me about Historic abuse, so for this reason and others mentioned, it seemed 'off'.

There are some sick puppies out there, so please be careful folks,

Much love

💚

a reply to: MerkabaTribeEntity
In other words, they want to record you describing what happened? That's the first kind of "scam" that I can think of.

a reply to: DISRAELI

They wanted me to phone a certain phone number, when they clearly had access to mine,...

Come on,...

thanks fr the heads up...reminds me of this though different outcome.......1 day I get a call from a man who says he is with the police and trying to get a hold of my sister they are looking at a cold case...so I ask How do I know you really are a cop?? he replied that of all the peolpe he called I was the FIRST to ask him that..

and that is what people should do when asked for info from someone they don't know he gave me info.....what police he worked for...I called them and he WAS the real deal.

was a REALLY old murder case..my sister knew the lady that was killed, they were looking nto it again contacting everyone who might know somerthing.







a reply to: DISRAELI

a reply to: research100

Man, that's heavy, I don't really have much else to add,

All I can say, is repeat what I said earlier, that the CID, the UK version of the FBI, spent the time and money to fly to the island and knock on my door unannounced to speak to me, this guy just wanted me to phone a random number,

The local police would have been informed, too, but they've heard nothing,

We live in a mad world full of sick puppies,

💚

a reply to: MerkabaTribeEntity

CID is not the U.K. version of the FBI.

It’s just a department within the police force that investigates crimes.

Sounds to like this could be a few things.

1. A journalist trying to get a story, this is very unlikely as they wouldn’t risk impersonating a police officer.

2 you local cop shop just don’t talk to each other.

3. An outside force is conducting an investigation and want to speak with you. No need to contact the local fuzz if they’re just chatting to you. This seems most likely. They guy making the call might just be trying to put u in touch with a senior investigating officer.

Why would anyone be scamming you and what would this scam be?

my sister knew the lady for a while and then lived with the lady for a few months and then she moved in another place so at least she wasn't still living there when it happened...but yeah heavy finding out someone you know was murdered

originally posted by: MerkabaTribeEntity
a reply to: research100

Man, that's heavy, I don't really have much else to add,

All I can say, is repeat what I said earlier, that the CID, the UK version of the FBI, spent the time and money to fly to the island and knock on my door unannounced to speak to me, this guy just wanted me to phone a random number,

The local police would have been informed, too, but they've heard nothing,

We live in a mad world full of sick puppies,

💚

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
Why would anyone be scamming you and what would this scam be?

My thinking was that a recording of someone describing how they had been abused might have pornographic interest to the wrong kind of people.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

CID is not the U.K. version of the FBI.

Erm, yes, it is.

...A journalist journalist trying to get a story, this is very unlikely as they wouldn’t risk impersonating a police officer.

Agreed.

2 your local cop shop just don’t talk to each other.

Yes, they do.

An outside force is conducting an investigation and want to speak with you. No need to contact the local fuzz if they’re just chatting to you. This seems most likely. They guy making the call might just be trying to put u in touch with a senior investigating officer.

They sent CID officers over on aircraft last time, unannounced, to chat with me in my kitchen, your argument holds no water.

Why would anyone be scamming you and what would this scam be?

You dial the wrong number, and you're suddenly in hundreds of pounds of debt.

ATS is supposed to be smarter than this.

a reply to: MerkabaTribeEntity

I think exactly what CID is, isn't really important for the OP. It is not however the UK equivalent of the FBI, we don't really have a equivalent because our policing structure is so different, the closest thing would probably be the National Crime Agency or possibly MI5. CID is the Criminal Investigation Department, they are just a group of detectives who investigate various crimes, from fraud to drugs, murder, sexual offensives the list goes on. I am just clarifying the point, like I say though I don't really think its important to your OP.

So we agree its probably not a journalist.

Now yes, your local cop shop might just not be talking to each other, if you call your local bobbies front desk the guy sitting there isn't going to know about every call that every police officer has made that day in the station let alone the country. So yeah most of the time they will ask you for a crime number to direct your call to the appropriate person if you don't have a name of the officer. I would have thought that you would have a name though for the person you're have been told to call.

Them flying over to have a chat with you kinda sounds like an outside force then doing an investigation with kind of ties in with what I said I think might be happening. A outside force is conducting an investigation and wants to have a chat with you. Again your local police station could very well have no knowledge if they're just phoning you up for a chat.

Now yes you are absolutely correct, its possible that you phone that number and you find yourself with a pretty hefty phone bill.

But in this instance let's thing about it, you're assuming that they're targeting you deliberately knowing that you have been connected in someway to historical sexual abuse. So that means they somehow know that you personally have been involved in this, in which case how do they know, then it assuming that they did know then how did they then get your number. Then you have to ask why go to all that trouble to target you specifically for this scam, that's been tailor made to you. Doesn't quite add up does it.

My advice to you would be to google the number they gave you see what hits come up, I have caught out loads of scammers that way. Then if nothing comes up, you could try contacting the officers you spoke with before and see if they have any information. If they say its legit then fair enough, if they're unsure then you could contact your local force and ask them. Now if none of thats getting you anywhere then you could always just phone the number and see what happens.

If you're really not willing to take that risk just wait it out, if they want to talk to you am sure they will be in touch again soon when you can ask for a "collar number" and see if they can give you the crime number and the station they are calling from. From there you can google the number of that police station for yourself, phone, ask if the "collar number" and crime number is legit and if it all checks out then its fair to assume that your not being targeted in some elaborate scam. You can phone them up and help them out confident that your not going to be getting hit with a massive phone bill thanks to a scammer.

I hope that helps.

The local police would have been informed, too

Not necessarily. There is generally a good sharing of information among police departments, but depending on the case and its circumstances some compartmentalization can take place at times. There are a lot of police around too, so do not expect your local police to know what all the others are doing. There is a lot of sensitivity going on around issues of child abuse these days.

Unfortunately it is good to question any unexpected phone calls these days. If they did leave a number can you do some kind of lookup to see if it does match up. Unfortunately errors in police reports happen as well, it is part of why they want to talk to you.

I don't know if this call is legitimate or not. Considering what implications it might have is one for you to decide. Very good in asking questions and talking about things you are unsure about.

a reply to: MerkabaTribeEntity

I have a friend who is a psychologist and was brought up in care homes just like you and over the years he has told me some horror stories about those years in care and what they went through in those homes .

It sounds like maybe some police force is opening up a old case against someone who is near death and might not have long to live as their seems to be a lot of that going on lately .

I appreciate the responses, I'll just sit-tight for now.

If the apparent copper from 'airport security and police service', or whatever it was, has my number, and the Police want to speak to me, he can simply pass my number along.

Still feels off.

Cheers Guys, much love

It's really surprising how much info scammers can get. I had a phone call supposedly from my banks security team. They said someone had tried to buy something off ebay with my bank card for a few hundred pounds.
They knew my full name, my address and the long number on my card. Then they asked me to tell them the 3 digit security code to prove who I was. To which I replied"why have I got to prove who I am , you are the ones who phoned me". When I said I'd go to the bank in person they were quite amenable. Went to the bank and they told me their security only phone you to come into the bank and ask for no details. They said someone was trying to clone my card.
I told them to cut up my card and not to send me any more.

a reply to: crayzeed

Scumbags.

I'm in a dark place with depression at the moment, and for these guys to use this as a route for scamming, damn.

I lost another friend recently to depression (won't go into detail), this sort of nonsense can put some people over the edge.

Absolute heartless b*stards.

a reply to: MerkabaTribeEntity

Hey man, trust your gut. Creeps be creeps - good for you, giving the caller creep nothing.

;ike ythe other poster noted google search that phone number see what you find I have done this a few times a reply to: teapot