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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Scam Slam
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Is there anything new under the sun? No wealthy and deceased Africans want you to have their millions; that chap calling from what sounds like a public call box in Mumbai doesn't work for Microsoft; there is no parcel/airline booking awaiting you once you click this link; you are not due compensation for an accident you don't remember having; nor is an unspecified government department about to send you a refund - and does anyone give bank or credit card details to an unknown caller?
Presumably, since scammers continue to ply their trade. Any new and original varieties of dishonesty come your way that you think we should know about?
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
A few I've had this week purport to be from HMRC telling me that my tax return has been incorrectly filled out and include either a link or an attachment. It's fairly common around this time of year but can catch the unwary.
One of the cleverer ones is almost a use of the Mr Charles tactic from Inception, where the scam email is itself a warning about scam emails but contains a link which is supposed to be a link to your organisation's policy on dealing with scam emails. This doesn't work on personal emails, though, but my IT dept caught a lot of people out with a test scam email.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
We've had a bit of a deluge of emails with "invoice" attachments in recent weeks, ostensibly from all sorts of random companies that we'd never normally do business with - care homes, carpet warehouses, etc. Somehow some still manage to slip past the spam filters, and in the past fortnight or so the senders have now started to send emails with the kind of specialist subject lines that are directly relevant to our work. Still with attachments, of course.
They seem so determined to give our computers an infection. Bizarre.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Every time there is a major world event the scammers tailor their copy to fit. When the Iraq war started I began to get mail, purportedly from US Marines in Anbar Province, who had found a jillion dollars in Saddam Hussein's ill-gotten funds and were anxious to smuggle it out of the country. (Tip: the US Army has procedures for loot; these do not include us.)
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Oscar the Grouch
Adopted Cascadian
# 1916
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Posted
I've had a lot of emails purporting to come from my email provider, claiming that my account is about to close and that I need to click HERE, NOW to stop that happening.
But I have recently had one rather different one. It was an email claiming to come from Hotmail, which said that they had blocked an incoming email because it was potentially harmful. It gave me a link to click on so that I could check it out and decide whether it was safe or not.
The link looked very plausible. But a closer inspection revealed that it would have taken me to a very different place. I can see how the unwary could easily get fooled by this - it certainly slipped through Hotmail's own spam filters.
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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu
Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Another specialised one trades off the fact that many of us have been visited with unsought share ownership because we had a tangential relationship with some institution which has since been privatised.
The pitch is that there is a hostile takeover in progress and the person speaking to you wants to buy up shares. There is reference to a website which indeed appears to be that of a share broker. You may think you have only 100 shares - but no, your holding has grown in all the intervening years. They are offering an attractive price - but you must close with their offer quickly, for they already have 49% of the the 51% they need.
It exemplifies a few things to beware of - first, check any information: second, anything which introduces time pressure: third, large sums of money which are just out there, on the other side of a few simple actions on your part....
[ 28. January 2015, 20:40: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sipech:
my IT dept caught a lot of people out with a test scam email.
Which is why most of the emails from my IT department go in my junk mail folder.
Just saying.
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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crunt
Shipmate
# 1321
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Posted
A friend of mine was romantically and professionally involved with a Nigerian scammer. I used to ask her why she wanted to make money out of other people's gullibility. She told me that it wasn't gullibility that drove their victims, but greed. She also told me that there was always someone ready to take advantage of their offer of free millions.
I'm not sure if I totally agree with her, and it's not something that I would like to get involved with. I'm sure that there are some kind, but gullible people who get ripped off by professional scammers, but what do shipmates think of people who put up a few thousand in the belief that they will get a few million back? Is it greed or generosity on the victim's end? I think we can agree that gullibility is not up for debate.
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Posts: 269 | From: Up country in the middle of Malaysia | Registered: Sep 2001
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Mili
Shipmate
# 3254
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Posted
I don't think it is greed. No one thinks people are greedy if they win money legitimately eg. on the lotto or on a TV game show and don't turn it down. More gullibility and a desire to get rich without effort and most people would get rich quick if they could legally and quite a few would be tempted by illegal means too.
Your friend and her partner seem like the greedy ones to me. Making easy money off tricking gullible people out of money they may not be able to afford to lose.
I used to think some Nigerian (and other overseas) scammers were living in poverty and thought rich westerners could afford to be ripped off. However I read an article about dating site scammers and they are usually well educated and don't stop even once they've made more money than they need to live comfortably.
Posts: 1015 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Aug 2002
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
I think it's gullibility, naivete, and maybe just wanting fortune to turn in your favor, for a change. There may be some greed, but I'd guess that's probably more among the scammers than the scam.
Sometimes, scammers take advantage of elderly people, who may not know much about consumer finance, technology, etc., and whose minds may not be functioning at their best. These seniors can wind up poor. Lots of news stories, over the years.
Here's the FBI's page on fraud against seniors, and tips to avoid it.
And here's the American Association of Retired Persons' (AARP) consumer protection info.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
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Posted
I routinely get what I suppose are semi-scams at work. A trademark is about to expire: I get a form to fill in to renew it along with a hefty payment. I check the trademark; sure enough, it's about to expire, so this must be legit. Except that the letter isn't from the trademark office, and it doesn't claim to be; it's from a company who to be fair will do exactly what they say they will do and renew the trademark on my behalf - but for a far heftier fee than I would pay if I did it myself.
Or there are directories and magazines aimed at readers in our sort of field who offer us a free listing. And that's what you get - but if you read the very very very small print before signing, you notice you are also committing to buying very expensive advertising in future issues.
It may be legal. It's not how I would choose to make my money.
Posts: 761 | From: The Instrumentality of Man | Registered: Aug 2007
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Funny that this thread should come up today, because I have just contacted the authorities in New Jersey for the third time about one of their residents who sets up gay social networking websites, pretends that you are getting messages and chat invites from other members, provides unsubscribe links that don't work, and who accuses any 'member' who contacts him complaining or asking to be removed from the sites of being a pedophile.
He fooled me... 7 or 8 years ago? And the messages are still coming. They stopped for a while after the first complaint, but now come from a different company (but relating to the same family of websites). I'd like to think I helped temporarily shut him down the first time. There are periods with little or no activity, then the emails will reappear. It's been nearly every day lately.
He's got no money out of me thank heavens, but there are suggestions that part of his goal is to effectively blackmail any closeted individuals who are afraid of people knowing the kinds of sites they've been visiting.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by crunt:
A friend of mine was romantically and professionally involved with a Nigerian scammer.
Then your friend is a criminal.
It doesn't matter whether you agree with her, the law doesn't. It's fraud. Making promises to people for the purpose of getting money out of them, with no intention of fulfilling the promises, is a crime.
[ 29. January 2015, 08:26: Message edited by: orfeo ]
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
ADDENDUM: And it's still a crime regardless of what you think of the victims. Your friend doesn't get to justify her actions by saying she only stole from 'greedy' people.
[ 29. January 2015, 08:30: Message edited by: orfeo ]
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I have heard it said the reason these Nigerian emails are so improbable is that they act as a filter for gullibility. If someone responds, then they have self-identified as really easy to fool.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
I routinely get what I suppose are semi-scams at work. A trademark is about to expire: I get a form to fill in to renew it along with a hefty payment. I check the trademark; sure enough, it's about to expire, so this must be legit. Except that the letter isn't from the trademark office, and it doesn't claim to be; it's from a company who to be fair will do exactly what they say they will do and renew the trademark on my behalf - but for a far heftier fee than I would pay if I did it myself.
I get similar emails telling me that various domain names are about to expire and need renewing - always correct factually - and giving a link so that I can make the renewal. The cost will be pretty much what I expect. However, the emails come from a rival company to the one where my domain is registered, and if I follow through the process my domain will end up being transferred. No extra cost to me, and no problem with the continuation of my websites.
Fortunately I know precisely where all my websites are registered, so it is glaringly obvious that they are trying it on.
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
It may be legal. It's not how I would choose to make my money.
In my case they are seeking to make money by deception, so it is fraud (as I understand it) even though it would make little difference to me in financial or practical terms.
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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crunt
Shipmate
# 1321
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Posted
Yes, I know my friend is a criminal by participating in these scams with her now husband. I'm not condoning their actions, but I am wondering who falls for it. People are nice, and some will always want to help others, but who would be so blinded by kindness that they would send money to a president's widow in order to help her reclaim her multi-billion dollar fortune. Blinded by greed seems more likely to me. I like the idea of a gullibility filter posted above.
Other scammers (not necessarily Nigerian) build up relationships online or in person and then fleece their victim. But I guess that is what the email scammers do when you reply, they develop relationships. So maybe the victims are neither greedy or gullible, maybe they're just lonely.
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Posts: 269 | From: Up country in the middle of Malaysia | Registered: Sep 2001
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
And maybe you're trying to justify things in this way because you don't like to think that your friend is involved in criminal activity - and that makes them a criminal.
Yes, there are people out there who are good-natured enough (you'd say gullible) to try to help complete strangers.
And your last bit would seem to be seeking to justify such behaviour on the grounds that it provides some friendly social interaction - unbelievable.
If you can't bring yourself to forward details of your friend, her husband and their activities to the authorities that's for your conscience, but please don't try to make yourself feel better with spurious attempts at justification and then seek validation from us, your fellow shippies.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
I routinely get what I suppose are semi-scams at work. A trademark is about to expire: I get a form to fill in to renew it along with a hefty payment. I check the trademark; sure enough, it's about to expire, so this must be legit. Except that the letter isn't from the trademark office, and it doesn't claim to be; it's from a company who to be fair will do exactly what they say they will do and renew the trademark on my behalf - but for a far heftier fee than I would pay if I did it myself.
It may be legal. It's not how I would choose to make my money.
In the UK the Intellectual Property Officee receives hundreds of complaints on this very topic. It has however successfully taken legal action against the "Patent and Trade Mark Office" and the "Patent and Trade Mark Organization".
There is, possibly unfortunately, nothing to stop anyone offering to act as a renewal agent for patents, trademarks or designs, so, as with other scams it's up to you to keep track of your assets.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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crunt
Shipmate
# 1321
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
And maybe you're trying to justify things in this way because you don't like to think that your friend is involved in criminal activity - and that makes them a criminal.
If you can't bring yourself to forward details of your friend, her husband and their activities to the authorities that's for your conscience, but please don't try to make yourself feel better with spurious attempts at justification and then seek validation from us, your fellow shippies.
I'm not going to dob them in, you're right. I'm not looking for validation either. I'm just saying I know someone who colluded with, and married, a scammer.
My business partner got scammed for quite a bit of money by a cold caller from Philippines. We shared an office and I heard the conversation; I kept telling him to get off the phone, but the woman selling the 'investment' was really stroking him hard. He ignored me, and made arrangements to transfer the money and never heard from her again. Every time he called back to find out about his money his call went through to some guy.
This is what I want to know; why was it so obvious to me, but not to my business partner that he was dealing with a scam?
More recently, I got an email from a person I interacted with on a committee saying he was in Wales (that particular committee was a Korean one and the person in question was from USA). I took a double take, but it was no more than a second or two before I realised it was a scam. Later, other committee members told me about how concerned they were when they got the email - like they believed it (but didn't send any money or otherwise follow up). Why would they possibly think that our mutual friend would have taken an unannounced mid-term trip to Wales? But they claim they did.
I have trusted others, and later found out their intent was not as it seemed, and I get it how you can believe someone you like, but I don't get it how you would fall for an email scam. But people do.
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Posts: 269 | From: Up country in the middle of Malaysia | Registered: Sep 2001
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The Rogue
Shipmate
# 2275
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Posted
One came to me today that I haven't seen for a while. Apparently someone was trying to register the domain name "rogue'scompany.cn" in China and this beneficial company wanted to give me the first option on buying the name instead.
There weren't any links or attachments so I guess I am supposed to reply and eventually pay them large sums of money to protect my company's name. Or my CEO is supposed to do that because I had to forward the urgent email to him or her.
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If everyone starts thinking outside the box does outside the box come back inside?
Posts: 2507 | From: Toton | Registered: Feb 2002
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Rogue:
One came to me today that I haven't seen for a while. Apparently someone was trying to register the domain name "rogue'scompany.cn" in China and this beneficial company wanted to give me the first option on buying the name instead.
There weren't any links or attachments so I guess I am supposed to reply and eventually pay them large sums of money to protect my company's name. Or my CEO is supposed to do that because I had to forward the urgent email to him or her.
I get lots of those for my old business domains. Those and the ones offering me cheap PR. As I was a work at home mum selling homemade children's clothing I rather suspected their rates were more than my annual sales.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
I found the Better Business Bureau's Scam Stopper page has some good info--including the science of scamming and who gets scammed.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by crunt:
This is what I want to know; why was it so obvious to me, but not to my business partner that he was dealing with a scam?
I suppose because sometimes when you're looking at it from the outside and seeing someone else in a particular situation, you have more of a perspective on it than when you're in the middle of it yourself. (This is how people form relationships with others who most people can see are really not a good bet.) Also sometimes there's an element of volition in it, of wanting something to be true.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
And a need for love can lower a person's defenses. So when a grifter (kind of con artist) latches onto a lonely person and behaves as if they love the person, the victim may--out of love, gratitude, desperation, a need to maintain the illusion--give the grifter everything they ask for.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
There was a rash of scams for a while where elderly people would be told their grandchild was in jail or had a car accident and needed emergency cash forwarded to the grafter.
I read about it when the Police issued a warning.
A few years back when Nigerian scams were at their height a few people developed the hobby of tormenting the scammers. They would get them to send photographs with a shoe on their head to prove it was real. One I think even got a scammer to send a small amount of money to prove he was legitimate.
From my point of view, I'm home now and I would say the majority of phone calls I get are selling something or scammers. I currently have decided that the next Indian IP Security call I get I will tell them I'm cursing their unborn children with birth defects.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
My elderly parents were actually victimized by the 'your grand-daughter is in jail' scam. They became very upset, and actually drove to the Western Union office to wire $5000 to Mexico. Luckily the office closed ten minutes before they got there. So they contacted my sister, a banker, who immediately smelled a rat. My parents would not believe until my brother fished up the daughter in question, who of course had been in school all this time.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
And a need for love can lower a person's defenses. So when a grifter (kind of con artist) latches onto a lonely person and behaves as if they love the person, the victim may--out of love, gratitude, desperation, a need to maintain the illusion--give the grifter everything they ask for.
This became abundantly clear with two former acquaintances of mine. One I tried to help by offering him money in exchange for work I needed done around the house; the other by paying for dental work I knew he needed but could not afford.
Both of them sought out other contacts (I hesitate to say friendships) when their own lot improved and also when it became clear that I was not the bottomless money pit they thought I was.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by crunt:
A friend of mine was romantically and professionally involved with a Nigerian scammer. I used to ask her why she wanted to make money out of other people's gullibility. She told me that it wasn't gullibility that drove their victims, but greed. She also told me that there was always someone ready to take advantage of their offer of free millions.
I'm not sure if I totally agree with her, and it's not something that I would like to get involved with. I'm sure that there are some kind, but gullible people who get ripped off by professional scammers, but what do shipmates think of people who put up a few thousand in the belief that they will get a few million back? Is it greed or generosity on the victim's end? I think we can agree that gullibility is not up for debate.
Crunt, mate, Hustle is a telly programme, not a guide to real life morals and ethics.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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crunt
Shipmate
# 1321
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
quote:
Originally posted by crunt:
A friend of mine was romantically and professionally involved with a Nigerian scammer. I used to ask her why she wanted to make money out of other people's gullibility. She told me that it wasn't gullibility that drove their victims, but greed. She also told me that there was always someone ready to take advantage of their offer of free millions.
I'm not sure if I totally agree with her, and it's not something that I would like to get involved with. I'm sure that there are some kind, but gullible people who get ripped off by professional scammers, but what do shipmates think of people who put up a few thousand in the belief that they will get a few million back? Is it greed or generosity on the victim's end? I think we can agree that gullibility is not up for debate.
Crunt, mate, Hustle is a telly programme, not a guide to real life morals and ethics.
I don't have a telly, so I had to Google that. I'm not sure if it's life imitating art, or the other way around.
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QUIZ: Bible
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languagespider.com
Posts: 269 | From: Up country in the middle of Malaysia | Registered: Sep 2001
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
As one who has been guilty of the sin of greed (I once allowed myself to be lured away from a perfectly good job by the prospect of a higher salary plus a sign-on bonus, only to have it turn out to be the job from hell), I have to call it greed.
Of course, that does not mean that the perpetrators are acting in order to make people aware of their sins.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
The trickster out-tricked is a popular and recurrent motif. But only because it supplies a justice that life does not. Where is the justice in tricking the trusting, or the old, or the timid, or the less intellectually able?
I note with a certain caustic interest the occasional cold call which trades on my likely age, presenting itself as a response to some questionnaire I completed on the calculation that I will no longer trust my memory enough to contradict them.
If it's not ethical to manipulate people on the basis of acquired mental incapacity, is it any more so because it's innate?
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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mr cheesy
Shipmate
# 3330
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Posted
A few weeks ago, an older person I know well was tricked by a caller who said they were from Microsoft and that there was a problem with their computer. The caller managed to persuade them to turn off various security features, to go to a website which put a lot of bad stuff onto their machine (key-loggers and the like) and then go out to a bank to get money to fix the 'problems'.
Fortunately family intervened before this got to a ridiculous stage, but it is apparently a fairly easy thing to do - because there is some number which they can quote (which is the same on every copy of M$ or something), which they put together with your address and other publicly-available information so that it really looks like they have you on a database.
If you have an older person with a computer, it might be worth gently reminding them that these kinds of things exist - and the value of the computer they're using today (which might be a lot less than they paid, and a lot less than the scammers are asking for).
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arse
Posts: 10697 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Beethoven
Ship's deaf genius
# 114
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Posted
I had a scammer phone me the other day, but interestingly his phone number came up displaying as a normal landline on my phone. I haven't phoned him back, but it's tempting to think of things to do with it.
And he was wonderfully vague, ringing about 'the computer in your house'. I couldn't be bothered to ask him which: the one in the dishwasher, microwave, washing machine, phone, other phone, tv box, calculator... But hopefully talking to Op 1 about it will have raised her awareness of the way these people try to work.
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Who wants to be a rock anyway?
toujours gai!
Posts: 1309 | From: Here (and occasionally there) | Registered: May 2001
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Stumbling Pilgrim
Shipmate
# 7637
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Posted
And pressed post without posting again. I'm not as clever as I think I am.
quote:
Originally posted by mr cheesy:
A few weeks ago, an older person I know well was tricked by a caller who said they were from Microsoft and that there was a problem with their computer. The caller managed to persuade them to turn off various security features, to go to a website which put a lot of bad stuff onto their machine (key-loggers and the like) and then go out to a bank to get money to fix the 'problems'.
Fortunately family intervened before this got to a ridiculous stage, but it is apparently a fairly easy thing to do - because there is some number which they can quote (which is the same on every copy of M$ or something), which they put together with your address and other publicly-available information so that it really looks like they have you on a database.
If you have an older person with a computer, it might be worth gently reminding them that these kinds of things exist - and the value of the computer they're using today (which might be a lot less than they paid, and a lot less than the scammers are asking for).
I had one of these the other week - I had a few minutes to spare, so I asked him for some proof that the call was genuine (knowing it wasn't ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif) ). He appeared slightly baffled by this, so I tried to help by asking where he was calling from. When he replied 'Manchester' (yeah, right) I asked which part of Manchester, which floored him completely. Ever the helpful type, I asked which postcode he was calling from, and he gave a postcode in my area, which is emphatically not Manchester. Apparently unable to accept that he'd failed the test, he passed me on to a 'technician', giving me the chance to repeat the process until he finally hung up. (Am I a bad person?) It was an entertaining few minutes, but it made me angry too, because it's not only money they take from vulnerable people but their trust in other people.
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Stumbling in the Master's footsteps as best I can.
Posts: 492 | From: England | Registered: Jun 2004
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Cathscats
Shipmate
# 17827
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Posted
Mr Cathscats was taken in by an Indian "fix your computer" scam a few years ago. The thing was that they did actually do something which helped his ancient computer! However by the time the call ended he had become suspicious and promptly phoned the bank to stop the payment. For two years they phoned at intervals demanding payment. Each time he said that if they gave him an address, he would send a cheque. They have now given up.....
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"...damp hands and theological doubts - the two always seem to go together..." (O. Douglas, "The Setons")
Posts: 176 | From: Central Highlands | Registered: Sep 2013
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Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
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Posted
Ooh, a new one on me: a phone call telling me that "... our records indicate you may have worked in a noisy environment and suffered hearing damage. If this is the case then you could be entitled to compensation ..."
Sadly it was pre-recorded, so I couldn't do the obvious and say "pardon?"
Posts: 761 | From: The Instrumentality of Man | Registered: Aug 2007
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Aravis
Shipmate
# 13824
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Posted
I had an email the other day I'd ordered a game on Amazon for £39.99 and to click on the link if this was an error. My daughter occasionally orders games on my account, though asks first, so I checked with her. When she said she hadn't ordered anything recently I very nearly clicked on the link but suddenly realised this was not a good idea! It was convincingly set up with the correct logos, but didn't look quite like the usual order confirmation emails and was on the email address I never use for orders.
Posts: 689 | From: S Wales | Registered: Jun 2008
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
Could this be a scam? My mother told me this story yesterday, and my scam-sensors pricked up, though I didn't say anything to Mum.
A friend of my mother's, in her late 70s, did her routine supermarket shop one morning and drove home. That afternoon the police came to her door and said that she had pranged another car in the supermarket car park and had driven off. However, there had been witnesses who had provided the police with the car details and reg number.
Mum's friend said she was completely unaware of having done any such thing, and she and the police inspected her car. There was no scratch, no mark, nothing to suggest any bump.
The police said that the lack of any mark on the car did back up her story that she'd been unaware of the bump, and explained why she'd driven away, but as there were witnesses she'd still have to pay for the damage caused.
Subsequent bill for damage to the other car - £300.
Now I know quite a minor scrape could still cause a £300 bill, but surely there would be some indication on Mum's friends car?
What's to stop someone with a scrape they'd like fixed to spot someone in the supermarket - well-dressed, elderly - and provide the police with their registration?
Can you damage someone else's car in a supermarket car park without there being a mark on your own car?
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
What's to stop someone with a scrape they'd like fixed to spot someone in the supermarket - well-dressed, elderly - and provide the police with their registration?
Nothing. It's also not unknown for someone driving past someone else whose vehicle is in less than perfect condition to make a note of their registration number, then claim that that car caused some damage to their own car, describe the "marks that resulted" on both cars, and claim on the insurance. As happened to a friend of mine, who was completely unaware of the "incident" until the letter arrived in the post.
quote:
Can you damage someone else's car in a supermarket car park without there being a mark on your own car?
I'm not sure, but the witnesses thing sounds dodgy to me. "Look, my six friends and I can prove it!"
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
NEQ! this is precisely the scam tried on us by a corrupt police chief, only he was alleging a hit and run.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
I can't imagine the police were corrupt, but it seems odd there was no mark on Mum's friend's car, and I wonder about the ....quality of the information the police were acting on.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
NEQ: quote:
Can you damage someone else's car in a supermarket car park without there being a mark on your own car?
I don't know about car parks, but someone once managed to scrape the whole length of the side of my car by trying to change lanes on a roundabout while the space he wanted to move into was being (legally) occupied by my car. He then drove off like a bat out of hell, though not before I got his number. And, ok, he MIGHT have been in a hurry to get to an appointment and he MIGHT not have noticed he'd scraped the paint off my car. So perhaps he really was surprised when the police arrived on his doorstep.
I should think it was quite likely that his car had either no damage at all or a barely noticeable smear of paint on the bumper, but I can assure you the damage to my car cost considerably more than £300 to repair.
None of the people I spoke to whilst sorting out the aftermath of this incident could understand why he had tried to pull out into my lane while my car was *directly* in front of his. But that is what actually happened, and they must have believed me because I got all the money back. Eventually. Even though I didn't have six witnesses to back me up.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Kittyville
Shipmate
# 16106
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Posted
Surely the recovery of damages is a civil matter. What were the poice doing getting involved in that? Without wishing to unnecessarily don my tinfoil hat, were they definitely real police officers?
Posts: 291 | From: Sydney | Registered: Dec 2010
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Damages are a civil matter, but failing to stop at the scene of an accident would be a police matter.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Yes, that's why the police were involved in my case. If the other car stops you just exchange contact details and get in touch with your respective insurance companies. If when they track down the other driver s/he has a reasonable explanation for failing to stop they will just put you in touch with each other and let you get on with sorting out the damages between you.
The police do get more interested if they find out that one of the drivers was uninsured. Driving without third-party insurance is a crime too.
[ 15. February 2015, 12:35: Message edited by: Jane R ]
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
Yes, it was the failing to stop that meant the police were involved. But given the absence of mark on Mum's friend's car, they accepted that she might well have been unaware she'd clipped the other car.
It was the police involvement and suggestion that she'd behaved dishonestly by driving off that upset her. She willingly paid the £300. She's not querying it at all.
It just sounded odd to me; not even a transfer of paint.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
Several years ago I was at the wedding of some friends. Leaving the house for the church I had to turn the car in a residential street with lots of parked cars, however there was a narrow side street with a motor bike parked opposite, giving a wee bit of extra space to manoeuvre. I reversed towards the parked bike, stopping short of the bike, as by then there was room to head forward into the side road.
It was well over a month later that my friends were asked for my details, as the owner of the bike had gone to drive it for the first time since before the wedding to find the forks bent. Some witnesses claimed that I had hit the bike while reversing. My insurance company agreed that their case was very weak - based on friends who only came forward to say anything after several weeks, during which time quite a large number of people had probably performed the exact same manoeuvre, but it was my word against theirs and the insurance company didn't think it worth fighting.
Was it a scam? I don't doubt the bike had been damaged. It's quite likely that my car had been the easiest to identify out of all those who'd reversed towards it, the car belonging to someone attending the wedding. They needed someone to pay for repairs, and I was left with no realistic option but to pay up.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by crunt:
Yes, I know my friend is a criminal by participating in these scams with her now husband. I'm not condoning their actions, but I am wondering who falls for it. People are nice, and some will always want to help others, but who would be so blinded by kindness that they would send money to a president's widow in order to help her reclaim her multi-billion dollar fortune. Blinded by greed seems more likely to me. I like the idea of a gullibility filter posted above.
Other scammers (not necessarily Nigerian) build up relationships online or in person and then fleece their victim. But I guess that is what the email scammers do when you reply, they develop relationships. So maybe the victims are neither greedy or gullible, maybe they're just lonely.
As W.C. Fields said, "You Can't Cheat An Honest Man." Virtually all scams play on people's greed, and their willingness to believe what they wish to be true. If someone said, "I'm not entitled to this money, and I don't want any part of it," the scam would fall flat. However, that doesn't let the perpetrators off the hook even a little bit.
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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
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Wild Organist
Apprentice
# 12631
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I have heard it said the reason these Nigerian emails are so improbable is that they act as a filter for gullibility. If someone responds, then they have self-identified as really easy to fool.
The only time I got one of these (amn't I not lucky!) I did reply - but said "Do you really think I have rocks in my head?"
I doubt it has anything to do with not receiving any more.
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Be very careful what you wish for. You might just get it.
Posts: 50 | From: West Sussex | Registered: May 2007
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