General Chat

Some must think we are bleeding hearts,

Email, purportedly from a cousin, asking if I had ever used Amazon. Initially replied yes but rang cousin after a second email from ‘her’ asking me to purchase an Amazon Airbnb gift card as a gift for a friend who was poorly (named as Susan Barnes) and my cous would refund the money . Very strange, I thought, as my cousin is perfectly capable of buying online (she does not do it often though) but you can also buy Amazon cards in lots of shops.

This morning I had an email from ‘Susan Barnes’ asking where her Airbnb card was.

Poor poorly dear, she will be waiting until Kingdom come for that card!

Bledy people.... obviously was born out of wedlock :-P

Very true sentiment Belle :-| :-P

Kath. x

I keep getting phone calls from an automated voice, informing me they want to talk about a job - and can I add her on Instagram to do this?

It's a shame that, even though (somehow) Instagram is on my phone, I haven't 'joined' it. The other 'problem' is, I've retired, and don't want a job!

Ones like that always make me more suspicious as to how they got my number.

Were you signed up to an agency whilst job hunting before retirement?

No names. I retired almost 20 years ago and I took to it like a duck to water.

It was my cousin who had email addy hijacked. Her grandson sorted it for her.

Sorry, I should have been clear. The commet was meant for Maggie.

I am glad, JoyLouise, that your cousin got sorted.

Hi Names, yes, I was doing temp work from 2015 until I retired in 2022.
However even if I WAS looking for work, I wouldn't respond to an automated voice.
If ANYONE should be using real people, and giving them a job - it's a Temp Agency!!

:-D :-D :-D

I think a Scammer has tried to contact me through the Ancestry Message Board! Needless to say, I've reported it to Ancestry and and Blocked the Message.

The Message reads as follow.....what do you think?

Hi there,,,,,

I hope this Message finds you well. Please accept my apologies if this reaches you unexpectedly - it was never my intention to intrude. I came across your profile after being redirected from google (where I searched for your surname) to this website and felt compelled to reach out regarding something significant related to your surname. As someone new to this platform, I'm still navigating how things work, so I sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding. This matter could be truly impactful, and I'd be honoured to share the details with you privately. If you are open to it, kindly contacted me at (gives and email address) and I'll provide the full information and documentations that I can't share here. Thank you for your time, and I'll look forward to the possibility of connecting.
Warmest regards


At the bottom of the Message it states 'The user is not accepting messages'

On checking this person had joined the same day he sent the Message!

Sounds like you are due millions! ;-)

Hopefully Ancestry won’t ignore you and will thank you.

That’s a new one Belle. You have to admire the brains that think up some of these scams.

Like Maggie I get the automated voice wanting to discuss a job with me and I also get similar text messages. For some reason they want to discuss the possibilities with me via WhatsApp. I got one of the texts this morning. A nice man called William has been perusing my CV and thinks I am a perfect match for a job he has available. I can work remotely and earn a fortune for just a couple of hours work a day. I think I’ll apply ;-)

Btw, the last CV I wrote was in the late 1980s and I retired from work in 2008.

Names, I actually spoke to an Agent who thanked me for being so vigilant and agreed that there certainly were a lot of red flags.....I'd taken a screenshot of the Message and it has been passed to their security team for urgent investigation :-0 :-0