Seen a scam lately? Report it here to help keep us all safe.

M

MarciKS

SF VIP
I thought maybe it would be nice to have a thread where we could just report scams we get in one place for everyone to come see. That way we might be able to help keep each other safe from possible harm.

~♥~♡~♥~

I got a text message scam yesterday that basically reads as follows:

USPS: Client, we have problems with your shipping address, please update your information. Tracking number US(here). Then it says to Click here: and gives this address that looks like it should be right but it's not: usps. net. co/Address

There's also a phone number with this text which is unusual: 814 559 2733


Remember as a safety precaution if you're unsure always check your local information before ever clicking/acting on these things. You can protect yourself by not giving out any info over the phone or in email or text. Always check your own stuff like your bank acct. statements or call the bank. Call the PO. Check the USPS website. Don't just trust any Tom, Dick or Harry that wants your information. Most of these places will not request personal info in this way unless you are doing direct business this way with them. If someone shows up at your door claiming to work with DirectTV and they want to discuss your programming options, you tell them if you want to make changes you will contact that company yourself because right now we have a 3rd party seller in our State that is not with DirectTV but he's acting on their behalf and they can't find this individual so we don't know if it's a scam. Always protect yourself first. Always! Know of anymore scams, feel free to add them here!
 

To avoid phone scams, speak to your phone provider and inquire if there is a robo call avoidance feature that can be turned on. In any event, turn on Caller ID. If a call is not one you are expecting, or not from a friend or source you recognize, just disconnect. On the rare occasion that you have disconnected a legit call, the caller will almost always immediately call back. I have never seen a robo-caller do this, but on the rare chance that they might, just answer it but keep your wits turned on.

Regarding email, I get those all the time. Look at the sender's ID. That is usually a dead giveaway. I just got one thanking me for my order. Huh? The sender is "Sara Gordon". Double Huh! No doubt the crooks who sent this will thank me for my very pricey order for some thingamajig that I never ordered. NEVER open one of these emails, but if you do you will almost certainly be given a phone number to call or a link to click on. Don't!!!

Lastly, I regret to say that an important target of the scammers is likely those who suffer from dementia. Perhaps a care-giver should insure that the target of those scams does not have access to the info that the scammers want.
 
Do not use outdoor mailboxes to mail payments of anything. They are convenient, but risky.
Thieves can fish the mail out & forge their name on checks.
I had that happen a few months ago. I mailed my property tax payment on time, then I started getting "Delinquent" notices with "Late Payment Penalties." When I got a copy of the check from my bank, the "Pay to the order of" was replaced with someone else's name. The bank teller explained how it was done.
No problems since dropping off mail inside the post office.
 

I got a phone call this morning that showed a local number, so I picked it up. The caller identified himself as my Grandson who had been involved in a car wreck. I guess he didn't know that I don't have any Grandsons. After listening to him "whine" for a few seconds, I told him to KMA, hung up, and added that phone number to my call blocker. I'm amazed that some people actually fall for these scams.
 
Don M. said:
I got a phone call this morning that showed a local number, so I picked it up. The caller identified himself as my Grandson who had been involved in a car wreck. I guess he didn't know that I don't have any Grandsons. After listening to him "whine" for a few seconds, I told him to KMA, hung up, and added that phone number to my call blocker. I'm amazed that some people actually fall for these scams.
Click to expand...
A few years ago, I got an e-mail that showed it was from my nephew & he was stranded in England & needed $2,000.00 to get home.
The scammer knew that my nephew really was in England for his job. But I knew that "needing $2,000.00" was a scam; my nephew is a very successful commercial artist.
 
Don M. said:
I got a phone call this morning that showed a local number, so I picked it up. The caller identified himself as my Grandson who had been involved in a car wreck. I guess he didn't know that I don't have any Grandsons. After listening to him "whine" for a few seconds, I told him to KMA, hung up, and added that phone number to my call blocker. I'm amazed that some people actually fall for these scams.
Click to expand...
Wow, the same thing happened to a friend of mine, but she does have a grandson. She didn't fall for it.
 
ElCastor said:
Lastly, I regret to say that an important target of the scammers is likely those who suffer from dementia. Perhaps a care-giver should insure that the target of those scams does not have access to the info that the scammers want.
Click to expand...
Good point. It can be a fine line to the person with dementia being willing to accept the transition.
 
Here's another scam called a one ring scam.
You get a call from a number such as this one that I got the other day: 233 59 786 0238
They call and hang up so you get a missed call. They want you to call back. Or answer either way. Do not answer or call back. I read that if you call back there will be hefty charges per minute. They will put you on hold and leave you there to rack up the $. Probably the same if you answer.
 
This was an email I received yesterday... trying to get my phone number, probably:

Subject: New text message from (720) 955-3677
Body: Hey Joe, this is Coach Neil with Mighty Movement Academy. I just want to check with you that we got Emily and William's enrollment and payments correct.

Please give me a call.

Mighty Movement Academy? :ROFLMAO:
 
I heard the Grandparent Scammer was finally caught in Alberta Canada the other day, that's where someone calls a senior and tells them their Grandson or Granddaughter is in trouble with the law and needs $10,000 for bail... Well, he was finally caught, a 21-year old I believe... I will see if I can find the article again... Be careful folks... Be very careful...

Grandparent Scam, Please Read...
 
There‘s a lot of Medicare Supplemental Assistance scams going on right now. If you’re happy with your supplemental insurance, you don’t even want to talk to these Bozos. Many are not legitimate. Beware especially if they begin by asking if you can hear them; if you answer “yes,” they may have recorded that, and can use it to argue that you verbally gave consent to program changes.

I use my call blocker a lot on calls from outside of my area code from unknown numbers because of scam and spoof attempts. Even then, they can “mask” or mimic your area code and local numbers in the hopes that you will answer. Trust no one!
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Just got on this morning. Apparently the Citizens Banks was terminating my accounts, because I violated their policies. There was a minor problem-I don't have an account at Citizens. There was a link to '"reinstate " my account. In the link, "Citizens" was spelled Cit1zens.
Click to expand...
Spelling it Cit1zens is done on purpose. They figure if a Mark falls for this it's GOLD for them.
 
The pet care site I use sent me a card in the mail with a fake handwritten note scribbled on it telling me they have a question about my account. I should call the number they wrote down as soon as possible. I know there isn't a problem with my account, they want to talk me into committing to monthly automatic flea med renewals. The card went in the garbage. That kind of stuff irritates me.
 
Most of these scammers are after low-hanging fruit, i.e. people who are naive, overly trusting or somewhere on the dementia spectrum.

Right now I easily see through their foolishness but never kid myself into thinking that DH or I could never be vulnerable.

My father-in-law, nobody's fool during most of his life, was slowly bled out of at least $10K during his late 80s before we realized what was happening. He had minor cognitive issues that didn't affect his daily life but were enough for a scammer to exploit. At $10K - $15K he got off cheaply. It could have been so much worse.

Any one of us could fall into these traps. DH & I have told our children that if they notice us slipping, even slightly, they need to speak up. At that point we'll give one of them overseer access to our accounts to make sure nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary occurs.
 
I just received a call from someone who said he was from CVS Pharmacy. He addressed me by name. He said that my doctor has prescribed "a massager due to the pain I have in my body." There will be no cost to me, as Medicare will pay for everything, and asked what part of my body has pain so he could send me the right massager. It was then that he heard a few choice words, and I hung up. He had a foreign accent, maybe Indian, and the call came from a New York number with a 347 area code.
 
Early, this morning, I got a call from a local number, so I picked it up. A nice lady started talking about funeral plans, and after her initial "spiel" she asked how old I was. I replied 95, at which point she hung up. I guess this scammer wants people they can fleece out of money for decades. I then added that phone number to my call blocker.
 

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