I recommend that you be careful about plugging found USB thumb drives into your computer. That can be a vector for malware.
Yes, but it wasn’t something I found on the street.
I goy an email - “We’re processing your shipment & noticed a small difference between the declared & actual weight of your parcel.”
{Track Package hyperlink}
I get thay that link will undoubtedly install malware but there’s nowhere for me to attempt to pay them the $1.65 (that I don’t owe them, for multiple reasons). Seems like the missed an opportunity on scammer’s part. Enough $1.65 changes add up to real money for something many people wouldn’t bat an eye about paying.
It’s seldom good to respond to scammers, but I’d be tempted to recommend to them a “minor adjustment” of a physical nature.
They have been discussing scams on the BBC radio today.
It seems that older people, frustrated by having to negotiate their way through regular ban security, can be tempted by a simpler interface and higher interest rates. It’s more complicated and subtle than that, but several people were interviewed who either had older relatives or were themselves scammed for large sums.
The school’s IT department alerted us to a new one. Apparently now some websites have a “captcha” consisting of
I almost have to respect the brazenness of it.
That one isn’t exactly new. Might be time for a new IT department.
Described as a new scam here:
Also here:
https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/new-captcha-scam/
New malware?
Here it is being described over a year ago.
I posted above about making a purchase at a fake website. I disputed the charges, and after a week the final decision came down, and the chargers were reversed. I wasn’t out any money, so no harm, right?
This morning I got a text about a $300 charge on my credit card from a grocery store in Salt Lake City.
I opened the Citi app to find the security number to call, and I didn’t see it in there. I went to the security section, and locked my card, but nothing in the app to make it easy to contact a human. I’m sure that is a designed dark pattern.
Called the number on the back of the card, and eventually got connected to someone in the security and fraud department. By that time the $300 charge had already been reversed, and a hidden $0 charge at another place had been attempted and declined.
The customer service person kept asking if I wanted to cancel and reissue the card. I didn’t want to be a jerk, but I kept responding “should I?” and “you’re the security team, what do you think?” The way she kept asking me really sounded like a gotcha type question; like they wanted canceling the card to be my idea. They did end up cancelling the card and reissuing it with a new number.
My guess is the two incidents are related. I don’t suspect a skimmer, because I almost always use contactless payment. I did dip my card recently, “because tapping is acting up,” but it’s not clear to me if it’s possible to skim a card that way.
I’m a runner; there are a couple of big companies that provide ancillary services for race directors - registration & secure payment (the big one), email distribution, sorting participants by sex & age for age group awards, etc.
A different race director can also buy info to send out emails for their race; ie. all people who’ve participated in a race in the past year & within x miles of my race. This results in a bit of extra email in my inbox; many times I’ll just delete them but there have been times where that was how I found out about a race that I ended up doing so I intentionally haven’t unsubscribed.
There is one nationwide company that is putting on a travelling mud run; much like a musician going on tour, they’re here this weekend & there that weekend. They’ve bought a big email package; I just delete them because they’re scammy as Hell but the way I’m getting them I don’t want to unsubscribe.
If you go on their website, every race has a price of $74.95 FREE! However, there’s a $5 fee for you to pick up your bib that morning instead of making a separate trip the evening before, a $20 fee to park at the facility they rented & an mandatory $18 or $19 insurance fee, so this FREE races costs a minimum of $44, which is inline with other small races. That’s before you add in any of the optional charges, bag check fee (you do not want to go anywhere near your can when you’re muddy brown from head to toe). Race t-shirt (which most include) & all of their other options. Plus instead of getting a new shirt you’ll need to bring a full change of clothes as you will never get what you wear to race in clean again, this includes your running shoes & even your underwear!
Our latest:
Got a call from a local area code. Fellow with non-American accent saying he was from Verizon and wanted to know if we were having issues with our Verizon service.
I hung up. Tried calling the number back and got some woman’s voicemail number. No company name or anything.
And my husband got a call from a number in area code 989. It mentioned my name and the last 4 of my social security number, and seemed to be about a new card (or car?) application. That one has me a bit more worried. He got a second call from the same number but they did not leave a message that time.
Looked back a few months and didn’t see a new set of scams of writers. Someone who claims to be in a book club says they love your book and want to make it a choice for their club. I believe they eventually ask for a fee. Another is someone who claims to be a publisher who says they love your independently published book and want to publish it. Sometimes the name used is stolen from a real person at the publisher.
AI has helped the scammers because now they give you a summary of the plot of your book to sound more authentic.
The Author’s Guild chat board is full of examples of these. I don’t think it needs to be said that publishers don’t reach out to independently published authors unless the book has sold a zillion copies,
I reached out to Verizon and they said that’s not one of theirs.
Still researching the other.
Chase has been calling me, repeatedly. Chase the bank? They periodically remind me that they don’t call. Each day, I’d repeatedly decline calls coming in one after another, usually 5 or 6 in a row. Checking my missed call log, every one from “Chase” came from a different city - spoofed. I don’t think it was the bank
It’s not really a scam, but I have a credit card with JP Morgan Chase, and periodically receive email from them asking me to update my reported income because “keeping your income current may unlock potential offers such as credit limit increases, balance transfers and lower APR loans.” I already have a five-figure credit limit so I really don’t need an increase and don’t care to improve the profile they have on me.
I woke up to two emails from Chase this morning claiming that my phone number had been removed from my account, and to call them if I didn’t recognize this activity. These were legitimate emails from Chase. They came to the unique email address Chase uses for me, and the call back numbers were verified on their website as Chase customer service numbers.
Logged into Chase, and my phone number still seems to be associated with my account. I called Chase and they were not concerned at all, “just delete the emails, and don’t worry about it.” When I asked why the were sent in the first place I was told it was probably because I changed phone providers, which did not happen.
Chase and Citi constantly asks me this. Every single time I login, even if I updated it recently. The only reason I’m still with Chase is that they service my mortgage, my old bank closed, and Chase bribed me to move my banking there. No point in moving away from them until my mortgage is done, and then I can completely sever my relationship with them.
They frequently send ads labeled as “important account information” that cannot be unsubscribed from. “Refinance now” or “buy our CDs” is not important account information.
To keep it on topic, I’ll say that if I didn’t know better I’d say Chase was a scam.
Had a weird one today.
Two people show up at my front door saying their from the electric company and were warning us about a planned power outage tomorrow. Problem is they wouldn’t tell me exactly when the outage was and then immediately went into a spiel about how I could save money on my electric bill somehow. Neither of them were wearing any electric company uniforms, and then the next day there wasn’t any power outage at all.
So they were deliberately lying about the planned outage just so they had an excuse to give me the salesman special on whatever scam money saving thing they had cooked up.
There are two bozos who keep periodically showing up at my apartment complex trying to sell new “cheaper” electrical service (having researched it, turns out it is a classic bait and switch scam which will lead to higher rates in the future). When I peremptorily snubbed one the last time they were here (and hammering away at my doorbell) he accused me of being “rude”. I told the office staff about them, and they said to immediately contact them if the bozos show up again, and I will.