[On-going Scams - Post them here]

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grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

bberris wrote: Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:18 am Fake USB keys from Amazon, and lots of other places. This is an old scam, advertising large capacity usb keys (0.5 to 1 TB) at ridiculously low prices. This has been going on for years and Amazon still lets third party sellers do it.
The firmware is hacked to lie about the capacity to the OS, but they only take 32 GB or so, and corrupt everything.
Here's a 1TB for $30, and a few 5 star reviews.

[Link to fraudulent product removed by moderator German Expat]
yikes. that makes me never want to buy from amazon 3rd party sellers
RIP Mr. Bogle.
grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

So here's one.

i just got an email to my work email from Venmo that my email had been used to set up an account and asking me to confirm. it said if i didn't do this (i didn't) then to contact them. It apparently is a legitimate email from venmo. I don't use venmo at all and have no interest in using venmo ever. I'm choosing just to ignore it.

What would bogleheads do? should i somehow contact venmo?

cheers,
grok
RIP Mr. Bogle.
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LadyGeek
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by LadyGeek »

I don't have Venmo, but you should not click on that confirmation link. Contact them directly, if you can.

It's fairly easy for a bad guy to make an email look 'legit'.
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grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

LadyGeek wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:49 am I don't have Venmo, but you should not click on that confirmation link. Contact them directly, if you can.

It's fairly easy for a bad guy to make an email look 'legit'.
thanks LadyGeek.i promise i won't click on any links no matter what.

do you think i should contact venmo at all or just ignore it? i'm fairly certain its a legitimite email from venmo...
RIP Mr. Bogle.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by LadyGeek »

If you don't have Venmo, how did they get your work email? It's sounding more like you should ignore it.

If your company has an IT department, contact them and tell them you think you got a scam email - but aren't sure and ask them how to proceed.
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Tubes
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Tubes »

LadyGeek wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:49 am I don't have Venmo, but you should not click on that confirmation link. Contact them directly, if you can.

It's fairly easy for a bad guy to make an email look 'legit'.
Agree with this. "Venmo", "Paypal", "Capital One" get people's emotions high and people click fast. Scammers are getting really good at making it look legitimate.

Also, a lot of companies are now educating their employees by using a fake spamming service which intentionally sends bogus emails like this to their employees. When you click, it directs you to a page explaining why you shouldn't have clicked. The company gets aggregated statistics on how many employees bit on it, and they can then direct their resources to more "social engineering" education.

I'm not saying this happened here, but it is possible. When my Megacorp started this in 2015, it made people very angry. They felt tricked. Well, that is the point. Personally, I thought it was brilliant.
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Stinky
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Stinky »

Tubes wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:07 am
LadyGeek wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:49 am I don't have Venmo, but you should not click on that confirmation link. Contact them directly, if you can.

It's fairly easy for a bad guy to make an email look 'legit'.
Agree with this. "Venmo", "Paypal", "Capital One" get people's emotions high and people click fast. Scammers are getting really good at making it look legitimate.

Also, a lot of companies are now educating their employees by using a fake spamming service which intentionally sends bogus emails like this to their employees. When you click, it directs you to a page explaining why you shouldn't have clicked. The company gets aggregated statistics on how many employees bit on it, and they can then direct their resources to more "social engineering" education.

I'm not saying this happened here, but it is possible. When my Megacorp started this in 2015, it made people very angry. They felt tricked. Well, that is the point. Personally, I thought it was brilliant.
It's highly likely that Tubes is absolutely correct. If the "Venmo" message came to the work email, it's highly likely that the company's IT department sent the message to test whether the employees would click on a "bad" link.

Tubes said that his Megacorp would aggregate the information and use it for further education. My Megacorp went further - they would directly contact any employee who clicked on the bad link and tell them of their error. Repeated "violations" by an employee would lead to more intensive "counseling" on good e-mail hygiene by both the IT department and, if necessary, by the employee's direct supervisor.
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bberris
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by bberris »

grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:18 am
bberris wrote: Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:18 am Fake USB keys from Amazon, and lots of other places. This is an old scam, advertising large capacity usb keys (0.5 to 1 TB) at ridiculously low prices. This has been going on for years and Amazon still lets third party sellers do it.
The firmware is hacked to lie about the capacity to the OS, but they only take 32 GB or so, and corrupt everything.
Here's a 1TB for $30, and a few 5 star reviews.

[Link to fraudulent product removed by moderator German Expat]
yikes. that makes me never want to buy from amazon 3rd party sellers
It's not just Amazon, these are all over ebay, wish, and other marketplaces. And it's not just fake capacity, I've read that a lot of these drives have malware! I think if you stick to brand names like Samsung, sandisk, etc and avoid the low priced ones, you will be ok.
grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

Stinky wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:16 am
Tubes wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:07 am
LadyGeek wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:49 am I don't have Venmo, but you should not click on that confirmation link. Contact them directly, if you can.

It's fairly easy for a bad guy to make an email look 'legit'.
Agree with this. "Venmo", "Paypal", "Capital One" get people's emotions high and people click fast. Scammers are getting really good at making it look legitimate.

Also, a lot of companies are now educating their employees by using a fake spamming service which intentionally sends bogus emails like this to their employees. When you click, it directs you to a page explaining why you shouldn't have clicked. The company gets aggregated statistics on how many employees bit on it, and they can then direct their resources to more "social engineering" education.

I'm not saying this happened here, but it is possible. When my Megacorp started this in 2015, it made people very angry. They felt tricked. Well, that is the point. Personally, I thought it was brilliant.
It's highly likely that Tubes is absolutely correct. If the "Venmo" message came to the work email, it's highly likely that the company's IT department sent the message to test whether the employees would click on a "bad" link.

Tubes said that his Megacorp would aggregate the information and use it for further education. My Megacorp went further - they would directly contact any employee who clicked on the bad link and tell them of their error. Repeated "violations" by an employee would lead to more intensive "counseling" on good e-mail hygiene by both the IT department and, if necessary, by the employee's direct supervisor.
thanks everyone.
so i had reached out to IT and they told me it was a legit email from venmo.
RIP Mr. Bogle.
Chuckles960
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Chuckles960 »

LadyGeek wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:49 amI don't have Venmo, but you should not click on that confirmation link. Contact them directly, if you can.

It's fairly easy for a bad guy to make an email look 'legit'.
Most of these e-mails are obviously NOT legit---peculiar fonts, strange formatting, bad English. There is a theory that this is a feature and not a bug, the intent being that only the least bright people should be drawn in by them.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Mudpuppy »

grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:29 pm thanks everyone.
so i had reached out to IT and they told me it was a legit email from venmo.
Venmo has their own reporting mechanisms: https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/article ... us-Emails-

If someone accidentally or maliciously used your email address for an account, using one of the email addresses provided in the Venmo help article should bring that to their attention.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Mudpuppy »

bberris wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:47 am
grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:18 am
bberris wrote: Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:18 am Fake USB keys from Amazon, and lots of other places. This is an old scam, advertising large capacity usb keys (0.5 to 1 TB) at ridiculously low prices. This has been going on for years and Amazon still lets third party sellers do it.
The firmware is hacked to lie about the capacity to the OS, but they only take 32 GB or so, and corrupt everything.
Here's a 1TB for $30, and a few 5 star reviews.

[Link to fraudulent product removed by moderator German Expat]
yikes. that makes me never want to buy from amazon 3rd party sellers
It's not just Amazon, these are all over ebay, wish, and other marketplaces. And it's not just fake capacity, I've read that a lot of these drives have malware! I think if you stick to brand names like Samsung, sandisk, etc and avoid the low priced ones, you will be ok.
Sticking to brand names won't protect you, nor will ordering directly from Amazon protect you. Counterfeits are rampant in these areas. And since Amazon uses co-mingled inventory, the fakes can (and often are) mixed in the same inventory bin as the legitimate items.

For such devices (USB keys, SD/MicroSD cards, etc.) I spend the little bit extra to order from a physical retailer without co-mingled inventory, like curbside pickup at Best Buy or Target.
grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:04 pm
grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:29 pm thanks everyone.
so i had reached out to IT and they told me it was a legit email from venmo.
Venmo has their own reporting mechanisms: https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/article ... us-Emails-

If someone accidentally or maliciously used your email address for an account, using one of the email addresses provided in the Venmo help article should bring that to their attention.
thanks. so what if i just ignore it? bad idea?
RIP Mr. Bogle.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Mudpuppy »

grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 4:26 pm
Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:04 pm
grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:29 pm thanks everyone.
so i had reached out to IT and they told me it was a legit email from venmo.
Venmo has their own reporting mechanisms: https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/article ... us-Emails-

If someone accidentally or maliciously used your email address for an account, using one of the email addresses provided in the Venmo help article should bring that to their attention.
thanks. so what if i just ignore it? bad idea?
Basically, it won't be guaranteed to go away if you ignore it. You'll still receive any automated reminder emails that Venmo sends because Venmo thinks that's the right email account for confirmation. You could just keep ignoring those too if you want to. Or you can use the contact info that Venmo provides on the above website and hope Venmo takes care of it. It's up to you. Six one, half dozen the other.
grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:45 pm
grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 4:26 pm
Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:04 pm
grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:29 pm thanks everyone.
so i had reached out to IT and they told me it was a legit email from venmo.
Venmo has their own reporting mechanisms: https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/article ... us-Emails-

If someone accidentally or maliciously used your email address for an account, using one of the email addresses provided in the Venmo help article should bring that to their attention.
thanks. so what if i just ignore it? bad idea?
Basically, it won't be guaranteed to go away if you ignore it. You'll still receive any automated reminder emails that Venmo sends because Venmo thinks that's the right email account for confirmation. You could just keep ignoring those too if you want to. Or you can use the contact info that Venmo provides on the above website and hope Venmo takes care of it. It's up to you. Six one, half dozen the other.
thanks
RIP Mr. Bogle.
Kookaburra
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Kookaburra »

I am finding with increasing regularity that products that I purchase at Amazon and Costco have clearly been used and returned. And this includes personal care and hygiene products, such as facial creams and even women’s underwear. I am in shock that this is considered acceptable for the stores to simply re-stock such returns.

Has anyone else encountered this?
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LadyGeek
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by LadyGeek »

That question should go into a separate thread. (The quality of Amazon purchases are not a scam.)

Let's stay focused on scams.
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krafty81
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by krafty81 »

One quick check is to right click on the "from" email. A bogus one may show up as a bizarre address that is in no way associated with the company they pretend to be.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Mudpuppy »

krafty81 wrote: Fri Oct 28, 2022 12:33 pm One quick check is to right click on the "from" email. A bogus one may show up as a bizarre address that is in no way associated with the company they pretend to be.
Unless they manage to compromise the account of an employee or user at that company. We're having a rash of that at my state agency right now. It doesn't matter how many times we tell people to not reuse their agency password at other sites, to not give out their OTP 6-digit code, and to not accept push requests from the OTP system if they didn't initialize it, every week there's someone who doesn't listen and gets their account compromised. And these are just the "noisy" compromises that end up sending out obvious spam/phishing emails, like pretending to give away a piano or pretending to offer a second job as a secret shopper.
grok87
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by grok87 »

grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:09 pm
Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:45 pm
grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 4:26 pm
Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:04 pm
grok87 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:29 pm thanks everyone.
so i had reached out to IT and they told me it was a legit email from venmo.
Venmo has their own reporting mechanisms: https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/article ... us-Emails-

If someone accidentally or maliciously used your email address for an account, using one of the email addresses provided in the Venmo help article should bring that to their attention.
thanks. so what if i just ignore it? bad idea?
Basically, it won't be guaranteed to go away if you ignore it. You'll still receive any automated reminder emails that Venmo sends because Venmo thinks that's the right email account for confirmation. You could just keep ignoring those too if you want to. Or you can use the contact info that Venmo provides on the above website and hope Venmo takes care of it. It's up to you. Six one, half dozen the other.
thanks
so i've decided to do nothing. we'll see how that works out
RIP Mr. Bogle.
KESP
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by KESP »

This is another, I don't know if this is a scam or what. An alert for a charge on Amazon appeared in my email today. It was for an e-book that I absolutely did not order, even though it was a subject I would be a little interested in. I confirmed with my children they did not order it either. This is the second time in the past year this has happened. The first time I thought I might have inadvertently clicked on something, so did nothing about it. The book is indeed in my Kindle. I returned it and I am assuming I will get a refund. It's almost like a scam from Amazon, and not an individual. Customer service is incredibly frustrating at Amazon. The ability to chat with a live person is non-existent. My situation does not fit into any of their pre-filled responses. I order very little from Amazon, so any new charge is very apparent. I changed my password just in case. Had 2-step authentication set up already. Has anyone had this happen?
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Silk McCue »

KESP wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:19 pm This is another, I don't know if this is a scam or what. An alert for a charge on Amazon appeared in my email today. It was for an e-book that I absolutely did not order, even though it was a subject I would be a little interested in. I confirmed with my children they did not order it either. This is the second time in the past year this has happened. The first time I thought I might have inadvertently clicked on something, so did nothing about it. The book is indeed in my Kindle. I returned it and I am assuming I will get a refund. It's almost like a scam from Amazon, and not an individual. Customer service is incredibly frustrating at Amazon. The ability to chat with a live person is non-existent. My situation does not fit into any of their pre-filled responses. I order very little from Amazon, so any new charge is very apparent. I changed my password just in case. Had 2-step authentication set up already. Has anyone had this happen?
Sorry for the hassle but I am confident that this is not a scam perpetrated by Amazon.

Since you allow others in your family to access the account an error on there part is the most likely culprit.

Cheers
Chuckles960
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Chuckles960 »

KESP wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:19 pmCustomer service is incredibly frustrating at Amazon. The ability to chat with a live person is non-existent.
The ability to SPEAK with a live person is nonexistent, but the ability to CHAT is easy to access. You have to use online chat. Some companies' bots cannot be bypassed, but Amazon will let you get through to a live person fairly quickly, and that person usually has the authority to reverse charges and so forth.
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StevieG72
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by StevieG72 »

On the phone with my mom this morning, and she casually mentioned "I got a free neck massager for completing a survey with Ace Hardware". I am really surprised that my mom fell for this scam.

Seems she completed a survey, selected a free gift and was asked to enter CC info to pay shipping. At first she was unsure that it was a scam so she called Ace Hardware and they confirmed. She called and canceled CC, as of now it just had the shipping charge pending. A brief search online shows an experience where person was charged for the item plus shipping. Not sure what the play is with her particular situation, maybe charge shipping and never send item? It was $6.95, small amount, multiply that by a few hundred a day and economy of scale works its magic?

Anyways I get 10 plus of these emails daily and just delete them. Really surprised this happened as my mom is computer savvy, and normally quick to identify scammer activity.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Gnirk »

Kookaburra wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:21 pm I am finding with increasing regularity that products that I purchase at Amazon and Costco have clearly been used and returned. And this includes personal care and hygiene products, such as facial creams and even women’s underwear. I am in shock that this is considered acceptable for the stores to simply re-stock such returns.

Has anyone else encountered this?
No, I've never encountered this, and I order quite a bit from both companies.
Tom_T
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Tom_T »

Chuckles960 wrote: Wed Nov 16, 2022 11:53 am
KESP wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:19 pmCustomer service is incredibly frustrating at Amazon. The ability to chat with a live person is non-existent.
The ability to SPEAK with a live person is nonexistent, but the ability to CHAT is easy to access. You have to use online chat. Some companies' bots cannot be bypassed, but Amazon will let you get through to a live person fairly quickly, and that person usually has the authority to reverse charges and so forth.
I've spoken on the phone with an Amazon customer service rep on more than one occasion.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Tom_T »

I saw this on LinkedIn: a tech person with a decent number of followers received a fake job offer from some crypto company which seemed legitimate. He was contacted by the "recruiter", they went through the process, and then they sent him an offer letter. He accepted it, and then he started the onboarding process. His antennae (finally) went up when part of the process required him to buy $200 worth of crypto.
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by nisiprius »

A well-known scam but I didn't know it. I didn't fall for it but came closer than I like. My oldest grandson's voice is about 90% changed. I got a call from someone introducing themselves as "your grandson." The voice didn't sound quite right, but, you know, it's in the process of changing.

Me: "Oh, it's great to hear from you. How are you?"
Caller: "I've had better days."
Me: "Oh, no. What's up?"
Caller: "Well, I've had a minor car accident. Nothing serious but I busted my nose when my head hit the car window..."

Since, uh, my grandson doesn't drive, I was suspicious.

Me: "Uh... this might be a wrong number, what did you say your name was?"

Caller: [Hangs up].
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by nisiprius »

And here is a non- scam, but I still did something I shouldn't have done.

Last week I ordered a used Spanish-language book (Spanish translation of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid!") from a used-book dealer at the abebooks website. The seller had address in the United States in Aventura, Florida, and a business name with "books" in the title. Sort of. Actually it was "Libros del Mundo," but I just figured, you know, Cuban neighborhood.

A couple of days ago I got an email from "DHL On-Demand Delivery." Now, I sometimes order weird stuff, particularly for the grandkids, from a UK firm called "Grand Illusions," which I recommend highly, and they use DHL. So I had a vague sense of comfort about "DHL," and the email said "To authorize delivery without signature, or for other delivery options, click here." And I clicked a split-second before thinking. Then I realized I couldn't remember ordering anything overseas recently. And I got a little worried.

And then I remembered that "DHL delivery scams" are rife.

The link took me to an OK-looking web page, but I didn't follow the procedure, I just backed out. Then I copied the waybill number, and went directly to DHL's site and tried to track the waybill. It was genuine, said it was a delivery to my address and all... from a firm I never heard of, in Argentina. Still seemed uncomfortably weird.

On closer inspection I realized that the bookseller with the US address had sent an email confirming shipment, with "tracking information added." I'd never bothered to open it. When I did, I found that it said "Shipping Company, DHL" and the same tracking number DHL had sent me. But still did not mention that the shipper was something different from "Libros del Mundo" and that it was being shipped from Buenos Aires.

So all looks good. But, darn it all, I did click on a link in a possibly dodgy email.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
roamingzebra
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by roamingzebra »

Tom_T wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 12:53 pm
Chuckles960 wrote: Wed Nov 16, 2022 11:53 am
KESP wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:19 pmCustomer service is incredibly frustrating at Amazon. The ability to chat with a live person is non-existent.
The ability to SPEAK with a live person is nonexistent, but the ability to CHAT is easy to access. You have to use online chat. Some companies' bots cannot be bypassed, but Amazon will let you get through to a live person fairly quickly, and that person usually has the authority to reverse charges and so forth.
I've spoken on the phone with an Amazon customer service rep on more than one occasion.
I as well. I never use the chat function at any site because I'm usually able to find answers on my own for simple questions. I save the complicated questions for the telephone and recently there has seemingly been a huge downgrade in the telephone-based customer service at Amazon. As my previous encounters had been quick and efficient, the latest few episodes were anything but. The last CSR I talked to would rate near a zero in terms of knowledge. Amazon is experiencing layoffs and maybe they're cutting down on customer service.
RetiredAL
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by RetiredAL »

nisiprius wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 1:08 pm
Caller: "Well, I've had a minor car accident. Nothing serious but I busted my nose when my head hit the car window..."
Dear wife got one of those from "our grandson" a few years ago claiming his car broke down and that he had been unable to contact his parents.

My wife said "my grandson is three years old." The caller hung up.
vested1
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by vested1 »

I got an email from my best friend, let's call him John, on the opposite coast asking me to send an Amazon gift card to a woman he knew who was just diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma, and whose daughter had recently died from COVID. He said he was out of town and he had tried to do it but it wasn't working. He promised to pay me back and said that when I replied he would provide the information on where to send the gift card online.

The email address of my friend was exactly the same except for the email server, which was gmail.com, different than the one he always uses. My friend is not very tech savvy so the idea of him using multiple email servers is highly unlikely. He doesn't like change. I called him on his land line and confirmed that he hadn't sent the email. He was given a cellphone but refuses to use it. I issued a complaint with the FTC, providing them with the email address and the text of the scam email. They are the agency in charge of pursuing phishing complaints.

One of my other close friends, let's call him Jim, was hacked a few weeks earlier and they copied his contact list. Several others on the contact list got the same email from "John". All were cautioned not to fall for the gift card scam. After Jim's contact list was stolen I started getting emails from "John" asking me to click on links to see something I'd get a kick out of. Of course I never did, because I never click on links from non-trusted sources, and because John would never send a link.
FiveSigmas
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by FiveSigmas »

nisiprius wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 1:29 pm A couple of days ago I got an email from "DHL On-Demand Delivery." Now, I sometimes order weird stuff, particularly for the grandkids, from a UK firm called "Grand Illusions," which I recommend highly, and they use DHL.
Thanks for the reminder! I purchased several treasures from Grand Illusions about a decade back, but somewhat forgot about them. Glad they’re still in business. FWIW, their Youtube channel is also well worth visiting — Tim is a hoot!
TravelGeek
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by TravelGeek »

StevieG72 wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 12:33 pm A brief search online shows an experience where person was charged for the item plus shipping. Not sure what the play is with her particular situation, maybe charge shipping and never send item? It was $6.95, small amount, multiply that by a few hundred a day and economy of scale works its magic?
Perhaps the thought is that a small amount (hundreds or thousands of times) is more easily to go unnoticed and undisputed.
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bertilak
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by bertilak »

I was almost scammed this AM.

Got a phone call claiming to be from AT&T and telling me there were TWO suspicious orders placed on my account with a shipping address in some other state. The scammer (pretend AT&T rep) offered to cancel the orders and I needed to authorize this by giving them the 6-digit code they would text to me. I stupidly did that despite the text message saying AT&T would NEVER ask for that code! Now the scammer said I needed to do the same thing for the other order. By now I was suspicious of the process so hung up on him.

I went to my AT&T account to see the order status but could not log on because my password was no good.
I clicked on "forgot password" and changed it.
Once logged in, the web page said there were no outstanding orders, suspicious or not.

I'm still not sure exactly what was going on.

I called AT&T to discuss and was told that it was a good thing I hung up on the caller. The (real) AT&T rep told me they have a two-step process for validating unsolicited account activity and that's why the scammer wanted me to give him TWO 6-digit codes. I was dumb enough to give him the first code but smart enough to bail out the second time!

I told the AT&T rep that the scammer obviously knows how the system works better than I do!

BOTTOM LINE: Do NOT tell callers what code you get in a text message! It allows a scammer to pretend he is you.
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
jarjarM
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by jarjarM »

Latest PayPal scam - Got a legitimate email from service @ PayPal.com with subject title: invoice from PayPal LLC, under seller note to customer, it warn that my purchase was accepted and payment was processed and account charged. IF I feel like this is not a legitimate charge, please call 1-972-xxx-xxxx. The email is from legitimate PayPal server and the link to invoice is also shows legitimate call back to PayPal. However, in the very bottom (where companies usually tag on their disclaimer), PayPal specify that they would NEVER ask customers to call or txt a number on the invoice and if we don't recognize the invoice, we can safely ignore it. Apparently the goal of the scammer is to get the unsuspected to call the fake number (getting $$$ either with high charge for a paypal or trick to get more personal info). Because it IS from PayPal, it's easy to fall for the scam since it didn't have the usual scam markers like bad english or weird URL or weird email address. Please be careful out there. I forward the phishing email to PayPal already so hopefully they can take action against scammers taking advantage of their invoice system.
vested1
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by vested1 »

jarjarM wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:50 pm Latest PayPal scam - Got a legitimate email from service @ PayPal.com with subject title: invoice from PayPal LLC, under seller note to customer, it warn that my purchase was accepted and payment was processed and account charged. IF I feel like this is not a legitimate charge, please call 1-972-xxx-xxxx. The email is from legitimate PayPal server and the link to invoice is also shows legitimate call back to PayPal. However, in the very bottom (where companies usually tag on their disclaimer), PayPal specify that they would NEVER ask customers to call or txt a number on the invoice and if we don't recognize the invoice, we can safely ignore it. Apparently the goal of the scammer is to get the unsuspected to call the fake number (getting $$$ either with high charge for a paypal or trick to get more personal info). Because it IS from PayPal, it's easy to fall for the scam since it didn't have the usual scam markers like bad english or weird URL or weird email address. Please be careful out there. I forward the phishing email to PayPal already so hopefully they can take action against scammers taking advantage of their invoice system.
Just had one like this. I got a no-response allowed email from Intuit saying my subscription for McAfee was due to auto renew that day at $349.99 for a 2 year term. It listed a number to call if this action was not authorized. The email address was legitimate for Intuit. The email included an order number and an auto renew authorization number. It said the renewal amount would be charged to the card they had on file. It looked completely professional using Intuit's logo, and had no grammatical errors.

I don't have McAfee and know that Intuit doesn't make it or sell it. I called Intuit, using a contact number listed online to make sure there was no order and they suggested I call McAfee, which I did. While on hold I verified that a 2 year retail subscription to McAfee was much less than the price listed in the email. McAfee told me there was no such order and said that the scam was very common, and asked me to forward the email to their fraud department which was currently pursuing this current scam, which I did. I got a confirmation email from McAfee thanking me.
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bertilak
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by bertilak »

These scammers are relentless!

There oughta be a law! 😠
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
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AllMostThere
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by AllMostThere »

Tubes wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:07 am ..... a lot of companies are now educating their employees by using a fake spamming service which intentionally sends bogus emails like this to their employees. When you click, it directs you to a page explaining why you shouldn't have clicked. The company gets aggregated statistics on how many employees bit on it, and they can then direct their resources to more "social engineering" education....
Back when I was working for Mega Corp, they too did this internal spam test. Unfortunately, it was very very regular and often a huge distraction and time waste. I was always successful in my reporting the spam tests. As my silent protest whenever HR would send out email blasts on required training or company policies with links for more info, I would also report as spam. :twisted: I was very quiet about this tactic, but I'm confident others were doing the same. :sharebeer
It is not about how much you make; it is about how much you keep and how well you invest it. - Author Unknown | Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today. - Author James Dean
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dratkinson
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by dratkinson »

^^^ That's funny!


Silent protest. In the '80s, someone in the office staff suggested it'd be a good idea if everyone logged what they were doing at all times during the day. In this way, the office chief could look for wasted effort and so remove it.

I'd fill out my time sheet: "jotting notes on what I'm doing", "arranging and rewriting draft notes on what I'm doing", "logging final notes on what I'm doing", "working after hours to make up for the lost time during the day recording what I'm doing",....

Office staff eventually stopped nagging us to log our work day.
d.r.a., not dr.a. | I'm a novice investor; you are forewarned.
jarjarM
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by jarjarM »

vested1 wrote: Sat Jan 14, 2023 6:24 am
jarjarM wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:50 pm Latest PayPal scam - Got a legitimate email from service @ PayPal.com with subject title: invoice from PayPal LLC, under seller note to customer, it warn that my purchase was accepted and payment was processed and account charged. IF I feel like this is not a legitimate charge, please call 1-972-xxx-xxxx. The email is from legitimate PayPal server and the link to invoice is also shows legitimate call back to PayPal. However, in the very bottom (where companies usually tag on their disclaimer), PayPal specify that they would NEVER ask customers to call or txt a number on the invoice and if we don't recognize the invoice, we can safely ignore it. Apparently the goal of the scammer is to get the unsuspected to call the fake number (getting $$$ either with high charge for a paypal or trick to get more personal info). Because it IS from PayPal, it's easy to fall for the scam since it didn't have the usual scam markers like bad english or weird URL or weird email address. Please be careful out there. I forward the phishing email to PayPal already so hopefully they can take action against scammers taking advantage of their invoice system.
Just had one like this. I got a no-response allowed email from Intuit saying my subscription for McAfee was due to auto renew that day at $349.99 for a 2 year term. It listed a number to call if this action was not authorized. The email address was legitimate for Intuit. The email included an order number and an auto renew authorization number. It said the renewal amount would be charged to the card they had on file. It looked completely professional using Intuit's logo, and had no grammatical errors.

I don't have McAfee and know that Intuit doesn't make it or sell it. I called Intuit, using a contact number listed online to make sure there was no order and they suggested I call McAfee, which I did. While on hold I verified that a 2 year retail subscription to McAfee was much less than the price listed in the email. McAfee told me there was no such order and said that the scam was very common, and asked me to forward the email to their fraud department which was currently pursuing this current scam, which I did. I got a confirmation email from McAfee thanking me.
They're definitely getting more creative and authentic with these scams. Sometime it's hard to tell if it's real or scam and require a bit of detective work, no more simple Nigerian Prince scam... :?
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bertilak
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by bertilak »

jarjarM wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:28 pm no more simple Nigerian Prince scam... :?
Ahh the good old days! Back when the scammers provided some entertainment value.
Last edited by bertilak on Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
jarjarM
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by jarjarM »

bertilak wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:57 pm Ahh the good old days! Back when the scammers provided some entertainment value.
Yeah, it was an interesting read the first couple iterations came out in the late 90s/early 00s.
Lynette
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Lynette »

bertilak wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:58 pm I was almost scammed this AM.

Got a phone call claiming to be from AT&T and telling me there were TWO suspicious orders placed on my account with a shipping address in some other state. The scammer (pretend AT&T rep) offered to cancel the orders and I needed to authorize this by giving them the 6-digit code they would text to me. I stupidly did that despite the text message saying AT&T would NEVER ask for that code! Now the scammer said I needed to do the same thing for the other order. By now I was suspicious of the process so hung up on him.

I went to my AT&T account to see the order status but could not log on because my password was no good.
I clicked on "forgot password" and changed it.
Once logged in, the web page said there were no outstanding orders, suspicious or not.

I'm still not sure exactly what was going on.

I called AT&T to discuss and was told that it was a good thing I hung up on the caller. The (real) AT&T rep told me they have a two-step process for validating unsolicited account activity and that's why the scammer wanted me to give him TWO 6-digit codes. I was dumb enough to give him the first code but smart enough to bail out the second time!

I told the AT&T rep that the scammer obviously knows how the system works better than I do!

BOTTOM LINE: Do NOT tell callers what code you get in a text message! It allows a scammer to pretend he is you.
I got a text message supposedly from AT@T that there was an order for me. I did not click on the link but logged onto my account with AT@T using my password manager and I think I had to provide a code from my phone. There was no order. I marked the text message as spam and blocked it.
VanGar+Goyle
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by VanGar+Goyle »

LadyGeek wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 6:00 am If you don't have Venmo, how did they get your work email? It's sounding more like you should ignore it.

If your company has an IT department, contact them and tell them you think you got a scam email - but aren't sure and ask them how to proceed.
Unfortunately spammers will send out many millions of emails, so some fraction or thousands will go to work emails.
Your company IT department might help, but the spammiest looking emails often are legit from upper management.
No misspellings or typos, but generic buzz words, and suspicious attachments and links that were totally unnecessary.

On the other hand, one of the most successful phishing campaigns used a photo of the President's family and dog for Holiday greetings -
just login using your work ID and password to sign up for a special holiday surprise gift from the president!!
DonM17
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by DonM17 »

If you have a few minutes to spare...watch this 60 Minutes Australia show on the Nigerian Scammers ......they interview one person who lost his life savings and his property because he thought that he was actually going to receive $33 million from these scammers.....I can't believe that anyone could be this stupid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVHLiVT4eeM
mtnlover
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Scam Alert

Post by mtnlover »

[This new thread merged into this topic 'On-going Scams.' Moderator Pops1860]

Yesterday I received a confounding communication ostensibly from a local charity. I think it might be a scam.
The charity is a statewide association of local chapters in our state of a nationwide charitable entity.
I have made annual gifts to our local chapter for years, but I have never given to the statewide association.
Here’s what they asked for: They said that they are accepting donations in Bitcoin. Such donations would be valued in USD as of the date of the donation (as all donation of assets like securities are). Here’s the kicker. They promised that they would send an “official confirmation receipt” for 1.5x the value of the Bitcoin donation. Oh, and the gift must be made by 1/25/23. Donors must use this QR code, that reference number, etc
This is not a temptation to me because
1. I don’t invest in crypto
2. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday
3. I spent my career in non-profit fundraising and know that you can’t inflate a gift receipt.
Interestingly, there is no provision to give actual USD cash or publicly traded securities in the solicitation. Suspicious that actual cash is unwanted.
So just a heads-up that these types of things are going around.
Last edited by mtnlover on Fri Jan 20, 2023 2:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Taylor Larimore
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Re: Scam Alert

Post by Taylor Larimore »

mtn:

Thank you.

Taylor
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Fallible
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by Fallible »

DonM17 wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 8:03 am If you have a few minutes to spare...watch this 60 Minutes Australia show on the Nigerian Scammers ......they interview one person who lost his life savings and his property because he thought that he was actually going to receive $33 million from these scammers.....I can't believe that anyone could be this stupid
...
When people fall victim to con artists, it's not necessarily out of stupidity, but because they (and apparently we humans are all prone to this) have a strong need to believe the con, which of course the con knows. A good book on this is The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova. It shows how the con identifies and works the mark (us) and can help us avoid becoming a victim.
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
VanGar+Goyle
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Re: [On-going Scams - Post them here]

Post by VanGar+Goyle »

Fallible wrote: Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:30 pm
DonM17 wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 8:03 am If you have a few minutes to spare...watch this 60 Minutes Australia show on the Nigerian Scammers ......they interview one person who lost his life savings and his property because he thought that he was actually going to receive $33 million from these scammers.....I can't believe that anyone could be this stupid
...
When people fall victim to con artists, it's not necessarily out of stupidity, but because they (and apparently we humans are all prone to this) have a strong need to believe the con, which of course the con knows. A good book on this is The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova. It shows how the con identifies and works the mark (us) and can help us avoid becoming a victim.
Not a scam, but I wonder if Maria Konnikova is related to Anna Kournikova, the computer virus that took over millions of computers in Feb of 2001.
Seems like many people wanted to see an attractive female tennis player.
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