Be alert

ronaldj

ronaldj

Senior Member
Location
the Thumb
Yesterday I received a text message from someone saying a package was ordered on my visa card. There was a phone number to call and confirm. Instead, I went to my visa page and nothing had been charged. I checked the text number against the visa number, not the same. I googled the text number, it said it was a spam number. So be careful don’t open text messages unless you know.

Be alert the world need more Nerts.
 

Yes. I think seniors are good targets, as many of us are trusting. I was almost scammed once several years ago...one of those where I was sent a very large check, told to deposit it, keep a small portion of the money and keep the rest. I showed it to my bank and they called the scam.
Along with the current one where people are asked to send money via Itunes cards. I know it is a scam, and would never fall for it, but I do not understand why the scammer specifically asks for ITunes cards. Anyone know?
 
This is my rudimentary understanding of the iTunes card scam:

Payment through an iTunes card (or any gift card) is harder to trace than a bank transfer or PayPal, etc. The scammer can then resell the virtual card.

The reason a scammer asks the victim to use a specific kind of card is so they can concentrate on reselling just one kind of card ("Hey everybody, get your iTunes here!") instead of 20 different gift cards.
 
I just got an e-mail stating that a virus had been installed in mu PC and the person had access to all my accounts. They wanted a modest $1500 in bitcoin to remove it, I deleted the e-mail and then ram Malwarebytes on both our computers-no problem.
 
NorthernLight said:
This is my rudimentary understanding of the iTunes card scam:

Payment through an iTunes card (or any gift card) is harder to trace than a bank transfer or PayPal, etc. The scammer can then resell the virtual card.

The reason a scammer asks the victim to use a specific kind of card is so they can concentrate on reselling just one kind of card ("Hey everybody, get your iTunes here!") instead of 20 different gift cards.
Click to expand...
OK< thanks for the info Sounds about right
 
My son-in-law is a retired cop who works in cybersecurity, and he says that scams targeting seniors are very common. I got a call from someone who said they were from a medical supply and my doctor wanted me to have a back brace. That made no sense, so I called the doctor's office and they said it's a scam to get my Medicare number so they can bill a bunch of stuff fraudulently. I also get calls saying some high-dollar item is being charged to my Amazon account if I don't call right away.

If these people would invest the energy they waste dreaming up scams into something positive, the world would be a better place.



security,
 
ronaldj said:
Yesterday I received a text message from someone saying a package was ordered on my visa card. There was a phone number to call and confirm. Instead, I went to my visa page and nothing had been charged. I checked the text number against the visa number, not the same. I googled the text number, it said it was a spam number. So be careful don’t open text messages unless you know.

Be alert the world need more Nerts.
Click to expand...
I actually saw something like that on youtube, and is seems most of the emails and call are from india.
 
ronaldj said:
Yesterday I received a text message from someone saying a package was ordered on my visa card. There was a phone number to call and confirm. Instead, I went to my visa page and nothing had been charged. I checked the text number against the visa number, not the same. I googled the text number, it said it was a spam number. So be careful don’t open text messages unless you know.

Be alert the world need more Nerts.
Click to expand...
Yes I've gotten a couple of texts lately that I suspected were spam but didn't open them. One appeared to come from Amazon and probably did but I deleted it. Later I found that I'd gotten an email from Amazon alerting me that someone had signed in using a Mac OS. That was me, so I figured that's probably what the text was about. It's always best to check a bank or other entity's site when being alerted about an alleged fraud. It's good you're savvy about spams.
 


Back
Top