Cycling UK Forum

Received a text yesterday which is a bit odd...

From +447516303594
Free Msg: Our records indicate you may be entitled to £3850 for the accident you had. To apply free reply CLAIM to this message. To opt out rext STOP

Is this part of an advertising campaign from a firm of ambulance-chasers, or is this "free" reply going to empty the credit from my phone by actually being a premium-rate line?

Naturally, I'm not going to respond in any way, shape or form, though I am wondering just what accident I had.

75 shouldn't be premium, but I keep getting these as well...

Have you had an accident you know nothing about as well?

Guy951 wrote:Have you had an accident you know nothing about as well?

Clearly I've had many...

I'd ask for half the money up front and they can keep the other half for themselves. Doesn't get more generous than that.
I wouldn't even charge for filling in the paper work.

I have been getting these as well, every few months for the past couple of years. I am guessing that this is a blind mailshot and I don't intend replying. The thing is though, I really did have an accident and RJW said that I had no chance of success, so this has double cause to annoy me.

Having done a bit of digging (slow day in the office) I have found this...
http://www.jameswiseman.com/blog/2011/04/04/3750-accident-claims-spam-text-message/
A rather interesting blog about mobile phone scams.

edit to add: It is a known (but not widely advertised) scam.

Someone recently drove into my car when I was not there. I got one of these. It's those b****s at swansea who are now giving out our email addresses as well.

Al

I get those and have also had several phone calls on the same subject. The last one hung up when I asked is that the one I had in the stolen BMW or the one where I rammed a Police car?

I got one of these messages at lunch time today when out with the local CTC group. I thought it was a scam, so didn't reply. I get them about once per month.

I've still been getting texts at random times about "my" accident (which get deleted unread, of course) but now they've changed tactics.

My mobile rang a couple of minutes ago. I rushed out of the office to answer it (signal's bad in here) and heard a bloke say something about an important message. This was immediately followed by a recording of a woman saying "If you have been involved in a road accident in the last three years that wasn't your fault". I didn't hear any more cos I disconnected at that point.

Texts are bad enough, but the phone ringing?

If your phone rings and the number displayed is 02034762674 just ignore it. It's a recorded advert from an ambulance chaser.

I had to chase the ambulance with my wife in, on my bike. With the help of the traffic I got to the hospital first.
So I hold my hands up to being one.

When I get these calls I just ask what they can get me for being driven nuts by work. Shame on these people most do not want to talk to me and hang up.

I keep getting these as well. Sadly, maybe it's because they know that we are cyclist so therefore assume we must all be getting knocked of our bikes on a regular basis

Scammers trying their luck by bulk texting and hoping to get a response from a small percentage. I had the spam SMSs and responded in the positive and got a call back from one of their 'advisors'. We had a chat about things and I was asked how long ago I had my accident, I told them I'll be having one next week cause times are tight and if I can get nearly £4k for having an accident the payout will come in handy. When the 'advisor' finished laughing she asked if I wanted my number removed from their records which I said yes. Any similar SMS/calls are dealt with likewise.

Redvee wrote:Scammers trying their luck by bulk texting and hoping to get a response from a small percentage. I had the spam SMSs and responded in the positive and got a call back from one of their 'advisors'. We had a chat about things and I was asked how long ago I had my accident, I told them I'll be having one next week cause times are tight and if I can get nearly £4k for having an accident the payout will come in handy. When the 'advisor' finished laughing she asked if I wanted my number removed from their records which I said yes. Any similar SMS/calls are dealt with likewise.

That's not a bad idea. My automatic response to these types of calls are that I'm under 18. Gets them off the phone in seconds.