Ever received a text message and had to ask yourself whether it’s real or a scam? Well perhaps an unlikely victim of a scam text message, I’ll be talking to SAS : Who Dares Wins TV personality, Jason Fox, about his experience in dealing with this type of crime.
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00:00 The jungle is a brutal environment to operate in.
00:04 Even before you have the enemy,
00:06 the place wants to kill you.
00:09 - Best known as the longest serving director staff
00:11 on popular channel for television series,
00:13 SAS, "Who Dares Wins", Jason Fox, also known as Foxy,
00:17 may be the last person you'd expect a full victim
00:19 to have phoned scam text message.
00:21 Recently, he's linked with Nationwide Building Society
00:24 in order to help people to spot a possible scam text
00:27 or phone call.
00:29 - And I'd basically been sent a text message
00:31 that was from Royal Mail, apparently,
00:36 saying that I owed £2.16 tax on a parcel
00:40 that was being held in customs.
00:43 And I was like, well, I was actually expecting
00:45 some parcels to be delivered.
00:47 And I was like, okay, okay, that sounds legitimate enough.
00:49 The show, when we film it, is absolutely manic.
00:52 There's loads going on.
00:54 And so I was quite, I was very preoccupied.
00:57 Clicked on the link, it took me to what looked like
01:01 a really legitimate Royal Mail website.
01:04 I scrolled down to the bottom,
01:05 all the contact details were there.
01:07 So then what happened is I went through the process
01:10 of putting in my payment details
01:11 and then press pay on the £2.16.
01:14 And the minute I did that, something didn't feel right.
01:18 Saw that the £2.16 had come out, which was fine.
01:22 Then went back to the text message, clicked on the link,
01:25 and it just kept directing me to a blank page.
01:27 And that's when I was like, oh no.
01:29 - New research reveals 98% of people in the UK
01:32 admits to being targeted by scammers
01:34 at some point in their life.
01:36 Data from nationwide also shows impersonation fraud cases
01:39 have increased by almost 20% in the last year.
01:42 In some cases, texts lead to calls from scammers
01:44 claiming to be the police or the person's bank provider.
01:47 If this happens, more than one in 10
01:50 say they would move the money into a new account.
01:52 8% even said they would give someone remote access
01:55 to their computer so that they could move the money for them.
01:59 - Then obviously, 'cause I was in the middle of working,
02:02 we had to get on and do something.
02:04 I forgot about it.
02:05 I then revisited a little bit later
02:08 and then had seen that there was about, yeah,
02:10 it was about 75 quid had then come out of my account
02:12 on something that I didn't recognise.
02:15 And so then I started to chase it up through the bank,
02:17 but ultimately it turned into an absolute nightmare.
02:20 - As far as the scammers are concerned, it's not personal.
02:23 They literally just, they try their luck with anything.
02:26 I see myself as a switched-on person.
02:29 I've been in like situations that are really stressful,
02:31 dealt with it fine.
02:34 But then because I don't think I'm susceptible to it,
02:37 that complacency could actually be my downfall.
02:39 It was my downfall.
02:41 - The tips that Jason recommended were to stay cool
02:43 in a pressurised situation, to keep a sceptical mindset
02:46 in order to stay wary of unsolicited calls and texts,
02:49 and to verify caller IDs
02:51 before giving out any personal information.
02:53 - Seek some support, whether that's friends or family,
02:56 but ultimately you need to seek support
02:57 from your bank or building society,
02:59 'cause they will be able to give that to you.