This Scam Is Forever £21

A week ago, we were told of a scam call that one of my colleagues received. Someone claimed to have made an erroneous payment of £21 on our website and wanted a refund… but we don’t take online payments on our website!

Me: “[Vet Practice], [My Name], how can I help?”

Scammer: “Hey, pal, we made a mistake on your website and we’ve paid some money to your account. £21.”

Me: *Dripping with sarcasm* “Did you now?! Really?! Oh, my gosh!”

Scammer: “Yeah, right, and basically, you’ve not receive—” *Corrects himself* “I’VE not received payment back of yous and I’d like to know why.”

Me: “Oh, really! So you registered online with us and paid an amount of £200…”

Scammer: “No! No… No… £21 I paid.”

Me: “Oh, £21? And did you phone about this earlier already?”

Scammer: “No.”

Me: “No, really? Because we had the exact same thing happen the other day! It is such a coincidence, isn’t it?!”

Scammer: “It is!”

Me: “What is your postcode?”

Scammer: *Clearly making one up on the spot* “[Manchester area, 350km from us].”

Me: “It might be worth it, if you want to run a scam, to you look in your area because we are in London!”

Scammer: *Pauses* “I know you are in London.”

Me: “So, why would you want to register with us while you are in Manchester?”

Scammer: *Pauses* “Well, that’s the thing, that’s what I can’t understand. We paid £21 via Paypal to yous.”

Me: “That’s another funny thing. Our website is not set up to take payments via Paypal, so that is also not possible.”

Scammer: *Scrambling for words* “Er… er… ehm… it was for registering a microchip! That was what it was!” *Pauses*

Me: “Funny that! That’s not something clients do. That is something we do for clients, so that is also not possible!”

Scammer: “Right… so you… your website has been scammed, then.”

Me: “No, no, our website is fine.”

Scammer: “Er… erm…” *Cheerily* “No worries! I will go to the bank, then, and chase it.”

Me: “I think that is your best option, too. Good luck!”

Scammer: *As if we’ve just had the most normal conversation* “Thank you very much, pal! Bye!”