Scams

[CJS-6.5]

Just been thinking about the half terms and and the lies and deceptions. So got to realizing what I deal with it every day to the point a guy gets callus or maybe cynical.

I usually get around 5 calls a day from scammers. We are the IRS. We are from social security. We are a credit card company that needs your information for you to get 0 interest. We have a huge loan for you, what's your info? You have won! Just fill out this form to get paid.

One of the more sneaky ones was a vehicle advertisement on Craigslist. They had a reasonable deal on a vehicle I was thinking of picking up for the farm. They were courteous, prompt, send tons of pictures and even talked about their family and planned holidays. No red flags. They requested that we go through Ebay buyer protection so that everyone was safe. After talking to them extensively and receiving many pictures I decided that it could work out. I agreed to a sum and asked if I could help out with shipping seeing as I had friends in their town. Then they said that because they were in the military and on tour the vehicle was in storage and could only be picked up and delivered by their authorized transporter.

Then they said that they needed to be paid in Ebay bucks because that was the easy way for them to access the funds while overseas and we would both be protected by Ebay. So now I'm starting to think a bit...to test my theory I went to the local purveyor of Ebay bucks and tried to buy 2k bucks. The store almost immediately got a call from Ebay wanting to talk to me. I told them the story and sent the email that Ebay buyer protection had sent me. They were adamant that any purchase using Ebay bucks over 200 is a scam. They said they're entire fraud department was working over time on it and that most cases were military or family related to prick the buyers sentiments. In my case the woman was overseas serving our country and trying to sell her daughter's jeep that she had given her as a grad present but she had died in a terrible accident and she couldn't bear to look at it anymore. Just a heads up for fellow hide members that the scammers are getting more devious than ever.

Anyway let's finish off with a funny video in the spirit of Friday night.

 

[diverdon]

My resentment of spam calls is ramping up. I am approaching the point where the annoyance exceeds the utility. I'm not there yet, but I can see that point from here.

 

[EddieNFL]

I usually get around 5 calls a day from scammers. We are the IRS. We are from social security. We are a credit card company that needs your information for you to get 0 interest. We have a huge loan for you, what's your info? You have won! Just fill out this form to get paid.

We must have the same number. Most come up "Scam Likely." If I don't recognize a number, I send to voicemail. Don't get a lot of messages.

 

[JMGlasgow]

I had a similar fraud experience, except she said she was a widow, and it was her husband's Ford Ranger. As soon as they said eBay bucks, I knew it was a scam and called them out on it. The writing was also weird and that had my suspicions going.

 

[Mike Casselton]

I had one like that about six years ago trying to buy a vehicle for my daughter.
Same basic scenario except the woman was a "soldier" in the air force and was overseas.
Red flag #1.
I asked her what she did in the air force and she said that she a test equipment repairman. I thought PMEL and since I knew the AFSC at the time, I asked her what her specialty code was.
She went ghost.

That was my first scam experience on craigslist, but not the last.

When it comes to phone calls, if I don't know the number, I just don't answer.

 

[uffduh]

Had a similar experience to Mike’s last year while car shopping for my daughter. Selling vehicle for their kid who was deployed overseas, but the rank they gave didn’t match the branch of service. When they started asking for copies of utility bills, I really lost interest!

 

[Strykervet]

If I don't know you, it's a scam. If I answer and it delays before the machine picks up, it's scam. I can't block 'em, but what I can do is add them to the call list and make it go straight to message. Emails, I don't even bother. Hotmail does a pretty good job of cutting out the junk, every now and again someone will send an email with a fishy looking header or body and I'll have to go retrieve it from junk but it's very rare.

As for money, if they won't take or send Paypal regular (through a CC), cashier's check or postal MO, then I don't do business with them. I'd only pay Western Union or such if I had the item in my possession already and was good with it.

FWIW, don't waste time trying to get FBI or others to give a fuck. Unless you LOSE $250,000, they don't get involved. At all.

HOW I SHUTDOWN A NIGERIAN SCAM:

I shut down a Nigeran scammer and got ALL of his accounts closed (many were in the process of various stages of a scam and were awaiting money). Wanted me to send money Western Union, pressed for an address he finally gave me a fake one, then I pressed him for real one. NY police and FBI STILL didn't want anything to do with it, despite having the date, time, amount and all the info I'd kept! I won't go into all the details, it'd take too long, but basically it was a typical Nigerian scam and they wanted to buy a lot I was selling on gunsamerica 14 years ago. Somehow they didn't have much interest in what they were buying and somehow I needed to send them money before they could pay me (huge red flags).

So when Fedex delivered a package FROM the scammer to my home after giving the scammer a hard time but not folding, I told Fedex guy what it was, that it was evidence and that it needed to go to their investigators ASAP unopened. I got a call that afternoon from Fedex investigators and boy, that guy did a great job! He called me several times to get info, to go over what was happening (he kept me in the loop) and he had me contact them a couple times in order to make them do something. It ended with finding out the scammers operated under an umbrella called "Red Lion" and had 20-30 accounts with Fedex alone. Not anymore. Fedex forwarded the info to other internet and delivery companies (ISP providers, Hotmail, UPS, (all delivery companies I think) etc.) to warn them that these accounts were for fraud and those too got shut down and in some cases they weren't able to reconnect at that address(es) or under that person(s). A REAL monkeywrench in their shit! If everyone did what I did, it'd effectively end that sort of scam due to the way they operate, they run multiple scams at a time. They're greedy and if you can bring one scam down, you can easily bring the rest down. IF you have someone willing to work with you. Hats off to that Fedex investigator though, he was hot shit!

When he shut them down, I got inundated for a couple months with emails from the scammer threatening me in broken English about me and my family fucking farm animals, etc. Mostly goats. He was PISSED!!! After fucking with him a bit and when he ran out of new material, I finally sent him one well worded, well thought out, and calling him out and asking how he'd feel if I did that to his family? That sort of shit, no curses, no talking shit. Made him aware of how much damage he did to good, hard working people, that he wasn't ripping off people in Bel Air, and that what he was doing was wrong and he'd be judged by his god when the time came. Never heard from him again after that. So damn funny, wish I'd kept those emails. Sure, he'll be able to start over, but he has to start completely over.

That's how you shut down a scammer. Law enforcement has decided to bow out of this one so it's up to us to fix. Gotta say I was surprised to learn FBI only investigates crimes that happen to corporations or the extremely rich though, and that they have no interest in these scams. Their internet crimes reporting hotline? Just a place to leave a message in limbo. Never heard anything from them. So yeah, we're on our own.

 

[Spblademaker]

My Nigerian Prince Uncle laughs at those scammers.

 

[CJS-6.5]

I just wanted to warn those that maybe were more gullible. We don't need butt buddy uncle stories.

 

[CJS-6.5]

That was obviously designed to elicit a response.

 

[Spblademaker]

That’s no way to treat royalty.

 

[Dewey7271]

My best addition to the phone is the Hiya app

 

[deersniper]

I support the death penalty for scam callers. When you have a business or sell stuff you really should answer all phone calls.

 

[KZP]

I had a guy text me for a car I was selling. Offered full asking, said it was fair and wanted to know my paypal so he could arrange for someone to pick it up. I asked him to call me first so we can talk it over. He said he was deaf and wanted to keep texting. I asked him to get one of his friends to talk to me. He said he just moved and had no friends. I told him to visit his local police station as I am sure they would be more than happy to assist. He did not end up buying the car.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

I usually just hit silent and send them to voicemail. Of course, they never leave one. Occasionally, I’ll screw with them just for the hell of it. They’re wasting my time, I’m gonna waste some of theirs.

I’ll answer, usually it’s a “credit card company” wanting to lower my interest rates. I’ll sound really interested, ask lots of questions, keep them on the phone or as long as possible. Finally, I’ll sound interested enough, and ask enough questions, I’ll get a “manager” to help finalize the deal. Of course they are very polite and very helpful with all my questions. When I think I’ve wasted enough of their time, I tell the “manager” I think I’m gonna do it, but I have one more question: “Would you fucking remove my number from your calling list?” Oh man, do they get mad. I mean really mad. I’ve wasted 20 minutes of these POS time, to keep them from scamming others. They cuss me. Threaten to call me 100 times a day, etc. I just laugh, and think to myself, man that was fun.

That usually stops the calls, at least for a while.