[On-going Scams - Post them here]

[rockstar]

What blows my mind though is that I have colleagues with master degrees being scammed by modern day spiritualists and cult like self improvement camps. I can't wrap my around this stuff. Basically, they sign up for a course, which they describe as essentially group therapy. They do this for roughly a week and spend tens of thousands of dollars.

I would charge mere thousands of dollars for a one week camp…..

You could, but then you’d be less exclusive.

[RetiredInTheWest]

[Thread merged into here --admin LadyGeek]

We had some fraudulent charges to our credit card. This seems to happen every few years. So, as usual, we called and had the card immediately cancelled for fraud. Oddly all of the fraudulent orders were placed with Amazon. We suspect someone set up an account at Amazon and used our stolen credit card to place the orders. Ok, makes sense so far.

Then it got weird. We got two packages delivered from Amazon one day, and one more the next. None we had ever ordered. The packages were all to our address but to a foreign sounding name that really (possibly intentionally?) stuck out. I suspect the packages that came here add up to about the third order's total, but am not sure since there are no receipts in any of the Amazon packages (only one had a gift receipt - saying it was from the same person it was supposedly to, the odd name).

We shared all of this with the fraud department of the credit card. They said to keep the packages and not worry about it. The charges were reversed by the credit card just fine. We also reported this online to Amazon under "brushing scams" (a way to report packages from Amazon that you didn't order), but there were already over 100,000 reviews for one of the products (doesn't seem to fit brushing).

Is someone going to contact us later asking us to return them so they get the money into their fake Amazon account somehow? Very odd.

Any other ideas? I'm not sure what else to do, other than try to ignore any more package deliveries (nothing we've wanted so far anyway) and hope they stop soon. Should I to file a police report? I'm guessing these are all going to be given to charity eventually.

[RobLyons]

I've never heard of this. Maybe it's a scammer that doesn't have their scam figured out yet.

[bombcar]

The only one I’ve heard like this is they then ask you to ship or leave the packages somewhere so they can pick them up.

But maybe they wanted to porch pirate you.

Or they somehow got access to your Amazon account and ordered from there but couldn’t change shipping address?

I’d change lots of passwords just to be sure.

[Big Dog]

check with Amazon. I believe that their FAQs say that a package delivered that you did not order is yours to keep or toss.

[celia]

You have lots of assumptions above.

They might not have your credit card number but your Amazon login instead. So next year when they log in again, they could change the delivery address and the charges could be on the new credit card (whose new number you will store on Amazon again).

Or maybe they are testing you to see if you pick up your packages soon after delivery. Since they probably know your address, they could drive by soon after they get a delivery confirmation, and grab their package from your porch.

There’s also other possibilities. I would start by changing your Amazon login/ password and checking your mailing address there. Also lock your credit report and keep watching for suspicious charges on your credit card statements.

[Katietsu]

You stated that there were 100,000 reviews for one of the products. However, I think the same scheme could be used to collect positive reviews for the seller. So maybe that was the play?

[arcticpineapplecorp.]

You stated that there were 100,000 reviews for one of the products. However, I think the same scheme could be used to collect positive reviews for the seller. So maybe that was the play?

yep. sounds like a brushing scam

and always remember...if you can't understand the scam, you shouldn't buy/invest in the scam.

[PottedPlant]

Why is it that the delivered item is never a Bugatti?

[RetiredInTheWest]

Thanks for all of the replies. No Bugattis yet! We can always hope though?

It 100% for sure wasn't from our Amazon accounts. Triple checked that and of course changed passwords immediately anyway (always a good idea).

It's gotta either be brushing, or else I'm guessing sometime soon there will be a play for the delivered packages somehow. I'll post what happens whenever we finally find out, if we do. They may've noticed the cancelled credit card by now. We cancelled it pretty quickly.

Weirdest scam we've had yet. Or, as previously said, maybe it's just a really bad scammer?? Beats me.

[privateer79]

were the objects that were delivered of nominal value?

once or twice we've ordered high value items, had trinkets delivered, with an appology saying the item was delayed.... and then had scammers try and claim that the trinket delivered was the object... "see... heres the delivery tracking showing delivered a few months ago"

[Mudpuppy]

It's gotta either be brushing, or else I'm guessing sometime soon there will be a play for the delivered packages somehow. I'll post what happens whenever we finally find out, if we do. They may've noticed the cancelled credit card by now. We cancelled it pretty quickly.

Depending on how the credit card company handled this, fraud charges might still get through with the old number. For example, I have a company that's been able to push through an old reoccurring charge for two years after the card they had on file expired. Hopefully, the credit card set all the flags in their system to prevent this sort of thing since it was reported as fraudulent charges, but keep a close eye on the account just in case. It might be useful to put in text alerts on each purchase for a while, just to be safe.

[gavinsiu]

If the package is not from your account, they are delivering a package to your porch and having someone pick it up before you. A few years ago someone hacked our Amazon account and had packages delivered to a different address in a different state which was of course not the thiefs address but some address they can access physically.

[LifeIsGood]

I had a similar experience a couple of years ago from the Armed Forces Exchange. I think the fraudsters monitor the delivery info and then plan on swooping in to to steal the items off your porch right after delivery. I live in a gated community so they were out of luck.

[LookinAround]

As someone already mentioned, it's probably a "brushing scam".

Just fyi... As you know, it can be a real hassle when you have to close an account, open a new one and replace the plastic.

Citibank (and I heard Wells Fargo) allow you to create Virtual Account Numbers associated with your credit card - essentially account numbers you create and assign an expiration date of your choosing. You can extend the expiration if/when you want. I use a virtual account number for most online transactions. If someone steals the virtual acct #, login to your account, close the virtual account and create a new one. No need to replace all the physical cards you and others in the family might have

[radiowave]

As someone already mentioned, it's probably a "brushing scam".

Just fyi... As you know, it can be a real hassle when you have to close an account, open a new one and replace the plastic.

Citibank (and I heard Wells Fargo) allow you to create Virtual Account Numbers associated with your credit card - essentially account numbers you create and assign an expiration date of your choosing. You can extend the expiration if/when you want. I use a virtual account number for most online transactions. If someone steals the virtual acct #, login to your account, close the virtual account and create a new one. No need to replace all the physical cards you and others in the family might have

Capital One is advertising a virtual card using Eno: https://www.capitalone.com/digital/eno/ ... -numbers/

Bank of America had a virtual card a few years ago and gave it up unfortunately.

[LadyGeek]

I merged RetiredInTheWest's thread into the ongoing discussion.

[skp]

We were almost the victims of an Amazon scam 2 days ago that I thought you should be aware of. My husband got a call from Amazon asking if we were really buying a Mac book and sending it to an address in Michigan. Press one for no. We weren't. We had just had a call from discover card a few weeks before asking us if we were really buying 10,000 dollars worth of airline tickets- not our usual consumption - we were. So this didn't seem terribly unusual. He pressed one. The Amazon rep said they would cancel the order and transfer him to the fraud department. The fraud department rep listened to his story and said they were going to get the feds involved. The federal agent said we were a part of an active case, and that to protect our money we had to move AL our money to a secure account. My husband is getting real upset because he's thinking IRS and taxes, the "fed agent" said they covered expenses. Finally and fortunately the red flag went up and my husband hung up. I called the police. The police weren't interested. We notified amazon who I don't know if they even read their emails. I love them but they are horrible to communicate with. And he filed an FTC complaint. This was really elaborate, they all had names and "ID numbers". They sent him an official goverment E mail. These guys are good.

[RetiredCSProf]

A licensed general contractor (GC) tried to scam me on a home improvement project.

I have been planning to remodel a small upstairs secondary bathroom. I called a local interior designer (recommended by Houzz) for help with putting together a drawing for the floor plan and to help with choosing finishes. She said she was too busy, it was too small a project for her, but recommended I hire a GC who works on a lot of her projects. When he came to my house, he noticed that water has been leaking from the new downstairs shower (installed 8 years ago) to the wall next to the shower.

Scam #1: The GC was aghast at the water leak and said I needed to take care of it right away. He said that he would need to pull off the bottom row of tiles on the shower walls to investigate the waterproofing. The room would need to be sealed tight until the work was completed because of mold. He estimated a cost of $5K - $8K for labor, not counting materials.

If I had let him pull out tiles on the shower walls, this would have broken the seal on the waterproofing and required me to have the entire shower rebuilt (with different tiles, since the tiles I used have been discontinued). I called in a water intrusion expert (plumber) who confirmed (without removing any tiles) that there was no plumbing problem -- shower pan is intact and no pipes are leaking. The problem was, as I suspected, a gap between the shower door and the adjoining wall, which has since been corrected with adding a rubber gasket. And there is no mold.

The GC took over two weeks to put together a 6-page contract for me to sign for the remodel on the upstairs bathroom. One page of this contract is a brief description of the work. There is no breakdown of the price: $58K for the remodel, excluding finish materials (tile, fixtures, vanity). He can charge whatever he wants for the project (there's no law against high prices), but the scam part is the page on progress payments

Scam #2: He requires a $1K downpayment on signing the contract (this is legal and standard in California). He requires an initial "progress" payment of $24K at the start of the project to order rough materials. This is illegal in CA -- a contractor cannot collect payment for materials that have not yet been delivered to the job site. He requires a second "progress" payment of $25K at the completion of demolition. This is also illegal in CA. He cannot collect payment for work that has not yet been completed. There is no way that demolition is half the cost of remodeling a bathroom.

I have estimates from most of the licensed trades for this project. The licensed demolition company estimated $1750 for demolition and hauling debris -- most of this would be for taking out the cast-iron tub and pulling off wall tiles.

[nonnie]

Last week we had a call from a person who said they were an Amazon driver. They said they were trying to deliver a package but there was a note on it that said we did not want it. I immediately went on high alert and had them tell me the address and the name --which were both mine. I instructed them to deliver the package and it was delivered about 5 minutes later. It turned out to be something I had ordered a week ago that had been on back order and I had not been watching it. I had never given any instructions about not delivering the package.

I guess it was just a fluke of some sort, nothing further of interest happened.

[StevieG72]

A licensed general contractor (GC) tried to scam me on a home improvement project.

I have been planning to remodel a small upstairs secondary bathroom. I called a local interior designer (recommended by Houzz) for help with putting together a drawing for the floor plan and to help with choosing finishes. She said she was too busy, it was too small a project for her, but recommended I hire a GC who works on a lot of her projects. When he came to my house, he noticed that water has been leaking from the new downstairs shower (installed 8 years ago) to the wall next to the shower.

Scam #1: The GC was aghast at the water leak and said I needed to take care of it right away. He said that he would need to pull off the bottom row of tiles on the shower walls to investigate the waterproofing. The room would need to be sealed tight until the work was completed because of mold. He estimated a cost of $5K - $8K for labor, not counting materials.

If I had let him pull out tiles on the shower walls, this would have broken the seal on the waterproofing and required me to have the entire shower rebuilt (with different tiles, since the tiles I used have been discontinued). I called in a water intrusion expert (plumber) who confirmed (without removing any tiles) that there was no plumbing problem -- shower pan is intact and no pipes are leaking. The problem was, as I suspected, a gap between the shower door and the adjoining wall, which has since been corrected with adding a rubber gasket. And there is no mold.

The GC took over two weeks to put together a 6-page contract for me to sign for the remodel on the upstairs bathroom. One page of this contract is a brief description of the work. There is no breakdown of the price: $58K for the remodel, excluding finish materials (tile, fixtures, vanity). He can charge whatever he wants for the project (there's no law against high prices), but the scam part is the page on progress payments

Scam #2: He requires a $1K downpayment on signing the contract (this is legal and standard in California). He requires an initial "progress" payment of $24K at the start of the project to order rough materials. This is illegal in CA -- a contractor cannot collect payment for materials that have not yet been delivered to the job site. He requires a second "progress" payment of $25K at the completion of demolition. This is also illegal in CA. He cannot collect payment for work that has not yet been completed. There is no way that demolition is half the cost of remodeling a bathroom.

I have estimates from most of the licensed trades for this project. The licensed demolition company estimated $1750 for demolition and hauling debris -- most of this would be for taking out the cast-iron tub and pulling off wall tiles.

Sounds like you need to move on and find another option for the remodel. Probably should have aborted when he tried to fleece you for the water leak.

[nonnie]

A licensed general contractor (GC) tried to scam me on a home improvement project.

I have been planning to remodel a small upstairs secondary bathroom. I called a local interior designer (recommended by Houzz) for help with putting together a drawing for the floor plan and to help with choosing finishes. She said she was too busy, it was too small a project for her, but recommended I hire a GC who works on a lot of her projects. When he came to my house, he noticed that water has been leaking from the new downstairs shower (installed 8 years ago) to the wall next to the shower.

Scam #1: The GC was aghast at the water leak and said I needed to take care of it right away. He said that he would need to pull off the bottom row of tiles on the shower walls to investigate the waterproofing. The room would need to be sealed tight until the work was completed because of mold. He estimated a cost of $5K - $8K for labor, not counting materials.

If I had let him pull out tiles on the shower walls, this would have broken the seal on the waterproofing and required me to have the entire shower rebuilt (with different tiles, since the tiles I used have been discontinued). I called in a water intrusion expert (plumber) who confirmed (without removing any tiles) that there was no plumbing problem -- shower pan is intact and no pipes are leaking. The problem was, as I suspected, a gap between the shower door and the adjoining wall, which has since been corrected with adding a rubber gasket. And there is no mold.

The GC took over two weeks to put together a 6-page contract for me to sign for the remodel on the upstairs bathroom. One page of this contract is a brief description of the work. There is no breakdown of the price: $58K for the remodel, excluding finish materials (tile, fixtures, vanity). He can charge whatever he wants for the project (there's no law against high prices), but the scam part is the page on progress payments

Scam #2: He requires a $1K downpayment on signing the contract (this is legal and standard in California). He requires an initial "progress" payment of $24K at the start of the project to order rough materials. This is illegal in CA -- a contractor cannot collect payment for materials that have not yet been delivered to the job site. He requires a second "progress" payment of $25K at the completion of demolition. This is also illegal in CA. He cannot collect payment for work that has not yet been completed. There is no way that demolition is half the cost of remodeling a bathroom.

I have estimates from most of the licensed trades for this project. The licensed demolition company estimated $1750 for demolition and hauling debris -- most of this would be for taking out the cast-iron tub and pulling off wall tiles.

I certainly would follow up on this. There are lots of folks who don't know about the protections of the CA law (as he apparently doesn't?) and you'd be doing a public service by reporting him. Did you check to see if his license was current?

https://www.cslb.ca.gov/

[Mel Lindauer]

I just got an email called "ATM Card Payment" from Mr. Chris, the Group Managing Director of First Bank, saying "Attn: Beneficiary, Your ATM card of $5.5 million is ready for shipment. Urgently reconfirm your name, delivery address, and your direct phone number immediately. Contact payment director via email to..."

I'm going to put that money straight into my portfolio and make a killing! Oh boy, is this great!

-B

The "Mr. Chris" should be an immediate tip-off that it's a scammer, most likely from Nigeria. The same goes for "Minister" and other highfalutin titles before their name.

[Tubes]

A licensed general contractor (GC) tried to scam me on a home improvement project.

Scam #1: The GC was aghast at the water leak and said I needed to take care of it right away. He said that he would need to pull off the bottom row of tiles on the shower walls to investigate the waterproofing. The room would need to be sealed tight until the work was completed because of mold. He estimated a cost of $5K - $8K for labor, not counting materials.

If I had let him pull out tiles on the shower walls, this would have broken the seal on the waterproofing and required me to have the entire shower rebuilt (with different tiles, since the tiles I used have been discontinued). I called in a water intrusion expert (plumber) who confirmed (without removing any tiles) that there was no plumbing problem -- shower pan is intact and no pipes are leaking. The problem was, as I suspected, a gap between the shower door and the adjoining wall, which has since been corrected with adding a rubber gasket. And there is no mold.

In most cases, mold is not equivalent to a marble of plutonium. But many contractors want you to think like that.

This really ticks me off how they are using this issue. I do a lot of work with flood victims and we manage it in various ways. Only a minority of cases go down the $10k remediation route. I don't want to get into details and derail this thread any further.

[Watty]

I had a good one.

I am traveling in Canada and I got two emails from "Expedia" which named a hotel that I have a reservation with in a few days with a link to click to update my card card information. It said they had a message from my hotel that there was problem with my credit card and my reservation was at risk of being canceled. I had booked that hotel through Expedia.

This seemed plausible since the credit card I use for most travel had recently been replaced with a new expiration date.

There was also got a third email about 1.5 hours later saying not to click on the prior emails because it was a phishing scam.

I saw all of these at the same time when I got on a wifi network to check my email.

When I tried signing on to Expedia I was able to sign OK but neither of the two reservations showed up. After a moment of panic I realized that it had defaulted to the Expedia.ca Canada web site which allowed me to sign on with my Expedia US password. When I forced by browser to go to normal Expedia.com web site my reservations were there and there were no messages from Expedia.

It sounds like the hotel was hacked which is how they got the information. I assume that there is a way for a hotel to relay a message through Expedia which is what may of happened if the hotel was hacked.

Be careful, I almost fell for that one.

[Mudpuppy]

Last week we had a call from a person who said they were an Amazon driver. They said they were trying to deliver a package but there was a note on it that said we did not want it. I immediately went on high alert and had them tell me the address and the name --which were both mine. I instructed them to deliver the package and it was delivered about 5 minutes later. It turned out to be something I had ordered a week ago that had been on back order and I had not been watching it. I had never given any instructions about not delivering the package.

I guess it was just a fluke of some sort, nothing further of interest happened.

Sometimes when an item on Amazon is on back-order, they'll send an email that basically asks "do you still want this item?". If I recall correctly from when this happened to me last year, the app and website will give you the same prompt on the order status page for the item if you don't trust the email. Perhaps Amazon sent that prompt and you didn't reply, so the driver thought you no longer wanted it.

[Mudpuppy]

Scam #2: He requires a $1K downpayment on signing the contract (this is legal and standard in California). He requires an initial "progress" payment of $24K at the start of the project to order rough materials. This is illegal in CA -- a contractor cannot collect payment for materials that have not yet been delivered to the job site. He requires a second "progress" payment of $25K at the completion of demolition. This is also illegal in CA. He cannot collect payment for work that has not yet been completed. There is no way that demolition is half the cost of remodeling a bathroom.

First check if the contractor has the one exception to down payment rule listed at the bottom of the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) info page about contracts: https://www.cslb.ca.gov/Consumers/Hire_ ... ments.aspx

If they do not qualify for that exception, you should consider putting a complaint in to CSLB about this. It might go nowhere since you didn't actually hire the contractor and there's no health/safety violations (highest priority), but if they're doing enforcement operations in your area, it might get the contractor added to a list of companies to check. The Bureau of Automotive Repair does regular enforcement operations these days to check for inflated quotes and other violations, but I'm not sure about CSLB.

[nonnie]

Last week we had a call from a person who said they were an Amazon driver. They said they were trying to deliver a package but there was a note on it that said we did not want it. I immediately went on high alert and had them tell me the address and the name --which were both mine. I instructed them to deliver the package and it was delivered about 5 minutes later. It turned out to be something I had ordered a week ago that had been on back order and I had not been watching it. I had never given any instructions about not delivering the package.

I guess it was just a fluke of some sort, nothing further of interest happened.

Sometimes when an item on Amazon is on back-order, they'll send an email that basically asks "do you still want this item?". If I recall correctly from when this happened to me last year, the app and website will give you the same prompt on the order status page for the item if you don't trust the email. Perhaps Amazon sent that prompt and you didn't reply, so the driver thought you no longer wanted it.

Thanks, had thought of that but it wasn't the situation.

[livesoft]

Washington Post had a little "Can you detect scam" quiz on August 9th:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... mail-text/

I was surprised that I am not just seeing any of these things on my phone nor in my e-mail. I guess my tech providers are filtering out spam quite well.

[Fallible]

Washington Post had a little "Can you detect scam" quiz on August 9th:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... mail-text/

I was surprised that I am not just seeing any of these things on my phone nor in my e-mail. I guess my tech providers are filtering out spam quite well.

Good quiz with excellent explanations showing why/why not/maybe a scam. I got them all, though guessed at a couple (missed the trademark on Zelle though recognized it as company lingo) and even though I did not spot all the reasons. Also provides an important "Avoiding Scams 101" sheet to post next to a computer and phone:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-stat/ ... d-template

Just shows you can't know enough about how scams work and it reminds me of a book I read (The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova) showing that the best con is the one where you don't know - and maybe never know - you've been conned. I assume I'm in that group somewhere.

Thanks for posting. It almost could run as a separate topic.

[Stinky]

Is this a scam?

I reserved an Airbnb in New York City, with a non cancelable reservation. The property has gotten dozens of positive reviews.

About an hour after I received the Airbnb confirmation, I received the following text from the phone number of the Airbnb host:
———————
Hi (name)

This is (name) - your Airbnb host from (dates). Before I send over the check in details, I have a quick question in confidence

Last time a guest proposed to me to arrange the money outside Airbnb, in cash/ zelle/ venmo. This means that we can share (50/50) the AirBNB fee. I just saw on Airbnb, you’re paying $xxxx including $yyy service fee. So in this case if we do outside of Airbnb, you pay $xxxx - yyy / 2 =$zzzz to me directly.

So, you spend less and I make more, it would be like a win - win

Anyway, it is just an idea.

If it is not usually for you, of course, we can continue on Airbnb!
—————-
All of the names, dates, and amounts were correct.

I thought for about a second about saving half of the Airbnb fee. Then I thought about the fact that I would lose the “protection” of Airbnb if I did this. Plus, I would be sending cash to someone I didn’t know. So I declined the “offer”.

Do y’all think this is a scam? Should I be doing anything else?

And would a practice like this get a host banned from Airbnb?

[ResearchMed]

Is this a scam?

I reserved an Airbnb in New York City, with a non cancelable reservation. The property has gotten dozens of positive reviews.

About an hour after I received the Airbnb confirmation, I received the following text from the phone number of the Airbnb host:
———————
Hi (name)

This is (name) - your Airbnb host from (dates). Before I send over the check in details, I have a quick question in confidence

Last time a guest proposed to me to arrange the money outside Airbnb, in cash/ zelle/ venmo. This means that we can share (50/50) the AirBNB fee. I just saw on Airbnb, you’re paying $xxxx including $yyy service fee. So in this case if we do outside of Airbnb, you pay $xxxx - yyy / 2 =$zzzz to me directly.

So, you spend less and I make more, it would be like a win - win

Anyway, it is just an idea.

If it is not usually for you, of course, we can continue on Airbnb!
—————-
All of the names, dates, and amounts were correct.

I thought for about a second about saving half of the Airbnb fee. Then I thought about the fact that I would lose the “protection” of Airbnb if I did this. Plus, I would be sending cash to someone I didn’t know. So I declined the “offer”.

Do y’all think this is a scam? Should I be doing anything else?

And would a practice like this get a host banned from Airbnb?

This would almost definitely lose any Airbnb protection. Why would there be any, if you aren't renting through Airbnb!?

And it violates the Airbnb terms, for obvious reasons (owners could advertise on Airbnb and never pay the fees...).

I'd forward this to Airbnb, and I wouldn't rent anything from this type of person.
I wouldn't trust them to do anything useful if there were to be any problem.

RM

[Colorado Guy]

Received an email today from "Prime" at a non-amazon.com email address. The email even had the familiar amazon swoosh arc/arrow (without the word Prime above it), AND did not state anywhere this was from Amazon, only "Prime". Hmmm....

Email stated that my subscription to Prime expired today, that my monthly payment has failed. The email had a convenient link to "update my payment details" and to "verify my account". Did not click either of the links, but went to Amazon Prime and my account / payment details, and all was fine. The email also had a bogus "subscription ID" number.

Also of interest is that the Prime email today included a payment declined on a specific order number. As I had just ordered a number of items in the last week, I checked the order numbers (they did not match the email), and all were either shipped or about to be.

The email address came from "noreply@EVERBRIDGE.NET".

[snackdog]

I’m currently on an unsolicited consulting job overseas. I was chatting today with another contractor about the haphazard way in which we were contracted for the work and brought around the globe, eventually, all rather last minute. He said it had occurred to him it was some kind of elaborate scam. I agreed and said that is why I insisted the hiring company purchase my initial set of air tickets which cost around $10k.

He agreed and said he was nearly scammed in this manner last year. He was approached by a company that wished to contract his services overseas. Weeks of discussions ensued and eventually a proper contract was signed. When the time came for him to travel to start the job, they said he could book it himself and would be reimbursed. The only hitch was that he use their travel agency for negotiated airline discounts. He said no and never heard back! Had he booked through their presumably fake travel front, his business class fare would have disappeared from his card, and they would have vanished.

Thoughts?

[Stinky]

Had he booked through their presumably fake travel front, his business class fare would have disappeared from his card, and they would have vanished.

Thoughts?

Scam city!

[Tubes]

I’m currently on an unsolicited consulting job overseas. I was chatting today with another contractor about the haphazard way in which we were contracted for the work and brought around the globe, eventually, all rather last minute. He said it had occurred to him it was some kind of elaborate scam. I agreed and said that is why I insisted the hiring company purchase my initial set of air tickets which cost around $10k.

He agreed and said he was nearly scammed in this manner last year. He was approached by a company that wished to contract his services overseas. Weeks of discussions ensued and eventually a proper contract was signed. When the time came for him to travel to start the job, they said he could book it himself and would be reimbursed. The only hitch was that he use their travel agency for negotiated airline discounts. He said no and never heard back! Had he booked through their presumably fake travel front, his business class fare would have disappeared from his card, and they would have vanished.

Thoughts?

Thoughts? Sounds like you are still working a job that is a scam? You got your tickets paid, but are you going to get paid?

[snackdog]

I’m currently on an unsolicited consulting job overseas. I was chatting today with another contractor about the haphazard way in which we were contracted for the work and brought around the globe, eventually, all rather last minute. He said it had occurred to him it was some kind of elaborate scam. I agreed and said that is why I insisted the hiring company purchase my initial set of air tickets which cost around $10k.

He agreed and said he was nearly scammed in this manner last year. He was approached by a company that wished to contract his services overseas. Weeks of discussions ensued and eventually a proper contract was signed. When the time came for him to travel to start the job, they said he could book it himself and would be reimbursed. The only hitch was that he use their travel agency for negotiated airline discounts. He said no and never heard back! Had he booked through their presumably fake travel front, his business class fare would have disappeared from his card, and they would have vanished.

Thoughts?

Thoughts? Sounds like you are still working a job that is a scam? You got your tickets paid, but are you going to get paid?

My first day on the ground I met directly with the Exec VPs of the largest company in the entire region so I can see plenty of recourse if not paid. If this is a scam they would need to have rented a fake ten tower office complex, fudged web sites and news articles, and hired actors in makeup to look like the real people. Seems quite elaborate just to get a few weeks of free labor from me.

[Tubes]

I’m currently on an unsolicited consulting job overseas. I was chatting today with another contractor about the haphazard way in which we were contracted for the work and brought around the globe, eventually, all rather last minute. He said it had occurred to him it was some kind of elaborate scam. I agreed and said that is why I insisted the hiring company purchase my initial set of air tickets which cost around $10k.

He agreed and said he was nearly scammed in this manner last year. He was approached by a company that wished to contract his services overseas. Weeks of discussions ensued and eventually a proper contract was signed. When the time came for him to travel to start the job, they said he could book it himself and would be reimbursed. The only hitch was that he use their travel agency for negotiated airline discounts. He said no and never heard back! Had he booked through their presumably fake travel front, his business class fare would have disappeared from his card, and they would have vanished.

Thoughts?

Thoughts? Sounds like you are still working a job that is a scam? You got your tickets paid, but are you going to get paid?

My first day on the ground I met directly with the Exec VPs of the largest company in the entire region so I can see plenty of recourse if not paid. If this is a scam they would need to have rented a fake ten tower office complex, fudged web sites and news articles, and hired actors in makeup to look like the real people. Seems quite elaborate just to get a few weeks of free labor from me.

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but you confused me by saying: "He said it had occurred to him it was some kind of elaborate scam. I agreed..."

You agreed it was a scam?

Perhaps what you mean is the travel component of it is some sort of scam?

[snackdog]

I’m currently on an unsolicited consulting job overseas. I was chatting today with another contractor about the haphazard way in which we were contracted for the work and brought around the globe, eventually, all rather last minute. He said it had occurred to him it was some kind of elaborate scam. I agreed and said that is why I insisted the hiring company purchase my initial set of air tickets which cost around $10k.

He agreed and said he was nearly scammed in this manner last year. He was approached by a company that wished to contract his services overseas. Weeks of discussions ensued and eventually a proper contract was signed. When the time came for him to travel to start the job, they said he could book it himself and would be reimbursed. The only hitch was that he use their travel agency for negotiated airline discounts. He said no and never heard back! Had he booked through their presumably fake travel front, his business class fare would have disappeared from his card, and they would have vanished.

Thoughts?

Thoughts? Sounds like you are still working a job that is a scam? You got your tickets paid, but are you going to get paid?

My first day on the ground I met directly with the Exec VPs of the largest company in the entire region so I can see plenty of recourse if not paid. If this is a scam they would need to have rented a fake ten tower office complex, fudged web sites and news articles, and hired actors in makeup to look like the real people. Seems quite elaborate just to get a few weeks of free labor from me.

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but you confused me by saying: "He said it had occurred to him it was some kind of elaborate scam. I agreed..."

You agreed it was a scam?

Perhaps what you mean is the travel component of it is some sort of scam?

I agreed that the current contract was handled in such a haphazard way that at one point I questioned if it was possibly a scam.

[Tubes]

I agreed that the current contract was handled in such a haphazard way that at one point I questioned if it was possibly a scam.

Got it. You were wise to be on guard. Some of these schemes are very sophisticated.

[arcticpineapplecorp.]

just heard this one on Rational Reminder episode 269:

Australia TikTok Tax Fraud Illustrates Misinformation Escalation

[JBTX]

Received an email today from "Prime" at a non-amazon.com email address. The email even had the familiar amazon swoosh arc/arrow (without the word Prime above it), AND did not state anywhere this was from Amazon, only "Prime". Hmmm....

Email stated that my subscription to Prime expired today, that my monthly payment has failed. The email had a convenient link to "update my payment details" and to "verify my account". Did not click either of the links, but went to Amazon Prime and my account / payment details, and all was fine. The email also had a bogus "subscription ID" number.

Also of interest is that the Prime email today included a payment declined on a specific order number. As I had just ordered a number of items in the last week, I checked the order numbers (they did not match the email), and all were either shipped or about to be.

The email address came from "noreply@EVERBRIDGE.NET".

I find that I’m more likely to get such emails on older email addresses that were part of prior data breaches and are circulating on the dark web. As such, I usually move away from those email addresses to a newer one, and have a different one only for key financial institution purposes.

This post reminded me to go look at my old email - I check it occasionally for any straggling emails of relevance. There were several in there from “Prime” saying there was a problem with my subscription and a bunch of others from “Fedex”, “UPs” and others saying a package wasn’t delivered. All obvious phishing attempts.

[Bogle-007]

[Post merged into here --admin LadyGeek]

I recently got a “Broadview Federal Credit Union” phishing attempt via text that looked real/legit. Anyone else?

[LadyGeek]

I merged Bogle-007's post into the ongoing discussion.

(Thanks to the member who reported the post and provided a link to this thread.)

[sailaway]

I just got a phishing scam allegedly from Trust regarding a charge to my debit card. Text cancel, then follow link...ummm, no thanks.

[grok87]

Received an email today from "Prime" at a non-amazon.com email address. The email even had the familiar amazon swoosh arc/arrow (without the word Prime above it), AND did not state anywhere this was from Amazon, only "Prime". Hmmm....

Email stated that my subscription to Prime expired today, that my monthly payment has failed. The email had a convenient link to "update my payment details" and to "verify my account". Did not click either of the links, but went to Amazon Prime and my account / payment details, and all was fine. The email also had a bogus "subscription ID" number.

Also of interest is that the Prime email today included a payment declined on a specific order number. As I had just ordered a number of items in the last week, I checked the order numbers (they did not match the email), and all were either shipped or about to be.

The email address came from "noreply@EVERBRIDGE.NET".

I find that I’m more likely to get such emails on older email addresses that were part of prior data breaches and are circulating on the dark web. As such, I usually move away from those email addresses to a newer one, and have a different one only for key financial institution purposes.

This post reminded me to go look at my old email - I check it occasionally for any straggling emails of relevance. There were several in there from “Prime” saying there was a problem with my subscription and a bunch of others from “Fedex”, “UPs” and others saying a package wasn’t delivered. All obvious phishing attempts.

yes that is happening to me too

[Broken Man 1999]

Is this a scam?

I reserved an Airbnb in New York City, with a non cancelable reservation. The property has gotten dozens of positive reviews.

About an hour after I received the Airbnb confirmation, I received the following text from the phone number of the Airbnb host:
———————
Hi (name)

This is (name) - your Airbnb host from (dates). Before I send over the check in details, I have a quick question in confidence

Last time a guest proposed to me to arrange the money outside Airbnb, in cash/ zelle/ venmo. This means that we can share (50/50) the AirBNB fee. I just saw on Airbnb, you’re paying $xxxx including $yyy service fee. So in this case if we do outside of Airbnb, you pay $xxxx - yyy / 2 =$zzzz to me directly.

So, you spend less and I make more, it would be like a win - win

Anyway, it is just an idea.

If it is not usually for you, of course, we can continue on Airbnb!
—————-
All of the names, dates, and amounts were correct.

I thought for about a second about saving half of the Airbnb fee. Then I thought about the fact that I would lose the “protection” of Airbnb if I did this. Plus, I would be sending cash to someone I didn’t know. So I declined the “offer”.

Do y’all think this is a scam? Should I be doing anything else?

And would a practice like this get a host banned from Airbnb?

This would almost definitely lose any Airbnb protection. Why would there be any, if you aren't renting through Airbnb!?

And it violates the Airbnb terms, for obvious reasons (owners could advertise on Airbnb and never pay the fees...).

I'd forward this to Airbnb, and I wouldn't rent anything from this type of person.
I wouldn't trust them to do anything useful if there were to be any problem.

RM

+1!

Yeah, they have already proven they are dishonest. Wonder what other dishonest things they might have pulled on you if you had agreed to their "terms."

Dirtbags!

Broken Man 1999

[Stinky]

Is this a scam......

This would almost definitely lose any Airbnb protection. Why would there be any, if you aren't renting through Airbnb!?

And it violates the Airbnb terms, for obvious reasons (owners could advertise on Airbnb and never pay the fees...).

I'd forward this to Airbnb, and I wouldn't rent anything from this type of person.
I wouldn't trust them to do anything useful if there were to be any problem.

RM

+1!

Yeah, they have already proven they are dishonest. Wonder what other dishonest things they might have pulled on you if you had agreed to their "terms."

Dirtbags!

Broken Man 1999

Broken Man and Research Med,

Thank you for your comments. I have an update. It is a positive experience.

This Airbnb rental is in New York City. As you might be aware, New York City has implemented a new law cracking down on short-term rentals like Airbnb. The law was effective in early September, with full enforcement in December, and will tremendously penalize "hosts" and Airbnb itself for any rentals of less than 30 days unless pretty onerous conditions are met by the "host". There is no NYC penalty to those who are renting apartments.

I'm currently checked in at the NYC Airbnb apartment, and all is as was advertised.

When I made my original post, I believe that my "host" was concerned that Airbnb was going to cancel my reservation due to the new ban, and she was trying to salvage one last rental payment (from me). It turns out that Airbnb didn't cancel my reservation, but let it go through. And Airbnb is refunding my booking fee, and only charging me the room rate for the nights that I'm staying.

So it's a win-win for me. I got my Airbnb rental as advertised. And I'm actually paying less than I planned for when I booked.

I've had good luck with my five or so Airbnb rentals in NYC over the last decade. I've gotten a space larger than a hotel room, with more amenities, for a cheaper price than a hotel. Unfortunately, it looks like Airbnb as we knew it is soon to be a thing of the past in NYC. (Sigh!)

Thank you again for your comments.

[Horologium]

New (for me) scam this week.

I got a call from "Comcast" and they left a message to the effect that 'today only 50% off new or updated internet plans, call this number for details'. Well, I had changed my Comcast internet plan just a few weeks before, and so I figured it was legit.

Of course, I didn't follow the instructions and call the number they left. Instead, I went on the Comcast site and logged into my account. No mention of this one day only sale anywhere to be found. After scratching my head for a minute, I realized it must have been a scam.