[On-going Scams - Post them here]

[TwstdSista]

A friend of mine recently got a phone call about warrants out for his arrest. Long story very short - they will never call you about warrants. (and he didn't fall for it)

[rgs]

Mail fraud is a real thing unfortunately. Even the USPS has a post on this. I personally try not to Mail physical checks through snail mail. I view it as very dangerous. Am I crazy? Here is the USPS website discussion of this:

United States Postal Inspection Service: Check Washing

[Link reformatted by moderator oldcomputerguy]

I recently opened a MYGA by doing a 1035 exchange from another annuity. I was told the sending insurance company would only provide the receiving insurance company with the funds via a snail-mailed check. So ridiculous, in this day and age. I really wonder what happens if the 6-figure check never makes it to the receiving company... but gets cashed anyway.

I have had similar experience with MYGA's, insurance companies seem to be quite behind on the tech curve.

[rgs]

This warning from the FBI on the toll scam texts

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman ... our-phone/

[Nicolas]

This warning from the FBI on the toll scam texts

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman ... our-phone/

Every toll scam text I’ve received has the country code of 63 which is the Philippines. Sure I’m going to believe the toll authority is in the Philippines also they’re trying to tell me I owe tolls to New York State. I haven’t been there in twenty years.

[heartwood]

This warning from the FBI on the toll scam texts

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman ... our-phone/

Every toll scam text I’ve received has the country code of 63 which is the Philippines. Sure I’m going to believe the toll authority is in the Philippines also they’re trying to tell me I owe tolls to New York State. I haven’t been there in twenty years.

Ha! I've gotten 3 toll scam texts in the last week from country code +44, used for the United Kingdom (UK).

Many of my other scam texts come from .ru Russia. curious that the numeric code for Russia is +7, but that isn't showing in the text?

I'd vote for someone who could bring a stop to these types of scams. Charge a penny or two to send a text?

[av111]

Every toll scam text I’ve received has the country code of 63 which is the Philippines. Sure I’m going to believe the toll authority is in the Philippines also they’re trying to tell me I owe tolls to New York State. I haven’t been there in twenty years.

Ha! I've gotten 3 toll scam texts in the last week from country code +44, used for the United Kingdom (UK).

Many of my other scam texts come from .ru Russia. curious that the numeric code for Russia is +7, but that isn't showing in the text?

I'd vote for someone who could bring a stop to these types of scams. Charge a penny or two to send a text?

Strange. I got those too. Reported spam

[gavinsiu]

My mom received a letter from a law firm that someone with our last name die and they found her through a last name match. There are several red flags. First I would think you wouldn’t go by surname to search for a beneficiary and the other is that it’s coming from Canada, the land of fraud. I am curious to know how this type of scam works?

[Mudpuppy]

My mom received a letter from a law firm that someone with our last name die and they found her through a last name match. There are several red flags. First I would think you wouldn’t go by surname to search for a beneficiary and the other is that it’s coming from Canada, the land of fraud. I am curious to know how this type of scam works?

I'm not familiar with that one in particular, but I'd imagine it would go like many other financial scams. At some point, they'd either ask for banking information and/or social security number, or they'd ask to be sent cash to "cover their expenses". I'm sure if you search the name of the law firm, you'd find more detailed information about their specific scam, and showing your mom those pages may help to convince her it's a scam.

[gavinsiu]

My mom received a letter from a law firm that someone with our last name die and they found her through a last name match. There are several red flags. First I would think you wouldn’t go by surname to search for a beneficiary and the other is that it’s coming from Canada, the land of fraud. I am curious to know how this type of scam works?

I'm not familiar with that one in particular, but I'd imagine it would go like many other financial scams. At some point, they'd either ask for banking information and/or social security number, or they'd ask to be sent cash to "cover their expenses". I'm sure if you search the name of the law firm, you'd find more detailed information about their specific scam, and showing your mom those pages may help to convince her it's a scam.

That was my thinking too. I have to look at it when I get home. It would be wrong to inherit from a stranger any way if unrelated.

[Mudpuppy]

That was my thinking too. I have to look at it when I get home. It would be wrong to inherit from a stranger any way if unrelated.

Finding distant relatives is an actual function of law firms that deal with estates that have no immediately obvious heirs. It's just far more likely to be a scam than an actual unknown relative, so it's better to treat it as a scam. Research the company. Research the supposed deceased.

[gavinsiu]

That was my thinking too. I have to look at it when I get home. It would be wrong to inherit from a stranger any way if unrelated.

Finding distant relatives is an actual function of law firms that deal with estates that have no immediately obvious heirs. It's just far more likely to be a scam than an actual unknown relative, so it's better to treat it as a scam. Research the company. Research the supposed deceased.

OK,

So here's the letter:



It does look like a real law firm and looks pretty official. I don't know of a Maria Siu, neither did my mom. My dad did have a very large family. The terms are a bit weird. I never heard of benefits being share between the law firm and the beneficiaries. A lot of scam also claims to come from Canada since they have a rep of being honest. There is an actual legit webste and said it's been in operation since 1974.

I ran a Who is on the website.

https://www.whois.com/whois/richmondeellp.com

The first clue something is not right is the registration date. If the firm has been in operation since 1974, why is it register this year:

Domain:
richmondeellp.com
Registered On:
2025-01-01
Expires On:
2026-01-01
Updated On:
2025-01-01
Status:
client transfer prohibited
Name Servers:
amy.ns.cloudflare.com
grant.ns.cloudflare.com

Also the register contact is in Iceland

Organization:
Privacy service provided by Withheld for Privacy ehf
Street:
Kalkofnsvegur 2
Reykjavik
Capital Region
City:
101
State:
IS
Phone:
+354.4212434
Fax:
fax:
Email:
https://www.spaceship.com/domains/whois ... deellp.com

So this Eric Raymond claims to be a lawyer in Toronto, Ontario Canada, so he should be registered with Law Society of Ontario at https://lso.ca/home. A search for his name indicate there is no Eric Raymond. I did a search of a known lawyer and was able to find him. My guess is that this is either "Send us a processing fee" or send us bank info type scam.

Because there is no way I can explain anything technical to my mom, I sent her a link to a ABC news about inheritance scam involving Canadian bank that sound exactly like her letter. I hope this will get her off my back about unclaimed inheritance.

on another note, who would I report to get the fraud site removed? This is more sophisticated than the usual scam. It actually list my mom's name and there is a functional fake website that looks official. I could reported it to the FTC, but I suspect that the government has priority issues at the moment and it will probably take them a long time to get to this even if there is no issue.

[scrabbler1]

Finding distant relatives is an actual function of law firms that deal with estates that have no immediately obvious heirs. It's just far more likely to be a scam than an actual unknown relative, so it's better to treat it as a scam. Research the company. Research the supposed deceased.

OK,

So here's the letter:



It does look like a real law firm and looks pretty official. I don't know of a Maria Siu, neither did my mom. My dad did have a very large family. The terms are a bit weird. I never heard of benefits being share between the law firm and the beneficiaries. A lot of scam also claims to come from Canada since they have a rep of being honest. There is an actual legit webste and said it's been in operation since 1974.

I ran a Who is on the website.

https://www.whois.com/whois/richmondeellp.com

The first clue something is not right is the registration date. If the firm has been in operation since 1974, why is it register this year:

Domain:
richmondeellp.com
Registered On:
2025-01-01
Expires On:
2026-01-01
Updated On:
2025-01-01
Status:
client transfer prohibited
Name Servers:
amy.ns.cloudflare.com
grant.ns.cloudflare.com

Also the register contact is in Iceland

Organization:
Privacy service provided by Withheld for Privacy ehf
Street:
Kalkofnsvegur 2
Reykjavik
Capital Region
City:
101
State:
IS
Phone:
+354.4212434
Fax:
fax:
Email:
https://www.spaceship.com/domains/whois ... deellp.com

So this Eric Raymond claims to be a lawyer in Toronto, Ontario Canada, so he should be registered with Law Society of Ontario at https://lso.ca/home. A search for his name indicate there is no Eric Raymond. I did a search of a known lawyer and was able to find him. My guess is that this is either "Send us a processing fee" or send us bank info type scam.

Because there is no way I can explain anything technical to my mom, I sent her a link to a ABC news about inheritance scam involving Canadian bank that sound exactly like her letter. I hope this will get her off my back about unclaimed inheritance.

on another note, who would I report to get the fraud site removed? This is more sophisticated than the usual scam. It actually list my mom's name and there is a functional fake website that looks official. I could reported it to the FTC, but I suspect that the government has priority issues at the moment and it will probably take them a long time to get to this even if there is no issue.

This is what we in the https://old.reddit.com/r/Scams/ website call the "Advanced Fee" scam. "Send us some money first and we'll send you a big boatload of money later." All that happens if you send them some money is they do nothing or keep stringing you along by asking for more money (now that they've figured out you are a sucker).

[Mudpuppy]

Because there is no way I can explain anything technical to my mom, I sent her a link to a ABC news about inheritance scam involving Canadian bank that sound exactly like her letter. I hope this will get her off my back about unclaimed inheritance.

Keep it simple. Tell her you looked up the lawyer and no such person is registered in Canada as a lawyer. Then tell her you looked up the website and it was just created in January. You don't have to give her the technical details on how you looked this up. Just give the pertinent results. Finish up by saying that these are all signs it's a scam, like the scam described in the ABC News article you sent her.

[gavinsiu]

Because there is no way I can explain anything technical to my mom, I sent her a link to a ABC news about inheritance scam involving Canadian bank that sound exactly like her letter. I hope this will get her off my back about unclaimed inheritance.

Keep it simple. Tell her you looked up the lawyer and no such person is registered in Canada as a lawyer. Then tell her you looked up the website and it was just created in January. You don't have to give her the technical details on how you looked this up. Just give the pertinent results. Finish up by saying that these are all signs it's a scam, like the scam described in the ABC News article you sent her.

That's pretty much what I did so far. Let's hope this is the end of it.

[p1db]

The letter looks suspicious.
At one place in the letter there is a extra space after the last name SIU and the following comma.
The font and font size used in the email at the end is also odd.

Biggest red flag in the letter is the phrase "I propose an opportunity for you to be recognized as the beneficiary of this policy."

[Nicolas]

The letter looks suspicious.
At one place in the letter there is a extra space after the last name SIU and the following comma.
The font and font size used in the email at the end is also odd.

Biggest red flag in the letter is the phrase "I propose an opportunity for you to be recognized as the beneficiary of this policy."

Sounds like Nigerian-English! And why would the attorney give the cause of death? “due to COVID-19 complications”, they wouldn’t say that. And the deceased was a “Stock Broker”, notice the improper capitalization. Why even say what the vocation was? Probably to lend credence as to why the estate is so valuable. And not only a “Stock Broker”, but a respected one!

[dukeblue219]

The letter looks suspicious.
At one place in the letter there is a extra space after the last name SIU and the following comma.
The font and font size used in the email at the end is also odd.

Biggest red flag in the letter is the phrase "I propose an opportunity for you to be recognized as the beneficiary of this policy."

Sounds like Nigerian-English! And why would the attorney give the cause of death? “due to COVID-19 complications”, they wouldn’t say that. And the deceased was a “Stock Broker”, notice the improper capitalization. Why even say what the vocation was? Probably to lend credence as to why the estate is so valuable. And not only a “Stock Broker”, but a respected one!

Yeah there is WAY too much unnecessary information here including the value of the estate. A real request would simply ask you to contact them if you are a relative.

[Circe]

Just got another Amazon Prime email -- looks very good But the email is sent from [spam email address removed by admin LadyGeek]. It wants me to update my "payment information by clicking here."

Reported as spam.

[LadyGeek]

Circe - To protect our readers, I removed the spam email address from your post.

[heartwood]

Got a call to my cell that I did not answer, followed by a text to my cell, both from an instate area code number; not 800, not Massachusetts:

"Fidelity investments Fraudulent Department: Did You Attempt A Transaction Of $9,500?On 03/19?This Transaction Will Be Further Pending Until Authorization By Correct Account Holder.
If Valid Reply YES, If Fraud Reply NO. To OPT out, Stop.
Msg & Data rates may apply.
CASE ID#7443"

Not me, but given all the posts about deposits to Fido being hung up for days/weeks, I did call back. Short story, not Fidelity. He did not ID as Fido in answering. Without ID'ing myself I asked who he was calling for; he responded, but it was not my name.

I then called Fidelity and asked for the Fraud Dept. They voice checked me, checked my account, asked about two recent EFT deposit transfers (Social Security) and confirmed it was likely a fishing spam call.

As an add on separately he did suggest going paperless since they consider it as better security for the account than paper.

Given our recent experiences with USPS, esp with Forwarded mail, we're already considering it.

In retrospect I regret calling back and possibly confirming my cell number. Should have called Fido directly first.

[Tubes]

I resisted paperless for a long time. After reading some experiences here about check washing and mailbox statement picking, I made the conversion to all paperless about 4 years ago. It is fine, just an adjustment. In addition, I finally realized that paying the IRS and my local tax authorities on-line was also safer. That has gone well.

[Nicolas]

Fidelity investments Fraudulent Department:

If they say it’s the Fraudulent Department then we should take them at their word, that the department is fraudulent

[RetiredCSProf]

I was expecting a phone call and answered the phone, even though I did not recognize the number. The woman calling told me that she had driven past my house and wanted to make a cash offer on it. She asked if I would be interested in selling. She said that she was a "private investor," but clarified that she wanted to buy the house for herself.

I get a lot of "cold calls" from local real estate agents trying to get listings, but this was not that.

I asked her, "What direction were you driving when you passed my house? north? south?" She hung up. I live on a one-way street, so she had a 25% chance of getting the right answer.

I have no idea what the scam is, but the whole thing felt fishy.

[gtd98765]

I asked her, "What direction were you driving when you passed my house? north? south?" She hung up. I live on a one-way street, so she had a 25% chance of getting the right answer.

DId she know your name, or was it just a random phone number cold call? I have found when saying "who are you trying to reach?" they just answer "you", so they clearly don't know my name.

[rich126]

I got another one of those "you have unpaid tolls" SMS today. This time it claimed they were with AZ DOT which I thought weird. I can't recall ever seeing a toll road in Arizona (I did a quick search and apparently there aren't any). The endless attempts to scam people is just sad. And it makes it easier to overlook legitimate bills. We had one from MD that was legitimate but at least we knew we drive over toll roads there and could check our online account.

[gavinsiu]

I got a call from someone asking if I want to sell my house.I hung up but was wondering if ther is a sell your house scam or is just a legit realtor cold calling.

[roamingzebra]

I got a call from someone asking if I want to sell my house.I hung up but was wondering if ther is a sell your house scam or is just a legit realtor cold calling.

Jeez, they're not even trying.

I periodically get lengthy hand-written letters (!) from people explaining why they would love to buy my house, if I were willing to sell it. They obviously put some effort into those letters (lots of details about their situation) and its obvious they have a genuine interest. I'd at least give them an A for effort, unlike the drive-by callers.

[RetiredAL]

I got a letter with an offer to buy our mountain vacation home last Friday, from an investor's group. Just sign the form accepting the offered price, return, no realtor fees or transfer fees, and they'll send the proceeds in 5 days.

The hitch -- the offered price was approx 50% it's value.

Note: This was not the typical local realtor cold-call postcard we often see. The address was in SoCal, about 400 miles distant.

[samsoes]

I got a letter with an offer to buy our mountain vacation home last Friday, from an investor's group. Just sign the form accepting the offered price, return, no realtor fees or transfer fees, and they'll send the proceeds in 5 days.

The hitch -- the offered price was approx 50% it's value.

Note: This was not the typical local realtor cold-call postcard we often see. The address was in SoCal, about 400 miles distant.

No notary required? That's pretty scary. Keep a close eye on your online county records for title theft.

[Second Round]

I got a letter with an offer to buy our mountain vacation home last Friday ...
The hitch -- the offered price was approx 50% it's value.

Luxury!

You're doing well. I have some farmland, unimproved but ripe for development, for which I get unsolicited written sale contracts that offer probably 5-10% market value. I feel they prey on older folk who don't know the value of their land, esp. if it has gone from being squarely in the middle of cheap rural farmland to adjacent to burgeoning suburbia. I also get 3-5 cold calls a day for it. I rarely answer, but out of curiosity I learned that they rarely have someone on the line until they hear a sound at my end. Just my picking up does nothing. But I found that if I clapped once, that was enough to trigger a transfer to a boiler room call center - someone came on the line and tried to engage.

I have hundreds of blocked numbers on my caller ID.

Only about 5% of the time it's a bona fide realtor or broker (cold) calling.

[Second Round]

No notary required? That's pretty scary. Keep a close eye on your online county records for title theft.

Just because they send a "sales agreement" doesn't mean it would meet legal standard for title transfer in the county or state of interest.
But if one signed it and then didn't follow through with a more official one, that might be problematic, or be made to seem so. IDK - IANAL.

[RetiredAL]

I got a letter with an offer to buy our mountain vacation home last Friday, from an investor's group. Just sign the form accepting the offered price, return, no realtor fees or transfer fees, and they'll send the proceeds in 5 days.

The hitch -- the offered price was approx 50% it's value.

Note: This was not the typical local realtor cold-call postcard we often see. The address was in SoCal, about 400 miles distant.

No notary required? That's pretty scary. Keep a close eye on your online county records for title theft.

The county where the vacation home is participates in advance notice of record changes or preliminary inquiry.

When I sold my late Dad's house in a nearby county, the Realtor's ownership inquiry, needed for listing, resulted a mailed letter.

Will that totally stop a fraudulent transfer, I do not know. But will will make it much harder to do.

Title transfer fraud does not appear to be a frequent issue in either of those counties, likely because of the notifications.

[RetiredAL]

I got a letter with an offer to buy our mountain vacation home last Friday ...
The hitch -- the offered price was approx 50% it's value.

Luxury!

You're doing well. I have some farmland, unimproved but ripe for development, for which I get unsolicited written sale contracts that offer probably 5-10% market value. I feel they prey on older folk who don't know the value of their land, esp. if it has gone from being squarely in the middle of cheap rural farmland to adjacent to burgeoning suburbia. I also get 3-5 cold calls a day for it. I rarely answer, but out of curiosity I learned that they rarely have someone on the line until they hear a sound at my end. Just my picking up does nothing. But I found that if I clapped once, that was enough to trigger a transfer to a boiler room call center - someone came on the line and tried to engage.

I have hundreds of blocked numbers on my caller ID.

Only about 5% of the time it's a bona fide realtor or broker (cold) calling.

The vacation home was built by my parents 50+ years ago. I inherited it.

[Nicolas]

I got a letter with an offer to buy our mountain vacation home last Friday ...
The hitch -- the offered price was approx 50% it's value.

Luxury!

You're doing well. I have some farmland, unimproved but ripe for development, for which I get unsolicited written sale contracts that offer probably 5-10% market value. I feel they prey on older folk who don't know the value of their land, esp. if it has gone from being squarely in the middle of cheap rural farmland to adjacent to burgeoning suburbia. I also get 3-5 cold calls a day for it. I rarely answer, but out of curiosity I learned that they rarely have someone on the line until they hear a sound at my end. Just my picking up does nothing. But I found that if I clapped once, that was enough to trigger a transfer to a boiler room call center - someone came on the line and tried to engage.

I have hundreds of blocked numbers on my caller ID.

Only about 5% of the time it's a bona fide realtor or broker (cold) calling.

We once received a paper mail cash offer for our vacation property appraised at $817,000, and it wasn’t for sale. The offer? $7,000.

[OpenMinded1]

Several times recently my wife and I have received text messages designed to look like they are from toll service providers. They state that their text message is the final notice regarding unpaid tolls, and that failure to pay may result in fines, late fees, suspension of vehicle registration, vehicle impoundment, and further legal action. The message includes a link to click on to respond.

I've read that this is a very common smishing scam at the moment. Smishing scams are phishing attacks that use text messages (SMS) to trick victims into revealing personal information or to clicking on malicious links. They often impersonate legitimate companies or institutions to gain trust and encourage immediate action.

[catermick]

Amazon text msg:
-----------------------------------------------------
Amazon Customer Trust Notification

Dear Valued Customer,

After a thorough review, we've determined that the seller of your order (#119-1174316-5664551) failed to meet Amazon's product compliance standards. As a result, we've removed this seller from our marketplace and want to make this right for you.

You're eligible for a full refund without returning the item. To submit your priority refund request, please click below:
==shortened link==

We sincerely apologize for this incident and appreciate your continued trust in Amazon. Our team is taking steps to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

Thank you for being an Amazon customer.

Best regards,
Amazon Customer Trust Team
----------------------------------------------

- Amazon Customer Trust Notification - ok, as soon as I hear or read the word TRUST, I don't
X
- failed to meet Amazon's product compliance standards. what? LOL!! The only standards is that there are none.
XX
- shortened link => some_url.cc - that's certainly not amazon
XXX
- and that order number does not exist

Loser, But thanks for playing!

BTW, getting a text message on the phone - which is where I initially read this - is hard (for me) to research. But I use google messages and it is also available as a desktop app where it is extremely easy to research.