EHIC card scam

[alwaysafloat]

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but here goes anyway.

My wife and I have just foolishly entered details on a checker/scam site claiming to be the real EHIC only to find it was not. Fortunately we didn't give any payment details but we did enter our address; phone numbers and Natiaonal Insurance numbers when we hit the 'submit' button. Twenty minutes later someone left a message on the phone saying he was from EHIC and that we needed to complete the transaction and to call him back. We've blocked the number and tried blocking the email address but not surprisingly we are now getting the same email requests from numerous other email sources. We have since renewed the cards directly with EHIC (by using the phone number on the back of the card). However, when we asked EHIC how the scammers knew the cards are due to expire they said "they don't they are just out to fish for the information"

I feel frustrated at having given our personal details out in this way but we are struggling at the moment trying to cope my wife's grade 4 brain tumour which is why we felt it necessary to renew our EHIC cards.
So my question is - Can anyone make any suggestions if there is anything we can or should do to mitigate the effect of having given out our personal details?

TIA

AA

[Slarti]

I'd say that it is worth contacting https://www.cifas.org.uk/ and registering your details, which will cost a little, as they will, hopefully, prevent indentity theft attempts.

As for the emails, all you can do is select each one and hit the junk/spam button to train your email about them. But add EHIC to your whitelist first.

They will give up after a while.

Oh, and as they WILL sell your details, be very suspicious of any unsolicited contacts.

Best of luck
Slarti

[chas49]

As Slarti says, consider CIFAS Protective Registration (https://www.cifas.org.uk/services/identity-protection). £20 for 2 years but may be worth it for the peace of mind.

[scrumpyjack]

you can also set up new email addresses and register the new email with anyone relevant. Then stop using the old address

[alwaysafloat]

Thanks for the replies. We will take a look at CIFAS with a view to registering.

AA

[alwaysafloat]

I did speak to CIFAS and apart from registering with them they also recommended registering with a credit reference agency such as Equifax/Experion etc. Does anyone have any recommendations in this area?

TIA

AA

[didds]

The description sounds like a scam, but more in the vein of ending up paying for something that you don;t need to - CF spoof passport application sites etc where you fee gets you the application forms filled in with the details you provided, for you to then send those forms to the passport office - with the passport office fee etc.

So there may not be any real danger of your identity being sold on, as they already have the applicants cash which was their raison d'etre. ISTR this has been through the courts and the courts ended up saying that this ... business model... is not actually illegal in itself.

didds

[alwaysafloat]

" ISTR this has been through the courts and the courts ended up saying that this ... business model... is not actually illegal in itself"

The email we received said "From: EHIC" and when they rang and left a message on my wife's phone the man said "I'm from EHIC" so to me, they are certainly gaining information under false pretenses...

AA

[pochisoldi]

" ISTR this has been through the courts and the courts ended up saying that this ... business model... is not actually illegal in itself"

The email we received said "From: EHIC" and when they rang and left a message on my wife's phone the man said "I'm from EHIC" so to me, they are certainly gaining information under false pretenses...

AA

Report them to the Information Commissioners Office.

Looks like they are obtaining personal data in an illegal/unfair or non-transparent manner.

Probably don't have a data protection policy in place.

Almost certainly processing data with out your permission.

[PinkDalek]

I did speak to CIFAS and apart from registering with them they also recommended registering with a credit reference agency such as Equifax/Experion etc. Does anyone have any recommendations in this area?

I was offered a free year with Cifas https://www.cifas.org.uk/services/ident ... gistration, following a well-reported Equifax data breach https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-45574163, to be paid for by Equifax.

I attempted to accept Equifax's free year but didn't have the answers to some of their online questions and was told to call them. I did and they wanted proof of identity documents to proceed with the registration. I declined as it was due to them that my data had been compromised.

I therefore went with Cifas Protective Registration only for the two years at £20, as I automatically receive an Experian credit score via my credit card provider.

This website is run by a Fool (aka Manzanilla) https://debtcamel.co.uk/experian-or-equ ... h-is-best/. If you follow the link to https://debtcamel.co.uk/best-way-to-check-credit-score/ you'll see:

None of them are “better”, they are just reporting on information from different lenders.

I'd go for Experian but that's mainly because we hold shares in them.

[taylor20]

... Does anyone have any recommendations in this area?

I'm using the free one from Money Saving Expert (Experian), seems comprehensive (picked up my new mortgage application / credit searches).

https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub

EDIT: It also picked up a incorrect 'Linked Address' due to someone at Halifax miss keying a post code and connecting it to my account.

[PinkDalek]

I'm using the free one from Money Saving Expert (Experian), seems comprehensive (picked up my new mortgage application / credit searches).

https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub

I see:

HTTP ERROR 500
Problem accessing /creditclub. Reason:
Request failed.

This one seems to function https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub