Remember – if it seems too good to be true, it’s probably a scam

THERE is currently an online scam that people should be aware of. It is known as a pop-up scam and can appear unexpectedly whilst using your phone, computer or iPad.

Whatever you are logged into a message pops up saying you are one of ten lucky loyal customers who have been selected that day to win a prize and you choose from a list of three expensive items particularly tailored to whatever device you are currently using.

You are asked to answer three simple questions or complete a short survey. You are then told you are a winner and asked to ‘claim’ your prize, and give your credit or bank card details for a small amount (£2) and your device will be sent within five days.

I normally treat all such things as scams but because it popped up whilst I was already logged into Google and my brother had won a fortnight’s holiday in Australia in a similar credit card prize a few years ago I thought perhaps I was being too cautious, and out of curiosity filled in my credit card details thinking I would look it up on another device to see if it was genuine before I submitted it.

I found it was a scam, and other people had fallen for it as I nearly had, and the message appears to come from whatever you are logged into at the time. Google in my case, Tesco in another, to make you believe it is genuine.

To my horror there was no submit button, I had already done this by choosing the iPhone 12 and claiming that earlier.

I then had to contact my bank and cancel my credit card. They were very good and will send me another.

Whilst further investigating this scam I found that these ‘pop-ups’ leave a virus on your phone and you could install an app to clear this. I then found this was untrue as well and was an attempt to get more more details from you. Remember, if it seems too good to be true it’s probably a scam.

P Collins Bristol

The car has had its day

✒ AREN’T those e-scooters wonderful? They seem incredibly popular. They taken up a fraction of the space a car takes up and are far, far cheaper for young people to afford and run.

E-scooters are the thing now, it seems. Cars are on their way out for young people. Car pollution is a massive problem for Bristol so maybe that’s a good thing, and overdue!

P Evans Bristol

Political straitjacket

✒ I FEEL compelled to respond to one of your correspondents on the Letters page recently as he or she made some valid points about the advantages of being an EU member but then concluded with a rant about ‘self-centred Brexiteers’.

If ever there was a perfect illustration of why so many people voted to leave the EU and why the die-hard Remainers still can’t accept it, stating that ‘Brexiteers have no intention of sharing anything with anybody’ and that ‘they all have the intelligence of Donald Trump supporters provided it.

This arrogant approach ignores the fact that people like me voted ‘Leave’ because I do not agree with the political project that the EU has become, particularly the gravy train that is the European Parliament; a bureaucratic and extremely costly monolith which I felt totally remote from and could never relate to.

I agree with all the other links we have with our European neighbours such as trade, cultural exchange, travel and security and see no reason why these cannot continue in the future without the political straitjacket that being a full member entails.

D Scadding Bristol

Not exactly ‘oven ready’

✒ SO the UK has finally properly left the European Union.

Or so say the right-wing Tories – in fact the deal agreed was only on physical goods, it says nothing about services, which make up 80% of our economy, and it says nothing about data either which is increasingly important.

Not exactly “oven ready”, was it? And on the referendum figures, just 37.5% of the electorate voted to Leave the EU. That’s not a majority. It was only 26% of the UK population. So there was no overwhelming democratic majority – check the figures if you wish, they are on the Electoral Commission website.

The sensible thing would be to wait and see how things go, and then have a confirming referendum in, say, three years’ time. And if we don’t like how things have turned out – well, we could sort out a Rejoin Deal a lot better than a Leave Deal has taken!

The Brexit side “owns” this Brexit, and any failures and job losses arising from it.

Simon Wood Bristol