Ingowatch (A Talkback Birthday Thread)

Happy birthday to John McGovern and me.

It’s my mother’s 85th birthday today. She has been rewarded with a 25k quid premium Bond win. No… me neither. This basically means for her birthday she is going to get ripped off and bankrupt and she will have to fly over and live with us again. That worked out so well last time….

Happy Birthday mum and don’t verify anything!!!!!

Chicago: Hoping for best wishes and not stitches.

What? She won £25,000 on the Premium Bonds draw on 3 November? Good effort !

Why does that mean she's got to come live with you?

Chicago believes it's a scam.

You can easily check on the app. As long as she knows her bond numbers

Yeah this. I've got mine, my wife's, and my daughter's all in my app.

Where's Rich B and his regular £10 wins when you need him?

My mother is 85. She can barely use the phone.. if you think she knows what an app is then you live in a different world.

I hope it’s real just think it isn’t…

Chicago: Trying to keep her liquid.

Wasn't the idea that you could check?

She says she checked and it’s okay and that the people seemed genuine and have her bank details. I told her not to give any bank anything. She thinks it’s real. I would rather they send a cheque. I live 6000 miles away it’s hard to get a clear picture.

We shall see in the next 7 days.

Chicago. Naturally cynical.

Ask her for the bond numbers then you can check. Hell, I can check if you want.

Don't worry, nobody can do anything with them.

Did someone call her? If so then I would be worried it's a scam. I don't think NS and I call people, they write letters (the hassle I've had when the kids turned 16 and accounts became 'theirs').

Definitely worth checking her holders number online or app, or get Jim to do it.

This ^

The worst Jim will do is nick her wifi or vault over her gate or something.

No, but they will need financial info to pay into. And that's where scams happen.
"Here's your 25K! You just need to pay 500 to cover administration."

What you on about? I'm saying that if Chicago wants to DM me his mum's bond numbers, I'll check if the win is legit or not, and I'm confirming that neither me nor anyone can do anything with the bond numbers alone.

I also have an inkling that NS&I has to have a bank account in their system for you already, rather than asking you for one to pay some money into. As, I suspect, there's 100s of thousands of people who have the maximum amount of premium bond and therefore bank details are needed to pay the sums out each month. Probably also for tax linkage purposes.

The main question with all this ... How did they contact her? If it was phone it's 99.99% a scam. NS&I don't call you for a sum of £25,000.