Diesel Emissions Claim - beware

[Ian J]

A couple of months ago I was looking at one of these sites claiming that I could be due a small fortune if I drove a diesel car and as I had been driving diesel for the last dozen or so years I decided to fill in their form to see if I might be due anything.

Having completed the form I read their terms and conditions and as one of the conditions was that if the claim failed I would have to contribute to the legal costs I decided that it was too risky so didn't proceed any further and just closed the web page without submitting it.

Since then I have had at least 20 telephone calls about my so called claim, all from different numbers some of which I could see weren't genuine and as long as my son wasn't in earshot they just got a two word answer from me with the second being "off"

It doesn't seem to stop them though as a couple of days later I would receive another call from yet a new number so anyone thinking of trying to claim from these people should be aware that it looks like a scam

 

[Mark T Jones]

Apart from from the scammy, spammy bit, your T&C point is important

If the claim falters or fails (particularly if you the claimant withdraw) they will come after you very hard for fees and costs

 

[Ian J]

The phone calls continued for weeks and then finally stopped.

I was looking at a Facebook advert today saying that I could be owed thousands if I drove a Jaguar in the last few years so I filled in my registration number and said that I had been driving a Jaguar for a year whereupon they said that:-

Good news!
We have matched your vehicles to our records, complete this short form to progress your claim.

I drive a Jaguar I Pace which is electric yet according to these idiots I could claim thousands in compensation but this time I'm not going to be stupid enough to give them my name and phone number

 

[ctrlbrk]

Having completed the form I read their terms and conditions and as one of the conditions was that if the claim failed I would have to contribute to the legal costs I decided that it was too risky so didn't proceed any further and just closed the web page without submitting it.

A technical comment about this. You probably imagined that not submitting the form prevented them from acquiring your data, but technology that copies data even if you don't click 'submit' has been available for years.

Many websites even use "session replays" which capture everything you type as you type it, potentially passwords too!

It's a jungle.

 

[Ozzy]

It doesn't seem to stop them though as a couple of days later I would receive another call from yet a new number

When this has happened in the past I have tended to use time wasting techniques. It wastes my time for a while too, as I just keep them on the line for as long as I can until they get annoyed.
Eventually it seems my number was removed from whatever list it was on and the junk calls have all but stopped.

The best was the 'accident' I'd been in. I spent about 20 minutes running through it all before finally reaching the detail of the accident, where I'd had an accident in my pants . The guy on the call said some very bad words and hung up, but since then I don't recall having received any more calls.

 

[Mark T Jones]

When this has happened in the past I have tended to use time wasting techniques. It wastes my time for a while too, as I just keep them on the line for as long as I can until they get annoyed.
Eventually it seems my number was removed from whatever list it was on and the junk calls have all but stopped.

The best was the 'accident' I'd been in. I spent about 20 minutes running through it all before finally reaching the detail of the accident, where I'd had an accident in my pants . The guy on the call said some very bad words and hung up, but since then I don't recall having received any more calls.

I'm always happy to take time to waste their time. My favourite accident monologue involved a nun on a zebra crossing - culminating in the admission that I'd been driving whilst extremely drunk at the time of the accident.