This is why we need a network of easily-outraged amateur scambusters around the country. That way, we could say “Hey, who wants to drop by and scare a money mule in Breckinridge? Preference given to a pair of ‘agents’ with FBI haircuts, suits, and earpieces.”
Or conversely, prison tattoos.
Anonymous used to do that sort of thing, I believe, though I don’t know if they do anymore.
I’m a senior, and I’ve received dozens, if not hundreds of similar emails. They usually come with a spurious charge for hundreds of dollars with a link or telephone number to call to cancel the bill. I’ve never tried the link or called the number but my understanding is they ask for your credit card information to process the refund. The charges have never been real, it has always been an attempt to socially engineer the callback or link click.
I received these emails as well. I usually just delete them or move them to my spam folder. I do check the email address that sends these emails and they’re never from the correct vendor.
We have no idea whether their bank account was ever actually compromised. Luckily, SIL is now handling all that. Since MIL is now in assisted living, pretty much all the Social Security has to go to the facility anyway, aside from a little spending money.
When we were closing out their condo last month, one of the things we did was to get a TracFone and port their home phone to that. I check that every couple of days for voicemails. Since the phone is not turned on, I have no idea how many attempted scam calls there really are, but about half the voicemails are from scammers. I know that when we were down there, better than half the phone calls were from scammers.
I asked my husband if we should give his mother instructions on how to check the voicemail (can be done from any phone), and he was vehement that we should NOT do so.
What provider do you have?
Verizon’s call filter (on my cell phone) is actually doing a fairly decent job of blocking known scammers.
And to that I say, AMEN!
My phone flagged the automated calls from the NC Middle District jury system as Scam Likely.
Got another one of those “credit card services” scam calls a while ago. I managed to keep playing with them a while; they finally hung up when I claimed to have a 960 credit score.
In a similar vein, when the ‘extend your car warranty’ calls were thick on the ground I answered one when I was bored. After listening to their pitch I said, “Well of the two automobiles I own, if the newer one was human it could vote this year.* What can you do for me?”
Apparently the answer was hang up.
*Perfectly true.
I got one of the “car warranty” scammers to hang up by telling them my car was a 1985 Trabant.
They have no idea how cheap and easy those things are to fix. They could actually honor their “warranty” and still profit.
Public education always has its critics.
Still getting occasional calls from India. Evidently they didn’t like me saying in Hindi,
“Why are you switching to English? Why do you hate Modi so much? Why do you think Chinese rule would be so much better?”
Now, when the calls transfer-connect, they just curse at me right away in English.
The scumbag I usually get likes to call himself “Mike Miller”. He does not like to be called “Miss Miller”.
In Hindi, I like to say.
“Have you got a wife, Miss Miller?
Is she fat? Can you even touch the sides, Miss Miller?”
Got one of those emails today from a scammer who claims that my credit card has been charged for a $385.75 annual renewal for “PC Protective Services” from the Geek Squad, but if I call the listed number they can cancel it.
Aside from the unprofessional email format, addressing me not by name but by my email address and the fact that I never purchased any service from the Geek Squad, nice try.
Maybe I should call and give my credit card info to them just in case…
Go for it. Worst case scenario, you can always get ahold of the main Geek Squad customer service line and demand your money back.
Mom (93 and in assisted living) never fell for a scammer, but it upset her (and she wasn’t dealing well with the mostly legit callers that weren’t friends (mostly medical/insurance folks who were supposed to be calling one of my brothers).
So, her phone now only rings for people on her (pared down) contact list, and the voice-mail says to call me for anything else and I’ll refer as necessary. I think I’ve gotten 4 calls in the 2+ years, and most of those were her friends concerned that she wasn’t answering (because she loses her phone/doesn’t charge it/etc).
It’s not a scam, per se, but companies like the Franklin Mint do target gullible people. My nephew was the executor for his father’s estate and found dozens and dozens of those fucking plates and other trash “collectibles” in closets. It all went into a dumpster.
Motherfucking sonsabitches! Went to check the credit card tally this morning and I’ll be fucked if it hasn’t been compromised AGAIN! Same fucking card as a couple of months ago, and it looks like the same bullshit porn business. FUCK ME! Cancelled the card. . .AGAIN. This is probably the sixth time for this card. I told the peon on the phone that I think they have someone selling information on their end and he was quick to tell me that they haven’t been hacked. Yeah, what else would you say on a recorded conversation. Well, when we get the new ones this time, they’re going into an envelope to only be used if the other card gets compromised. If I didn’t say it before, FUCK ME!