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Replies: 17
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Hall of Famer [22127]
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Joined: 2/25/13
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Another Attempted Scam
Mar 25, 2021, 8:17 PM
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Several days ago I received an email from a friend in North Carolina. The only message was, "will you do me a favor?" Naturally, I answered with a "yes". In response to my "yes", in her next email she said she wanted to give her niece an Apple Money Card for her birthday and she couldn't find one in the small town where she lived and asked me to get one for her and she would repay me. This caused me to raise an eyebrow because she lives near a large city and goes there quite often. I suspected someone had hacked her system so I answered, "please confirm by giving me the names of my five daughters". Well I don't have five daughters, only two, and I have not had a response yet.
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All-In [27319]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 25, 2021, 8:24 PM
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Nice one! I work in cyber security. I always tell people when they get emails or messages like that to call the person or tell them to call you. Obviously don’t give out your phone number but that’s a good way to make sure the person is who they say they are.
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All-In [25965]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 25, 2021, 8:40 PM
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India or China.
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All-TigerNet [10782]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 25, 2021, 8:43 PM
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might be closer to home in washington dc.
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Asst Coach [739]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 25, 2021, 9:14 PM
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Here is the email I received today supposedly from a church member of mine:
"I really need to get a (Google Play gift card) for a friend who is a cancer patient. I promised her a (Google Play gift cards) as a birthday gift but I cannot do this right now because we traveled for a friend's burial who lost her life to Coronavirus(Covid-19). I tried purchasing it online but unfortunately all effort to no avail. Wondering if you could get it from any store around you ? I'll pay back asap. Kindly let me know if you can handle this.
Await your soonest response"
The email didn't even mention my name. When I called the supposed sender, he said I was about the 10th person to call after receiving a similar email.
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110%er [6881]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 7:27 AM
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Received a similar gift card request for a suffering friend this very week.
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110%er [6981]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 7:46 AM
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I got a good one yesterday it was a Robo call that said they found suspicious activity on my Amazon account and if I did not authorize the purchase of an $1123 iPhone, press one. I pressed one and then a foreign sounding guy came on and asked me to confirm my name , my birthdate, and my billing ZIP Code. I hung up immediately , they don’t need your birthdate if legit,
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110%er [5072]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 8:05 AM
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That's when I really wish I was some sort of expert hacker and could somehow read back the birthdate, name, and zip code of the person calling me.
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Varsity [213]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 8:23 AM
[ in reply to Re: Another Attempted Scam ] |
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I have had the Amazon I phone scam three times.
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Orange Blooded [3138]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 7:47 AM
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Good for you being ready with your security question!
My mom and mother-in-law both decided they wanted cute grandparent names. 25 years ago the names were just cute & different, but now they work as a security alert. Both ladies have received those "Grandma, I need help..." phone calls, but recognize that as a scam since none of their real grandkids ever call them Grandma.
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110%er [5072]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 8:01 AM
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If anyone is ever curious about why these scams usually include gift cards, just head over to Ebay. You'll find many different types of gift cards being sold for less than their value. The scammer gets them because it can't be traced to their accounts, and then transaction can't be reversed. They then take say a $100 gift card that cost them nothing, and sell it for $50 or however much.
They also do similar with stolen passwords to things like Netflix. They'll go on Ebay and advertise a Netflix account for something like $5 per month, and they'll provide the buyer with the password. Some will even advertise to offer a new password if the owner of the account the first one was stolen from decides to change their password or cancel their account.
Why Ebay and similar sites allow these transactions, or how it's legal for people to purchase things like this is beyond me.
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CU Guru [1344]
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110%er [5072]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 8:30 AM
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I've seen those, and it's very funny. There's also a Youtuber called "Kitboga" who makes videos of himself on the phone messing with the scammers. He uses some device to change his voice and will pretend to be old ladies most of the time. He'll end up keeping them on the phone up to a few hours at a time before eventually telling them that he's been wasting their time. His grandmother fell for one of these scams, and he started his channel as a way to get revenge by not only wasting their time, but also educating people on the tactics they use.
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Orange Blooded [2175]
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Re: Another Attempted Scam
Mar 26, 2021, 2:33 PM
[ in reply to Re: Another Attempted Scam ] |
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Thanks! Watching that made my afternoon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to check on the airpods that I won from some sort of Amazon drawing.
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110%er [6031]
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I won some as well
Mar 27, 2021, 4:57 PM
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still waiting on them to show up. been about three weeks now. should I call amazon?
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Legend [19610]
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I work within fraud prevention as well.
Mar 26, 2021, 8:56 AM
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My best advice to everybody is to NEVER buy any type of gift card at anyone's request, especially Target, Google Play or Apple gift cards.
There are SO many scams out there that involve gift cards(the scammer's favored currency).
I think it should be mandatory for every elder to watch the Youtube videos from Jim Browning or Scammer Payback.
https://www.youtube.com/c/JimBrowning
https://www.Youtube.com/c/ScammerPayback
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CU Medallion [61827]
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Awesome! Great job!
Mar 26, 2021, 11:51 AM
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I despise these despicable scammers - both email and telephone. I make sure I take every opportunity to harass them when they call. And, I report the email scammers to their ISP.
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All-In [30820]
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Joined: 6/22/03
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Lame
Mar 26, 2021, 2:40 PM
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Should have poster.
Sorry, can't right now. I just shot some sucker who just tried to phone scam me. Hit me up in like 5 days when things settle down.
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