Busy day in the Fraud Department.

[John From Detroit]

Man today was a banner day for fraud.

Got a phone call from a robot  It said it was SSA and that they had detected fraudlant/suspusicious actritity on my account and my benefits would be suspended within 24 hours if I did not call 'em back (I may. right after Hadies hosts the winter olympics.. No not even then)  Sent the info including both the number they said to call and the caller ID to the REAL SSA.

Then I got an E-mail from my bank, or so it claimed (no it was not) Telling me they had a letter and to click the link to read it.  Problem is the bank does not send electroinc "letters" they send "Secure Messages".. and of course other signs of Fraud as well .

That one went to Abuse # the bank dot com (Note I'm not naming the bank)

SSA will never call. Snail mail yes. Call now.. Bank E-mails but the message is different.

OH I did have a "Secure message" but I got there via my bookmark file. not the link in the E-mail. Never the link in the E-mail (The message was "We are processing your deposit" by the way I E-Deposited a check yesterday)

 

[BruceinFL]

Tis the season. 

 

[edjunior]

I got a text the other day from a guy who's been calling me a lot and leaving voicemails.  He is wanting to buy my land at Medina Lake in Texas.  He's not necessarily a fraudster (though I haven't ruled it out yet), but he's definitely a pest.  I texted him back and shot him a quote about 5 times what the property is worth.  So far I haven't heard back from him.  Maybe Ezekiel finally got the message...I'm not interested in selling (at least not for the paltry amount he would offer).

 

[jymbee]

Man today was a banner day for fraud.

Helluva way to make a living...

Within an hour after posting a item for sale on a site like Craigslist you're likely to get a number of fraudster responses of "offers" wrapped around one convoluted con game or another.

We have a vacation property we rent and another common scam is a request to rent for a party of ten or so and for a period of weeks-- even though the website clearly shows-- in pictures & text that there's a maximum of four adults allowed. Almost like they didn't read it-- uh, 'ya think?!  :  Sometimes I'll yank 'em around a bit by responding with an excited sounding email saying how happy we'd be to accommodate them just to see how long I can keep them thinking they've found another sucker.

 

[winona]

Couple years ago -- when it was safe to answer the phone --- I had someone ask for me by name, but of course butchered the pronunciation so I knew they didn't know me.  I said I was Sgt. Wojehowski or some such and needed to know their name and how they knew the person they were calling as there had been an "incident" here. 

I kept going on and on about how if they were calling here and knew the name then they must know this person who had suffered an incident which required police response.  Said a marked patrol car with a patrolman so-and-so (made up another name) would come to pick them up to answer some questions but needed their name and address.  Had them so rattled they passed me to the supervisor who likewise was rattled as I just kept pushing on getting their information and address due to this "incident."  I finally had to hang up before I started laughing. Made my day. 

I miss the days of getting real person on the other end....

 

[scottydl]

Tis the season. 

That must be it... one of my debit cards was hacked last week and used in Ohio (I'm in Illinois) at a couple gas stations and a restaurant, before I noticed the suspicious activity and reported it. I just got the replacement card today.

Then yesterday, Netflix suspended my account because someone elsewhere tried to access it multiple times (spent 20 minutes on the phone with them to get it reinstated) and Google advised me of a suspicious access attempt from the Dominican Republic (verification check and password change). Those two were probably related, since they're related to the same Gmail address.

 

[magothy1]

I think the ones running the SSA scam went a little over the top when they told me I would never qualify for benefits again if I didn't call immediately. 

I miss the old days when I'd stuff an envelope from one outfit requesting funds to save the world with requests from a different outfit.  That was kinda fun.

 

[John From Detroit]

Re the bank type frauds. My favorite is still the one I got that claimed to come from Bank of America Security, seems they were having trouble accessing my account...... I'll bet they were... I closed that account like 5 years earlier and no longer have any BoA accounts.