Here's some popular scams to watch out for...http://the10mostknown.com/10-popular-scams-you-should-watch-out-for/ :magnify:
Scams To Watch Out For
- Thread starter SeaBreeze
- Start date
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
The 419 Nigerian scam always makes me laugh - perhaps not if I were a victim of it, but in the many creative and downright brilliant ways that the scammers have themselves been scammed.
I recall one long series of exchanges that were posted in a forum (unfortunately I can't find the link) where a Nigerian scammer was trying to get several high-end laptops from an American businessman, who went on a vendetta by sending the guy pieces of broken laptops and demanding that postage be paid. The exchange went on for months and finally he caused the guy to be caught and prosecuted.
A good forum for reading about scams of all sorts is the 419Eater forum.
I recall one long series of exchanges that were posted in a forum (unfortunately I can't find the link) where a Nigerian scammer was trying to get several high-end laptops from an American businessman, who went on a vendetta by sending the guy pieces of broken laptops and demanding that postage be paid. The exchange went on for months and finally he caused the guy to be caught and prosecuted.
A good forum for reading about scams of all sorts is the 419Eater forum.
That Guy
Homegrown Unknown
- Location
- Monterey Bay
Michael.
Senior Member
- Location
- UK (Surrey)
.
NOT ALL THIEVES ARE STUPID!!
1. Some people left their car in the long-term parking at San Jose while away, and someone broke into the car. Using the information on the car's registration in the glove compartment, they drove the car to the people's home in Pebble Beach and robbed it. So I guess if we are going to leave the car in long-term parking, we should NOT leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener.
This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology.
2. GPS.
Someone had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard. When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen. The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.
Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it... Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.
3. CELL PHONES
I never thought of this.......
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her cell phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet, etc., was stolen. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin number and I've replied a little while ago.' When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.
Moral of the lesson:
a. Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc....
b. And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.
c. Also, when you're being texted by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.
4. Purse in the grocery cart scam...
A lady went grocery-shopping at a local mall and left her purse sitting in the children's seat of the cart while she reached something off a shelf...wait till you read the WHOLE story! Her wallet was stolen, and she reported it to the store personnel. After returning home, she received a phone call from the Mall Security to say that they had her wallet and that although there was no money in it, it did still hold her personal papers. She immediately went to pick up her wallet, only to be told by Mall Security that they had not called her. By the time she returned home again, her house had been broken into and burglarized. The thieves knew that by calling and saying they were Mall Security, they could lure her out of her house long enough for them to burglarize it.
NOT ALL THIEVES ARE STUPID!!
1. Some people left their car in the long-term parking at San Jose while away, and someone broke into the car. Using the information on the car's registration in the glove compartment, they drove the car to the people's home in Pebble Beach and robbed it. So I guess if we are going to leave the car in long-term parking, we should NOT leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener.
This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology.
2. GPS.
Someone had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard. When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen. The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.
Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it... Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.
3. CELL PHONES
I never thought of this.......
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her cell phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet, etc., was stolen. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin number and I've replied a little while ago.' When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.
Moral of the lesson:
a. Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc....
b. And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.
c. Also, when you're being texted by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.
4. Purse in the grocery cart scam...
A lady went grocery-shopping at a local mall and left her purse sitting in the children's seat of the cart while she reached something off a shelf...wait till you read the WHOLE story! Her wallet was stolen, and she reported it to the store personnel. After returning home, she received a phone call from the Mall Security to say that they had her wallet and that although there was no money in it, it did still hold her personal papers. She immediately went to pick up her wallet, only to be told by Mall Security that they had not called her. By the time she returned home again, her house had been broken into and burglarized. The thieves knew that by calling and saying they were Mall Security, they could lure her out of her house long enough for them to burglarize it.
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
I only wish you could post a link to that news story, because for the life of me I can't figure out how a satellite dish is related to a credit card scanner. Every scanner I've ever seen has been phone-based, with land-lines being used. Paying for a sat-phone hook-up for a scanner would be an unnecessary expense for a business such as a dollar store, that already works on a razor-thin margin.
That Guy
Homegrown Unknown
- Location
- Monterey Bay
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
LOL!
Yeah, that 7'6" is a bit strange - HAS to be a typo, or he's standing in a pit in that picture.
Thank you for posting the story - I'm still puzzled as to how moving the satellite dish would allow him to use the cards. Standard procedure (at least in the bars I've worked in and the stores I've been a customer in) is that when the credit card cannot be verified the sale does not go through, period.
So even if, for whatever reason, the store is using a sat-dish to transmit and receive CC info (a VERY bad security blunder, BTW), the minute he moved that dish and broke the connection the store's machine should have indicated "NO CONNECTION" and the clerk(s) should have refused the card.
I guess as always it's never just the criminal's fault for being dishonest - it's also partly the fault of the store and its personnel for being stupid.
layful:
Katybug
Senior Member
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
This is a great thread and the stories are mind boggling. I've been on a "do not call" list since they came out, but they work around it and don't give a tinkers damn knowing its a long drawn out process & a huge PIA to pursue it further. I've tried. The calls are never ending on my land line and cell. I've considered a whistle, but my daughter reminds me they are simply working folk just doing their job.
As for my purse that I always put in the child's seat, I zip it and put the safety strap through the handles. Works great!
As for my purse that I always put in the child's seat, I zip it and put the safety strap through the handles. Works great!
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
It's true that they're just working folk doing their jobs, but they had a choice of taking that job or something else. Even in this economy there are jobs that are going begging because people consider them to be below them. I would rather clean toilets or dig ditches than to be a telemarketer.
But that's just me. I understand that some people have a golden tongue and no conscience and earn big bucks on commissions by using the phone to convince people to buy something they don't need or want.
As for the DNC list - yeah, that was a trap from the day it first came out. I was still using phones heavily at the time and I remember the frustration of jumping through all those hoops to get off someones list, only to have them call up again a few minutes later. I see it as the equivalent of your local gas station attendant telling you "No, Mrs. Johnson, you don't really need any more than 3 gallons - why pay extra?"
You cannot trust someone NOT to do the very thing that creates security and income for them - it's against human nature.
Diwundrin
Well-known Member
- Location
- Nth Coast NSW Australia
I'm feeling like a rock star, had 2 scam calls in 2 days, wow getting noticed!
Yesterday it was a woman with either a really bad accent or a drinking problem saying something incomprehensible about not trying to sell me anything so I just told her to send whatever it was she was giving away to the PO and I'd pick it up.
She hung up on me!
This morning, similar voice but a little more coherent, although still with a New Delhi accent, informed me she was phoning from head office of the Commonwealth Bank and was informing me that they wanted to reimburse me for overcharged fees. Well who would fall for that?? That bank wouldn't give you a band-aid if their branch manager had stabbed you!
She wanted a few details to "ensure she is talking with the correct person". When I asked for her number so I could phone her back to ensure her 'correctness' she hung up. AGAIN! What am I doin' wrong here? Don't they really like me after all??
I'm on the do not call register too but why would crooks honour that? It just reins in the reasonably honest snake oil salesmen.
I've had the Microsoft scam tried on me twice. The first time it was 2 days after I arrived here and the day I got the phone connected. The number wasn't even known to my friends and rels yet so how the hell would Microsoft have it?
I tortured him with the confused senior act for a good 10 minutes before he woke up I was conning him too.
Didn't bother the 2nd time, about a year ago, just made some clicking noises to indicate I was 'recording the call for training purposes' and he was off into the ether instantly.
Hey, scammers can be fun .
Door to doorers can be a hoot too if you have the time and malevolent intent.
I knew a bloke who would ask them to wait a second, dash to the kitchen, grab a can of beer from the fridge and a kitchen chair and settle himself in front of the door and tell them to "go for it".
His record was a 45 minute deep and meaningful discussion of the various pros and cons of the afterlife with a couple of JWs. They eventually succumbed to the heat and futility and went to sell God elsewhere.
I've had some great mentors throughout life.
Yesterday it was a woman with either a really bad accent or a drinking problem saying something incomprehensible about not trying to sell me anything so I just told her to send whatever it was she was giving away to the PO and I'd pick it up.
She hung up on me!
This morning, similar voice but a little more coherent, although still with a New Delhi accent, informed me she was phoning from head office of the Commonwealth Bank and was informing me that they wanted to reimburse me for overcharged fees. Well who would fall for that?? That bank wouldn't give you a band-aid if their branch manager had stabbed you!
She wanted a few details to "ensure she is talking with the correct person". When I asked for her number so I could phone her back to ensure her 'correctness' she hung up. AGAIN! What am I doin' wrong here? Don't they really like me after all??
I'm on the do not call register too but why would crooks honour that? It just reins in the reasonably honest snake oil salesmen.
I've had the Microsoft scam tried on me twice. The first time it was 2 days after I arrived here and the day I got the phone connected. The number wasn't even known to my friends and rels yet so how the hell would Microsoft have it?
I tortured him with the confused senior act for a good 10 minutes before he woke up I was conning him too.
Didn't bother the 2nd time, about a year ago, just made some clicking noises to indicate I was 'recording the call for training purposes' and he was off into the ether instantly.
Hey, scammers can be fun .
Door to doorers can be a hoot too if you have the time and malevolent intent.
I knew a bloke who would ask them to wait a second, dash to the kitchen, grab a can of beer from the fridge and a kitchen chair and settle himself in front of the door and tell them to "go for it".
His record was a 45 minute deep and meaningful discussion of the various pros and cons of the afterlife with a couple of JWs. They eventually succumbed to the heat and futility and went to sell God elsewhere.
I've had some great mentors throughout life.
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
Heh, heh ... that's evil!
I've heard of people putting their 2-year-olds on the line when the telemarketers come calling. I can imagine the fun that results ...
Telemarketer: Hello, am I speaking to Mrs. Helen Smith?
2-Year-Old: Da-da-da-da
TM: Excuse me?
2YO: Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-brrrrrrrrrp-poopie *giggle*
TM: Is this Mrs. Smith?
2YO: POOPIE! POOPIE! Hahahahahahahaha!
Would serve them right.layful:
I've heard of people putting their 2-year-olds on the line when the telemarketers come calling. I can imagine the fun that results ...
Telemarketer: Hello, am I speaking to Mrs. Helen Smith?
2-Year-Old: Da-da-da-da
TM: Excuse me?
2YO: Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-brrrrrrrrrp-poopie *giggle*
TM: Is this Mrs. Smith?
2YO: POOPIE! POOPIE! Hahahahahahahaha!
Would serve them right.
layful:
That Guy
Homegrown Unknown
- Location
- Monterey Bay
