Latest Scam of the Day

Pecos

Pecos

Well-known Member
Location
Washington State
I think it would be a good idea if we try to alert each other about the latest on-line and phone scams that continue to pop up.

This morning I got an e-mail pretending to be Amazon and advising me that my payment information for my Prime account was expiring today and that I needed to click on the attached link and update my credit card information.

I do not have a Prime account and I opened a second window where I accessed my account at Amazon just to confirm that I didn't.

I am pretty sure that "Bad" things would have happened if I had clicked on that attached link. The e-mail it came with looked pretty authentic, so beware.

The internet has turned into the "Wild West" of modern life.
 

Also, sites like Amazon have customer service phone numbers. I have had reasons to use these and find them to be very helpful. You can call, speak to a human right away, and explain the situation.
 
The best thing to do over all is to never click on ANY link that comes to you by email , regardless of how realistic it looks or how you may think it's genuine or how frightening they try to make it to make you rush to check details...

Just log into your account (not using the link) ... and if there's any messages relevant to you , they will be in your account.. be particualrly careful with Banking, Amazon and Ebay or the Tax office .. HMRC ( in the UK) or IRS in the USA..
 
Pecos said:
I think it would be a good idea if we try to alert each other about the latest on-line and phone scams that continue to pop up.
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You can check online to read the Amazon info, from their website, telling you how to detect scam emails. If you have an Amazon account, you would have received an email about 6 weeks ago warning of this. They have known, for years, about various scams. But the latest scam before Christmas prompted them to send all customers an email warning.
 
My 88 year old mother uses a computer for email. She fell for the phone call "This is micro soft calling, we've detected a hack on your computer. Talk to our representative and link up your computer to fix this problem". She didn't even have her computer on, but was so scared that she turned it on and tried to follow their instructions to link the computers. They told her it wasn't a successful link up and left her alone. She called me in hysterics. I had to be the bad guy, who told her it was a scam. She doesn't keep any financial information on her computer, so no real harm done. Now she is reluctant to use the computer, even to check email. It doesn't help that the network "news" she watches tells her constantly that the internet is full of liars and scammers, to never, ever go there for news. 🤦🏻‍♀️
 
I got an email from a woman in my bridge club. It was carefully, seriously worded. Something like "I need to speak with you about something important. Email me at your earliest convenience." Well, this woman is usually pretty … um … scattered. It was hard for me to believe she would (A) contact me by email and (B) write so formally and succinctly. I ignored the email because I'm 100% confident it wasn't her. Did I add that she has fallen for at least one internet hoax? Poor woman. I'll tell her on Thursday that her email has been hacked, but I'm betting she won't believe me.
 
If I get an email telling me that my account is in trouble for one reason or another, even if the email looks legit, I still go to the sign in page to verify if there's a problem. I figure if there is a problem, the problem will be specified after I log in. 100% of the time the email is a fraud trying to get me to click on a link. Always go to the sign in page you always use. A lot of the times I also get emails alerting me of troubles with accounts I've never had.
 
Duster said:
My 88 year old mother uses a computer for email. She fell for the phone call "This is micro soft calling, we've detected a hack on your computer. Talk to our representative and link up your computer to fix this problem". She didn't even have her computer on, but was so scared that she turned it on and tried to follow their instructions to link the computers. They told her it wasn't a successful link up and left her alone. She called me in hysterics. I had to be the bad guy, who told her it was a scam. She doesn't keep any financial information on her computer, so no real harm done. Now she is reluctant to use the computer, even to check email. It doesn't help that the network "news" she watches tells her constantly that the internet is full of liars and scammers, to never, ever go there for news. 🤦🏻‍♀️
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Your mom was luckier than my mom. While our whole family was over for dinner, she got a call, telling her she could save a lot of money on her phone bill if she switched to their company. We kept telling her to hang up, it was a scam, but she was one of those people who just had to show everyone that she was sharper than everyone else - even at 83. After 30 minutes, she signed up with them. Then, when the bill came, it was four times higher than her previous bill. Again, she had to show how smart she was, so she just didn't pay it. They shut off her phone. We had to spend lots of time changing her back to her regular phone company....we couldn't let her be without a phone at her age.
 
I've gotten a few of those "I need to tell you important information" emails, supposedly sent by a friend. Once I clicked on the link, and it was an ad for some diet product! I contacted the friend to tell her her email had been hacked, and she already knew about it (and apologized, though it wasn't her fault). Apparently this "link" was sent out to her entire email list.

I've learned never to open those links. They are always scams.
 
Pecos said:
I think it would be a good idea if we try to alert each other about the latest on-line and phone scams that continue to pop up.

This morning I got an e-mail pretending to be Amazon and advising me that my payment information for my Prime account was expiring today and that I needed to click on the attached link and update my credit card information.

I do not have a Prime account and I opened a second window where I accessed my account at Amazon just to confirm that I didn't.

I am pretty sure that "Bad" things would have happened if I had clicked on that attached link. The e-mail it came with looked pretty authentic, so beware.

The internet has turned into the "Wild West" of modern life.
Click to expand...
I think that’s a great idea to advise each other when things like this happen, the internet can be so insidious. Thank you for letting us know!
 
I used to think that I could spot a scam a mile away. I was just too smart for them. And I was way out of the loop for me to be scammed. Until, I got a letter confirming that my Social Security checks were now going to be sent to another address. I had direct deposit at the time. I freaked out and called SS. And yeah, I was scammed. In fact, it is pretty easy to redirect checks. But, SS does send letters informing you of the change. SS has special procedures to prevent scams like this.
 
My husband bought a new truck recently. He added an extended warranty to it because of all of the electronics on the vehicle.
Last month he got something in the mail thanking him for his purchase and informing him that they were sorry, but they would have to charge him more on the extended warranty. It would be between $125-$550 more a year. <That's a red flag. Why didn't they know how much extra they needed, since they knew all about who he bought it from, what he bought, and all of his contact information?
When he double checked his paperwork, the warranty company wasn't the one he had signed with. It was scammers.
Maybe these are the same people who call on the phone, telling you your car warranty has expired, when they don't know the make or model of your vehicle, and don't know your name.
The scammers hope that in the confusion of buying a vehicle, getting warranties, transferring finances, securing the title, and getting a tag, you'll fall for their ruse that you owe them money, too. Why do these scammers have access to so much of his personal information anyway?
 
Duster said:
My husband bought a new truck recently. He added an extended warranty to it because of all of the electronics on the vehicle.
Last month he got something in the mail thanking him for his purchase and informing him that they were sorry, but they would have to charge him more on the extended warranty. It would be between $125-$550 more a year. <That's a red flag. Why didn't they know how much extra they needed, since they knew all about who he bought it from, what he bought, and all of his contact information?
When he double checked his paperwork, the warranty company wasn't the one he had signed with. It was scammers.
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Scammers are busy! .. I just bought a new car too, and received an extended warranty letter in the mail. They didn't seem to know my information though ... what I bought or from where. ... but just urgently call and buy whatever they are peddling.

Also got another very strange letter stating that I really need to buy police decals for my car in the amount of $400, and that they can locate my car if it is stolen.
Wonder what I'll receive next ....
 
The pop up adverts are all over my phone.....there are warnings about them....i just delete.....
 
Duster said:
My husband bought a new truck recently. He added an extended warranty to it because of all of the electronics on the vehicle.
Last month he got something in the mail thanking him for his purchase and informing him that they were sorry, but they would have to charge him more on the extended warranty. It would be between $125-$550 more a year. <That's a red flag. Why didn't they know how much extra they needed, since they knew all about who he bought it from, what he bought, and all of his contact information?
When he double checked his paperwork, the warranty company wasn't the one he had signed with. It was scammers.
Maybe these are the same people who call on the phone, telling you your car warranty has expired, when they don't know the make or model of your vehicle, and don't know your name.
The scammers hope that in the confusion of buying a vehicle, getting warranties, transferring finances, securing the title, and getting a tag, you'll fall for their ruse that you owe them money, too. Why do these scammers have access to so much of his personal information anyway?
Click to expand...
Everything these scammers want to know about any of us is on the internet. Try n google your name sometime, it tells where you have lived n where you live now, how many children you have n where they live....it just goes on n on!!
 
Pecos said:
I think it would be a good idea if we try to alert each other about the latest on-line and phone scams
Click to expand...

This popped up on my computer two days ago... but way too obvious since it is for PC's running Microsoft Windows and I am using an Apple.... Needless to say I did not follow the instructions but it did take a bit of work to remove from my computer AND I was merely searching for a nearby Best Buy store when it launched.

IMG_1215.JPG
 
OK, here's a new one, new to me anyway. I just got a phone call from a local location, which I answered, as it looked as if it might be legitimate. The caller asked if he could speak with Gregory. I told him he had the wrong number and was just about to hang up, when he jumped in with, "Oh, well maybe you can help me anyway, This is the veteran's (something or other) fund."

I said. "Sorry," and hung up. But I have to say, that "Gregory" business was pretty cute!
 
Phone numbers are deceiving... calls that look like they might be coming from your area code, could well be coming from overseas .... and usually are! They think they can make you believe they are local that way.
 
Lvstotrvl said:
Everything these scammers want to know about any of us is on the internet. Try n google your name sometime, it tells where you have lived n where you live now, how many children you have n where they live....it just goes on n on!!
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I know. I recently did that. Didn't like what I saw one bit.
 

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